Sales & MarketZing !

............Customers ,Some retailers are asking this question , thankfully they are currently in the minority in India , if you have got your location ,the people fit right , store value proposition clearly defined ,backed with a strong loyalty program ,you will have time for your hair to grey ! otherwise it will be tough luck . Most Indian retailers have time to get their act right , as the % of customers using modern retail is very low , dont have numbers on this , but would be auseful number to know Customer is a ghost for most Indian retailers ( maybe the same for all Indian Service companies ) ,who appears once in a while and creates /or demands more Loyalty program is a thing of boardroom discussions but no action , isnt it surprising that the only one of note is the First citizen program of shoppers stop which has evolved to a great extent , lifestyle's inner circle is also on a roll , surprisingly the Pantaloon group doesnt have one yet !! The Customer is not always right ...

Indian Retail Legendary Hall of Fame :: maybe the first one ! The known ones :: BS Nagesh ::He must be a Brand by himself , mite be time to put it under a brand valuation study ! A legend now! Kishore Biyani :: The marwari turned retail big shot , who seems to be eyeing the wallets of the consumer for increasing spends in his business , clearly a modern day Pickpocketer ! Govind Mirchandani :: The Sometime eccentric ,marketing plus retail veteran , seems to have fallen into the oblivion these days.Known for building some of India finest brands gopal rao :: The man behind Madura Garments steady and organised growth The Challengers :: the lessor knowns !! Shumone Chatterjee :: The One many army at Levis ( i) is a workaholic plus great eye for detail . plus amazing sharpness watch out for him in the market . Sailesh Chaturvedi :: The man behind Allan solly intially now spearheading Tommy in India and seems to be doing a great job at it ! If you have more names , pls add !

Retail jobs must sound very easy for the people ,not working in retail , but u ask anyone in the front end operations of retail organisation ,u will find their cup of woes ,which they have to go thru day in day out . Pain no #1 :: Standing can just drain you off , for those who havent experienced it and are used to chairs and computer browsing , try a 8 hours to 9 hours stand up and work stint you will realise the pain ! Pain No #2 :: The front end staff are looked at as bottom of the pyramid jobs , there is no way this perception is go away in a jiffy too Pain no #3 ::The salary levels are not the best , and they don't have much hope of a raise either considering the retail model is a low cost operation = success Pain no # 4 :: Half your friends keep leaving , u have to get used u to new faces almost every month , both at your level or your boss keeps changing !! add to this is the boredom factor of doing the samething everyday Pain no # 5 :: You work when the whole world is on...

New to Indian retail industry or contemplating an entry , then here is what you should know to get over the jargon shock !!:: here goes , the A B C of retail :: Catchment ::The area /zone of the city from which the customers come into for shopping from a particular store , catchment analysis pre launch would ideally decide the product mix and formats of the stores , catchment analysis done after a time gap of launch would also give a correct picture of whats happenng and where to concentrate ur Mktg energies to get more walk ins ! Cash memo size :: CMS = total sales for the month /no of bills generated in the month UPT :: Units per transaction , would give you a fair idea on to how customers are buying more of your products , per person or less per visit , UPT = No of bills generated in a month / total bills generated in the month , the higher trending of UPT with a distinct increase in cashmemo size is a healthy indicator of business .as UPt can be taken up by increase low value sale...

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 ...