Retail Chronicles Issue 4 (1 to 15 October)

J Somaiya Institute Of Management Studies & Research,Mumbai
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RETAIL
CHRONICLES
Fortnightly Newsletter | Issue 4 | 01 - 15 October 2016
History of
02
Retail
How Bots Will
09
Retail
Change
Pg. 9
Pg. 11
11 The 180° Flip
Pg.12
12
News at
Retail
Glance! a
Pg 2
Retail Lab SIMSR
retaillab.simsr@somaiya.edu

WE LIVE IN AN
IMPERFECT WORLD,
AND IT IS
MEANINGLESS TO
STRIVE FOR
PERFECTION. IT IS FAR
BETTER TO STRIVE FOR
EXCELLENCE.
BIYANI,
KISHORE
Group
Future

History of Retail
By Anchal Pandey
9000-6000 BC
Barter system, Animals such as sheep, cows
and camels are the oldest form of currency
3000 BC
In Mesopotamia (Modern day Iraq) a new
form of currency is used; the shekel- a
measurement of weight.
800 BC
Markets: In ancient Greece, merchants swap
goods in the marketplace called the Agora.
200 BC
Accounting: The earliest known written
documentation of the Chinese abacus
(which is still used by some)
02

1883
The first cash register is invented by James
Ritty.
1890-1920
The dawn of modern day department
stores: This period marks the transition
from mom-and-pops shops and general
stores to department stores. Marshall
fields is established as a dry goods
store in 1852, and is now known today
as Macy’s Inc.
1909
Selfridges redefines retail: From a
necessary errand to a form of
entertainment, shopping became an activity
that appealed to every sense.
“Excite the mind, and the hand will reach
for the pocket.” – Harry Gordon Selfridge
03

1920
The roots of plastic: “Credit cards” or
“charge cards” as they are called,
were provided as a convenience to
customers who would normally have
to travel to bank to withdraw cash.
1924
Holiday fun: Macy’s in New York city
becomes the largest store in the world,
attracting over 10000 people for their
first Thanksgiving Day Parade.
1930
The first shopping mall opens in
Highland Park Shopping Village in
Dallas, TX, and minimum wage laws
are soon implemented.
04

1937
The first shopping cart: Sylvan
N. Goldman, owner of Humpty
Dumpty supermarket in
Oklahoma City invents the
shopping cart.
1950’s
The birth of mall culture:
The first pedestrian mall,
the Northgate shopping
Center, opens in Seattle.
Department store evolve into
malls, and the first outdoor
regional mall, Southdale
Mall, is opened in Edina,
Minnesota.
05

06
1962
Big Box retail: The first Wal-Mart opens,
followed by Kmart and target, who follow suit
and open their door's during the 1960's
1974
Bar codes: Inventory tracking
methods vastly improve. Bar
coding is developed in the
1960’s and the very first scan
of a UPC barcode was on a pack
of Wrigley Company chewing
gum in 1974.
1985
Infomercials emerge: TV and shopping come
together the very first season of the Home
Shopping Network.
1994
Online shopping is born! Pizza Hut is the
first to accept an online order-mushroom,
pepperoni with extra cheese.

07
1995
eCom Pioneers: Amazon is
established and sells its first
book.
2007
The drawn of social media:
Facebook reaches 100,000
business pages, allowing
companies to attract potential
customers and tell about
themselves. These started as
group pages, but a new concept
called company pages is planned.
2013
New Technologies emerge to help
retailers collect data: Apple introduces
iBeacon technology, for example, which
can track the presence of a nearby
shopper’s iPhone.

08
2014
Omnichannel becomes an
everyday retail term, with
Nordstorm leading the way as
one of the top omnichannel
retailers.
2015-16
E-Receipts: The retail industry and
others urge merchants to “go green”
and save paper by making printers
receipts optional.

09
HOW BOTS
WILL
CHANGE
RETAIL
lobal society is entering an era of
conversational commerce. Conversational
commerce, a term coined by Uber’s Chris
Messina, refers to how transactions
G
are
increasingly started and completed through
chat interfaces, such as messaging apps and
voice-triggered assistants. This is a radical
shift from how digitally driven transactions
have occurred over the past 20 years.
When engaging with
chatbots, efficiency is
still important and so is
a proper conversation
stream.
By Vipul Varkar
The Future of Commerce
Instead of selling products through one’s
own destination (like a website) or a
destination hosted by another retailer,
conversational commerce promises to bring
the consumer into a dialogue with the
seller. The conversation right now primarily
happens by interacting with a seller’s
dedicated account within the chat service –
such as interacting with Domino’s Pizza
account on Facebook Messenger or Amazon
Echo. Going forward, commerce will be
more seamlessly integrated into chat
services, such as when two friends are
talking about what they want for dinner and
bring up the pizza bot within the
conversation. This is already happening with
Apple’s Messages app, as well as on
Facebook with the integration of Uber and
Lyft.
When the bots appear within personal
conversations, then people stay
connected with each other, which is
seen as a positive development. What
gets lost, however, is how we interact
with the sellers.
In the US, there’s a romanticised
notion of the General Store, which was
widespread in the 19th century.
Shoppers purchased a range of goods
largely on credit thanks to the trust
that they had with the shopkeeper.
That notion became quainter by the
year and now consumers get
frustrated when they need to speak
with someone on the phone to order a
meal, as the process can happen
through a faceless app or a website.

10
The best part is that the app almost
always understands what the buyer
wants, and the order fulfillment is
perfect, with an occasional exception of
someone at a restaurant mixing up an
order. This human error is practically the
only thing reminding us that human
beings were involved in the process at
all.
As more sellers embrace chatbots,
human interaction is further removed
from the transaction. What’s strange,
however, is how it can feel like one is
interacting with another person. It’s not
uncommon for people to type phrases
like “Hello,” “How are you?” and even “I
love you” into chatbots, partially to see
what happens but partially because it
feels very natural to interact this way.
There is a process of self-delusion at
work too. Bots don’t need to pass a
Turing test to convince people that they
are human when people are willing to
anthropomorphize even relatively simple
bots.
Consequences of Conversational
Commerce
As conversational commerce rises
through automated bots, this can have
profound effects on call centres, and
become a lightning rod of an issue in
countries like India and the Philippines
that employ hundreds of thousands of
call centre workers. Consumers are
going to be trained to check for bots first
before calling retailers and brands, or
even before visiting their sites. The bots
will require fewer humans manning
them as responses will be automated to
common queries.
What could tilt trends in an opposing direction is
that websites and apps are faceless, beyond chats
with customer service. There is typically no human
interaction when shopping for a pair of shoes or
figuring out which hotel to book. Conversational
commerce creates opportunities for sellers’ staff to
become part of the process and offer
recommendations or ask questions that will
ultimately increase conversions while helping
buyers make more satisfying decisions. When
engaging with chatbots, efficiency is still important,
but so is a proper conversation stream.
In time, some sellers may promote that their
chatbots are manned by real human beings
offering live support. It will be the impetus, with
higher costs for the sellers contributing to a goal of
higher conversions. People may even recommend
such bots to their friends. After all, if one gets a
compliment on a pair of shoes, it’s nicer to say,
“Jenny from Zappos recommended them” than, “A
chatbot recommended them.”

THE 180° FLIP
segmentation, targeting and positioning is the
Market
strategies brands follow in order to comprehend the
key
consumer behavior towards the current market
current
Retail industry is booming as it has become a
situation.
share of revenue generation pool for Indian
great
Backed by robust economic growth and rising
economy.
incomes, consumer spending in India is
household
to touch $3.6 trillion (about Rs.240 trillion) by
expected
increasing India’s share in global consumption to
2020,
than twice its current levels.
5.8%—more
at this it is evident that everyone wants their
Looking
of pie. Retail sectors are taking a shift into every
share
possible market that they can target. With news
other
the corner of Wal-mart’s apparent stake buying
around
in flipkart has turned the market into fumes. USbased
process
retail corporation Wal-Mart Stores Inc is in talks to
a minority stake in Flipkart, two sources familiar with
buy
matter said, as the world’s biggest retailer aims to
the
a slice of a fast-growing online retail market.
get
to a leading journal US retailer was looking to
According
between $750 million and $1 billion in Flipkart,
invest
the final value and size of the stake would depend
but
the outcome of talks about the e-tailer’s overall
on
valuation.
on that ,Wal-Mart and Flipkart were also
More
a collaboration that would see them
contemplating
each other’s expertise in retail and supply
leverage
in India.A deal would pit Wal-Mart against US
chains
Amazon, which has been expanding rapidly in the
rival
retail market and is now Flipkart’s biggest
India’s
Wal-Mart only operates wholesale stores in
competitor.
India.
Amazon’s stint on online movie and TV shows
After
business, they are planning music streaming
streaming
to broaden the market segment. The race is on
service
get more consumers hooked on amazon ahead of the
to
is the latest lure. Company is about to launch
holidays
details about it pretty soon but for now they will
new
up with a price tag of $5 a month , which is quite
come
bummer on the competing channels.
a
just retailers or e-tailers, the shift is quite prominent
Not
the service industry as well. Uber is making an
in
drive into meal delivery, backed by a wave of
aggressive
recruitment, with the firm gearing up to enter at
staff
22 countries and take on local rivals. With news like
least
note 7 catches fire in the market amongst
new
which is currently dominated by players such as
market,
Metro, Mochi and Reliance Footprint, and the
Bata,
has opened its first store under the brand
company
of 'Stride' in Bengaluru. Food processing minister
name
that Big retail chains and food brands from the U.K.,
said
and Brazil are eyeing an entry in the Indian market
Italy
the government opened up foreign investments up
after
100 per cent in processing, marketing and retailing of
to
India being the hot pool of green notes flying
With
nobody is going to leave any stone unturned. We
allover,
BY NEETI NARAIN GUPTA
and xiaomi debuts iphone rivals, it’s
consumers
that every rival product is coming for each
apparent
other.
conglomerate Arvind Group has readied
Textile-to-retail
to step into India's $5.2-billion footwear retail
plans
food made in India.
have to see whose going to take the biggest flip.
just
11

RETAIL NEWS AT A GLANCE
Marks & Spencer pens deal to
supply food to British Airways.
Godrej Interio to launch e-
commerce platform by April 2017.
MedPlus on retail expansion in
TN, to set up 200 stores.
Lite Bite to invest Rs 30 crore on
expansion.
Zippo, William Penn tie-up to
strengthen its footprint in India.
OPPO overtakes Apple by sales
value in India.
Zara owner Inditex profits and
sales rise as store expansion rolls
on.
O2 Spa to invest USD 15 mn for
biz expansion.
Aditya Birla Retail appoints
Mohit Kampani as CEO
SPOTLIGHT
Aditya Birla's brand 'Abof' makes debut with
Amazon Fashion.
Resident angels jazz
up Pepperfry with Rs
210 cr.
Samsung delays
latest flagship
Galaxy Note 7 again
JJ Valaya launches
its first gifting store
‘The Home of the
Traveler’ in Mehar
Chand market
12

Our Team
Content Heads
Akhilesh Prabhu
Meghna Bamankar
Junior Team
Retail Chronicles is a bi-monthly newsletter
of Retail Lab, the Retail committee of KJ
Somaiya Institute of Management Studies
& Research, Mumbai. Images used in Retail
Chronicles are subject to copyright.
Anchal Pandey
Neeti Narain Gupta
Shivani Agrawal
Surbhi Jain
Vipul Varkar
Design Team
Abhirup Banerjee
Rabin Kumar Singh
/retaillabsimsr
@Retail_LAB
retail_lab
K J Somaiya Institute Of
Management Studies & Research,
Mumbai
retaillab.simsr@somaiya.edu
+91 9158256641
+91 9769886091