Sales & MarketZing !

Lifestyle department stores plus other categories :: http://www.pantaloon.com/ http://www.shoppersstop.com/ http://www.lifestylestores.com/ http://www.globus.in/ http://www.cafecoffeeday.com/ http://www.mywestside.com/ http://www.bombaydyeing.com/ http://www.primusretail.com/ Indian retail Information & services ::links http://www.retailyatra.com/ http://www.indiaretailservices.com http://www.eindiaretail.blogspot.com/ http://www.rvgonline.com/ Malls Directory of India http://www.megamalls.in/ Indian/MNC Apparel Brands http://www.levis.com/ http://www.maduragarments.com/ http://www.arvindmills.com/ http://www.dinesh.com/ http://www.indigonation.com/ http://www.raymondindia.com/ http://www.colorplusonline.com/ http://www.parkavenue.co.in/ http://www.provogue.net/ http://www.arrowshirt.com/ http://www.indusclothing.com/ http://www.allansolly.com/ http://www.turtlelimited.com/ http://www.benetton.com/ http://www.giniandjony.com/ E Retail @India http://www.futurebazaar.com/ http://w...

Today's news mentioned about the proposed entry of 7 - eleven chain into India , for those of who have experienced this model , would know that these small fomats stores of 200 - 300 sqft floor space , are the ones which will make the make MAX impact to our daily lifes , unlike the big format stores , with the biggest conveinance factor of reach under their belts ,these are here to stay , coming to think of it ,it is these store formats that are likely to hit the Kirana stores etc out of business .So it is a small vs small fight ,not a Big vs small fight ,as is getting debated all over the place ! The other reason why these formats would work , is that fact that the traffic on the Indian roads makes driving or reaching a happening hyper mkt /shopping centre a nightmarish experience , customers are looking at stores next doors , to avoid the cacophony ! This is the shrinking catchment phenomenon that i had mentioned earlier which is going to change the rules of the games .So con...

Along with the normal 4 P's of marketing , retail has 5 more P's that play much more importance in success in retail play , The new 5 P's ( registered with eindiaretail ! ) thats been suggested should ideally get broken into specific areas for action /programs .The shift has already begun into the new 5 P's among evolved retailers as the old 4 P's are more less taken for granted these days , go thru any successful retail model , you will find these as the secret behind their sucess . Retail is all about People, people & people , be it customers or employees , on the employee front ::so much time is spent on this function either in recruiting or in training ! on the customer front retailers do try to differentiate by service delivery , loyalty etc , this is the most critical P I have included Parking as also an important P( not comparable to People ofcourse ) as it could have huge bearing on individual store performance So here is the final 9 P's l ist of ...

The upmarket retail sector seems set for a virtual explosion with the entry of a whole host of domestic players while foreign companies are waiting and watching eagerly on the sidelines. With India being one of the biggest emerging markets, it is no wonder that retail giants like Wal-Mart and Carrefour are eager to make an entry. India is estimated to have around 15 million retail outlets, making it the country with the highest retail outlet density in the world. It also tops AT Kearney's list of emerging markets for global retailers. Currently the value of the retail market is estimated at around $270 billion with a growth rate of 5.7 percent per annum according to the India Retail Report 2007. For the time being, however, domestic giants like Reliance, Pantaloon, ITC, RPG, Rahejas and the Bharti group have jumped into the fray. These big retail chains seem to be visible at virtually every street corner lately but the question is, what happens to the neighbourhood grocer? The fac...

........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...

For those just getting into retail , must add that most discussions in organised retail would revolve around :: 3 C's of retail :: C for catchment getting this rite is the start , then C for conversion ( no of bills generated by the number of customers who walked in during that period .the trick is to have a strong brand pull or advertising model to drive traffic to the store , get customers to buy more ( increase converions ) this easier said than done , as vm /merchandise /ambience/service/promos/loyalty program etc have a say in influencing this . Then efforts to increase the cash memo size or ticket size , by various means , like change of mix being sold ( say in apparels may increase its business by changing the bottoms to tops mix ) Big retailers by just being focussed on these 3 c's have made a difference to their business .however the experience shows that the dependence on anything in this business on People is huge so any idea is as good as how was it executed a...

..........There is more to retail than just handing over goods /services across , the counter , if you look at some highly evolved retail business , you will find that there is a constant up heavel to take data based decision , the upheavel is caused because of data correctness ( hours are spent at boardrooms ,pondering over data accuracy !!! ) ,a number of retailers are taking decision based on gut only !! however the ones taking decision based on data seem to be getting it rite ( maybe the rate of growth doesnt give the true picture on whats happening , i mean all the analysis whether it is working or not ) however consider these for some INTERESTING data based decision in Retail in India :: There is a retailer in India who will decide space in Malls based on Car parks , they have developd an alogrithm that estimates this , based on past data There is another retailer who talks only GMROF , GMROI ,GMROL , ie gross margin return on sqft ( GMROF ) , inventory etc There is another set ...