100 days and counting!

I have been blogging for 100 days now.

5,000 plus walk ins, lots of comments for various posts, a Google page rank of 2, etc.

A big ‘Thank you’ to all the readers and supporters of this blog.

Decided to do something interesting for all the readers of the blog and those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook, to celebrate all these milestones. So, have planned a daily post through the month of July ’09, wherein each post would feature a Retail jargon, its meaning and sometimes my interpretation too! I plan to include all the conventional established jargons as also a few weird ones, which may or may not be commonly used.

Hope to receive your feedback regarding this series. Some of you might find these posts too basic, please bear with me.

Not the end of the rack. Part I

Article written by me for the magazine “Indian Management”, June 2009

There are gloom and doom stories about Corporate Indian Retail everyday and just as it was in the stock market crash, everyone wants to stand up and claim, I told you so! But, is it really the end of the great Indian Retail story? I don’t think so.

Store Level Reality

The stores are being closed for very valid reasons which are linked to making the Retail model viable.

The store is a key OPEX component and as such the cost structure of each store is crucial to the success of any Retailer. In India, the typical margins that a supermarket would realize is in the range of 18 - 19% and three of the biggest cost components are rent, manpower and energy costs. These should ideally be in the range of 12 - 13%. However, over the past years the rental costs alone have risen to as high as 7 - 8% in many cases. Coupled with the other components the top three cost components today typically totals up to 15 - 16%. Which means that the store is either losing money or the positive contribution is not large enough to sustain the other common costs being apportioned.

This steep escalation in the rental component is a direct consequence of supply and demand. With so many mega plans having been announced and location being a supposedly crucial factor, what else can one expect?

So, the first take out is that at a store level, if the cost structure does not make sense no amount of any other corrective action will make up for that.

The downturn and the falling demand in real estate is an excellent opportunity to correct the initial mistake of indiscriminate store opening without regard for high rentals. The chains are renegotiating rentals and right sizing stores to make the cost structure workable.

The cost structure is linked to projected or estimated sales. All the percentages I mentioned before have a common base. That is the optimum sale that is required for a store to be sustainable. Typically supermarkets used to generate an average of Rs. 1,000 per sq. ft. per month and this became the benchmark for developing the supermarket model. However, nowadays the typical average in a supermarket is in the range of Rs. 700 with the lower end of the spectrum touching even Rs. 450.

The simplistic solution is to realign costs to this sales figure, so that percentages remain the same. However, it’s easier said than done, especially for cost components like rentals, which is being done by most Retailers.

The other option is to increase either the sales or the margins which is the tougher thing to achieve, because there are several very valid reasons for low sales, one being oversaturation of similar stores in a locality. So, the closing or down or right sizing of stores is possibly the most prudent activity in the current context and reflects that corporate Retail not only knows what needs to be done, but is acting on that.

Not the end of the rack. Part II

Continuation of the article written by me for the magazine “Indian Management”, June 2009

Viability of the chains

Next is the larger issue of overall viability of these chains and whether they would sustain and grow. Again my view is that it will happen because there are possible solutions to existing operational problems.

At the heart of the matter is the reality that most chains have rushed in to open stores without doing a basic differentiation strategy. As one friend of mine remarked “If the fancy boards are hidden, one would not really know which store it is”. Somewhat similar to the age old debate about Coke and Pepsi and how in a blind test most people can’t spot the difference. Yet, these brands have been able to create well differentiated brand personae’s. Unfortunately food Retail cannot afford these kind of media spends and frankly it is not required.

In Retail, the store experience is the basis for anyone’s imagery of that store. And this can be a powerful tool to create a differentiated branding. At the heart of the experience is the fact that customers come to the store to purchase.

Hence, a well thought out assortment strategy with a noticeable percentage of unique or differentiated products is the first step to success. However, in the Indian context there is a serious constraint to this, in the form of availability. Even a well thought out plan would be ineffective if the customers do not see these products at the store. With fill rates of 75 – 80% from the best of vendors, every Retailer has to manage a situation of empty shelves and therefore a poor imagery in the customers mind.

This is where the private label program of a Retailer plays a crucial role apart from also generating better margins. A comprehensive private label approach which seeks to supplement the offering while providing opportunity to offer alternatives to customers in the absence of stocks is a sure fire winner.

Not the end of the rack. Part III

Continuation of the article written by me for the magazine “Indian Management”, June 2009

Next is the issue of service.

Shopping is a habit, especially grocery shopping. This habit is driven primarily by trust built over years and based on softer service elements. Hence, even with similar stores offering similar products, one tends to have strong loyalties with a particular Kirana store.

In the case of corporate Retail, the structuring of the business model itself makes it very difficult to offer these softer service elements. Hence the need for a very sound value proposition, to the customer. The value proposition can be built around the store design, range and service. However, with similar looking stores with hardly any differentiation, how can anyone perceive a unique value proposition?

This has led to customers constantly shifting between stores either because of availability issues or driven by pricing and promotions. This leads to two things –

• Promotion/ pricing driven purchases lead to lower margins. A promotional sales contribution of 15% is a healthy indicator that the promotions are being perceived to be good and seen to deliver value. When this share goes up significantly it is a surefire indicator that customers are only “cherry picking” at that store.


• Customers alternating between various stores leads to a misleading picture with regards to sales analysis and this in turn could severely impact the forecasting and replenishment of a store. The direct consequence is certain products not being available, which is again a trigger for customers to frequent other stores.
  

Recruiting store staff has always been a challenge because of the perception of Retailing and getting trained people has been a bigger challenge. This is further compounded by the cost cutting orientation which has led many chains to reduce the head count in a store. This not only puts pressure on the staff to fulfill their internal work and yet interface with customers. This is truly a Hobson’s choice because customers come to a store to buy and hence the staff needs to ensure that the products are available and displayed. Yet, the customer would build loyalty and rapport only based on interactions and service, which often is compromised. An even simple thing like smiling and wishing or thanking the customer after billing is increasingly hard to experience. Is it any wonder that customers have little or no loyalty to any store?

Retail chains should look beyond the downturn. Today, these chains are scrambling for the reducing share of the shopping basket, further compounded by overcrowding and without any differentiation. By reducing store staff and thereby impacting the service levels, the chains are only further reducing any chance of differentiation and therefore customer loyalty.

Also, in the coming years when the economy picks up again and expansion starts, getting store staff is going to become increasingly difficult in spite of a slew of training academies being opened by everyone, including the Retail chains.

Perhaps it is now time for the Retail chains to work towards the staffing models of stores abroad, wherein elderly people and students form the majority of the work force and work as temporary staff. India has both these segments of people and youngsters today are increasingly adopting the work and study model. Such people can be used to supplement the store staff’s efforts, especially in customer interface and customer service functions.

Last, is the issue about funding, debt, etc., which is seen as a major factor to doom this sector. Retail, the largest employer in India and also abroad is not an industry in India. Suffice to say that being recognized as an industry would help manage this issue as currently these chains are largely dependent on PE funding.In summary, the store would be a tipping point in the Indian Retail story. Which side of the fence it tips over, is a result of some concentrated action which is required immediately.

The good news is that, this seems to be happening and shortly when the sector resumes its growth story, I can claim that I told you so!.

Guest Post by Mr. Shiv Murti, A mentor for most Indian retail professionals!

I can remember the first time I saw the site sometime in 2000 1st. Quarter. The site comprised of 2 factory sheds with a road in between and I wondered how we would make a Hypermarket out of it. Many months later the final design came out and when the civil work was completed it was like a transformation of the Ugly duckling. India's first single level Hypermarket was born.

The next step was filling it up. 45,000 sq.ft. of store space - a team that was more used to filling up supermarkets of 3,000 sq.ft - new product categories to handle. It was a learning experience and a very enriching one and within 4 months we had the Product Master ready with the space allocations etc.

Then the order placement and the drive to fill up the store. We set ourselves an impossible task of 15 days time from first receipt to opening. I remember Kruben saying it normally took 60 days but he had done it in 45 days with a supply chain that worked, vendor supply efficiencies of 90% plus and with experienced staff. We had none of these but we had a team that was willing, eager and did not know the meaning of the word impossible. We were ready 1 hour before the store opening with what even Michael and Kruben admitted was a very high level of store readiness and a store fill of approx 84% of what we had planned as the SKU count. It took passion and an immense drive from everyone concerned to make it possible.

And then of course the store opened. And within the first hour we knew it was a runaway success. That was the story of the opening of the first true hypermarket in India and it was all made possible by a very committed team.

Guest Post by Mr. Saurabh Chadha, who was the Business Head, then

27th June is etched in my memory as one of the most memorable days in my life and also "INDIAN RETAIL HISTORY' as it marks the arrival of HYPERMARKETS in India. It’s been 8 years since then and the industry has grown by leaps and bounds but the trigger for that was the 27th June 2001.

The team had worked relentlessly for 15 days 24 hours a day to ensure that "GIANT" opens on the designated date and I thank the entire team for the support and the able guidance of Raghu, Kruben and Shiv who made it possible.

Once again let’s celebrate this day by dedicating ourselves for the cause of "INDIAN RETAIL".

A Giant Step for Indian Retail

India’s first full fledged hypermarket opened its doors to customers on June 27th 2001 in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Spread over 1,20,000 sq. ft. site, the store was a first of its kind in the country. Many interesting firsts were tried out in that store. Industrial type of racking was used and the upper parts of these fixtures were used for inventory storage. There were more than 15 cash tills, which itself were an awesome sight to see. Not many Indians would have seen this unless they had travelled abroad. Apart from all the products that a supermarket had, there were clothes, consumer durables, etc. I personally was amazed that there were so many products (20,000 SKUs) that a consumer could choose from in the Indian environment.

One of the most interesting innovations was the open, wet market type offering of fruits and vegetables. The consistent popularity of the neighbourhood wet market was diminished only partially by the crowded, dirty environment of such places. However, the long standing Indian habit of sifting through and selecting vegetables made consumers overlook the environment. The idea was to offer the same wet market feel of mounds of vegetables that customers could select from, without the dirt and slush usually found in such places. This was an instant hit and nowadays one sees a similar offering in most stores.

This store was also a fore runner of the Cash & Carry format, which is an exclusive B2B format. Although ‘Giant’ was a hypermarket catering to end consumers, there were a group of B2B customers who were regulars for the store. A small sales team from the store catered to such B2B customers in terms of their requirements.

Memorable moments abound with regard to the launch and the most interesting one is the launch promotion on sunflower oil. Oil sells like hot cakes in Hyderabad. As compared to the 3 to 5 litres of oil that most of us purchase every month, many families in the twin cities actually purchase 15 litre cans and also manage to finish it month after month.

Therefore, any launch without a special offer on oil would have been incomplete. Now, oil is a commodity and even though we purchase cooking oil in packets, the pricing is influenced by the ruling commodity price. It so happened that the price of oil spike a day before the launch and there was no way we could change the offer so later into the run up to launch. Also, once communicated through advertisements and leaflets there was no way we could not honour the offer and risk losing credibility in the customer’s mind.

However, what ended up happening is that a large number of small traders descended onto the store and literally a few seconds after the doors were thrown open, the shelf was wiped clean. In the picture you can see the mad scramble to grab this product whilst the staff is trying to bring down additional stocks from the storage area.

An interesting experience which left behind a huge learning. The practice of reserving the right to limit the quantity purchased by anyone, especially on such highly popular offers was born out of this learning.

From my memorablia collection

Offers and promotions are a default part of any value retailer’s life and cannot be wished away from any communication element. By the time the Giant store was launched RPG Foodworld had established the 365 day promotion as a norm and several other retailers had also started to mimic that.

In that context, the challenge was to communicate offers, but come up with a creative idea to communicate the size and scale of the new format in terms of the store itself as also the products available. The risk of being seen as yet another store, especially a supermarket had to be managed as also the concept of a hypermarket had to be established as the term hypermarket itself was completely new to the consumer’s psyche.

This led to an interesting launch campaign, which leveraged the traditional sight of a person pushing or pulling a large cart laden with things. Coupled with some mind boggling numbers in terms of store size and number of products available, the communication was an instant hit; of course helped along by some very attractive offers. Sharing some visuals from my scrap book for everyone to enjoy; The advertisement, Invitation, etc.