Sales & MarketZing !

Its said that in all marketing driven domains ,understanding the mind of the consumer is the key , its easier said than done, as the classic cliche goes no two human beings are the same , but the blogs guess is that consumers can be identified as 80 % same in terms of their wants and needs , lets keep the balance 20 % misfits out of the discussion set . So what do the 80 % consumer want in his / her shopping which should be useful for the retailers . i ) My kind of stuff : Consumers don't know what is the science behind the retailers mix planning etc , however the consumers expect that the Merchandise mix in the store is the kind that he /she needs plus does it drive an impulse decision ! a lot of shopping decisions are taken by consumers ,without a plan in mind so the retailers ability to have the right mix is the key in driving items into the shopping bags , if its a planned shopping from the consumer side , then not finding what you wanted is a disaster in the making which is

If reports are to be believed bedroom shopping !( online shopping ) /e commerce sites have had a field day during the Diwali period , and post that , currently India is going thru the early pains of the slow down , the real pain is yet to come in ! the mother of all business channels ,ie CNBC is a pain to watch these days as the bad news never ends , to compound the retailer problem is a great terror factor ie currently on , more due to the second reason ie terror and to some extent the traffic scene in most cities , e commerce is slowly but surely growing . Of late , we have seen a flurry of launches in the e retail space , so why are businesses gungho about web space ? Context !Post the dotcom bust , yes u are left wondering how did people dream of dotcom 6 years back with such poor Internet backbone available in the country . The estimated broadband figures in the country is just at 4+ million ,ie reported , this number would be slightly higher if you were to add the cable Internet

Esprit to expand to 21 cities in three years - Economic Times Plethico buys 20% in CIS pharma co - Economic Times Premium luxury brands affected - Economic Times No need to worry about the outsourcing industry - Economic Times A shade better: Fashion eyewear - Economic Times Over 400 brands may check in at Delhi's new airport - Economic Times Global luxury brands feel realty heat - Economic Times 'Organised retail will help develop domestic market' - Financial Express India ranks 31st on the list of top 50 most expensive global ... - Financial... India: Slump may delay Carrefour's India retail plan by one year - FreshPlaza Realty developers may go for revenue sharing model - Hindu Reliance to reopen petrol pumps soon - Hindu Delhi airport to invite bids for retail space - Hindu Look no further !

.. considering the alround gloom in the environment , which the blog feels is primarily driven by the stock market crash ,maybe due to the fact that its ( indices ) the only indicator that you see reported daily ! god only knows where has the Indian growth story of 8% to 9 % gone suddenly , anyways coming back to the retail scene , the premium retailers are having a harrowing time for sure , with the fall in the traffic ,obviously with the rate of pink slips going up everywhere the last thing on ones mind would be Shopping , that too premium stuff .So with sell outs under pressure , sell ins is bound to be lesser so its going to bea tangle of inventory and payments between the retailers and suppliers .Retailers like others must be praying that time change for good soon . But if there is a retailer format that would be enjoying the time then that would be the value retailers plus the essential item format ( of course one cant live without food and essentials ) so you walk in to a big ba

Tara Ultimo plans to roll out 50 new retail outlets across country ... - TopNews Retail Industry in India will hit $50 billion by 2011, says New Report - PRLog.Org (press release) Mall owners opt for revenue sharing model as rentals fall - Hindu Business Line Rosebys rolls out India retail plan, signs up Soha Ali Khan - Economic Times Espr it gears up to take 51% in JV with Madura - Economic Times Govt keen on 49 pc FDIin multi-brand retail - Indian Express Coffee Day eyes 900 outlets by April 2009 - Moneycontrol.com Look no further !

As we head to the great Indian shopping festival( D iwali ) period, with the environment not looking great considering the pressure on the economy the great stock market crash ,the pink slip factor ,suddenly the liquidity factor which seemed an over created media monster has started hitting your wallet too , its time maybe the Indian retailers think of these questions now ! why can't retailers say YES to customers always : Although this is a board room discussion point , not many retailers on the ground have implemented a "visible " differentiated service policy , each time there is an issue the consumer is made to go from one department to another . Its time that retailers should understand that in this low traffic period SERVICE would be a long term differentiator ! The blog is not saying that one should open its door to everything but making visible efforts in saying YES to most times to consumer queries /requests ,we Indians are Not yet bothered about great servi

Reliance may merge retail arms to beat slowdown- Retailing ... Retail Rush-Specials-The Economic Times Affordability holds the key - Economic Times Retailers defer expansion plans - Economic Times Falling Re may hike prices - Economic Times Retailers celebrate Navratras - Economic Times Rosebys rolls out India retail plan, signs up Soha Ali Khan - Economic Times Live demos to help navigate through latest handsets - Economic Times 'Organised, unorganised retailers can co-exist in India' - Economic Times Rosebys rolls out India retail plan - Hindu Hanung Retail plans 50 stores in this fiscal - Hindu Business Line Citizen Watches to invest Rs 20 cr in India - Hindu Business Line Organised retail to form 18% of overall retail pie: McKinsey - Hindu Business Line -----Look NO FURTHER !