Sales & MarketZing !

Suddenly Modern trade has become a buzz among most b2 c businesses , no firm that wants to grow big can ignore this segment , so you have fmcg majors , apparel firms , consumer durables , and even Telecom majors focussing on Modern Trade ! So what is Modern Trade ? for starters this is the terminology given to the new day giant retail organisations that have become the new day market place for the Indian consumers , so for example for a brand like Levis , Shoppers stop would be part of the Modern trade account list as Levis retails out of it and contributes a % of its turnover which might be equal to its turnover from say 1000 MBO's ( multi brand outlets ) or more ! The best case study of Modern trade is the P&G and Walmart partnership , which of course has grown to mammoth proposition , at one moment it was known that 30 % of P&G worldwide turnover came from one single entity Walmart ! P&G had its own share of woes with this overdependence , we will discuss that later

With organised retail gaining share ,the share figures of organised retail in India are often discussed with figures of 3% or 5 % share , thrown around ,whatever it might be ,brands cutting across categories are realising the power of the footfalls coming in to these outlets and the potential for exposure of their brands.This powerful venue is the RETAIL ARENA . The traditional approach of retail advertising was the great Kiosk drama , which was led with the standard 5* 5 tent if one may call with a few catalogue distribution, it used to work , until suddenly consumers where tired of it .Point to note that there are enough distractions happening in the arena anyways . Thus the retail Arena is slowly but moving from a Point of purchase medium into an experience medium . what are the latest trends / opportunities currently on for advertising in the Retail Arena Display : nothing but classical simple display of your product either thru the display of your latest advt or your product in a

Cash and carry heads north - Economic Times Indian textile cos spread wings, boost retail to grow - Reuters India Dell to ramp up retail presence - Business Standard Cut` retail forays into smaller cities - Business Standard Spices Board sees future in retail - Economic Times Essential Report on the Opportunities of the Indian Retail Industry - Business Wire (press release) India: Retail giants to gulp small retail traders - FreshPlaza Subhiksha picks up majority stake in Blue Green - Hindu McDonald's opens first "Drive Thru'' outlet in Hyderabad - Hindu Business Line Indian talent in demand; seen as competitive threat - Hindu Business Line Nilkamal to pump Rs 150 cr in retail venture - Hindu Business Line RETAIL NEWS YOU CAN USE !

In continuation with the earlier posts , wherein ,had bought out the importance of people management, customer service ,visual merchandising and the criticality of tight control.Plus also made it clear that the success of any retailer has a great degree of reliance on the retail operations piece ,here we go again , with certain more critical elements on what makes retail operations tick. Range vs Depth :: In retail operations its a Must to know what are customers buying and not buying and why ? its important that either thru data or thru floor presence the floor /section head is able to understand what is going into the shopping bags and not going into the same , most of the times MIS DATA alone cant help , as many a instance the merchandise that gets classified as not selling , might have no fault of its own , could have been placed in some corner of the floor and not catching the customer eye ! A good seasoned floor manager ,also has an eye on the regular customer base , its importa

Here is a case Study on Issues faced under Modern trade ! what this blog describes as the Cadbury effect in Modern Trade ! India's largest listed retailer Big Bazaar has pulled Cadbury's chocolate from its shelves following a row over allegedly discriminatory pricing policies. Big Bazaar, which runs large superstores in big cities across India, claims that other retailers operating cash-and-carry outlets in the country, such as Germany's Metro and Shoprite from the US, are being given better deals by the British confectioner. While demanding a discount on the wholesale prices it pays for chocolate bars it has claimed that Cadbury, which has made the subcontinent a key target market, has failed to treat India's retailers with adequate respect. He added: "Multinational companies have to respect the contribution of Indian modern retailers to their growth and treat us as equal partners in business." The move will come as a blow to Cadbury Schweppes, which is India

What's on your consumers mind is it on your shelf ? is a good question to always ask both at a marketing front and on the operations front in retail , or any other consumer product business . Brands spend crores in driving awareness and desire , when the consumers come seeking in for the product , its a sheer waste when they dont find what they have come looking for .This is what the blog would term as "mind1 shelf0 "(tm) phenomenon ( where on the mind gets 1 , not on your shelf gets 0 ) So why does this happen always , yes its a historical issue but never is addressed ...here is this blogs take on the why piece i) Too many variants ::most of the problems occur due to the brand's great desire to satisfy everyone , thus the great urge for more skus 'which could take the shape of too many colors ,sizes , contents etc , so more the variants more the chance of "mind 1 shelf 0 " phenomenon ,take a max of two winning variants , with proper demand forecasting

Here is the Latest Update on Indian Retail ....... Parliamentary panel also studying retail biz - Livemint Organised retail can be an ally in promoting food security for the - Hindu Business Line Subhiksha is India's most Trusted Retail Brand for 2008 - Moneycontrol.com (press release) Videocon plans major global retail foray under `VC` brand - Business Standard Reliance Retail close to break-even !- Livemint Indian retail market to be 6th largest by 2012 - Merinews Tata, HUL battle for branded tea mkt leadership - Financial Express Lee Cooper mulls 24 new stores - Financial Express Westside hums franchisee tune for stores expansion - Financial Express Reading the fine print of retail boom in India - Financial Express VF Corp not to buy out Arvind's stake in joint venture - Hindu Business Line Rel Retail in talks with food MNCs - Economic Times Enjoy !