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retail trends in 2019

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

future retail stores

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.

walmart marketing tools

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.

YouTube video

 

 

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

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]

walmart

Walmart -7 things the Middle Eastern retailers could learn.

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Walmart is driving Retail innovation.

Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue—over US$500 billion, according to Fortune Global 500 list in 2018—as well as the largest private employer in the world with 2.3 million employees across 6,363 stores. It is a publicly-traded family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family.

If these credentials are not enough to open your eyes…

let me tell you 7 things that the Middle Eastern retailers and Mall owners/landlords could learn from Walmart.

1) Size does not matter

Being a huge organization with millions of employees’ does not deter Walmart to take swift actions which result in Innovation and brings out innovative approaches to their retail offerings.

2) Collaborative Approach: Delivering growth

The Walmart team looked around and asked what else do their customers need?

How can Walmart enhance Customer Delight?

How can they embrace new technology and channels of distribution (e-commerce) to enhance their customer’s experience?

Can they attract more footfalls into their hypermarkets or malls if they change?

The deep-diving into these questions gave Walmart a completely new dimension to their business.

 

The answer was “Give people a place to gather, share, be entertained and feel good about Walmart”.

 

The result is the birth of “Walmart Reimagined”. 

What is “Walmart Reimagined”?

Walmart Reimagined is a unique concept that follows the core principle of Walmart i.e. “Everyday low prices” i.e. finding cost-effective solutions to harsh realities.

Walmart innovated the utilization of their existing assets i.e. malls/shopping centers and its surrounding lands by converting their centers as town centers for the local communities.

The Town Center concept is part of an overarching strategy to bind Walmart deeper into the fabric of the nearly 5,000 U.S. communities it serves.

walmart
Walmart Re-imagined

 

3) Becoming part of the community

They converted the ample empty parking lots as a place for community Get-togethers, play areas, areas for community events, play areas for family and kids, including skate parks, and walking and biking paths.

In addition “mobility hubs” are planned for bike rental, bus, taxi, and ride-share services.

Healthy food is also planned with spaces for local farmers’ markets, food trucks, food halls, and food chains.

town centres
walmart re-imagined

4) Increasing focus on e-commerce

 Since the purchase of online shopping giant Jet last year, Walmart has acquired other digital retailers like Mod cloth, Shoe Buy, Bonobos, and most recently Flipkart in India.

learn more about the business model of food delivery apps, click here.

5) Innovation:

Apart from the Innovative concept “Walmart Reimagined”, the retailer further capitalized on e-commerce by building a proprietary app that matches online delivery addresses

with employees’ driving routes home. Employees are incentivized to deliver online orders on their back home.

The result, an online grocery delivery that rivals Amazon and Whole Foods from more than 900 stores.

Check the video of 50 years of innovation by Walmart

 

YouTube video

 

6) Using data analytics to drive Customer’s delight:

Analytical expertise is the name of the retail game.

Data, when combined with intelligent technology, helps organizations create connected experiences in a fragmented environment.

Wal-Mart is equipped with its own powerful architecture that collects, analyzes, and integrates data to create a personalized, full customer view.

 

Wal-Mart’s goal is to bridge the gap between what customers do in-store and online to establish one seamless experience.

 

learn about lipstick as an economic indicator, click here.

 

7)  Keep marketing simple

Get all messaging directly to the point and deliver accordingly.

The newly improved slogan says “Save Money. Live Better.” shoppers know that purchasing from them guarantees lower prices for better products.

 

is walmart a hypermarket?

 

Sam Walton once said while replying to a question from Press reporter:

“To succeed in this world, you have to change all the time.”

 

My personal learning from this quote, while change is never easy, those companies that adapt quickly have the best chance of survival.

I would like to end my article by asking the Middle Eastern Retail fraternity and Mall owners a simple question,

“Are you driving innovative growth to your existing projects/ malls/ shopping centers?”

If your answer is NO, (which I presume) then feel free to reach out to me for free advice.

 

References: Walmart Wikipedia, ICSC conference- Walmart keynotes, Business Insider & Forbes.

 

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.

digital receipts

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.

 

YouTube video

 

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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future retail stores

Retail Stores of the future

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“We will see more disruption in the next 10 years of retail than we did in the previous 1,000.”— Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet.

 

Millennials bring with them a greater level of tech-savviness, and different expectations than the generations before them.

This new breed of shopper is more connected to devices and data, more comfortable moving seamlessly across multiple media channels, and generally more informed than ever before.

Not to mention the Post-Millennials, who will just be coming of age in 2025 and bringing with them an even greater degree of tech and media sophistication.

Over the next 5 to 10 years retail stores and the complete retail experience will undergo a dramatic overhaul.

Interested to know about markdowns- a strategic planning tool, then click here.

Stores would be smaller, fewer but more impactful:

Gone are the days of the big-box retail concepts with endless aisles stacked to the ceiling with merchandise.

As retailers focus on creating shopper- and experience-centric stores, they will need to downsize the physical footprint of their stores and create environments that blend more seamlessly into the communities they serve.

Large retail chains will operate in a variety of formats:

For example, Carrefour the leading hypermarket now has a significant number of Carrefour market in the Middle Eastern region, a concept which is smaller, stripped-down version of the big box retailer, aimed at serving the needs of urban dwellers and communities. It is a great way to increase your sales per sqm by consolidating the fast-moving merchandise in a smaller format.

The rise of food trucks and pop up stores:

To cater to impulse needs, more and more non-traditional formats, such as pop-up stores or mobile retail trucks will also exist to make it easier for consumers to shop whenever and wherever they wish.

An Era of seamless shopping experiences:

Today’s consumers are empowered with information and have choice like never before (and that’s only going to rise over the next five to ten years), and they are increasingly comfortable navigating across channels when they shop, retailers need to create a seamless shopping experiences across all channels – in-store, online, mobile, and other media channels – to give their customers what they want.

According to a 2015 study, Omnichannel consumers have a 30% higher lifetime value than consumers who engage with only one channel.

Seamless & integrated payment systems would also play an important role.

Recently, in Cochin (India) saw an opening of a seamless store “watasale” which is in line with Amazon Go i.e. enter, shop, walk-out. There is no cashier and everything is seamlessly integrated using AI, cameras, complex algorithms, the payment is gets deducted automatically from your e-wallet.

Happy to see that “make in India” campaign is bringing innovation into the Indian retail scenario as well.

YouTube video

 

Technology-driven Data analytics:

Technologies and the data analytics they provide to retailers would enable retailers to better manage sales productivity on the merchandise floor, and optimize in-store product assortments.

With the advent of AI algorithms, intuitive analytics will also help retailers better meet the needs of shoppers.

By mining data collected both online and in-store to understand shopping patterns and predict future needs, retailers can improve pricing strategies, inventory control, customer service, and ultimately, their bottom line.

YouTube video

 

Reverse trend Online to Offline:

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

Although Millennials are forcing brands to engage with them differently — over social and digital channels versus in more traditional ways — connected shoppers are still making their way into, and making purchases in stores. This trend gives a lease of fresh air to retailers as they can hope to see “connected customer” coming to their stores for purchasing. Key takeout for retailers is to have the seamless experiential store for their demanding customers.

I would like to end my article by saying to my retail fraternity that this is a time for optimism.

The nature of retail is changing, sure, but the brands that are responsive to how people actually want to shop will soon win the next generation of consumers.

In case if any of my readers, want to develop a cutting-edge retail strategy for their brand then I would be more than glad to share my ideas acquired while practicing & closely following retail trends.

You can reach me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com.

References: KPMG report on retail trends, Vendhq, think Google research on online shopping trends.

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, Business Management & Empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

illustration on omni-channel

Will Retail brands need malls or shopping centers in future? Can some brands create disruption in retail sector?

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Being in the retail sector for over 20 years now (14 years in the Middle East region) and post witnessing retail apocalypse wherein some major brands are either closing or filing for bankruptcy. I always wondered, whether there can be some disruptive technology which can offset and redefine the retail sector completely.

Post researching and reading on disruptive technologies, I am penning my thoughts on this article and can confidently say that there are some brands which are already using disruptive strategy for their benefits in retail sector and they have broken the conventional & traditional rules that retail selling can only be done either in 4 walls (brick & mortar stores) or on e-commerce.

Today, technology is enabling new retail startups to overcome the high cost of brand’s entry into a shopping center which is plagued by high rentals, high fit-outs costs, low mall footfalls, inventory overheads etc.

I shall be giving a few case studies to prove my thought and rationale.

Firstly let’s understand as to what are the current problems which are plaguing the retail sector: (My observations are based on my practical experience and interaction with many retail professionals)

  1. High rental costs for sustaining or running a store (costs would be higher in terms of malls or shopping centers)
  2. High manpower costs, inventory costs & other costs which inflates the overall costs.
  3. Economic slowdown wherein majority of buyers have become discount seekers, they only enter the mall or store when they see some offer of sale banners. (Retailers and brands are to be blamed to some extent for this cause).
  4. High inventory aging and low inventory turnaround.
  5. Declining bottom line margins (since goods are only moving on discounts or low pricing).
  6. Lack of retail talent in the sector, most of the retail organizations are being run by finance professionals. (They lack creative ability to see beyond numbers and P&L statements. Thank God, great companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Basecamp are not run by finance professionals.) Disclaimer: I have nothing against finance principles, in fact, it forms the core of a business but numbers & excel sheets narrow down your creative visualization that is the need of the hour at the moment for the retail sector.

 

How do we bring disruptive technology in the retail sector?

Brands have to ask few questions to themselves:

  1. Should I sell my brand in my store or can I explore selling in someone else’s store (create distribution spread)?
  2. Can I reduce the store size and cut down on the rental costs?
  3. How much inventory should a store have and how should that be balanced with inventory online in a way that’s appropriate for every product and brand?

The solution to the above questions, I have explained below with the help of case studies:

Key Action point: Restart your brand promise with CUSTOMER DELIGHT.

Look at all activities that would add delight to all the customers who would enter the store.

There are retailers in the US who are increasing customer delight by using drop shipping methods. Platforms like Revcascade are creating disruption in the way we do our merchandise planning, inventory forecasting.

Gone are the days wherein you needed huge warehouses to store inventories and sit wondering every quarter as to what to do with the ageing inventory or out of season inventory. The financial solution is only Markdowns, end of season sales, promotions etc, all these make your gross margins lower.

  • Case study: Revcascade

RevCascade facilitates drop shipments from wholesalers to consumers. What that means is — let’s say you go to a store and they don’t have what you want. A sales associate shows you a tablet or screen that displays what you’re looking for.  It appears to be the store’s inventory at another location but it’s really the inventory of the store’s wholesale supplier. You can buy it on the screen and the wholesaler ships it directly to you at your home. You never know you bought something from the store’s wholesale supplier, you think you bought it from the inventory of the store at another location.

You may think that’s not such a big innovation. But financially it makes sense, you don’t block or order huge inventories in the first place, you save cost there itself. You enter an agreement with your vendor that the produced goods would be shipped from the vendor’s warehouse and hence you save on warehousing costs.

The most important thing Revcascade is delivering is Customer delight. RevCascade is turning visitors who didn’t find what they want into happy customers and that’s good for everyone.

  • Case study: Bonobos

The brand Bonobos decided that their stores don’t have to be 5,000 square feet in a mall, they can be 1,000 square feet. They cut their costs by genius stroke, Bonobos the men’s brand that lets you try on clothes in the store but doesn’t have any inventory to sell; anything you buy gets shipped to you from their warehouse after purchase. Most of the times it gets drop shipped from their vendor’s warehouse and you won’t even make out the difference, that’s the beauty of seamless technology.

  • Case study: Brideside

Brideside sells dresses for bridesmaids. Unlike most retailers that invest in real estate leases, Brideside invests in stylists, who give personal advice to brides and bridesmaids. You may say that’s just like Stitch Fix or other personal styling sites. But it isn’t, Brideside organizes its services around physical spaces where brides and bridesmaids get together with their stylist, often as a group, in person or virtually, to decide which dresses complement the big event. Most common places, it’s the home of the bride or one of the bridesmaids where they organize a try-on event with sample dresses and guidance from Brideside.

It’s a unique model that leverages physical space and virtual styling. The stylists help the brides and bridesmaids. Eliminates the need for expanding physical store in different geographies. You may be well off with a couple of flagship stores as you are bringing your merchandise selection right at your customer’s doorstep.

  • Case study: Bluestone.com (Indian e-commerce site for Jewellery shopping)

Bluestone.com gives a customer delight to their customers by making available their handpicked Jewellery styles in your home. You can try all the varieties in the comfort of your home and also take advantage of personal stylist who would guide you in your selection. Watch out the video.

YouTube video

 

I would end my article with the famous words that when the things get tough, it is the tough who gets going.. Challenging times are the best teachers that help us to re-invent ourselves.

Brands who are willing to re-invent themselves, you know by now, who is your GO-TO person. You may reach out to 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]

Great business ideas for writers

Great writers build Great companies!!!

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Great writers transform into Great Leaders.

Last week I attended a retail industry social networking event, wherein I met with very interesting people from the retail fraternity and I happened to participate in one discussion with a couple of senior industry stalwarts over cocktails on the role of HR and current hiring trends. This discussion was so insightful & inspired me to pen down my views on current hiring trends which might be helpful for some professionals seeking better opportunities.

Below are a few tips or insights which could prove to be useful for my blog followers and connections on linkedin.com. I had previously written an article on how to make your career fool-proof (check out here: https://bit.ly/2w2ymth) 

Resumes are outdated:

We all know that resumes are redundant.

They are full of “action verbs” that don’t mean anything.

The ideal way is to check the candidate’s cover letter. This is where you get to see clear communication instead of a list of skills, verbs, and years of experience.

You hear someone’s actual voice in a cover letter.

Learn how to grow your e-commerce business, click here.

 Your college GPAs or Percentages does not matter:

Over 80% of CEOs in the top 500 US companies did not receive their graduate degrees from Ivy League colleges. Instead, they have made their way upwards by constantly upgrading their knowledge and by continuous learning.

Mark Twain once quipped, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”.

This quote is so relevant in current times.

The third point is very close to my heart and I always propagate the same to my fellow teammates and actually practice it myself (I always conduct role-play sessions with the candidate during the interview session or give an assignment on some topic prior to the interview session).

The point I am trying to make here is that HIRE CANDIDATES WHO ARE GREAT WRITERS.

Why writing skills matter the most?

The writing skill is the most crucial skill that makes the candidate stand apart from the rest.

My rationale for the same belief is mentioned below:

Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking.

Writing gives a direction to the mind & proves to be useful in project planning, strategic thinking, strategy development, and building brands.

Good writers know how to communicate.

Key leadership requirement in any business

With writing comes Empathy.

They can put themselves in someone’s shoes very easily. Empathy is very crucial for managers who manage their team members.

Writing makes your thought process crystal clear

Very important when you are working on strategic goals, you need to have a crystal clear plan or vision.

Good writers know what to omit

Any information which does not contribute to the main communication objectives needs to be omitted that’s the main role of a good leader.

Learn about experiential retail, click here.

Conclusion:

I would end this article with a statement that I firmly believe i.e. “Writing is the new currency for Ideas”.

 

For interesting strategic insights into the world of Business and Retail, you can also follow me on

Instagram- mohanritesh

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 the 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. Ritesh specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management.

'Jugaad' – India’s answer to Minimum Viable Product

‘Jugaad’ – India’s answer to Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

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Jugaad- India’s answer to Minimum Viable product

Recently, I was attending a webinar highlighting the importance of “Design thinking” for start-ups. One of the panelists mentioned Jugaad’s philosophy and it inspired me to re-write my previous article on “Jugaad – a frugal & flexible way to innovate” with the context of the current pandemic of Covid19.

As most of you are aware that I always touch upon topics that relate to either Entrepreneurship, Retailing, Brand management & Leadership. I feel, my current topic would help upcoming entrepreneurs to start their ventures in the most economical way.

What is Jugaad?

Jugaad is a Hindi word that loosely translates as “the gutsy art of overcoming harsh constraints by improvising an effective solution using limited resources.”

Jugaad is an antidote to the complexity of India: a country of mind-blowing diversity; pervasive scarcity of all kinds; home to million millionaires (aims to reach by 2020, 1 million millionaires mark)

Jugaad is based on six fundamental pillars:

1.   Seek opportunity in adversity

2.   Do more with less

3.   Think and act flexibly

4.    Keep it simple

5.    Include the margin

6.    Follow your heart.

Jugaad during times of covid19

Looking at the positive side of the pandemic, it has made people more creative.

Check the picture of one of the elevators wherein the toothpick is being used to press the floor buttons in order to avoid surface touches.

jugaad during covid19

To cater to the emergencies of hospitals in terms of beds, an Indian company has designed beds made of cardboard boxes. Watch the video here.

YouTube video

Jugaad innovators innovate faster:

 

Jugaad innovators don’t use linear, pre-planned, time-consuming R&D processes. Rather, they rely heavily on rapid prototyping techniques — i.e., they collaborate intimately with customers and use their constant feedback to zero in on the most relevant product features.

 

Jugaad innovators innovate cheaper:

Jugaad innovators are highly resourceful in the face of scarcity. Unlike many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, raising capital is the least of their worries.  The practitioners of Jugaad work with what they have got.

Jugaad innovators innovate better:

Jugaad innovators recognize that consumers in emerging markets are low earners, but high yearners.

To explain the concept, I would like to mention a few case studies of Jugaad innovators cum entrepreneurs as to how they have dealt with situations and innovated to make the lives of their customers easier.

Case study 1: Using adversity to own advantage:

Kanak das, a resident of North East Indian state, grew riding his bicycle on roads full of potholes & bumps, rather than complaining, he turned this constraint to his advantage by retrofitting his bicycle with a makeshift device that converts the shocks received from bumpy roads to kinetic energy which accelerates the bicycle…. Allowing his bicycle to run faster on bumpy roads.

Case study 2: Jugaad gave birth to a completely new business:

In 1980, a businessman Mr. Tulsi Tanti set up a textile unit in Surat, sooner he found himself facing the bottlenecks like power shortages.

Alternatively, He compensated by producing power through generators but resulted in very high running costs due to high fuel prices in India.

His profit margin was a mere 5% wherein his power & fuel bill used to run up to 45-50% of overall operating costs.

Mr. Tanti immediately moved towards wind power by installing air wind turbines in his unit, resulting in uninterrupted power supply and reduced operating costs. (Also the initial investment of installing wind turbines were recovered in the first year itself from the savings generated from power & fuel costs).

Mr. Tanti realized the power of wind turbines and industry in feeding the power-starved country and its rural villages.

This very thought gave birth to a business whom we have known as “Suzlon wind”.

Today, Suzlon is the world’s fifth-largest wind energy solution provider. The company operates in thirty countries over 6 continents.

Learn how to make your brand stand out from the clutter, read here.

Case study 3: Mitti-cool refrigerator:

Mitti-cool refrigerator

Jugaad innovator Prajapati (resident of Kutch region in Gujarat), post-2001 earthquake wherein his entire village was destroyed.

He noticed that they were left with no source of providing residents with cool water options.

Being a clay artisan himself, he developed the world’s first sustainable, eco-friendly refrigerator “Mitti-cool”.

 

 

Mitti means clay, his refrigerator is divided into two chambers, the water from the top chamber seeps through the inner sidewalls, cooling the lower food chamber through evaporation.

The refrigerator is 100% bio gradable, uses zero electricity… an ingenious invention.

Today Prajapati’s Mitti-coolers are available in rural Indian villages and soon it would be exported to the African region.

Simplicity is the new mantra for success.

Learn about quarantined economics, click here.

I hope my article would help in giving directions to business owners and retailers in the Middle Eastern region & would force them to think differently and innovatively with their existing businesses.

In case you want to brainstorm and understand Jugaad concept more holistically, you may reach me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com

(Reference book – Jugaad Innovation by Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu, and Simone Ahuja. I thank & salute the writers for bringing out the most unique feature of our Indian ecosystem so creatively and innovatively)

 

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, Business Management & Empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

Strategy to handle new media

Is your social media strategy working for your brand? If not, learn from these case studies.

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“Is your social media strategy working for your brand?”

We all know that social media marketing is a force that one cannot ignore. The new media requires a new strategy and mindset to leverage it.

Loser’s mindset

The most common mindset in today’s retail companies pertaining to social media is to hire a social media resource (headcount) to their existing marketing team & this would get them to top of mind recall in their targeted customer’s minds.

Few premises for the above belief in many retail companies:

  1. Social media is easy to handle and does not require great efforts nor any specialized skillset resource.
  2. Putting posts about their services and offers is all they mean with “content”. Flashy artworks, offers/promotions, and beautiful product shots are all they know about content management.
  3. They fail to identify, social media channels as a source of revenue and customer engagement.

Basically there is a lack of strategy to handle this new form of media.

With the popularity of Instagram Stories, Facebook Live, and messenger apps have fundamentally changed how retailers interact with consumers online.

Simply posting photos or updates to a branded social profile won’t cut it anymore.

Need some Strategy for reconsidering your social media?

Here are a few retailers that have winning social media strategies:

Case 1: Birchbox

Birchbox uses Facebook Live to share great content and engage with fans. The cosmetics brand regularly runs Facebook Live videos in which members of the company share news, give away prizes, and answer questions.

According to MarketingDive, Birchbox’s top-performing stream “lasted 40 minutes and had an average view time of 10 minutes among the nearly 50,000 viewers who participated live.”

Strategy delivering result:

Birchbox sees the live video as a two-way street. It helps Birchbox engage with target audiences in real-time, but it also allows consumers to interact with the brand. The retailer approaches live streams as Q&A opportunities with audiences where Birchbox can market the products included in their monthly subscription boxes and educate audiences about the brand.

While some Middle Eastern retailers might still be wondering whether to consider live video as part of their strategy, Birchbox (the online beauty retailer) has been bullish from the start and is an early adopter of Facebook’s new live video feature.

Case 2: Born Originals

German fashion brand Born Originals has a large and engaged Instagram following.

Born Originals social media strategy

For the benefit of my readers, Born Originals creates customized sneakers and leather goods.

Born Originals also makes good use of Instagram Stories. Their account is filled with gorgeous photos from the company and their customers alike.

I hope my article would help in giving directions to business owners and retailers in the Middle Eastern region & would force them to think differently and innovatively with their existing businesses.

Learn how food delivery apps like swiggy, zomato makes their money, click here. 

 

You may 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, Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, Business Management & Empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

collectplus4

Convergence & Role to be played by Mall owners & Malls in future.

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During the course of my work, I regularly meet people from my retail fraternity and during one such meeting, I happened to visit offices of Majid Al Futtaim in Dubai and was truly inspired by a placard (placed at the entrance of lobby) of Group’s Vision & Brand promise which states “Great moments for everyone, every day”.


This brand promise & brand belief is so very powerful (all my brand gurus) would agree and has deeper meaning & conveys the way Retail would be progressing in future.

I salute the top management of MAF group and advertising teams who came up with this fantastic brand positioning for Group and are pursuing it by fulfilling the promise that this group is making to his visitors/mall shoppers.

This creative brand promise has inspired me to pen down few points which could help retail groups and mall owners in coming New Year 2018.

)    A) Convergence is the buzzword & to play a pivotal role:

Historically the business model for the shopping center industry has been to connect consumers and retailers physically. It was the retailers’ job to convince consumers to buy something. That model is shifting as a result of technology. The real estate owner or mall developer now has a large part to play in connecting the retailer and consumer both physically and digitally, and to do that mall would need a direct relationship with the consumer.

According to the Fung Business Intelligence Centre, “Showrooming” — the practice of researching a product in the store but buying it online — gets plenty of attention, but recent studies suggest it is far less common than “Web-rooming,” which entails researching a product online and then purchasing it in a store.

In fact, 90 percent of all U.S. retail sales still occur “within the four walls of a physical store,” according to a report by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

I would like to quote an example of Westfield London who has created a lounge for COLLECT PLUS, (mall’s initiative wherein the partnered tenants/brands offer their merchandise or discounts which are purchased by online customers and they come to collect the same from the mall.

Perfect example wherein Mall has partnered with brands and helping them reach out to online customers.

  1.     B) Adoption of technology to dominate Leadership stance:

Installing Beacons in the common area of a shopping center; Most of the mall owners & shopping centers have embraced mobile apps, they can install beacons to identify hot and cold zones within their malls and share useful insights with their tenants to increase their sales.

 The mall could also roll-out digital directories and concierge services that help mall visitors find their way around properties, locate deals and get information about events. Indeed, new technology is empowering mall owners and retailers like never before.

A prominent leading group, owning malls in KSA (Arabian centers) uses mobile phone tracking data through its apps to identify hot and cold spots in their malls and works closely with their tenants to improve their sales.

  1.     C) Creation of hub/ platform within their premises:

I would love to see malls creating a hub for Retail Innovation, a physical place to connect retailers and technology providers in a real-world environment. I happened to visit a unique place in Dubai which empowers innovation and youth to take up entrepreneurship, the place is called YOUTH HUB.

It is a unique repurposing & redefining of real estate.


  1. D)  POP ups to drive retail engagement with consumers:-

In one of recent dipstick conducted by me amongst my network/ friends/retail fraternity, I found that approx. 52% of respondents believe that pop-up stores are an effective way of discovering new brands.

Gives a platform to young designers, new brands/ new concepts to interact with potential customers & serves two purposes:

1)      Gives new brands/concepts some confidence in targeting brick & mortar format with their brands and converging both virtual & physical retail environments. Secondly, provides Mall’s leasing team an option of nurturing brand within their premises instead of scouting for brands outside.

2)      Brings Newness to malls and encourages more retail customer’s engagement.

E) Trend shifting from fine dining to Healthy street food:

Off lately, I have been observing this trend and asking most of my friends who used to dine out at least 4-5 times in a week, they are moving from fine dining restaurants to nearby cafeterias or local street food joints which are offering healthy as well as freshly prepared meals.

With Advent of food trucks which makes hot meals served to you in 10-15mins time is what engaging & enticing future customers & mall owners should evolve and take into account this shift in cultural trend of eating out that’s occurring in the retail space.

I would like to end my article with an extension of Brand promise which Majid Al Futtaim group makes and that is “Create a place that will become the center of people’s lives” & I wish team MAF & all other mall operators all the very best in their endeavors.

Personally speaking, I would be more than glad to sit down with any of mall owners/developers/my retail fraternity and discuss this topic in great depth.

I encourage all my retail network and friends, mall developers/mall managers to share their feedback on what they feel would inspire all our retail fraternity in 2018.

I wish all my readers a very happy & prosperous New Year 2018.

Love

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