RetailChronicle Issue9 (16-31 December 2016)

News at a
Retail
Glance!
J Somaiya Institute Of Management Studies & Research,Mumbai
K
9158256641 | 9769886091
Contact:
RETAIL
CHRONICLES
Fortnightly Newsletter | Issue 9 | 16-31 DECEMBER 2016
Pg 03
in The City:
New
Decathlon-R-City
02
Shoppers:
Holiday
Close &
Attract,
03
Pg 05
Pg 06
Delight Customers
Point of
Mobile
Sale
05
06
War By Ladles
Pg 08
08
Retail Lab SIMSR
retaillab.simsr@somaiya.edu

IF YOU'RE OFFERED A
SEAT ON A ROCKET
SHIP, DON'T ASK WHAT
SEAT! JUST GET ON.
- SHERYL SANDBERG

NEW IN THE CITY
By Shivani Agrawal
Passion and Vitality aren’t these the
perfect synonyms of our very own city,
Mumbai? It is always active when it
comes to sports, the city that hosts “the
greatest race in the world,” the Mumbai
Marathon. The city which stands for
solidarity of several communities and
cultures and being the financial and
commercial capital of India. It inspired
them, the decathlon to open their
Second Store at the R­City Mall in
Ghatkopar.
Decathlon ­ a format under the global
network of Oxylane Network, rooted in
France, have enabled sports activists
and enthusiasts practice,
Decathlon, R-City
perform and follow their sports
passions with its wide range of
products for over three decades.
Conceived and started in 1976 near
Lille, they have worked hard to design,
develop, manufacture and bring sports
equipment closer to the customer. And
the passion just keeps growing.
As they say,
We are about Sports! Your one stop
Sports Store is here. 50 Sports­5,000
Products, present in over 29
Countries!
#SportForAll #AllForSport
02

the Presidential election over in
With
Hanukkah starting on Christmas
America,
and both of them being on the same
Eve
and Indians swimming their way
Saturday,
is just to tap with the right way and
retailers
their bags. fill
isn’t it the same story, every year? Trust
But
me.
know where so many retail salespeople
You
wrong? go
try to sell based on the features they
They
are important. The trouble with that is
think
are unique; they have their own
shoppers
why they buy things.
reasons
want to buy using their own morals,
They
and feelings.
values,
your product or service helps a dad be a
If
when he fixes the dishwasher drain, or
hero
a mom feel like a million dollars in a
helps
outfit for the company party, or helps a
new
you’ve helped them bolster their
then
identity.
it goes, Out of sight, out of mind; it holds
As
even for shoppers.
true
can be coped up with those which every
It
put on their ‘to dos’ and never get it
retailer
Yes, I am talking of E-mails; having a
done.
list is must do nonetheless keeping your
mail
engaged with catchy mailers is
customers
important. An email need not be a bug
more
their inbox but a reminder to OFFERS or
in
editions to keep in touch.
season
Holiday Shoppers: Attract, Close &
Delight Customers
By Shivani Agrawal
customer see themselves in a new light as
of demonetisation; this holiday season
out
high sales. Now the key for
promises
.
stronger, more fun loving, or more studious -
heard me say it plenty of
You’ve
buy feelings, not things.
times...people
03

their store navigations better can
Making
it out. Clearly point out where people
help
find gifts for men, women, kids, etc.
can
your employees to know where
Train
is. That way, they’re prepared
everything
help shoppers who need assistance.
to
have your staff move about the shop
Also
be on the lookout for disorganized
and
or items that aren’t in their
products
shelves, so they can tidy up
proper
immediately.
navigation improvements can also
Store
applied to your ecommerce shop. If
be
selling online, create banners or
you’re
special navigation links for the
even
season.
even need to recognize that
Retailers
can make or break sales. Speed is
speed
to converting last-minute
critical
Remember, these shoppers
customers.
pressed for time and need to
are
their purchases ASAP. They
complete
to browse, shop, and pay with ease.
want
why you should remove any
That’s
points that are slowing down the
friction
experience.
shopping
brilliant example, who nailed it around the
One
season is Nordstrom. Nordstrom and
holiday
partner Snaps have launched the
developer
first-ever chatbot, a holiday shopping
retailer's
that will be available on Facebook
assistant
and Kik. Users of the chatbot will
Messenger
prompted with various questions about
be
they are shopping for and other gift
people
also can have the chatbot contact a
criteria,
shopping assistant for more
human
information.
your last-minute customers could use a
Lastly,
of help and inspiration finding presents.
bit
them a leg up using gift guides filled with
Give
and product recommendations.
ideas
through your product catalog, pick out the
Go
that would make for great presents, and
ones
them in your holiday guide. On top of
include
recommendations, why not throw in
gift
party ideas, or tips for enjoying the
recipes,
season?
wish you a happy holiday season; make it
We
a memorable experience for your shoppers.
04

Nowadays, retailers are using the best of
technology to provide customers with the best
of shopping experiences. waiting in the queue
for making payments is something that the
customers don’t want at any given point while
shopping offline. Standing in line makes
customers think about their decision to buy an
item, whether it is worth the cost, time to
compare with a similar product or back out
from one’s basic decision to buy the garment.
To provide more ease to their customers,
retailers are gearing up with the latest in
By Anchal Pandey
Sale of Point Mobile
technology to keep up with the mobile world.
40 per cent of retailers have adopted mobile
point of sale or have a pilot programme
running.
Since engaging the customers still remains one
of the important factor in any sales operation
at an apparel retail outlet, with mPos, store
associates will be needed to go to customers to
be available to provide assistance, suggest
relevant items, and make check outs on the
spot. This makes the customer feel valued and
also saves the time from waiting in long queues.
Another good reason of using a mPos along
with a good software solution is that it can help
garment retailers to have an access to the
merchandise in the offline as well as online.
Garment retailers have also caught the trend
and are exploring the new age retailing with
Mobile Point of Sale. It gives clothing retailers
an opportunity to put their digital abilities into
use in the store. The mobile point of sale
technology can help apparel retailers reduce
store expenses, increase customer engagement,
and improve the sales efficiency.
The growing mix of mobiles for store activities
and facilitating customers across all touch
points especially in a store has led the retailers
to adopt a tool that allows them to drive
engagements and organise store operations.
Using these data, the store associates assist the
shoppers to find a clothing in a different colour
easily to be shipped to the store or directly to
the customer or for customers to collect
personally from another outlet. Also, the mPos
allows the option of directly adding the loyalty
points develop personalized offers on the basis
of buying history, preferences, and other
personal details stored using an integrated
software program. The biggest advantage of a
point of sale system like this is that it provides
the customers and apparel retailers the
comfort of mobile enabled loyalty programs.
05

WAR BY LADLES
It was a regular Friday night and as usual it’s a
pizza night!! Somehow Joey (famous American
show FRIENDS’s character) made this quite a
casual thing in Indian households or should I
say youngsters. I picked up my phone and
extend my other hand towards the left drawer
to reach out for one of the pizza pamphlets to
order from. Drawer was stuffed with more
than 50 of them, stuffed like paper balls after
many pizza nights and drunken Saturdays.
Somehow I managed to get a few out of it,
there was dominos, pizza hut, papa jones,
smoking joe’s, joey’s pizza and a few others.
By Neeti Gupta
Another voice was mine and it was almost
unbelievable that how shrieky and rude I got
on even a thought of coming out of my
house and eat at the restaurant. That made
me think later after a full smoky chicken
pizza from joey’s that we ordered later and a
chilled beer, why I gave that reaction?
The idea of going out and eat is dying or the
retail eating stores made us used to sit at
home do nothing attitude was the reason.
The answer probably is very simple,
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.
The choice somehow became like one of the
key choices of life that what type of pizza is a
indication of where my life is going. After
quite an interesting argument with my flat
mates we finally dogged down to smoking
joe’s as we had a coupon and an offer,
minimising our share t o quite a low.
This hustle was quite a handful after all you
have to pick restaurant, pizza type, toppings
and what not. I finally called in and asked the
guy to note my order and he broke news to me
like a tsunami hit my wall. They weren’t
delivering today because of some issues. We
offered us to come down to the restaurant
and have a fine dine with them.
Companies and start ups like Box 8, Swiggy
etc revolves around this ideology. They aren’t
may be investing in the basics of F&B industry
that is décor or interiors but that money and
inputs are going into what probably means
the most, taste. Value added services or
discounts somehow do adds up to the
addition to the growing opportunity to
them.
06

07
Whilst the customer has always remained the
king, today, with the ever increasing options
available and a wide exposure, meeting
customer demands is no child's play.
Knowing your customer – their favourite
meal, beverage and table – are critical
knowledge banks fine dining businesses need
to record, analyse and act upon to ensure
the best customer retention and satisfaction
levels.
Meeting these demands requires
operational flexibility, with shorter
product life and quick changeovers.
Product Safety: As concerns over food
safety and transparency continue to grow,
it is mandatory to improve processes that
monitor quality and track material
through the facility with systems
monitoring operations at all critical points
to maintain execution consistency.Fine
dining outlets globally will have to find
ways to build functional and operational
resilience to the potential challenges.
So it’s not like fine dining is dying or people
has left the taste of it but it do have crazy
competition their way and they better pull
up their ladles to back up.
Morphing of food services and retailing:
Slowly but surely, the boundaries between
retailing, food services and entertainment are
blurring. Providing an "eater-training"
environment in the outlets, without affecting
the service levels and efficiency would be the
winning customer value proposition.
On your toes: Today's consumers run the
gamut – from those who want healthier
choices to others who want unique flavors.

NEWS AT A GLANCE
Facebook India appoints Pulkit Trivedi to
RETAIL
head e-comm, retail, travel & financial
services.
China's Nubia to invest $100 million in
India, aims to become top online brand.
Godrej Nature's Basket targets Rs 1000 cr
revenue by 2020.
Delhi Airport launches India’s 1st airport e-
Shopping platform for fliers.
Cash transactions of our sales dropped to 18
per cent from 65 per cent: Kishore Biyani,
Future Group.
Yes Bank joins Grofers for doorstep cash.
O2 Spa acquires Zazen as part of its
expansion drive.
Paytm partners with NHAI to enable
cashless payments at all toll plazas.
British retailer ASOS to hire 1,500 more staff
over next three years.
Demonetisation effect: 15 tonnes of gold
sold on November 8-9.
Tatas vote Mistry out as a director in TCS,
LIC abstains.
Pepperfry’s loss nearly doubles.
Cosmetics company Clarins to enter makeup
space.
08

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
Abhishek Kemminje
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