Vritaanta Volume 2 Issue 1 August 2015

Pedagogy21Reaching Out ToConsumersAn article on Omnichannel: The New Buzz in Indian Modern Trade.Indian Retail has shown an amazing transformation inthe last decade. Urbanisation, more disposable income,FDI in foreign retail and attitudinal shift amongcustomers have changed the face of Trade. BCG recentlypredicted that Indian retail would double to $1trillion by 2020, from $600 billion in 2015.Before the big retail players came to India, the retailsector was largely unorganised. In 2014, the overallcontribution from this sector was 90%, with only 10%from modern trade. A recent report from BCG showsthat Modern Trade shall grow threefold by 2020,while traditional retail will grow around 10% in thesame period.Improvement in Supply, Brand Awareness, Digitisation,and Brand promotion have been some of themajor factors for such tremendous growth estimatesfor Modern Trade. Lean Manufacturing, lower Stock,Multi-Channel Supply, Muti-Brand retail outlets, variousoptions to make payments, and delivery of goodspurchased combine to contribute to the success ofmodern trade.However, as customers evolve, so do their needs forsomething innovative from retailers. They want theretailer to be present on every channel and to integratethese channels. They want to order somethingonline, pick up these things from retail outlets, andpay via app. He wants to see the same promotionsoffered on all channels.Companies like Tesco, IBM, Walmart etc. have successfullytamed this new beast of success. In India,Adidas has taken a small step forwards. At stores inChandigarh and Delhi, they provided a tablet toplace orders, if a particular SKU is not available instore. Adidas has around 5000 SKUs, but in-store donot stock more than 700-800 SKUs on average.These initiatives keep customers in contact with thecompany. Initially, it costs a company to changetheir existing system of delivery. But real-time dataprovided to retailers creates a huge impact on salesincrement. Store Pickup, Interactive Aisles, StoreLocator, Check Store Inventory, and Product Comparison…all these could be done in real time.Picture the delight of the customer when the retailergreets him by his name on the basis of profile informationgathered through online platform andshared at all the channels. These sales channelswon’t work in silos then. Every channel will be as importantas other. Information gathered at one channelwill help the other channel to convert a customer,with less effort.-Varun Garg, MBA II MarketingAugust 2015