Sales & MarketZing !

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 !

Along with all the social networking sites, there is a new wave of online shopping thats catching up , termed as " social shopping " it is nothing but the term to describe the gettting of like minded consumers on a single platform and harnesses their bargaining power , by the sheer number power . In its other avataars it uses the model of connecting to local retailers , and gets the best price comparison or it uses the price comparison and review mode . The most important marketing tool all these plaforms are trying to use is the much debated and discussed tool ,whose time has come , thanks to the internet ie WOM , word of mouth ! the platforms either give/or inform the "best deals off the street" . In the US of A , social shopping is already an established platform , the following are the sites the blog could dig out ThisNext.com : Users can browse recommended products, add them to their wish lists, recommend Crowdstorm.com : This site measures the buzz around

Like they say on TV this program is bought to you by ... its time we say that the republic day holidays is bought to us by Big Bazaar ! what was an one retailer initiative now has every retailer caught on to this fascination ,the long weekend this month till 26th January and the Big Bazaar original , sab se saaste 3 din ,is seeing clones left right and centre .The poor consumer is either confused with all the offers or would go to the original one, in this case Big Bazaar .Big Bazaar is estimated to be targeting round 300 crores from these 3 days nationally and thus the great surge in advertising spends too from them hope you have not missed their full page advts ! Come to think of it , its been a brilliant marketing move of creating the 26th January day as the cheapest price day for the year , considering what happened at Mumbai at the Big Bazaar stores , led to near riots ! What is good to note to see the spirit of do something big among retailers in these tough times . However the