Sales & MarketZing !

If there is a classic American brand that one loved for its trousers, then maybe its shirts , it must be Dockers , backed with some great advertising ( not much seen in India though ) and a product which could have been a legend ,remember docker khakis .But in India the brand is struggling for sure -falling sales , fast tracked over expansion, plus maybe over pricing of merchandise backed with the retail slowdown has led to its big slip . The brand is still not as connected with the consumers in India as say the mother brand Levis . The Dockers brand also has seen is extension into accessories , ladies etc too thus moving away from its core segment mens .It had some of the best stores in the country must have cost a bomb running them too , a number of stores are being wound up for sure ! The flagship store in Bangalore has or is on the verge of a closure . So for a brand that has never seen its fair share of action in the retail market looks like THE END for it soon at least in Ind

In the retail business the lifeline continues to be walk ins to offset the high Cost of retail( COR ) , in which retail rent forms a big chunk ,add to it the operating expenses which are quite high ,COR might otherwise gobble your business ,driving Walkins into your store/s have seen over the years great degree of uniqueness , which tend to go beyond the basic " upto 50% discount " sale scream mode , here are some of the routes/ideas Indian retailers have used to get their customers in .. Database ::Knowing your customer and creating a database of your customer would typically mean that you need to run a couple of crores worth Loyalty program ,If you have spent the time & money in doing so then this should hold you in good stead ,the best example of a retailer using this medium is that of Shoppers Stop , which uses its Loyalty program ,First Citizen,to great degree off effect , everyone knows its now famous one day advancement of off sales for its golden glow customer

........sounds quite complicated , but when one gets into the bottom of this , its quite a simple method of checking state of business or the efficency of operations , GMROF :: stands for Gross margin return per sqft , = Gross margins / sqft , gross margins ( GM ) = sales - cogs ( cost of goods sold ) , so to state the obvious the higher the GMROF the better , evolved retailers use this as a benchmark in getting efficency of departments within a store and between stores comparison , Strategies for GMROF increase :: Trick of increasing the GMROF , is by obviously increasing the mix of pvt labels share sale , increasing the sell thrus better margin negotiation from suppliers and vendors Operational Measures Put your best people to sell more of the high GM category Effective Use of VM to drive sell thru's All this gets measured by a strong MIS back up , which makes the measurement of the same effective as the same gets delivered Fresh on managers desktop almost daily /weekly ,indian r

The lifestyle retailing space dominated by Shoppers , lifestyle , and the globus off the world has already seen some heat being faced , by them ,with the catchment radius shrinking by the day , added to the fact that there is a growing lethargy to drive far to reach out to shop , the biggies were facing the heat , now to compound problems powerful brands have spun off in a big way on their own ! or about to be launched all over , some examples would be brands like Levis , lee , reebok etc whats happening is that these MNC with money to spend have suddenly realised that there is a market in for them everywhere even in B,C class towns ,so you could now buy an excellent pair of Levis at Calicut ,with the same kind off ambience + experience , and not have to wait for the earlier trip to a bigger city to lay your hand on a pair off Levis ,which you would have bought from say a shoppers stop !!, so catchment is shrinking from this angle too ! Brands have also realised though painful intiall