Sales & MarketZing !

..its an ever interesting topic the dynamics of buying ! termed as B(u)ynamics a number of books have been written on this . Well fact remains that buying these days has no occasions like the good old times ,these days there are 365 days occasions , the festivals are just one reason for buying More and not the ONLY buying reason like in the past . So what makes us BUY or Buy more ! here is our take on B(u)ynamics ! others have it ! so i will have it too ,classic one that would clearly elaborate this is the recent Ipod phenomenon or the good old walkman , you need to be the in thing ! u c buying is like eating out ! it happens at the spur of the moment and is completely unplanned these days unless there is a an important occasion like a wedding . travel etc . Plastic money ! more Indian's are surely getting enrolled into credit or debit card lure , numbers in terms of cardholders are low , but are shooting up .As long as it was cash deals alone we were under check...

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...

Here goes the list of key retail maths that's done commonly to judge performance and trends i) Gross margin = Sales - Cost of good sold ii) GMROF = Gross Margin ( GM ) / the sqft area ( that delivered this GM) iii) Markup= the amount by which the cost price is taken up by , for example if the cost is 10 rs and the markup is 25 % then the selling price is 10 +2.5 =12.5 iv ) GMROI = the Gross margin ( GM ) / cost of inventory (that delivered this GM ) v) GMROL = Gross Margin ( GM ) / the amount of labor involved in delivering this GM vi) OTB ( open to buy ) is an indicator for the merchandiser whether he/she can buy more = Sales + markdown + opening Inventory -closing Inventory for the period vii) Margin = (Sales-cost)/sales viii) sell thru ( indicates off takes ) = Sales / ( sales + closing inventory ) ix) upt = Units sold /no of bills generated x) No of weeks stocks = Inventory / sales per week . of the unit that's being measured More later !

Along with women , the other big swing factor of where to shop and what to buy is the classic Kids Pester power , what normally starts with a very innocent request for the latest toy purchase soon ends up as a full family shopping exercise ! This is interesting and here are some of our insights into how the little wonders way of making us work ! Peer Pressure : Thanks to the flood of kids TV channels ( Pogo ,Cartoon network ,Disney etc) , and the propensity of brands advertising with latest products ,which soon becomes nothing but households crazes.The best examples are Bayblades , Ben 10 watches , Goku ,barbie dolls ,back this with strong peer pressure and desire to have it , and the parents great urge of not to say NO, you have a winning combination as a brand ! Come to think of it ,most of these are a couple of months fad and dies down ,but surely does so after pinching the parents purse ! Milk the emotions ! :Knowing very well that there is an emotional connect to their kids , p...

Here is the latest buzz from Indian retail RNCOS New Report- Booming Retail Sector in India ....still ? Retailers lose appetite for duty-free shops ....Mumbai stores close ! India retail revolution on hold as slowdown hits Pantaloon Retail India: Hold India's organised-retail sector faces major setback Trouble in Store: A Setback for India's Organized Retail Sector Sector Review: Retail * (Not an orginal post , complied from web )

Come to think most brand marketers work on demand generation and that typically consumes 80 % of their time , this post makes an attempt to rethink this age old principle /ways , in the sense from a pure demand generation play marketers need to work at driving consumption ,which according to this blog is the key for - if no consumption then the demand itself would not there in the first place ! (consumption )^2 , is a term that we are using to denote the process of driving consumption to newer level and how the rules need to change from pure demand generation to consumption drive by marketers ,lets look at some known consumption driving measures induce trial - the small sachets phenomenon which was a shampoo domain,has seen categories like pickles,hair oil , biscuits ,jams , on this bandwagon , the method is self explained change the product - guess you must have heard about toothpaste brands had increased consumption by changing the dia of the orifice ! smart move Combo deals - t...

Here's a best of all latest retail news /articles from the web ... Arvind Singhal: Subhiksha and the Indian retail story Govt allows FDI in multi-brand retail Retail already correcting from its lows: Kishore Biyani UK retail major Argos to pull out of India Has organised retail lost the plot? SES Forays into Retail Big Indian Grocer Shutters Stores as Crisis Hits Birla Retail eyes 18-fold sales growth ..... look no further !