The Game Changer is Here !

Here it is, today's print ad from KB's Fairprice, inviting store owners to join hands with the group and avail the benefits of an IT enabled, scale back - end, while ensuring a standardized front end and uniform shopping experience.

I have discussed the franchisee expansion model in my earlier posts here & here. 
I firmly believe that it has the power to address the job loss due to FDI in retail, and other theories that currently limit the growth of this channel - mainly due to lack of funds to expand the coverage network. 

Mr Biyani in his interview here  had mentioned the plan to expand store coverage in Delhi and Mumbai through a franchisee network. Today's ad has set the ball rolling. 

KB's Fairprice has a large store network in Delhi & Mumbai - this seems to be a first step in ramping it up nationally.

The website here details the fixed costs and up front investments. It also mentions the selection criteria, the application and training process (a 9 day orientation programme), P&L preparation and the obvious benefits of aligning with the brand. 

This truly is a game changing initiative - for two reasons - IMHO.
1) This is a "never before" shout out to retailers across the country - those who want to upgrade themselves, or would like to get the benefits of scale.
2) The clarity and transparent nature of the communication - to be sure, I checked the Nilgiris website also - since it runs on the franchisee model. KBFP's site wins hands down on this front. This is the first time that a large brand has spelt out so clearly what it wants from its partners - the last memorable example was skumars.com (clearly not so memorable now)

Will Mr Biyani & team be able to crack the code ? Will only ATL communication help ? Should they also roll out a retailer engagement plan / road show ? (maybe they have thought of it - it will happen only to the selected franchisees ? How will India's Kirana community respond ? What will be the impact on people like Araamshop.com ? 

A strangely intuitive feeling strikes me as write this - would it not help both KBFP & Araamshop to integrate their business models? Perhaps, at some stage they may even end up doing so - and I hope that I am proved right on that count as well ! 

Meandering Thoughts and the update..

Looking back at the older posts today, I realise how bad I have been at trying to plot a course for this blog, and sticking to it.


I started with a very grandiose vision of how I would like to discuss a plethora of ideas about Modern Retail in India.


Poor posting discipline meant that I was soon forced to lower my sights, and look at addressing specific themes for the month.


A few historical / nostalgic posts later, this blog had metamorphosed into a Modern Retail weekly round up and analysis bulletin.


Clearly, I am struggling to steer a course - no value judgements whether that's good or bad - its the fact, just as it is.


Maybe with enough time, I will be able to organize the content better into the streams that I had originally wanted to - or maybe something totally different will emerge - only time knows what's in store. I guess I should keep at writing new posts, and then we'll see where they go !


Today's weekly bulletin is short and sweet.


Google threw up a link to an interesting website called RetailDigital - a self styled Global Portal for retailers - India's equivalent is called IndiaRetailing
It has interesting tidbits of information about the retail domain - mostly UK centric, but with a sprinkling of international coverage as well.


India, with its burgeoning population (the glow sign at the AIIMS signal read 1.22 billion on Saturday!) is obviously one of the key markets and on the radar of the western media, especially the guys with the big bucks - who are looking to make killer investments.


The news article is about a research report that tries to explain the significance of the convenience format to India's retail sector - read the press release here. It tries to explain through scientific techniques of analysis how the cracking open the convenience format is going to be the key to retail success in India (the PR doesn't say so explicitly - this is purely my interpretation)

While it is not my intention to take a dig at the folks who do this for a living, or even diss their efforts, it is my humble opinion that such reports and analysis usually are prepared through a lot of data collection efforts.
Thus, they may or may not portray an accurate picture of reality, or even visualize the future correctly.
This is because, the quality and quantity of data reported in our great nation is usually suspect - as the goof ups  by the Planning Commision of India have shown us - with the Rs 32 per day estimate of not being poor enough !


So, possibly a better decision would be borne out of a diligent, 3-4 week trip across India, understand the consumer behaviour of the people, and then, marry these insights with data from such reports to possibly devise strategy (of course, the simpler solution is to read this blog !! :P) 


The other piece talks about the rapid growth of India's retail sector, thus increasing its attractiveness on the investment quotient, as well as having a long term impact on manpower requirement. An interesting bit of information is how the CBSE, India's biggest educational board, has included courses on retail management at school level.


Truly, this is a path breaking idea that can work wonders if implemented well. India's huge population needs more and more employment opportunities, and trained professionals will always be in ever increasing demand as the sector opens up and reforms.


That's all for tonight folks. A more detailed examination of certain ideas to follow.

A Random Reading List

What started with a bit of blog post statistics analysis soon turned to a Googling frenzy - First, to determine if this piece of authorship would feature even remotely on the Google radar - (alas, it didn't !) - and so, what does Google throw up when I type "FDI in Retail"...

This led me to an interesting web page hosted by The Hindustan Times at - http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/What-s-FDI-in-retail/Article1-775543.aspx. 

This page had links to other articles on the FDI in Retail issue, one of which was written by Mr Harsh Mariwala - the top boss at Marico Industries -  for the Economic Times :  http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-30/news/30458687_1_retail-chains-foreign-retailers-retail-fdi  -  It details out the impact of the retail revolution on job creation with relevant data, and also touches upon other relevant points of view in favour of this idea. 

As I was mulling over this, I realized that I had rather ambitiously somewhere in my earlier posts mentioned that I would talk about data and its impact on modern retail. 

And that in my enthusiasm to capture the history of modern retailing in India, I had completely missed this bit out. 

I then suddenly recalled a brilliant article on data mining, and how retailers in the west use it to gauge when female consumers could possibly be pregnant - yes, you read that right ! - and after some more mind search and googling, I found the link to - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all - truly an amazing piece of "detective work" if I may call it that..and the interesting thing here is that Indian retailers are not unaware of this and similar data related practices to track and predict consumption - two circumstantial pieces of evidence to support this notion - 

1) All modern retailers today try and push sell a loyalty / membership card - one that rewards the user with points for every purchase. This is precisely what is used to study and analyze consumer behaviour trends.Its not a bad thing, as it helps them to plan assortments, time new introductions, and even store lay outs in some cases.

2) That it is now being put into action was corroborated today, when a senior colleague received an SMS from Domidoesntknow's PizzaChain, saying that its been three months since he's visited them and how they would like to hear from him again - and all this while communicating a discount offer! 

So, if companies in India are now doing what is an already established practice in the evolved modern retail markets out west, what are they doing to survive and thrive, given the difficult times they seem to be facing. 

Cue - to the second interesting article which was discovered amidst the frenzy..http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6944.html - highlighting how JC Penney is attempting to re-invent itself, in order to be more competitive in the future...

That's all for today guys - no weekend off this week again, so I have to end it now. 

Cheers !