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what is fashion forecasting

Fashion- Making a commercial sense !!

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Fashion, a word that evokes multiple imageries of celebrities, runway models, catwalk ramps, gorgeous models.

Fashion is a style that is popular in the present or a set of trends that have been accepted by a wide audience.

But the bitter truth of Fashion is that it is a very complex process involving forecasting of several influences and parameters like cultural- geographical influences merge with psychographic trends, lifestyles, demographics segmentation.

Fashion according to me is a style statement which elevates the emotional quotient of its user.

It is not only an art but a science as well.

Fashion is wherein Creativity meets data analysis, it is an amalgamation of the left and right side of the brain.

Why fashion is complex?

To forecast a trend, consumers changing habits, emotions, demographical shifts coupled with influences that would make a particular trend more fashionable is a very complex process. We (retailers) call it Fashion Forecasting.

Why fashion forecasting is important?

It is no longer a question of identifying your customers by age, geography or income, but looking into how and why they buy, based on their mood, beliefs and the occasion.

Fashion today transcends from clothes to cosmetics, cars, shoes, bags, sports, athletic wear, leisure wear etc.

What is fashion forecasting?

Trends are the styling ideas that major collections have in common. They indicate the direction in which fashion is moving.

Fashion forecasters look for styles they think are prophetic, ideas that capture the mood of the times and signal a new fashion trend.

Fashion forecasting is an analytical way of predicting fashion trends, consumer’s preferences, habits, styles that would dominate the upcoming seasons.

Predicting a fashion trend, colors, fabrics, and patterns is an important aspect of any fashion business.

The success of big fashion houses like LVMH, Gucci, Armani, Dior lies in their art and craft of mastering this technique of understanding and predicting fashion trends.

Bridge to luxury brands or mass brands follow these trends and bring its elements into their collections by mass producing their collections for the masses.

How does technology making a difference in fashion?

Fashion brands need to know what their customers want before they release their next collections or range.

Here let me present statistics from Mckinsey study, which states that over the last decade, 82% of the economic profit from fashion sales has gone only to 20% fashion houses of the world.

Majority of fashion brands either struggle to survive or break even.

That’s the bitter truth about the world of fashion.

 

Read about how Zara is adopting digitalization, click here.

 

Challenges to fashion forecasting:

Being on trend and fashion no longer guarantees your profits.

You can never predict which trend can go viral on social media and makes your collection sit on the shelves despite heavy discounting.

Hence the majority of the fashion brands are now using fashion influencers to market its collections by developing its own marketing content so that they are able to sell their collection in the shortest span of time using the power of influencers and social media.

One of the Middle Eastern retailers recently has launched its celebrity influencer endorsed collection recently which establishes the point that you need to be top of current trends, outsell and make some moolah (profits) in a shortest possible time span.

 

Must Do’s for Fashion brands.

Stay relevant by using your own data:

Analyze historical sales data with the associated trends/events and use these insights in predicting sales for their upcoming collections.

Use social media:

To monitor and track the new emerging fashion trends.

 Building a shorter supply chain lead times:

For fashion items so that the response time to market demand could be addressed. Longer lead times are acceptable in basics or never out of style items like white tees or black tees etc.

Make use of digital tools like Google fashion insights:

To track the consumers search for fashion i.e. what items are consumers tracking for fashion, is it the off-shoulder dress, tops, sequins tops or boyfriend jeans etc. What is their age profile? All can be tracked and used in fashion forecasting.

 

Case Study: What are Fast fashion or Fashion forward brands?

“Fast fashion” is the new mindset of the millennials who believes that fashion clothes are not meant to last for seasons.

You quickly grab the current trend, produce it fast (often priced it cheaply) and put it into the stores so that fashion conscious buyers quickly purchases the same and ride the wave of trends.

Having managed a fast fashion brand i.e. FOREVER 21, I have acquired the principles behind the creation of fast fashion collections which are mainly:

Tomorrow’s trends today:- which makes the collection HOT and Trendy.

A collection that does not burn a hole in your pocket – Pocket-friendly fashion.

Limited styles per collection – limited pieces per style prompts for “call to action” if you don’t buy now, tomorrow there is no guarantee you would find that style in the store.

Brands like Zara, Uniqlo are all build on these 3 pillars of fast fashion

watch this video content

YouTube video

 

Hope my article would help retailers and my retail connections to understand the commercial aspect of fashion at great length.

In case if any of my retail fraternity members needs cutting edge solutions to their retail problems, they can write to me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com and I shall try to answer to their queries to best of my abilities.

“Let’s all grow together” is my belief.

What is yours?

 

References: Mckinsey report on fashion & Google insights on fashion.

 

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.

 

Omnichannel retail

Are the Middle Eastern retailers ready for Retail 3.0 ?

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“Are the Middle eastern retailers ready for Retail 3.0?” This is one of the questions, I was asked in one of the networking events recently.

My reply to the questioner was “No”, the reason for me saying is that we as retailers and mall landlords are still running retail as a real estate business and not as a Retail business.

Though I see few big retail companies embracing technologies, re-inventing themselves by not only investing in real estate but in creating actual “Asset” i.e. “Human resource skilled in running retail businesses”.

I was really glad to learn that one of the biggest mall operator companies in the Middle East would be opening retail education institute to develop the retail skill set amongst retail professionals.

Read the news clipping here.

I had previously forecasted the trends and retail brands to watch out in 2019, check out the article here.

So what is retail 3.0?

I would relate this concept of Retail3.0 to Indian Holy Scripture “Bhagavad Gita” which professes the concept of “Vasudeva kutumbh” which means nothing but Globalization (the world is your market place)

In Bhagavad Gita, there is a word called “ tathastu” which means literally “ You ask & You get it” & that’s what is the main premise of Retail 3.0 i.e. how to make the lives of shoppers more convenient by using technology as the main ingredient.

Retail 3.0 is the evolution of multi-channel retail distribution. It blends technology with physical brick & mortar retail i.e. Omnichannel retailing.

It makes customers (millennials) experience the brand and store more holistically by engaging them & reducing their pain points which a conventional shopping brings with it.

For example, carrying loads of shopping bags post-shopping to your vehicle and back home.

Carrefour has started similar service of “Valet trolleys” in Dubai.

Thanks to my friends at Pulse 95 FM, I got the opportunity of sharing my views about the concept of “White Friday sale”, “Yellow day sale” &  “Cyber Mondays” and why these events have become a part of every retail marketing calendar.

You can listen to the podcast here:

I always emphasize on case study format in order to understand the real-life example, I would like to quote one case here from one of my favorite brands.

Case study:

Company:

Bonobos – for men’s clothing store wherein shopper goes n tries out clothes. If shopper likes it, they buy online and garment gets delivered to their home.

Customer Benefit:

No hassles of carrying shopping bags.

Retailer’s benefit:

The Concept requires smaller stores that carry limited inventory as it eliminates the need of a stock room, resulting in the addition of more trial rooms for the customers to try merchandise.

Because of smaller spaces, they shell out lower rentals and lower inventory holding costs, resulting in bringing more operational efficiencies.

A great example of Phygital i.e. Physical brick & mortar plus digital/online e-commerce.

I would more than happy to share my retail wisdom with my retail fraternity, in case if you are a retailer, mall owner and need cutting edge & innovative solutions for your retail operations, then you know, who is your “Go To” person.

I can be reached on riteshmohan@yahoo.com

My personal quote to end the article:

“Future belongs to those who dare to think different & act and believe in creating sustainable objectives for their brand”. By Retail Ritesh.

 

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.

 

 

 

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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How malls can become more relevant to their tenants and Brand Mix?

How malls can become more relevant to their tenants and Brand Mix?

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My inspiration to write this article comes from my personal experience post visiting several malls in the middle-east and seeing the desperation amongst the brands and malls to attract customer footfalls. Almost 90% malls today have become “Discount centers or Outlet malls” wherein their tenants (almost all the brands) are trying to attract customers with promotions and their end of season sales of up to 80% discounts.

My current article is an extension to my previous article which I had penned down as Retail renaissance and how malls can help their tenants, check the link here: https://bit.ly/2njCZdo

Again I shall reiterate a quote from Einstein which is still very relevant and applicable to all the malls.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over & over again and expecting different results”. Malls seem to have hit the dead wall and there is a lack of creative ideas in bringing some excitement back into retail.

Below are some of my views which would prompt my readers and especially mall owners to re-think their strategies.

  1. Start understanding your customer’s pain points and change in their buying behavior:

Current trend: As per research conducted by agency Valassis over 1000 US consumers, the reasons as to why respondents prefer shopping online – as opposed to at a mall are:

  • A broader range of product options/variations (40 percent);
  • Avoiding hectic crowds/parking (38 percent),
  • Not having to travel (24 percent)
  • Reducing impulse purchases (16 percent).

These insights could be used to divert or increase customer footfalls in the malls by:

The solution is Reverse Innovation:

  • Better parking spaces and increase in their spaces & services such as valet; apps to show customers available parking spaces in real-time even prior to customer’s arrivals.
  • Events such as pop-up shops.
  • Concierge services wherein you need not carry your shopping bags but instead, drop off at a particular location and the mall’s logistics partner shall deliver it at your doorstep. Recently such service has been started by grocery hypermarket Carrefour in the UAE, wherein you drop your trolley at their pick up location and they deliver the groceries at your specified address and at the convenient time.

 Case study 1: Constapark app service provider in the city of Bangalore, India.

Constapark is transforming the way we park our car around the city by eliminating the hassle of finding parking. Its revolutionary parking & on-demand valet platform connects with customers and helps them skip the traffic every time they plan to go out. Constapark considers its USP the ability to save its customers’ time and effort, and make sure they do not have to worry about parking and the safety of their cars when you use Constapark, you get the valet to pick up and drop anywhere in the specified area limits.

(Reference source:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/48401195.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst )

2) “Food is the new Hot Trend”:- is the mantra that increasingly guiding future development. The expression reflects the idea that food has exceeded apparel/clothes/fashion segment as a force in retail and travel.

Creating new “experiential dining” options that offer more entertainment for consumers. Examples include farm-to-table courtyards, gourmet food halls, and “cook your own food” facilities.

Case study: Wanda commercial Properties:

In China, malls already allocate 30 to 40 percent of their floor area to food and beverages. Certain developers, such as Wanda Commercial Properties, which integrates retail, leisure, and residential into a single large complex, allocate as much as 50 percent of their footprint to public space.

3) Malls owners should focus on generating new revenue sources:

Since in the future many stores are likely to be smaller and lack storage capacity, mall owners could also provide tenants with logistics services.

Other revenue streams might include utilizing a mall’s open spaces or closed stores for POP-UP stores, temporary stores, and other events. Retailers could be charged for this on a per-traffic basis.

(I shall write a separate article as to how retail renaissance could disrupt current lease contracts and leasing teams of the malls. As I always say, future belongs to those who adapt the changes with both their arms open.)

4) Use of Technology: As a consumer & retail professional, I can list down various malls who still don’t offer free Wi-Fi services to its mall’s customers. Perhaps they are still “Old school of thought” but the data insights provided by offering free Wi-Fi services are really eye-opening and could prove to be a Game-changer.

Wi-Fi data can provide malls owners with insights such as:

  • Hot & cold corridors of the malls– malls can then do activities to make cold corridors to attract more footfalls. These insights can also help leasing managers to re-work on their tenant mix.
  • Offer instant promotions/offers to consumers not visiting a particular corridor.

Case study: Kamppi shopping center: From its use of beacons to analyze foot traffic patterns, the Kamppi shopping center in Helsinki, Finland, learned that shopper congregate at lunchtime and not after work, as was previously assumed. Using this insight, the mall advised its food court tenants to keep & serve hot food and entice lunch-goers with exciting offers and menus.

I am glad to see that few key mall owners have started to re-engineer themselves & are reinforcing their leadership stance. Again I would like to mention the wonderful pilot project “Valet trolleys” by Carrefour, I am sure this idea was born from the consumer marketing insights.

In case if any of my retail fraternity members want to re-invent their mall’s purpose then you know whom to reach out. (I can be reached at 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 fragrance 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 over two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

'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.

Primark

Do fashion retailers need to participate in “Omni channel retailing” rat-race?

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Recently, I was asked this question by one of my Linkedin connection, who was responding to my article on Omnichannel retailing.

His question prompted me to think about Phygital evolution more holistically and I realized that though every retail or digital consultants/ forums have been shouting from the rooftops for seamless multichannel integration which is the key to successful retailing.

This is spot on but I would like to present a case study of one fast fashion brand that could be the exception to above rule. This brand is highly successful and is questioning the status quo of buying & selling processes that are normally followed by retailers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me introduce you to Primark (hi-street fashion retailer) who does not have an e-commerce arm nor e-commerce website.

 

Whether Primark is right not to sell online, there’s no denying its success. This is one high street retailer that is prospering during rough economic circumstances.

The stats tell the story:

  • In 2017 the retail business generated a revenue of approximately 7.1 billion pounds.
  • As of 2018, it ranked is the second largest clothing retailer in the UK, following Marks and Spencer, with a market share of approximately seven percent.
  • The company now has 345 retail stores located in eleven countries across Europe and the rest of the world, including the UK, the Republic of Ireland (trading as ‘Penney’s’), Portugal, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and France. Italy and the U.S.

Source: statista.com

These figures mean that Primark doesn’t necessarily need to be in a hurry to open up an e-commerce site, as it still has room for growth offline.

Why is Primark not keen to move towards “Omnichannel” platform?

Primark believes in the fact that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

In no way does a transactional site fit in with how Primark is growing. Its strategy is store based.

Associated British Foods, Primark’s parent company, outlined the outlook for its business divisions which reiterated its commitment to the high street and plans to grow space by 10% in the coming year.

Understanding their customer’s shopping behavior & preferences:

The shopping tactic for Primark customer is to get in, grab a basket full of low-priced garments, and get out again with as little hassle as possible.

It’s not experience based, its product based which means that a multi-platform business isn’t a necessity as it is for many of its higher priced high street rivals.

It would take an awful lot of £1 pairs of pants to offset the cost associated with setting up and running a transactional site.

Using Power of PR rather than advertising:

It relies on strong PR, word of mouth and its stores to do the talking. Any big budget marketing campaigns would only serve to eat into the margins and nudge the prices up.

Having worked with another fast fashion brand Forever 21 in the past, I completely understand the business model i.e. to strike a balance between fast fashions at the lowest possible price. The same is true and relevant in case of Primark. Any changes in variables could prove a disaster for fast fashion value retailers.

In Primark’s case, it’s a bold move not to jump into online because everyone else is doing it but to stand firm with a strategy which is working for the business.

I would love to share my retail wisdom acquired by handling fashion brands with any of my connections or regional retailers who need bespoke solutions to their current issues at hand. 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 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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zara article

Is your brand ready for Omni-channel retailing? Learn from Brand Zara- leading the Phygital evolution in fashion.

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Do you know what is the biggest challenge in today’s digital era for businesses? Here it is, we have access to gigabytes of information at our fingertips yet we fail to see or identify or decode this information/data into useful insights for our businesses.

Zara, the Spanish fashion retailer has been fast to decode the importance of Phygital experience in their stores.

Zara is attempting to elevate the customer experience with a technology-enhanced concept store in London’s Westfield Stratford shopping center. The store focuses on a service where shoppers can try on the clothes they like in store, pay for them online and have the clothes delivered to their homes.

Inditex SA, the Spanish company that owns Zara brand, calls it an example of the technologies it will implement around the world.

Key features of Zara’s Phygital experience are:

  1. Use of robotic arm to retrieve online orders and deliver to customers in-store (Buy online pick up in store):

 

The new flagship store uses an optical barcode reader system which scans the QR or PIN codes that customers receive when they place an order online. Behind the scenes at the automated online collection pick-up point, a robotic arm then collects trays and organizes the packages optimally based on their sizes, smoothly delivering orders for customers to collect in seconds. Customers can collect online orders made in store on the same day if placed before 2 pm, or the next day if placed after 2 pm.

     

2. Use of Interactive Mirrors based on AI and AR technology:

In addition, the new store also features interactive mirrors equipped with RFID technology which is able to detect what garment a customer is holding and offer more information on the item as well as multiple choices of what a complete outfit may look like. In store employees will work with iPads and be able to advise customers on product selections or accept payments on the spot.

3. Use of RFID in merchandise inventory planning:

Every garment is fitted with a radio-frequency identification tag. The technology lets Zara check a store’s inventory in two hours, a process that used to take about three days.

4. Digital payment options:

Customers can choose to pay using their mobile phones via the Zara app or the Inditex’s Group app, InWallet.

5. Self-service checkouts:

Shoppers can buy clothes without talking to anyone. Self-service checkouts on floors let customers pay with their mobile phones or credit cards.

Retailers will need to connect decades-old fundamentals & processes with the newest front-end user interfaces. The Spanish brand Zara is one of the few fast fashion brands who has embraced technology and leading its brand’s evolution into the digital world.

Food for thought for Middle Eastern retailers:

Are we getting ready to embrace the fast-changing consumer’s shopping trends? Are we fast enough to embrace the change in our retail environment?

I shall conclude my article with these two thought-provoking questions to my readers and retail fraternity members to share their opinions by leaving a comment below and let the world learn from their wisdom.

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 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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Pokhran_Nuclear_Test_II

Management lessons from Bollywood movie “Parmanu”.

1

As most of you know that I spend most of my leisure time either reading or watching good movies which can inspire me. I normally observe the key functions like technicalities in production, VFX, story-telling format & overall direction of the movie. (Given the fact that I had previously managed a post-production digital agency myself & hence these skills have become an integral part of my life).

Recently I watched a new movie “Parmanu” which I felt was from the genre of reality cinema and has inspired me to pen down few of my management tips as a part of my purpose to inspire young minds to focus on enhancing their value based learnings.

”Parmanu” means “ nuclear” in English and as the title suggests the movie has been inspired from real life facts on the nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by the Indian Army at Pokhran in 1998.

My keynotes:

A) Learn the art of storytelling to sell your concept or idea to your management/customer.

The Key protagonist John Abraham used the metaphor of Mahabharata to explain the 5 key skills that would be required to make overall operations covert and successful. They used the concept of Pandavas from the holy book of Mahabharata.

B) Learn to live & survive from organizational politics, group-ism and make your presence felt by pioneering the art of diplomacy.

The key actor uses this skill set quite to his advantage, by consistently following up with his superiors, influencers and trying his best to achieve his overall objective. He used his art of diplomacy to his best while initially, he had failed in managing his peer circle and influencers. But as a true leader, he organized his team with skillful experts from different sectors like ISRO, BARC, Army, telecommunications, Intelligence and Research wing. Like in Mahabharata, Lord Krishna without holding any weapon or ammunition, won the battle for Pandavas by mere giving his strategic inputs to Pandavas from time to time and let the Pandavas use their own inherent skills.

C) Teamwork leads to success.

Sharing of information and well-coordinated efforts of the team leads to success in any operations. Delegate the responsibilities to professionals and make them accountable to the overall project, leads to positive action generating success in any form of business or in warfare.

4) This one is my favorite “You don’t need a uniform to become a hero and serve your country, you can still contribute to your society and country in your own way in your own domain by channelizing your efforts for the welfare of people”.

Hope my management tips would inspire young minds & compel them to take control of their lives by enhancing their value based learnings and skills development. I am sure this article would not only inspire my followers in the Indian sub-continent but would cut across geographies as the learnings from the Holy Scripture (Mahabharata) is generic and socially relevant.

  

YouTube video

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 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]

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