Indian retail -beyond traditional channels

come to think of it when retail is discussed , ones mind directly connects to the brick and mortar part ,but there are other models that exist , one common channel is the e retail channel which we guess everyone knows , however how about the multi level marketing channels , the newly added micro finance channels reaching out to the rural consumers, and the good old home delivery of goods , isnt that interesting .

Here goes our take of the multiple level marketing models , this channel is supposed to cut the advertising cost and cut the distribution cost by making the end consumers the channel itself ,we are in a state of confusion about the actual impact that say a brand like Amway , Modicare , Tupper ware has had on the life's of their agents , as it sounds at the start to be all easy ,its no easy business to be in like any other .

The drop out rates are big , every now and then you get to hear about the husband and wife pair , etc who have made it big etc , but this looks like a catalogue phenomenon , as one has not met anyone who has made a success out of this channel . Maybe we are wrong !

We have written enough on the e retail business in this blog , and how social shopping on the net would be big in India soon .With expansion coming in at high rental cost and slow returns e retail suddenly opens up the entire country , and the world as a market .

cutting to the other interesting channel developing is the micro finance channel which takes the cake as a strong developing retail , driven by credit , and has typically women acting as saleswomen selling items like fridges , mobile phones ,water purifiers etc .Rural market for these products never looked good before , an interesting product which has found some off takes is the chotukool refrigerator by Godrej for the rural markets ,that runs on batteries !

Home delivery is an old tried tested channel for retailing , the old catalogue route had the burlington catalogue , shoppers stop argos was scheduled to be rolled out , so is croma's catalogue , it goes without saying again no rental , no high labor cost , and the entire country and the world being your market place is the beauty of this model .

Next time you say Retail let your mind NOT think of the brick and mortar retail stores only : )