Shoppers Stop :: (HAD TO ) Start Something New !

Media is abuzz with the rebranding exercise by Shoppers ,am not surprised with this , Shoppers has fast lost its sheen and direction , in an era that has seen a multitude of retailers enter the market ,Shoppers was neither able to position itself as a premium retailer or mass ,caught in between it was about to be crushed .

The results of the last qtr that is q3( 07-08 ) was nothing short of a disaster , the writing was on the wall .

Know it all

Shoppers stop system had an element and continues to have an aura built around it , stemming from the fact that they were the pioneers in some way of the organised retail ,

MARKETING & OPERATIONS VACUUM !
This Retailer had some of the best Marketing and Operations brains working for them , people with excellent credentials , till say 2005 ,all have left for sure the vacuum is showing , haven't seen anything great on the marketing front , the loyalty program which was the strength , is another run of the mill program replicated by others too ! The operations across all stores has deteriorated ,people who have seen the operation rigour in the late 90's or early 2000 ,
RISK AVERSE !
Shoppers other problem is not thinking BIG , see their roll out of the Home Stop , no distinct USP , nothing unique ,Shoppers can't and have the BIG thinking of say a Pantaloon group !
God , knows why didn't they get into e commerce business in a big way , although they had tested this a good 6 years back !

All that they are good at is looking at data , do all sort of analysis , so as they say paralysis wouldn't be far away , and it came with the q3 results !

not sure whether a re branding exercise would alone help , there would have to be complete overhaul and execution of the strategy at all levels.