Mobile Independence

Yesterday while coming out of a forecourt retail outlet in a petrol pump, I saw this very interesting and impressive sight. A mobile Coffee and Tea vending person.

What is so great about it, when cyclists with a stainless steel insulated jar abound in India shouting out Chai or Kapi, depending on the region.

Well for one was the design of this vehicle which is best seen rather than described and is as below. More importantly is the person, Mr. Shanmugam who is a physically challenged person. Instead of moaning and cribbing about his fate this person has taken up an interesting vocation and has been at it for the last 15 years. Recently he also got married and lets all wish him a great life ahead.

He typically sells Coffee and Tea and has a few biscuits/ cookies on the tray (mounted over the front handle) as value add for the customers.

The sight of him reminded me of my idea/ dream/ vision of a mobile and different retail format and I have suggested that he expand his assortment to simple things like recharge cards, etc.

He was quite excited about the idea while also expressing apprehension that there were many elements on the street who prey on people like him. They typically take things free under the pretext of taking credit and then never pay up.

Any ideas on how such a menace can be handled by mobile Retailers?

Vagaries of Indian Supply Chain

Sometime ago I had posted a picture of a truck with agri produce being transported on a barge across a river. Yesterday I happened to see this picture of camels transporting water melons. This brings to fore the point I have made in “The INDIAN reTALEs” about Indian Retail and SCM being a unique animal (pun intended w.r.t the camel) and needs to be understood well to be managed.

Imagine trying to apply international best practices like fleet optimization to this herd of camels, you will get the idea!!

Photo Courtesy: The Hindu

What an Awesome feeling!

For the past few days I have been like an expectant mother, jumping at every feedback about the book being available or not available at stores. I sent mails and SMSes to the Publishers pestering them about why the stocks have not reached the stores. Being in Retail and the becoming an author, is a bit like a Doctor going for some treatment. Such a person would want to know everything, second the other Doctor and so on.

So it was with me. Calling all my friends at the various book chains to enquire why the book is not available yet; to be told that orders have been placed and then hassle the publisher about why the stocks have not been sent.

My loving friends unknowingly fuelled this frenzy by reporting back whenever they went to one of the stores and saying that the book was not yet available.

So, you can imagine my absolute delight when one of my friends called me yesterday morning to say that the Book has been sighted at the Landmark store at Chennai and another friend posted on FB that he has picked it up from a Landmark store in Mumbai.

Today morning I went over to the store for some cheap thrills. Had pictures taken of me next to the book on display and all that. It was an awesome and memorable moment.

Coincidentally, May 9th is the Anniversary of RPG Foodworld as the first store at R A Puram in Chennai was opened on this date back in 1996. We had a reunion get together of the old veterans yesterday followed by a few of us visiting the store today morning to wish the staff and participated in the cake cutting ceremony.

It seemed only right that “The INDIAN reTALEs” has finally hit the shelves during this time of the year.

Please look out for the book when you visit a book store next and spread the word about “The INDIAN reTALEs” amongst all your friends and contacts.

Initial Reader Comments/ Feedback

I am delighted with the few feedback/ comments received about "The INDIAN reTALEs". I share with you one such feedback from an academician. I am told that the physical copies of the book should be hitting book stores like Landmark, Higginbothams, Odyssey, etc., by the next week. Please do mail me if you spot the book at any store.

Feedback by -

Dr. Harvinder Singh,

Asstt. Professor,

BIMTECH, Greater Noida

 

I have completed your book. To begin with, let me thank you for writing such a wonderful book! I read it like a novel and this is the beauty of this book. Reading this book was like a guided tour of the world of retailing. What makes your book more relevant and different from other books is that you have not lost sight of the unorganized retailing. In fact throughout the book you have made contrasts and comparisons with the local stores and their practices. It is important to do so because this is where the competition lies for the moder format stores. Prominent textbooks on retail management completely miss this aspect. It may be OK with American and European authors doing so because their economies have a higher share of organized retail but what makes me feel sad is even Indian authors, while writing textbooks on retail, talk about organized retail only which has about 5-6% share in India.

True life customer stories and experiences in your book are great sources for insight for real-life decision-making. I specially liked the store launch experiences and 15 litre cooking oil packaging situation.

This book would definitely be a part of our library as an important reference. I am sure our students would benefit from this.

Wish your book great success. 

Is Retail an avenue to propagate a language?

When we were opening India’s First Hypermarket in Hyderabad a fair amount of time was spent in deciding the content and more importantly the languages to use for the signages. Finally we settled on English, Telugu as also Hindi because we expected customers from across socio economic classes to come to the store and they needed to find directions in a language they were comfortable with. The key consideration for any Retail communication’s language has to be the customer and their comfort with the same.

Recently the authorities in Chennai have decreed that all Shop names must sport Tamil versions and that the Tamil version needs to be as big or as important as the English one. This is supposed to be done by June 1st 2010. Is this done with the customers in mind? More likely it is yet another half baked idea with a political agenda. Let me explain why I think so.

A government ration shop must sport a Tamil name as the customers might consist of people who are not conversant in English or not comfortable with that Language. A neighborhood supermarket in a predominantly North Indian Locality might do better to have signage in English and Hindi, while Tamil boards would mean little to the customers.

By the natural laws of market dynamics this is already in vogue amongst shops of all kinds and sizes. I have even seen stores near the Hyundai Factory near Chennai with Korean names in that languages script. Imagine having those stores, which cater to the Korean Expatriates, have boards sporting Tamil.

I am a big fan of vernacular language and have posted about why the staff in several Retail chains are being forced to communicate in English. But, I am a bigger fan of customer orientation and anything being done which is not customer oriented is a complete waste of time.

The effort and cost of altering or replacing boards could be channelized towards so many other productive purposes. But now, the poor Retailers will be busy wasting time and money towards this futile exercise. Yet another instance when the lack of an Industry status hurts the Retail segment as there is no one to take up their issues.

In my book “The INDIAN reTALEs” I have detailed how the Industry status is not only important for the Retail chains as many erroneously believe but more so for the 12 or 14 million odd outlets spread across in India. I hope that the book is read by the relevant people in the Government, who sit up. Take notice and act upon the ideas given.

Back again

Since March 26th 2010, my blog was locked and have been trying to get the same restored. Finally, it is unlocked and I can continue to post about Indian Retail.

One top of the mind topic is the vernacular sign board drive by various state governments. Does it help anyone at all?

Shall post an overview about this soon.

What a Birthday present!!

Almost to the day, it has been a year since “An Indian and A Retailer” made its debut. The thoughts of this blog grew into an in-depth, experiential book about Indian Retail, titled “The INDIAN reTALEs”.

All this happened in the space of the past 365 or maybe 366 days!

And on the first birthday of the blog, I hold a physical copy of “The INDIAN reTALEs” and wish a very happy birthday to the blog.

This book has been published by Unicorn Books and is now available for purchase with an online discount of 25% at pustakmahal (dot) com. It would be available at leading book stores over the next couple of weeks.

Please start enquiring at your nearest book store about the book and get your hands on it as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone who supported, encouraged and motivated me along this journey. Hope you enjoy reading the tales as much as you have this blog.

Who is managing the store!

Over the past few weeks or rather months I have been noticing a dangerous trend in the supermarket chains I tend to go to. Barring one as an exception the store manager/ in-charge seems to be missing in action.

Either he or she is nowhere in the store and my guess is that in most instances they have been called for some meeting at the office. Such a meeting would debate at length on why sales are dropping and what can be done to increase the same.

In a few cases the manager emerged from the store back office in response to a request by some cashier to unblock the billing machine. This is a safety or rather security need wherein in certain cases like changing the prices of products, an authorization code is required for the cashier to continue billing.

After unblocking the machine the manager glares at the cashier and customers alike and retreats into his office again, to do God knows what. If I were to be charitable I would presume that he is compiling piles of reports that someone in the office has asked for, which will all finally end up as a bullet point on a presentation.

Why is this dangerous? Simply because others will follow as they are being led.

I have often stated how the staff are the face of the Retailer and they define the interactions which make or break shopper loyalty and hence the viability of the store. If the staff see their store in-charge being more internally focused in terms of primarily pleasing their bosses, having none or very little time for customers, wont they emulate the same?

There is a ritual called store walk which ensures that the store in-charge takes stock of things literally and figuratively. If not done, it is a guarantee that the store will go down the drain in terms of hygiene, display, etc.

Lastly, the staff are on their feet almost through the eight hour shift. Being on the floor with them, guiding them and motivating them is the best form of leadership and is guaranteed to have positive results.

Instead of this routine, which is core to Retailing I hardly see the store in charge interacting with either customers or the staff.

Maybe the change should start with the bosses. They need to leave the conference rooms and be at the store more often. While at the store, have stand up meetings if required.

However, the best bet would be to talk with the staff and customers and they will get millions of ideas to improve sales. More importantly, such ideas will work!