lifestyle

April 15 2019

Can “Rent the Runway” become the Netflix of fashion world?

Rent the Runway wants to become Netflix of the fashion world.

My previous article highlighted as to how Instagram has given birth to new companies in the world of fashion. One such example is “Rent the Runway” company, which aims to become the next Netflix of the fashion world.

I shall summarize the business model of this company as a case study here.

Read my article on How Instagram is disrupting the fashion world, by clicking here.

Case study: Rent the Runway.

Insight for the business concept came from the fact that today Instagram is fueling the desires and aspirations to look good, fashionable amongst the millennials and in order to satisfy this urge, millennials have started misusing the return policy of most of the fashion brands.

Rent the runway adopts Netflix business model

It rents out designer clothes from some 500 different brands to subscribers who pay a monthly fee, allowing them to borrow a high-end wardrobe for much less than it would cost to actually buy.

The business model is based on a subscription model which Netflix has mastered.

Commercial result:

Company registered a sales of 100 million USD last year and showing a significant increase in its profitability.

Consumer’s insight:

Young women often faced the dilemma of buying expensive designer dresses which they would only wear once, especially after photos of them wearing these dresses were posted on social media. To resolve this dilemma, Hyman and Fleiss (founders of Rent the runway) decided to create a platform to make luxury brands accessible to everyone through rental.

What makes Rent the runway different from other fashion e-commerce companies?

In a recent interview, Jennifer Hyman (founder of Rent the runway) stated “We’re not in the fashion business. We’re in the fashion-technology-engineering-supply chain-operations-reverse logistics-dry cleaning-analytics business.”

This statement is so true that how technology has pivoted a simple fashion business model into tech-driven, analytical driven, reverse logistics operation model.

Pillars for success:

Partnership or collaborations with leading fashion houses and designers.
Take good care of the dresses to maximize their useful life and minimize inventory to drive sales.
Fittings: To help customers navigate the 65,000 items in its inventory and identify the best fit, they created “Our Runway”, a section on the website where customers can see how other customers, not models, look in a dress.
Logistics support in order fulfillment, the system tracks items coming in and out and prioritizes orders, taking into consideration the time required for dry cleaning and any repairs.
Reverse logistics if any altercations needed, dry cleaning, etc and bringing back the merchandise back in the warehouse. To optimize, Rent the runway has in-house laundry services as well. The dresses are steam pressed, re-inspected, bagged, and mailed to the next customer. 60% of dresses are back out of the door on the same day.

Lead generation:

Use of fashionistas and bloggers to drive the brand awareness of renting a designer dress. You get to subscribe 3-4 dresses a month. They have multiple subscription levels and depending on customer’s preference they can select the option.

Data analysis:

Rent the Runway analyzes an enormous amount of data on customer preferences, renting behaviors, and feedback to consistently improve its inventory selection and rental process.

They feed these data insights to brands and designers which helps them to come up with their new collections in next season. Its a win-win model for both the company and their fashion houses.

Will this model affect Fast fashion retailers like Forever 21, Zara, Uniqlo, etc?

Rent the runway has started their collaborations with upcoming fashion designers offering fast fashion trendy clothing on rentals.

They have introduced a low fee subscription model. Pay USD 80/- per month to get 4 fast fashion trendy dresses per month on rentals. The rental duration is approx. 4-7days.

Combined with accessories to glamorize the outfit.

Response towards fast fashion needs to be monitored. This trend would affect fast fashion retailers to adapt to newer buying cycle or patterns of the new customers.

Conclusion:

We all are living in an exciting era wherein no two days are the same in the field of business. Keeping yourself abreast of the latest developments has become a necessity. Thanks to the internet, it is disrupting all the sectors.

Watch out my next article as to why brands are shying away from social media. I shall publish mid-May month.

If any of my retail fraternity members need any help from my end to transform their retail vision into reality then feel free to write to me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com.

References:

TechCrunch.

[2] Rent the Runway – How it Works.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Ritesh has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

January 26 2019

Does digital marketing make sense for Luxury Brands?

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In recent research on digital marketing trends on Luxury brands by McKinsey reported that 80% of luxury sales are now influenced by online.

This is a staggering figure, and clearly highlights the important role digital marketing now plays within a luxury purchase.

One point of caution here is that the digital revenue at the majority of luxury brands still contributes little in comparison to other sales channels.

2018 may have been a challenging year for luxury and overall retail sector, but there were a few luxury brands who certainly knew how to invest their marketing dollars despite the challenges.

My article is my attempt to highlight key digital campaigns and activation’s done by Luxury brands.

So what makes a digital campaign or activation successful?

Experiential marketing that taps into the desires of its consumers, not only by gadgets or tech stuff but by instilling a deep sense of belief in consumer’s mind as to what your core brand purpose and for what it stands for. This forms the basic premise for any Brand Positioning.

(I had previously written an article on 4 Must do’s for luxury brand marketing, check it out here.)

Case study 1: Mikimoto campaign “Pearl of wisdom”

The brand core purpose is “to adorn the necks of every woman around the world with pearls”. That was the vision of founder, Kokichi Mikimoto.

Mikimoto, the over 100-year-old Japanese jewelry brand, launched their digital campaign, featuring seven self-made women, each offering their “pearls of wisdom” on their accomplishments, achievements and life experiences.

Result: From models and designers to entrepreneurs and activists, each shares their thoughts on what being original means and the women they’re inspired by, striking a chord with the feminist times

Case study 2: Lacoste timeless love

This luxury brand knows how to keep up with the times while maintaining high standards for quality.

Staying current yet defending their classic aesthetic is what led to the creation of “Timeless”.

A film in which a young man chases a woman throughout a train. As the train moves, and the two individuals run from carriage to carriage, their outfits and hair change, as they travel through time, jumping from decade to decade, representing the timelessness of the Lacoste style.

The brand ran the video snippets on Instagram stories.

However, with a large percentage of shoppers now being influenced and even making decisions based on what they see online – social is a hugely important tool for luxury brands looking to deepen consumer engagement.

So what is making luxury brands successful in their digital activation’s?

One common thread in these brands using digital marketing i.e.

Optimized (video) content:

While image and text-based content are effective, video content can be far more so when it comes to generating engagement on social.

Platform (social) specific content for audience engagement:

Limited use of social platforms.

Used extensively Instagram and Youtube and social influencers. Check Chanel using influencer in one of their brand campaigns

Chanel posts consistently on YouTube in particular, using the platform for narrative-led, feature film content. Its first – ‘The One That I Want’ starring Gisele Bundchen has amassed over 18 million views to date.

Alongside celebrity-driven campaigns, the brand also uses video for more behind-the-scenes content, such as its ‘Inside Chanel’ series, which is designed to remind consumers of the brand’s long history and unique vision.

Retain exclusivity

Just because luxury brands are embracing social media doesn’t mean they have to become mass-market.

Chanel is a great example of how to retain a sense of exclusivity, as well as how to capitalize on it to make users feel important and valued.

Conclusion:

When marketing luxury products, photographs & videos are one of the best mediums for evoking the aspirational emotions that we connect with driving a luxury vehicle, wearing designer clothing, or experiencing something exclusive.

Visual social networks like Pinterest, Instagram stories, FB Live represent a huge opportunity for luxury brands to raise brand awareness and advocacy.

I would be writing another article on “why people buy luxury” shortly as a part of my luxury brand initiative.

I would be more than happy to share my learning on Luxury retailing with my connections, friends, business owners who believe in following unconventional norms and want break-through solutions and strategies for their products. You can reach me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com

References:
mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/luxury-in-the-age-of-digital-darwinism

digiday.com/marketing/luxury-brands-still-hire-chief-digital-officers/

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

January 15 2019

7 Management Lessons for building key leadership skills

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As I write this article i.e. Management lessons that can transform you into a leader. These Management lessons are my learnings & interpretation from the book “who will cry when you die?” by Robin Sharma.

By clicking the article link, you all have decided to live your life by choice rather than by chance.

Find your purpose or Why

There is a Sanskrit saying “when you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die, the world cries while you rejoice.”

Every one of us is born with something special, may it be a particular skill or in-born talent or some kind of creative passion, may it be sports, music or literature.

It is our responsibility to identify our core strengths by introspecting ourselves and make it our Unique Selling Proposition.

Master one trick or skill that would make you stand apart.

As there is a statement in a book “Art of war”; don’t fear a boxer/fighter who tried 100 kinds of punches 10,000 times but definitely fear a boxer who had practiced one particular kind of punch, 10,000 times.

Don’t spend too much time thinking about an idea or concept but work towards converting that idea into a prototype and then finally pivot to an actual working product. Be always Action oriented.

Maintain a diary

Write about your mistakes- you made and good things in a diary daily.

Mention your learnings from each of these experiences (mistakes and successes). You will notice that over a period of time you would start making lesser mistakes and it would result in overall self-development.

Maintain a morning schedule:

Your morning decides as to how your day would go.

Start your day with positive thoughts, positive wisdom quotes and try to get into habit of waking up early. Early start of the day gives you a head start Vis a Vis your peers and fellow team members.

Be creative like a child

Focus on resources that you have rather than constraints.

Observe a child eating bread, they would eat the soft middle portion and would leave the hard side crusts. Working under constraints makes you to think harder and come up with creative solutions.

Take risks

Overcome fear of failure by taking action and avoid procrastinating on any idea. All the great inventors or geniuses were inspired to make the lives of other people more productive and enriched.

Try to do things that you always wanted to do and don’t even think of failures. Yes failures are the steps in the process of achieving success.

Remember, Failures are nothing but success delayed.

You are bound to achieve success with your persistence and hard work and resilience.

Keep Focus

I had previously written an article on developing a habit of saying No in order to stay focused, click here

To be successful, you need 3 core ingredients hard work, Persistence, and Resilience.

Take one step a day towards your goal daily.

If you want to lose weight, you join Gym, you would not lose weight by exercising 5 hours daily but you will see significant weight loss, if you exercise 30 mins daily consistently for over 6 months without any breaks or loss of momentum.

Make a mastermind alliance

Most of the successful people create a mastermind alliance with a group of like-minded people who are tied by similar values, similar philosophies. The alliance is all about mutual benefits so you must be able to give as much as you expect to receive. Discuss the challenges that you are facing and ask for the group’s input. It is what I call collaborative learning approach.

I hope my article would help aspiring entrepreneurs, corporate managers to think and invest in self-learning to realize their goals & aspirations.

Check out the video by Robin Sharma

I can be reached on riteshmohan@yahoo.com, in case any of my retail fraternity member needs my help with any of their retail issues or problems. I would be more than glad to help my fraternity members with my wisdom.

Reference book: “who would cry, when you die” by Robin Sharma.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Ritesh has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

January 6 2019

What is the Business Model of food delivery apps?

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Background of Food Delivery apps

Food delivery apps or food-tech is no longer a cliché and is one of the most used services in the world today.

With the advent of technology especially mobile apps, these food delivery apps have tapped on the “convenience” factor and are one of the fastest-growing sectors in food-tech business.

Food delivery apps are mainly lead/order generation and logistics aggregator in the foodservice space.

Curiosity seeks information

I am writing this article based on my personal preferences and habits wherein ordering food online or through an app using food delivery apps like Swiggy, Zomato, talabat, Ubereats, deliveroo has become a norm for me, whether it is just a casual dining option or ordering food for family get-togethers, I have become habitual of using these food delivery apps.

Being a curious person, I wanted to study as to how these food delivery apps make money, what is their business model?

I have deeply researched this subject and found some interesting facts.

I am sharing these facts and my learnings on this topic since it is an interesting sector that has evolved in the last 5 years or so.

Thanks of course to technology and let me also highlight that it has provided jobs to several people and provided them with a steady income.

Hence this food-tech is not only creating additional jobs but contributing to the overall socio-economic foundation.

Interesting stats for food delivery apps:

As per statista.com, the market size of food delivery apps in the United Arab Emirates will be worth about 13.2 billion U.S. dollars in the UAE by the end of 2018.

26% of people order food online at least once a week while another 24% do so two or three times a week.

The surge in food delivery apps in recent years is a clear signal of their success.

This sector is working on one premise, “fulfilling your craving for food by providing your desired food at your doorstep in the most convenient and time-saving manner”.

What led to the growth of food delivery apps?

The restaurant business involves high investments in space and equipment. Operating expenses are also high, with raw material contracts and staff — for every minute these aren’t utilized, they lose value and hit margins.

The only way to make money is to ensure a growing number of orders – that’s where food tech or food delivery apps come to their rescue.

Restaurant sector forms a part of an unorganized sector wherein there are big restaurant chains (dominated by MNCs) and various small restaurant owners & cafeterias who cater to their close proximity customers by delivering ordered food through their own carrier, most of the time a delivery boy using a bicycle.

Food delivery apps have given these small restaurants an opportunity to reach wider geographies and increase their top line orders.

As per statistical data in India alone, Zomato has recently crossed the three million deliveries a month mark.

This is in just two years since launching the meal delivery service.

It has 25,000 restaurants on its platform in India, including 7,500 that are exclusively available only on Zomato.

Modes of revenue for food delivery apps:

Commission from Restaurants:

The commissions earned from restaurants form the primary source of revenue for these food delivery app companies.

The quantum of the commission depends upon a lot of factors which include the value of the order as well as the location and popularity of the restaurant.

All these food Apps charge a commission to the restaurant between 22–30% on each order placed. The discounts are extended by the restaurants individually.

Swiggy, Zomato, and Ubereats also charge an additional amount for ads within their platforms for the positioning of a restaurant in a particular category.

Featured Lists:

These food delivery apps charge restaurant fees for featuring them in their curated list of restaurants on their app/website.

Being featured on such curated lists often helps these restaurants find more business.

Daily deals:

These food delivery apps, especially Swiggy & Zomato tie-up with the restaurants by offering a deal on one of the best dishes that a particular restaurant has to offer at throwaway prices. These apps promote them on their deal pages and orders are generated and passed onto the restaurants who use the principle of upselling the side dish orders or beverages with the deal or discounted dish. It offers win-win solution to both customers and restaurant owners. Higher the ticket price, more commission for the food delivery apps.

White labeling:

Another one which not many may be aware of. In India, Swiggy has entered into white labeling restaurants.

Products are sold with Swiggy branding, and the restaurant has no existence for the client. Swiggy generates great revenue for them and takes care of most hassles. A home run for the ones who wish to only generate revenue.

Are Food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy making money?

Here comes the most difficult trivia, a question that most of the finance professionals in food business hate to answer.

Foodtech startups follow a premise that roti (food), kapda(clothes) aur makaan (home) could never go out of demand, but over time many of them faced an early death.

By 2016, several food startups – TinyOwl, and EatOnGo – were out of the fray; Only the ones with deeper pockets and funding have survived the bloodbath.

However, there are only a few players like Ubereats, Zomato, Talabat, Swiggy who survived the first stage.

Investors, Venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs have burnt their fingers and realized that food is a tough business.

The way forward: Recipe for success

With all the funding’s, the most crucial aspect of food delivery app would be

Last-mile deliveries

(Want to learn more about last-mile logistics? click here)

Hub & spoke model:

Both Zomato and Swiggy have also launched the cloud kitchen vertical, where the company provides the space and sets up a physical kitchen for participating restaurants that just have to get the food made and fulfill deliveries.

Whether these food tech or food delivery apps make a profit in years to come, only time will tell.

Currently, they all depend on VC funding based on valuations and top-line order generation.

Check out this interesting video which would summarize my article holistically.

I would like to end my article by a wonderful quote by Virginia Woolf

“One cannot think well, Love well, sleep well if one has not dined well”.

Quote summarizes the future of food delivery apps and their usage going forward.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion, and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Ritesh has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

December 26 2018

What is Trend-Jacking?

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Trend-Jacking – The Background

‘Trend-jacking’ the word sounds so scary (resembling word hijacking).

Trend-jacking is a terminology used by social media content writers or digital marketers as they try to optimize their post or article with the trending topics, or trending hashtags (#).

Last week, I was in discussion with a leading social media influencer & PR professional and she narrated this secret of hers in getting more likes and followers for her blog and articles.

Deep diving into the topic, raised my curiosity about the topic ‘Trend-jacking’.

In simple words, trend-jacking is simply the act of capitalizing on an existing trend in order to bolster one’s brand in the marketplace.

Do you want to know which are the most memorable ads from Made in India brands, click here?

How is trend-jacking impacting our digital reach?

In times wherein ROI (return of investment) is the buzzword amongst marketers, there is a huge pressure on the digital content people to deliver maximum reach for their message or post in minimum investment. Trend-jacking offers a piggyback ride to content managers and SEO specialists to drive more eyeballs onto the post or article.

Staying more visible is the need for many brands.

Brands are all vying for a pie of mind space in the consumer’s mind in order to increase their brand recall.

These days, people expect more from advertising. With brands so accessible to people through social media, audiences are responding to socially intelligent brands.

A key element to trend-jacking is playing with current trends whether socio-economical, socio-political, sports or any current affairs.

Check out the adverts using this concept.

If you see, most of the most successful brands have been using this concept of trend-jacking for ages. I would like to quote my favorite brand Amul using this concept for ages.

I would give credit to their creative agency (da Cunha & associates) for using this concept in the 1980’s itself and kept the brand alive and relevant to its consumers even today.

Check out the commercials for Amul below:

Another brand using this concept of trend-jacking very effectively is Durex.

Check out their hilarious commercials that get trolled and trended in social media.

durex

Should your brand be using trend-jacking?

If your sole objective is to boost the views by riding the wave of the trend and spamming the feeds of the social audience then my advice is NO.

But if your objective is to customize your brand’s communication to relate to existing trending topics by making your brand’s communication more relevant towards the trend, then YES it does make sense to use it.

Watch Amazon’s Alexa advertisement during Super Bowl- Alexa lost its voice.

To end the article, I would like to reiterate that there is nothing wrong with capturing a trend and reinventing it as your own.

Just make sure doing so adds value to your Brand Promise. The key lies in knowing your brand values and (with a little luck) striking with impeccable timing.

In case any of my readers want to relook at their creative communication strategy, please feel free to write to me at riteshmohan@yahoo.com . I would be more than happy to share my insights with my fraternity members.

About the author:

December 17 2018

How advertising influence buying behavior?

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The primary function of advertising is to influence and trigger “call to action” amongst its consumers to buy something.

Advertising is an art of persuasion.

Understanding how persuasion techniques are used in advertising is a science to reckon.

Persuasion techniques can be either rational, irrational or emotional or combination of all three.

I am inspired to write this article post my recent Diwali vacation in India, I observed a strong trend in the market i.e. “Popular Indian sweets were replaced by chocolates.”

During Diwali, I received gifts from my friends and family members and there was one common factor running through most of the gifts i.e. chocolates.

My curiosity increased as these chocolates were both Indian and international.

Chocolates like Ferrero Rocher, wrapped in golden foil resembled popular Indian sweet called Ladoo, were selling like hot cakes.

On the other hand, there was virtually no Indian mithai, amongst the Diwali gifts I received this year.

(Read my article “most memorable ads from India”, click here )

So what caused this change in consumer buying pattern and habits?

Exposure to International advertising/ products and trends:

Chocolates are no longer merely kid stuff, which used to limit their appeal terribly. Brands such as Cadbury and Snickers, Amul have re-positioned chocolates as adult snacking options, which has brought in a fresh hunger for these products.

Almost all International brands like Lindt, Godiva, are now available in Indian cities. The economic and cultural growth also contributed in changing the trends, today middle income group has more money at their disposal than what they used to have 10-15 years back.

Indian youth today loves to experiment with products and are readily embracing western trends. They may look Indian but from their heart, they are very westernized and open in their thoughts.

Fake or spurious ingredients used in excess in traditional sweets

Despite strict food regulations, small-town traders & sweet shops use spurious ingredients in the production of traditional sweets which causes various health complications on consumption.

Tapping of Emotions by advertisers

Mithai or sweets are synonymous with Happiness or special occasions.

Festivals, celebrations, traditional occasions like (childbirth, success in exams etc) are never in short supply in India.

Brands like Cadbury capitalized on this trend and change in consumption patterns and came up with a masterstroke communication strategy called “ Kuch metha ho jaaye”.

Endorsed by film actors and superstars, advertising helped the brand Cadbury to enter every Indian household, every festival, every occasion of happiness.

Tapping your hunger by providing you indulging snack on the go.

Brand Snickers recently emphasized this through its “Who are you when you’re hungry” campaign, based on the insight that hunger is relevant for everyone, regardless of age or mindset.

Communicating Health benefits of chocolates – More than symbol of love and affection

It is proven scientific fact that indulging in chocolate especially dark chocolates has some health benefits.

Check the article highlighting the benefits of chocolates

I am not promoting any chocolate brand nor its consumption but my intention is to drive a fact that how advertising when coupled with consumer’s insights (thanks to consumer research) not only create a demand for a category but also changes its consumer’s behavior and provide them with alternative product to become a part of their festivities and happy occasions.

Successful companies aim to build strong relationships with consumers so they can retain those consumers as long-term customers and maximize revenue opportunities.

I cannot end this article without showing this funny commercial of a chocolate brand which uses humor/ fun as an engagement hook.

It is the power of advertising that makes a western dominated category like chocolate to shed their western layers and become an integral part of Indian festivities and households.

I hope my experience and learning about how advertising influences behaviors would help and guide my fellow marketers who are on their way to carving a niche for their brands.

In case if any of my readers, need my help or inputs to carve out a communication strategy for their brands then I can be reached on riteshmohan@yahoo.com.

It would be my pleasure to help my marketing fraternity in growing the overall industry.

References: Book “storm the norm” by Anisha Motwani; Cadbury’s commercials on youtube, economic times.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 19 years in the retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, Business Management & Empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

December 11 2018

3 Retail Trends & Brands to watch out in 2019

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One common question that everyone keeps posting at me is “What are upcoming retail trends and brands to watch out in 2019?” . So here I am penning down my views on retail trends in 2019.

(I am taking a global perspective since there is a lot that the Middle Eastern retailers & mall owners could learn from our western counterparts).

I had earlier written about the store trends that are coming in future, in case you have missed reading that article then click here

Retail Trends

Reverse trend of online traffic diverting into the Physical store

According to Google, 75% of shoppers are more likely to visit Brick & mortar stores if they find helpful local retail information in online search results.

In fact, some of the biggest players in the industry are spending billions of dollars to remodel their existing shops, hoping to lure customers inside with more modern fixtures, easier checkout options, and online order pickup kiosks.

Today, If you ask any big brick & mortar Retailer as to who is their biggest competitor, the answer would be undoubted “Amazon.com”.

The real fact is actually that, Amazon.com is itself investing heavily in its own real estate and opening stores ranging from its cashier-less “Go” convenience shops, novelty “4 Star” locations and bookstores.

It’s also shaking up the grocery industry with its acquisition of Whole Foods, pushing companies like Kroger to think outside the box.

Those of you don’t know about retail brand Kroger then let me enlighten you by saying that Kroger is the biggest supermarket chain by revenue in the United States of America.

Customer Delight through more Immersive experience

Stores of the future will be much smaller in size and lesser in its footprints but the stores would be more Impactful and powerful with limited assortments and would provide an online experience which would carry the entire merchandise mix.

In a recent news, brands like Ikea, Target, Kohl’s and Macy’s — are shrinking their existing full-size stores or experimenting with opening up smaller-format locations in densely populated markets such as Manhattan, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Ikea is experimenting with his new concept called “Planning studio” wherein shoppers can pick out items they want to be delivered to their homes. It will offer lower-priced shipping and delivery for city dwellers, in addition to assembly services, help with financing and a buy online & pick up in store option.

“Bounce rate” to make its entry in the Physical store

As an online retail terminology, wherein its digital marketer’s nightmare to reduce the bounce rate of their website, the same trend is seen coming into physical retail wherein brands want to engage its customers and want them to increase their dwelling times in-stores. Hence you would see the concept of cafes, lounges, and co-working spaces entering into the physical department stores.

Brands to watch out in 2019.

Walmart.

It’s my personal favorite as well.

I had written a case study in my previous article on Walmart and Innovation which forms its core DNA. Click here in case you want to know more about Walmart.

Walmart is remodeling its 500 odd stores with self-checkout kiosks, better assortment keeping the promise alive i.e. every day low prices.

The retailer has recently rolled out a new app, called “Dotcom Store,” that gives its employees the ability to order items on the spot for shoppers when they can’t find something on shelves.

That’s what I call innovation in providing its customer a reason to shop at Walmart.

Ikea

Experimenting its new concept of Omni retailing with “ Planning studios” would be an interesting thing to watch out.

The retailer is already creating waving reviews with the introduction of AI-based machine learning systems and providing a user-friendly Augmented reality app for its consumers.

Aldi

In the midst of the so-called grocery wars, discount retailer Aldi is spending $5.3 billion in the U.S. over the course of five years to build roughly 800 new stores, remodel older ones and stock shelves with new items.

By 2022 and with 2,500 locations by then, Aldi is expected to hold the title of the third-largest grocer in the country by store count, trailing only Walmart and Kroger.

Aldi’s goal is to increase fresh food in stores, selling more organic options.

Primark

I had written a case study on Primark earlier, click here to learn more.

With 161 UK-based stores, value-oriented fashion retailer Primark is driving its international store network across America and Europe, as well as investing in its customer experience and service.

I would like to end my article with a wonderful quote which is so apt in its wordings…

“The Past cannot be changed. The Future is yet in your power.”

I would like to thank all my readers’ compliments of the season and Merry Christmas.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

November 4 2018

How malls & retailers could benefit from digital receipts?

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The biggest challenge for any mall management today is to drive footfalls into their tenant’s shops and add value to their tenant’s business. The answer lies in digital receipts or e-receipts.

Digital receipts or E-receipts which is the bi-product of Big data or Artificial intelligence & Machine learning algorithms can offer some relief to mall’s dwindling footfalls and also help retailers to fight against the retail apocalypse phenomenon.

At a recently concluded retail conference in Dubai, the sentiment across the retail fraternity was how to sustain their operations and retail foot-prints without depleting their profit margins.

Interested to know the future of retail stores, click here.

Background:

Lets first all understand that retail is not dying but bad retail is certainly dying.

Brands which refuse to adapt themselves to changing consumer’s buying behavior would vanish.

According to the latest research, the most successful retailers are the ones focused on using technology to become better retailers — not just better innovators.

Being first is not important but being fast in your actions determines your success in new age economics.

The premise of Digital receipts or E-receipts:-

Personalized Communication:

Thirty-five percent of shoppers say they’re more likely to purchase from a retailer that sends personalized advertising, and 36% want more customized experiences. Source: Masters of the Top Four Retail Tech Trends

Your receipt or printed invoice hold the tremendous potential of data analytics and customer insights and this forms the key basis or premise of digital receipts.

Digital receipts can now power up your digital marketing program like never before.

How it works

At the most basic level, this is how digital receipts work at the point of purchase:

Upon checkout, the cashier normally handover the printed invoice to the customer or even asks if the customer would like a digital receipt or both.
If the customer chooses a digital receipt, then the cashier simply enters the customer’s email address or telephone number and the system delivers the receipt to the customer’s email inbox or on to phone using text message.
Data from the transaction (including the shopper’s email address, tel no) is captured in the digital receipt system, and all of that data can be used for current and future marketing programs.

Today digital receipts Technology uses advanced AI/ML and advance data analytics based product that helps retailers in-

Build next-generation CRM for customer segmentation and personalized engagement based on sales data.
Increase customer footfalls.
Increase revenue per basket size
Optimize and forecast inventory based on sales and external factors.

Why mall owners or retailers are not using technology?

Lack of IT know- how:

Malls & Retailers still spends in millions to get the software developed for their malls/ brands but they tend to forget or ignore the basic fundamentals of retail i.e. Increase your bottom line by making the existing consumer shop more within your mall.

This is where robust CRM systems and digital receipts come to play.

Human psychology:

We tend to find an easier way to do things, increasing customer footfalls in a mall is an easier route out for most marketers but that’s marketing Myopia of a digital age.

It’s always cheaper to sell or upsell to your existing customer rather than acquiring a new one.

Benefits of Digital receipts or E-receipts machine learning software:

Fast – In 30 minutes the complete system is up and running
Seamless – No deep CRM/API integration required
Works with any windows based billing software.
Secure sales transaction Data Capture
Enhanced brand value via enrichment and promotional messages on e-receipts.

Today’s Challenge:

The challenge for businesses lies in how to harness, make sense of, and use this information to generate some form of competitive advantage.

Any retailer or mall owner who wants to understand as to how they need to increase their footfalls without making a big hole in their pockets are most welcomed to contact me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com .

I would be more than glad to help my retail fraternity with my retail wisdom and retail fundamentals & would guide them to test the technology by using pilot testing programs. Feel free to reach out to me for any cutting edge solutions or ideas.

A case study of a brand using the power of AI and Machine learning:

Brand: Third love (lingerie online retailer)

This online retailer has built USD 750 Million business by exposing the weakness of Victoria’s secrets brand.

How do they do it?

ThirdLove’s big difference from the other start-ups, including True & Co. & Adore Me, is its use of voluminous amounts of data—600 million data points such as breast shape, cup fit and band tightness from over 11 million women that it has culled from an online questionnaire—to create better-fitting bras, especially by pioneering the use of half-sizes.

Thirdlove acquired Indi Custom, an app that made custom jeans by taking measurements, in 2013, even before launching the first product.

They tweaked Indi’s technology to focus on bra fit and created the ThirdLove app, which took two photos of users in their underwear or in form-fitting clothing to calculate body size and churn out a bra size recommendation.

The process is similar to that of high-tech makers of custom suits and 3-D-printed shoes work their magic i.e. using technology to predict the correct size.

Customer friendly approach:

For the cost of shipping, ThirdLove sends customers a bra they can take the tags off of and wear for 30 days. If a customer doesn’t like it, she can send it back for free.

Result:

Using technology & AI algorithms, Thirdlove brand is today valued at USD 750 million and still growing.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

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October 20 2018

Visual Merchandising- A Tactical Tool in Retail management

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Visual Merchandising as we all know it as “silent salesman” in retail. My article is in continuation to my earlier blog on the Visual merchandising which got an overwhelming response from my followers and connections.

Check the link by clicking here

Importance of Visual merchandising cannot be ignored especially in turbulent times wherein the stores need customer footfalls in order to get sales and justify sales per sqm criteria.

In this article, I shall highlight the importance of storytelling concept using visual merchandising.

The foremost thing to remember is that people may not remember your advertising messages but they shall remember visuals if presented in a well-structured manner. That is the premise of Visual merchandising storytelling concept.

Narrate your story (concept) through color coding or blocks:

Contrasting colors help customers to take notice by drawing their eye to the display.

It’s not only bold colors that attract attention – a simple black and white display could generate customers’ interest.

Create Hot spots within the store

As per research study, hot spots can increase sales by 229%, retailers should pay attention to where the customer’s eye will be drawn to in their store.

Successful visual merchandising should lead your customer to the items you want them to take notice of. Make your products the central part of your Visual story.

hot spots in store — creating focal points or hot spots in the store.

Integrate your sensory powers

We all know that almighty has given us the power to see, taste and smell and hear. Try to integrate these sensory powers in your visual story to create a long-lasting impact on customers.

Smell is the first of our senses to develop in the evolutionary chain. 75% of our emotions are generated by what we smell.

Researches have shown a 40% improvement in our mood when we’re exposed to a pleasant fragrance. A lot of perfumeries worldwide opt for sampling their fragrances using incense burners in order to entice consumers into their stores and setting a mood for them to shop.

Music is another way to increase the power of your visual merchandising. Music helps to solidify the visuals of your brand and create the right atmosphere in your store.

Use your creativity in an art form

Visual merchandising using art as an art form to highlight the key products. This is most commonly seen in fashion boutiques and hi-end shops.

Visual merchandising is indeed an art form.

Grouping of products

Grouping products help the story-telling aspect of retail visual merchandising. Place products that complement each other to encourage cross-selling. For instance, a bag can be grouped with shoes, trousers and a top to show the customer what a complete outfit will look like.

Recently malls in the Middle East are following this trend wherein they accentuate the seasonal theme into story telling format highlighting the products of their participating tenants thus providing tenants much needed support to push up the sales.

These are some of the few Visual tricks to attract and engage the customers to your store.

To end my article I would like to summarize the whole role of merchandising in retail including Visual merchandising with a video.

Hope it would help you to narrate your retail story visually.

If any of my readers need any assistance from me in terms of sales conversion and giving their retail business a boost, I can be reached on riteshmohan@yahoo.com for one to one catch up. I shall be more than happy to help my retail fraternity with my retail wisdom of over 2 decades.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Business Management & believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

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September 30 2018

Memorable advertisements from “Made in India” brands.

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“Made in India” a unique concept given by NDA led the government to promote the manufacturing sector in India and goods from India. But, is it a thought only limited to the manufacturing sector?

My article is my take on how some brands and their memorable advertising & marketing communication resonated “Made in India” in early 80’s and made these brands evergreen and cult from a brand positioning point of view.

These Made in India brands captured the essence of real India back in the early 80’s and mastered the art of brand promise coupled with relevance.

Read my article on brands using social media effectively: click here

Brand Promise with Purpose:

Brand – Amul

The evergreen Amul girl character used so efficiently in advertising that it still remains

Fresh and relevant fulfilling the brand promise. A classic example of making a brand stay relevant and long-lived in consumer’s minds.

Brand Promise of the brand is Honesty, credibility built by offering the best products to its consumers.

A Brand that is owned by the milk producers of Gujarat is an example as to how an entrepreneurial spirit of farmers grows to become the world’s largest cooperative federation serving millions of consumers across the world.

Amul girl and it’s punchier & humor & catchy advertisements based on current affairs makes the brand stay relevant even in present times.

Hats off to wonderful creative team Amul creative campaigns.

Build Brand Promise with Humour:

Brand – Fevicol

Another classic example of how to keep brand alive for over 35 years, a brand owned by Pidilite Industries has created an empire with its brand “Fevicol”. Kudos to its advertising agency O&M India. I am a great admirer of Mr. Piyush Pandey and his work.

Brand Promise delivered i.e. a bond built to last forever.

Who can forget this commercial from Fevicol which is now a masterpiece in Indian advertising?

Conclusion:

The first principle of the Brand building is “Stay true to your DNA” i.e. promise you want your brand to make to its users.

Add to it a Purpose that you would like to develop in your customers.

Remember people don’t buy products or brands, they buy Stories…

In case any of my readers or connections want any guidance pertaining to brand management, Product lifecycle, communication strategies or digital initiatives. I would be more than happy to share my wisdom and knowledge with my retail fraternity members.

You can reach me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]