Retail Ka Mahakumbh

Overview

Golden statement:
हर मौके पर बन कर सारथि, हमें बना दिया Guinness वर्ल्ड रिकॉर्ड का महारथी।

Bada Business has become the world’s first company to hold 4 records in continuous four webinars and this is the 5^th official attempt of Guinness world record.

In this video, Dr. Vivek Bindra, Founder and the CEO, Bada Business, explains about 100 strategies for your retail business.

Learnings

Dr. Vivek Bindra shares 100 strategies for your retail business.

Golden statement:
बंद करो Corona का रोना  धोना उठो भागो और बहा लो थोड़ा पसीना |
पतझड़ हुए बिना पेड़ों पर नए पत्ते नहीं आते कठिनाई और संघर्ष के बिना अच्छे दिन नहीं आते |
बड़े सपने देखने वाले अपने सपनो की उड़ान किसी से पूछ कर नहीं भरते हैं I
तेरी मेहनत और कामयाबी देखकर  जब चार लोगों ने  करी तेरी बुराई तब समझ लेना तूने तबाही है मचाईI
Corona ने कर दिया आपके business को sidetrack  अब समाय आ गया करलो business  में bounce back I

You should follow these strategies in your retail business:

1. Location:

Your business location should be consistent with the target market and competitive positioning.

There are 3 types of locations:

Primary Location: About 60-80% of customers visit the primary location.
Secondary location: About 15-25% of customers visit the secondary location.
Tertiary location: Customer may or may not visit the tertiary location.

So, you should check your site venue if it can influence to bring customers.

Occupancy cost: You have to consider your budget.

Do you have to take it on the lease?
You will buy it on your own?
Also, you need to consider the maintenance cost.

Traffic:

What is the number of customers that visit there?
What is the number of private vehicles that cross your shop?
What is the number of pedestrians that cross/pass your shop?
What is the public transport facility?

You should know these things about your customer:

Age group
Profession
Income group
Lifestyle
Religion
Density of population
Product demand
Customer spending
Personal disposable income
Competition
Availability of location

Golden statement:
जीवन में जब तक जीना है तब तक सीखना है I

2. Locally relevant:

You should sell the product according to the local market.

Golden statement:
Being local relevant will help you.

It will bring operational efficiency.
It will provide an improved customer experience.
It will also improve your brand value.
It will also increase sales because you met the actual demand.

For example:

When McDonald entered India, it made Mc Aalo Tikki because Indians like to add potatoes to everything.
When McDonald entered Greece, it introduced Mac Greek.
When McDonald entered Japan, it introduced Mac Sushi.

Being locally relevant means you will find tooth powder in the village while you will find toothpaste in metro cities.

You will not find brands like Louis Phillips, Van Heusen, Monte Carlo, Peter England, etc in the villages.

So, you have to consider the customers and their requirements in the village areas.

3. Sales isn't sales, the purchase is sales:

Either you are a distributor, wholesaler, or retailer, you should focus on the purchase because it is the game-changer for you.

Which brand you are purchasing?
At what price you are purchasing?
Which design you are purchasing?
During which season you are purchasing?

A retailer should visit exhibitions to know all these things.

All big retailers focus on his purchase and make a sales system.

You should purchase a brand because it sells easily. Don't get trapped into schemes and their margins.

If you have dead stock, sell it at discount or even give it free to needy people but don’t keep dead stock in your shop.

You should do a why-why analysis of your dead stock and know about:

Was there was any design problem?
Were you selling at the wrong price?
Is your salesman not right?
Have you not displayed the stock well?

Golden statement:
ख्वाब टूटतें हैं मगर मेहनत अभी जिन्दा है आप लोगों की महनत के आगे मुश्किलें भी शर्मिंदा हैं I

4. Call for essential, sell the non-essential:

For example:

You visit Bigbazaar to buy essential things but it also succeeds in selling non-essential things to you.
When they announce off of Rs. 250 on purchase of Rs. 750 during 5 days of Mahabachat, do you shop for Rs.750 only. Rather you do shopping for more than that.
If you notice, your bill for these 5 days is comparatively more than the rest of the months.
So, you visit there to get a discount on essential items such as tea, milk, oil, sugar, sauce, etc,.
But when you go there you also buy non-essential items in confusion.

5. Cost-plus pricing strategy:

During the initial days, you should keep a markup over the cost price of a product.
For example, you bought a product for Rs.100 and sell it for Rs.110 or Rs.120.

Golden statement:
Pricing is not about costs or competition, it is about finding the customer valuation.

Generally, cost-plus is used during the initial period of a business because it is simple to use and you don’t require much data.

6. Competition based pricing:

You can create smart pricing differentiation in comparison to your rivals.
You should create benchmarks on other's prices and create a reason to enter.
Generally, customers buy 10% of items most of the time.
You should give more discount on these 10% items in comparison to your competitors.
Customers will come and buy other products as well.
This is known as "competition-based pricing" where you pull the traffic of competition by giving a discount on items that customers buy most of the time.
Rest of the products you can sell later.

7. Premium pricing:

Premium pricing is also known as “Psychological pricing”.
It means the more expensive is the product, the better it is.
You capitalize on the brand and target wealthy customer groups through this pricing.
For example, ZARA, Mufti, Versace, use unique products and premium services.
This pricing is not used for every item, rather is it used for some special pricing for a special item.

8. Penetration pricing:

In this pricing, you plan to enter the market by lowering the costs of products in comparison to your competition.

For example:

Jio entered into the market through penetration pricing.
First, it captured the market and then increased the price.

Also, Ola, Uber, and OYO adopted penetration pricing.

It helps you to enter into the market, expand the customer base, capture their attention, and later on when the customer becomes a repeat customer you can increase the price.

The only problem is that if you do penetration pricing for many days without margins and if you don't have a deep pocket, you might face the problem.

9. High low pricing:

You sell your products at high costs initially and gradually you lower the pricing.

For example:

Apple iPhones initially are sold for Rs.100,000.
Then they reduce their price to Rs 80,000, then Rs 60,000, and finally they launched a model which is sold for Rs.45-50000.

You can capitalize on seasonal trends and you don't depend on the competition.

This type of pricing is useful in apparel, footwear, electronics, and technology items.

As the demand gets lower, you reduce the price so it is called high-low pricing.

Also, you sell the unsold items of the old cycle at a low price to enter into the new cycle through the limited stock and stock clearance.

Limited stock means you sell the items before the starting of the new season.

10. Anchor Pricing:

You try to show the low pricing that creates a psychological impact upon the shoppers.
You should not keep the same price for similar products.
For example, write Rs.1999 instead of Rs.1999.00. for any product.

11. Bundle Pricing:

You can sell the collection of your products.

For example:

Microsoft office sells a bundle of its products.
Tez is a news channel of AajTak,
Aajtak sells its advertisement clubbing it with Tez.

So, you add extra value to the experience and you sell on low-demand products by clubbing with original products.

Therefore, it helps in selling products that were not selling earlier.

12. KeyStone Pricing:

In keystone pricing, you sell products at double cost of the wholesale price.

It is used in the case of:

Substantial shipping cost
Slow turnover
Unique item

It is used in some organisations that sell merchandise at a double rate.

13. Charm Pricing:

Charm pricing is similar to Anchor pricing.

Price ends with digit 9 or you lessen the price by Rs.1.

For example:

The difference between Rs.300 and Rs.299 is only Rs.1.
But they are perceived differently.
Rs.300 is perceived differently and Rs.299 is perceived differently because it shows a range of Rs.200.
This is known as “Charm pricing”.

Golden Statement:
जहाँ ज्ञान है वहीं सच है बिना ज्ञान जीवन में केवल दुःख ही दुःख है |
एक मिनट में जिंदगी तो नहीं बदल सकती लेकिन एक मिनट में लिया गया फैसला आपकी जिंदगी को बदल सकता है|

14.Planogram:

Planogram means eye level at buy level.

This means keeping the product that you want to sell at the eye level that helps in selling it.

This strategy is also known as “See first, buy first.”

It involves placing the product at the beginning of the end.

For example:

In large stores, essentials such as eggs, milk, bread, etc are kept at the end of the store.
It is done so that you move in the store till the end and pick other products as well.

Generally, people face difficulty in picking the products from height or too surface level.

So, you should keep the convenience product at the eye level that can easily be picked and sold.

To sum up it can be said that:

Higher the facing, the more visibility.
Higher visibility of higher sales.

So, you need to consider these points:

Height of the shelf
Width of the Aisle
Height of the store
Amount of lighting

15. Strong store visual:

It focuses on shop layout and design which is not an expense rather it is an investment.
If you are a low-cost player, you should invest low but if you are a high margin player, you can invest high on this.
You can increase height, add color, and increase the depth to improve store visuals.
Also, you should keep things neat and tidy.
You should change signage in the store according to the occasions, special days, and festivals that help in increasing traffic.

16. Mindshare = Market share

The better mindset you capture, the better market share you will get.
It is a sensory market technique where you feel the senses such as hearing, smell, touch, taste, and sight of the other person.
The sense is the gateway to the mind.
You should use the senses of the other person and try to engage your customer through conversation.

Golden statement:

बात कर यदि ग्राहक को बना लाया अपना तो फिर सामान बेचना नहीं रह जाएगा एक सपना |

For example:

In the flood of Chennai, Airtel hanged boats on their hoardings with a message “ In case of flood, use this boat to save your life.”
People cut the rope of the hoarding and took the boat.
So, it captured their mindset that helped to capture their market share.

Similarly, Tata Docomo used this strategy to capture the mindset of their customer that improved its market share.

So, you need to capture the mindset and market share will follow you.

Golden statement :

जो लोग समय को नष्ट करते हैं एक दिन समय उनको नष्ट कर देता है |

17.Intensive distribution strategy:

You have to expand the distribution network for simple, inexpensive, and easily transportable items.

The goal is market coverage.

Golden statement:
Market में होगा distribution तभी मिलेगी product को reputation।

18. Engage with distraction:

You can use verbal vocal pop-ups and visual signage to engage with your customers.

For example:

In Bigbazaar, MahaBachat days there are an announcement on the floor.
They announce that only 10 Ponds cream are left in the store and people rush to buy the cream.

Verbal includes language, content, speech, etc to engage your customers.

Vocal involves volume, tone, voice pitch, etc engage your customers.

Visual involves facial gestures, body gestures, proximity, appearance, and eye contact.

Golden statement:
जो मेहनत से पढता है उसका कद खूब बढ़ता है |

19. Multichannel retailing strategy:

You should use multichannel to sell your product such as:

Website
Telephone ordering
Mail order
Catalog ordering
Shipping

Golden statement:
जब खुले होंगे खरीद के हर द्वार तभी बढेगा आपका व्यपार |

A customer has the choice to buy online and also you can go from regional to multinational to global.

20. Persuasion:

There are 4 types of persuasion:

Blind persuasion:
Pull persuasion: There is already a need for a product where you don't have to do anything.
Push persuasion: Consumer doesn’t need the product he only wishes for that product. So, you have to push him to buy the product. The customer is interested but not committed.
No persuasion:

21. Click & Collect method:

The adoption rate of mobile is twice due to the internet, thrice due to social media, and ten times due to computers.
You should make a low-cost app where customers can book the product and collect it.
It also increases in-store traffic because people come and pick the product.

Golden statement:

ग्राहक जब जब करेंगे Click व्यपार में होगा तब तब आपका Flick

22. Communication strategy:

You should communicate about your products, services, and events through:

Print
Audio
Video
Facebook
SMS
WhatsApp
E-mail

You should communicate in a way that is meaningful to the recipient.

Content is not king rather it is a kingdom.

Golden statement:

सही समय पर उठता गया छोटा कदम भविष्य की बड़ी समस्याओं से आपको बचाता है |

23. Flexi payment options:

You should give Flexi payment options to the customers such as barter, cheque, money transfer, demand draft, credit card, digital wallet, bet banking, EMI, etc.

24. In-store safety:

When a customer enters your store, send a message to him through e-mail, mobile app, social media, and website.
Explain to him that you are providing him a very safe experience through maintaining proper social distancing rules.

Golden statement:

सुरक्षित जीवन का अर्थ है सुऱक्षा के बिना सब व्यरर्थ है |

25. Eliminate the wait:

According to a survey, if a customer has to wait for 8 minutes in line, he will walk away without doing a purchase.

So, you should keep your store well-staffed and plan peak hours to handle the long queue.

Golden statement:

करवाओ गे अगर ग्राहक तो ज्यादा इंतज़ार तो निकल जाएगा आपके हाथ से व्यपार |

Golden statement:

Your customer doesn’t care how much you know, he knows how much you care.

26. Moonlighting:

Take the help of an expert in your field.

For example:

If you are opening a shop, you can ask the Reliance operations head to spend some time on the weekend with you.
You can arrange for a meal and also give him some amount for this.

27. Photo opportunity at the store:

Make your store a selfie booth.
On the one hand, people who are fond of photo click will come to your shop and also this will spread awareness about your shop.

28. Illusion of scarcity:

Do something so that customers feel that the product is rare and he might lose if he doesn't buy it.
Don’t keep more variety, colour, and brand options rather build scarcity.

29. Middle of the road:

You have to show one more expensive item along with the original item that you want to sell.

For example:

The item that you want to sell costs Rs.100.
You can show a similar item costing Rs.150 or Rs.175 to the customer.

30. Cat-Man strategy:

You have to do category management about:

What do they want?
Where did they want?
When do they want to?
What are they willing for what they want?

You should follow these points for the new category:

Focus on an existing product
Efforts for developing a new category
Quality
Manpower
Brand identity
Raw material/packaging
Seasonal product
Total market size
Priority
Working capital

31. Interesting Mannequin:

You can use an interesting mannequin for:

Highlighting unique collection
Influence the customer
Attract new customer
Sell what you want to sell

32. In-store convenience:

You should provide the facility to the customer when he enters your shop such as alteration, free WiFi, trial room facility, etc if you have garments showroom.

33. Product return to advantage:

Return the product with a smile, swiftness, and sweetness.

For example, Ferns & petals conveniently return the product.

34. 5 Rs of trust revenue:

Revenue increases with trust and decreases if the trust decreases.

5 R of trust revenue are:

Rating
Reviews
Repeat
Reference
Retention

Golden statement:

Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

35. Point-based loyalty program:

You should make point-based loyalty programs for your customers.
You can take their mobile numbers and make their unique id.
According to the data by Deloitte, businesses that run point-based loyalty programs make a profit by 88%.

Golden statement:

Never push a loyal person to a point where they no longer give a damn to you.

Golden statement:

You don’t earn loyalty in a day, you earn loyalty day by day.

36. Customer referral program:

You should give a special benefit to the customer if he refers to you.

For example:

Ola, Uber provided Rs.500 free rides to their customers for reference.

37. Analyse with data, engage with emotion:

You should maintain and analyse customer data.
You should analyse customer reference, buying time, best product, etc.

38: Repurchase rate:

You should calculate the repurchase rate as follows:

Repurchase rate = Number of repurchases/ Number of unique purchase X 100

39: Net promoter score:

NPS shows how many customers promote you while how many customers give negative reviews about you.
If a customer gives you 9 out of 10 he will promote you while if he gives you 2,3 or 4 points on NPS he will demote you.
Promoters work as unpaid sales agent who will help in your business growth.

40. Referral rate:

You should check how many customers have given your references.

Referral rate = Customers giving references / Total number of customers X 100

41. Customer lifetime value:

The stages of customer lifetime value are:

Customer
Repeat customer
Loyal customer
Promoter
Advocate

Golden statement:

Customer satisfaction is worthless, customer loyalty is priceless.

42. Redemption rate:

It is the number of points used by the customers and the number of points he has earned or issued to the customer.

For example:

Points issued to the customer = 1000

Points used by the customer = 100

Redemption Rate = (Points used by the customer/ Points issued to the customer) x 100

= (100/1000) x 100

= 10%

It means that your customer redeems only 10% of loyalty points, which means that you are not able to give the points properly.

If you have given points to customers, then they should consume all the points and come back to you. This will help you to know whether your system is effective or not and your loyalty rate.

43. Active Engagement Ratio

Active Engagement Ratio = (Members Engaged/Total Members) x 100

Engagement is of different types – Social Media engagement, purchase engagement, and visit engagement.

44. Participation Ratio

Participation Ratio = Programme members / Total members

45. Retention Rate

Retention Rate = Number of customers at the end of the measured period/Number of customers at the start of the measured period

Where,

Number of customers at the start of the measured period = Number of customers with you at the start of a year

Number of customers at the end of the measured period = Number of customers remain with you till the end of the year

Golden Statement:

Entertainment नहीं Edutainment करें इससे खाली दिमाग खुलेगा और खुला दिमाग खिलेगा |
As Gym is to physical fitness; EAE is to unlock your business
बीता हुआ समय कभी लौट के नहीं अत; आपका समय अब है

46. Service Marketing

Give such a service after sales that the customer is not able to leave you.
Give a remarkable customer experience through excellent customer service.

For example:

Poojara Telecom used to provide mobile repairing services along with the mobile handset for every mobile company like Samsung, OPPO, VIVO, Micromax, etc.
So, the customer doesnot needs to call the company for the repair.
Based on its excellent customer service, Poojara has become so popular.

47. Brand Builds your Brand

If you keep a good brand, then your brand will also build.

For example:

If you have a garment business, then instead of taking unbranded cloth of Rs. 250/meter, take a branded cloth of Rs. 300/meter because stitching cost remains the same in both cases but using a branded brand will help you in getting the trust and confidence of customers.

48. Capturing a non-consumer

Make a non-consumer your customer.

For example:

When Indigo Airlines came, the people who used to travel by train, started using Airlines.
Similarly, when you used to visit a new city and you don’t have much money to live in a hotel room, then you start calling your relatives for a free stay. OYO has captured these customers as well.

You can capture the non-consumers through:

Interest-free EMI options
Retarget, remarket, increase loyalty, or kill competition through technology integration

Golden Statement:

Improvisation in Imperfection of Competition can give you further Progression.

Identify the mistake of your competitor and use it to make yourself perfect.

49. Upselling and Cross-selling

If a customer comes to buy one thing, try to sell him another thing along with it.

For example:

If a customer comes to buy a Rs. 100 Honey bottle and you sell him a bottle of Rs. 130, then it is called upselling.
On the other hand, if a customer comes to buy a mobile handset and you sell headphones along with it, this is called cross-selling.

Golden Statement:

Possibilities are endless if you really want to unlock your business.

50. Cross-Promotion

In this, two non-competing brands come together and promote each other.

For example, a wedding band and wedding card provider are not competitors but their customers are the same. So, both of them can sell their products together and promote each other.

Examples of cross-promotion are:

McDonald’s and Coca-Cola
BMW and Louis Vuitton
KitKat and Google Android
Nike and Apple
KitKat and Paytm
Amazon and IPhone’

Golden Statement:

भविष्य में सिर्फ वो अनपढ़ नहीं होगा जो पढ़ नहीं पायेगा; अनपढ़ वो होगा जो सीखना नहीं चाहेगा |

51. Low-cost marketing

In this, you can do viral marketing wherein customer is provided a delightful experience.

For example:

Mr. Anand Mahindra has tweeted about a cobbler who placed a board on his shop “Jakhmi Jooton ka Aspatal.”
Similarly, there is another board which states, “Kuldeep Sir aise padate hain ki gazni ko bhi sab yad rehta hai.”

This is called viral marketing.

Some more types of low-cost marketing are sidewalk chalk writing, presume marketing, wild posting, ambient marketing, grass root marketing, and rub-off effect.

Golden Statement:

Education without application is just like entertainment.

52. Experiential retailing

In retailing, you should create an experience for customers.

This is done in personal services like nail and beauty salon, health and fitness facilities like yoga, massage, meditation studio, etc., restaurants, comedy shows, etc. They try to provide an experience to customers by giving something free or giving a pleasant experience to customers.

For example:

Arts and Crafts Outlet – Conduct Knitting, Model Making, Paper Art, and Quilting workshops to provide experience to customers.
Home improvement stores – Conduct Do It Yourself Classes
Appliance stores – Conduct cooking classes wherein they sell their appliances

53. Experiential Marketing

In this, you provide something free with the product so that customer gets a unique experience.

For example:

Fire Paanwala in Chandni Chawk and Connaught Place, Delhi used to provide a pan having a fire lit in it. When the customer puts this firepan in his mouth, the fire gets extinguished. Though there is a science behind why the fire get extinguishes, this product gives a unique experience to the customers.
Similarly, some of the companies provide free samples to the customers for providing experience to the customers.

Experiential marketing is done in the following ways:

Freemium (Free + Premium) i.e. you first give the product for free and then take charges from them.
Sampling i.e. you give a small sample to the customer to test and then sell the big bottle of the product.

For example:

A 6ml sachet of Clinic Plus Shampoo is of Rs. 1. So, its 600 ml bottle should be of Rs. 100. However, the price of this 600 ml bottle costs Rs. 325.
Similarly, 50 gm Colgate Toothpaste costs Rs. 20. So, 150 gm Colgate Toothpaste tube should be of Rs. 60 but they sell it for Rs. 92.
100 gm Red Label Tea packet is of Rs. 30. So, its 1 Kg packet should be of Rs. 300 but they sell it for Rs. 410.

54. Endowment Effect

In this, the product is given to the customers on a 15-30 days trial basis and the customer purchases it if he likes it.
This is a very successful technique while dealing with kids.
Kids take the product for free trial and their parents need to buy it because they are not ready to give the product back.
The endowment helps in building an ownership mentality among customers towards the product. The customer doesn’t want to return the product. He prefers purchasing it instead of returning it.

55. Off-season

Golden statement:

आपका business seasonal हो सकता है लेकिन आपकी commitment seasonal नहीं होनी चाहिए |

If you have off-season in your area:

Go where the season is
Extend your season
Stay on the top of customers’ mind
Build referral and loyalty programme
Add complimentary freebies
Focus on what you can’t do during the season
Build new product line especially for off-season
Money saved is money earned

56. Stock management

You should:

Have stock at the right time
Closely monitoring inventory
Forecast demand
Avoid stock-outs
Keep stock level alerts
Accurate reporting
Effective product ordering

For this, you should use software technology to:

Avoid thefts
Manage your stocks
Informs about shortage of products

Golden Statement:

ना दिया परिवार को वक़्त, ना पूरी हुई पर्चों की फेरी; दिनभर चौकीदार बने बैठे रहे, फिर भी हो गई पैसो की चोरी |

57. Just-In-Time

It means you should bring your inventory only when it is required. This is the best way to manage inventory.

If you and your distributor get connected with technology, then your distributor will send the inventory when it is finished.

Just-In-Time helps in:

Saving inventory and labour cost
Saving warehousing space
Using the available space for good customer experience
Minimising error in inventory

58. Expiry management

Everything has a certain expiry time whether it is FMCG, retail, chemist, medicine, rubber, vegetable, etc.
Due to the expiry of products, businesses incur a loss of 10-12%.
When you send back the expired products, you need to argue with the distributor as well because you might have sent the wrong delivery to him.
So, you should keep a good software to manage this.

59. Rack management

Most of the retailers do not know which product is kept in which rack of your store. However, their workers know and due to this, you keep on increasing their salaries so that they do not leave you.
If you have an ERP software, then you can track all your products i.e. in which rack you have kept which product.

60. Behaviour forecasting

You can forecast the customer behaviour using technology.

The software can suggest related products when a customer comes to your store.

For example:

Using technology, you can push a toothbrush to a person who comes to buy Toothpaste.
Similarly, you can push Gel/Aftershave lotion to a person who comes to buy a Shaving Razor.
If a person comes to buy 5 spare products for engine repair, your software will suggest 14 more products that are used in the repair. You can suggest the customer to ask his mechanic whether he will need all these 14 products. In this way, you are able to sell more products.

61. Profitable Push Sale

You can push the product that is profitable to you.

For example:

If a person comes to you to buy “Masala”, then you can sell the product on which you are earning more money. You can say to the customer that this “Masala” is more popular nowadays.
Similarly, if a product is about to spoil or expire, then the software will give you this information beforehand and you can push it to the customer.

62. Sales isn’t equal to cash

Make your business computerised.

In the case of credit business, take care of the following three things:

How much amount of credit you should give?
For how many days you should give credit?
On how many bills you will give credit?

You should mention all the above 3 points in the software so that you can get the alert for the recovery of money at the right time.

This will also help in improving your banking and accountancy and forecasting the recovery from a distributor based on his payment history.

Golden statement:

ज्ञान ऐसा निवेश है जिसका मुनाफ़ा हमें जीवन के अंत तक मिलता है |

63. Compliance management

When you use technology, it will help you to manage your compliances as well.

For example:

The ERP software will help a chemist needs to meet various compliances like narcotic drug, schedule H drug, alcoholic drug, food licence, drug licence, etc.
Similarly, the software can help you to meet the GST compliance, which is Rs. 1 on a product having a purchase price of Rs. 100 and selling price of Rs. 110.

If you follow returns and compliances, you will be in a better position.

Golden Statement:

हर धंदे में होगी सिर्फ होगी बचत ही बचत; जब कंप्यूटर करेगा आपकी मदद |

64. Data Backup

Whether you are a retailer, wholesaler, distributor, CNF, or Franchise, you should take data backup.

Your software should take regular data backup. It should put your data on the cloud as well to ensure that you have your data even after your office computer is damaged, stolen, or storage space is completely consumed.

65. Chatbots for Business

Chatbots are artificial bots that help you in doing conversations with customers and reducing your manpower cost.
Chatbots do not have any working hour limit but employees have.
Chatbots work 24 x 7 while employees take offs.
Chatbots do not ask for a raise in salary while employees ask for it.

66. Omnichannel

You should try to make your brand in such a way that you can connect with customers from everywhere through your social media channels, physical store, CRM, Big data, online, etc.

Golden Statement:

Do not count the companies you reach; reach the companies that count.

67. Personal V/S Platform Based Website

A personal website is more successful than platform-based websites i.e. your website made on Amazon, Flipkart, etc.

When your website is on Amazon or Flipkart, then due to more number of vendors, your website gets below and you do not get many sales. In such a case, you need to give ads in order to increase your visibility. However, in a personal website, you don’t have to spend much on advertising.

In addition, if you are delivering the product in a local area, then you can deliver it on the same day while Amazon or Flipkart will take atleast one day for this.

On personal website, you can do SEO listing easily for local delivery. However, through Amazon or Flipkart, you need to deliver products to far off places.

68. Debt restructuring

Golden statement:

Debt is the worst enemy of a businessman. If not handled properly, debt can be equal to death.

Reasons behind debt:

1. Desperate borrowing

2. Margins less than hurdle rate, for example:

Debt = Rs. 1 lakh at an interest rate of 20% i.e. Rs. 20,000

Yearly sale = Rs. 1 lakh and you have a margin of 15% i.e. Rs. 15,000

It means you have to give Rs. 5000 from your pocket because you need to pay an interest of Rs. 20,000 and you have earned only Rs. 15,000.

3. Aggressive growth without margin

Restructure your debt by:

Increasing repayment time so that you need to give a small amount as EMI and you will get more time to pay
Eliminate the high-cost debt fast like credit cards (30% interest rate) and personal loans (18%-20% interest rate) and pay the low cost debt like home loan later
Improve your margins
Sell assets that are not required

69. Credit Business

If you have to give credit to someone, then you should consider 2 things – Gross margins and Cost of funds invested in the business.

If you have:

High gross margins and low cost of funds i.e. less interest rate – You can give credit
Less gross margins and high cost of funds i.e. high-interest rate – You should not give credit

70. Expansion strategy

If you want to increase your number of shops, then you should understand:

Buy more shops – For this, you require technology, team, and training
Be your own supplier – Identify whether you can manufacture the product that you buy from your supplier. It will help you in saving your money. This is called backward integration.
Be your own customer – If you are a manufacturer, then you can open your own retail outlets. This is called forward integration.

Golden statement:

Educating yourself is an investment you will never regret.

71. Inventory turnover v/s higher margin

Inventory can be of the following types:

F - Fast-moving – Keep 60% of this inventory
S - Slow-moving – Keep 30% of this inventory
N - Non-moving – Keep 10% of this inventory

This will help you in categorising your inventory.

You should adopt 80/20 principle. You should keep 80% of fast-moving inventory as 80% of revenue comes from 20% stock; so, keep 80% inventory filled with high selling inventory.

For example:

Xiaomi gives 4% margin to its retailers while OPPO gives 15% margin.
If you keep Rs. 1 lakh stock of Xiaomi, then this stock will rotate 10 times, which is called inventory turnover. This means that Rs. 1 lakh stock of Xiaomi gets sold and you again brought Rs. 1 lakh stock and this cycle goes on 10 times in 1 month. It means you get a profit of Rs. 4000 ten times i.e. 4000 x 10 times = Rs. 40,000.
On the other hand, OPPO’s Rs. 1 lakh stock gets sold only 1 time in a month. You get a profit of only Rs. 15,000.

Therefore, Return On Investment (ROI) on Xiaomi is higher than on OPPO.

72. Cash Flow Mismatch

Some retailers say that they are earning good, they are getting cash but nothing left at the month end.

Golden statement:

Plans are nothing, but planning is everything.

For avoiding cash flow mismatch, you need to:

Do financial planning, which involves managing and planning your variable cost, employee cost, admin cost, sales and marketing cost, tax planning, etc.
Promoter, Owner, Proprietor, Partner, or Director does all the personal expenses from business profit. Instead of this, you should keep fixed salary. Reinvest company’s money back in business.

73. Marketing and Promotional Techniques

Low-cost marketing ideas will help you to make a non-consumer your consumer. Some of these ideas can be:

Try to be the talk of the town.
Bulk purchase of high-selling products.
Provide out-of- the- box schemes like getting discount as per your weight.
Big-festival celebration schemes
Low-cost schemes like coupons, free shipping, free return, rebate, flash sale, etc.
Quantity discounts like Buy More Save More
Product Giveaway
Branded Gifts
Exchange offers
Product warranty

Provide reasons for customers to visit your store like:

Exclusive events
Showcase limited available item
Prizes, Contests, Sweepstakes, Games

74. Mimic customer gestures at a distance

You should match the body language of the customer.

For example:

If the customer is talking excitedly, then you should also talk in the same way.
If the customer is talking after thinking, then you should also talk after thinking.

You should do parroting and paraphrasing i.e. repeat the words of customers.

Stand side by side with the customer like buddies. This will help you in increasing your sales. It is also called the mirror effect.

75. Ask 1 Question, Not 20

Ask only 1 question to the customer and not 20. Your questions should be intelligent enough so that the customer can give the answer.

Customer may get frustrated with multiple questions.

Ask an open-ended question to the customer so that customer keeps on speaking non-stop like what types of products do you like? The customer will start telling his choices openly. Your customer should speak 80% and you should speak only 20%.

Golden statement:

Involvement is directly proportionate to commitment.

76. Never Stop Researching

Keep researching on:

Inventory sell-through
Good vendors
Competitors and their customers
Current customer and prospective customer
Employees before hiring
Selling techniques
Customer service care
Sales, Marketing, Merchandising, Employees

77. Promote customers through receipts

The bill you are giving to the customer is also a way to do marketing. In the bill, you can provide:

Offer coupons with receipts
Revisit reason like 10% off on next sale

78. How to set policies and rules for retail store?

You should make certain policies from the start of your retail store like:

1. Goods return policy –

How liberal are you on returns and exchange?
What are the conditions for returning merchandise?
What is the time period for return?
What proof do you require for returning the product?
What data will you collect when a customer comes to return your product?
Where will the return policy be posted?

2. Working hours policy -

What will be your number of hours?
What are the holidays and seasonal offs policy?

3. Housekeeping policy

4. Gift wrapping policy

5. Process power failure policy

Golden statement:

जब जब आएगा crisis; तुरंत बनाइये process

79. General Trade V/S Modern Trade

General Trade is a general retail store like a Lalla ki Dukan while modern trade is a hypermarket store like Big Bazaar, DMart, Shopper Stop, etc.

In general trade, the concept of “Them Vs. Me” is applied as the customer is standing on the opposite side of the counter. Instead of this, make a self-checkout model i.e. customer can easily move inside the store. This is followed in modern trade.

In general trade, the customer buys product in small quantity while in a supermarket; customer buys the product in large quantity.

You should try to go to the modern trade from general trade.

80. Lifestyle Promotion

Can you promote a lifestyle that is related to your product?

Lifestyle promotion helps the customer to visualise his version.

For example:

Mountain Dew does lifestyle promotion through its tagline – “Darr ke Aage Jeet hai.”
ThumsUp does lifestyle promotion through its tagline – “Aaj kuch toofani karte hain.”

Lifestyle promotion helps in giving sense of belongingness to the customer. It showcases a particular personality in a brand.

Chumbak brand promotes a youthful and colourful lifestyle through its store ambiance and display.

Raymond brand promotes a formal and business lifestyle through its store ambiance and display.

81. Peak-end rule strategy

When the deal is about to close, take the emotion of the customer to the peak. If this emotion is intense and favourable, then the customer will come back to you.

Give your customers:

Elevation of happiness
Sense of pride
Moment of achievement/courage
Moment of insight
Moment of connection

Identify the peaks feeling of customers and create favourable peaks like:

Using customer’s name
Remembering important dates
Simplifying a process
Sincere goodbye
Surprise discount
Small departure gift

82. Capture your positioning

What do you stand for?

What should you be known for?

You need to identify the answer of the above two questions i.e. how you want to be remembered by your customers. This will help you in positioning your brand.

For example:

Walmart is known for the lowest prices.
Dr. Vivek Bindra is known for problem-solving solutions.

83. Google My Business (Online + Offline)

Make sure that your shop or store should be visible on Google and Facebook.
Mention your Company Name, Address, Phone Number, Office/shop working hours, Lots of visual content and reviews, and display your inventory.
This will help the customers to search your business name and product in stock.

Golden statement:

अगर online बताओगे अपनी inventory; तभी कस्टमर कर लेगा आपके store में entry

Google My Business:

A free tool to promote business profile and website
Helps in increasing leads and sales
Provides your exact business location on Google Maps
Provide better search visibility to your business
Display useful information like business description and directions for your store.

Visit the Google My Business and fill up the complete form. After that, Google will promote you i.e.:

How relevant are you? i.e. Is your listing matching to the search?
Distance from the customer
Company prominence

If you have more photos, logo, and customer reviews, then Google will promote you more.

84. Differentiation strategy

If you have 20% different items than any other shopkeeper, then 80% of the customers will buy from you.

You need to give a reason to customers to switch to your brand. This reason can be the differentiation in the:

Product
Price
Quality
Technology
Reliability
Durability
Cleanliness
User Experience
Customer service
Ease of use

You need to identify your differentiator.

85. Augmented Reality (AR)

If you have a big retail store and you can invest more, then you can build Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality.

For example:

You can make virtual fitting room wherein the customers can try clothes digitally. This will help you in increasing conversion rate and reduces return of the cloth.
AR also helps in optimising warehouses by enabling the customer to check the indoor space and products along with their arrangements digitally.
Try before you buy 3D product review is very famous nowadays.

86. Exclusive Distribution Strategy

You should give inventory to exclusive customers, which can be:

High-end
High involvement products
Perception of exclusivity
Prestige
Image
Channel control
High profit margin

87. Wide Assortment Strategy

In this, the retailer keeps maximum product category but minimum variety. It helps in getting more types of customers.

For example:

In a grocery store, you get every category of item but do not find more number of categories.

88. Deep Assortment Strategy

In this, the retailer keeps minimum product category but maximum variety. These are speciality stores.

For example:

Chai store has a wide variety of teas with only one category i.e. tea.
Athlete stores have a wide variety of athlete products but the category is one i.e. athletic products.

Golden Statement:

If you are marketing to everyone, you are marketing to no one.

Deep assortment can be:

Lifestyle based
Profession based
Occasion based
Geography based like Biryani is famous in Hyderabad, Idli is famous in Chennai, Chole Kulche is famous in Amritsar

89. Scrambled assortment

It means you have wide as well as deep assortment products i.e. maximum product category with maximum variety. This is one-stop shopping model.

For example:

The Supermarket has non-food products, food products, medicine, hardware, cameras, video games, clothes, etc.

90. Shop-In-Shop

You make your showroom in a shop. This will help in decreasing your overall cost, marketing cost, generate demand from their customers, and speed to market.

This saves you from opening a new showroom, doing customisation, interior designing, etc.

For example:

Subway buys places in D-Mart, Future Retail, Shoppers Stop, etc. It acts as shop-in-shop.
Similarly, Sagar Ratna, Café Coffee Day, ATMs, etc. also become shop-in-shop by buying places in a hospital, hotel, or mall.

91. Pop-up shop

This is for a short-period and arrives suddenly. They are a temporary retail establishment.

For example:

Wednesday Markets in a mall where people place their carts.

Pop-up shops help in testing the market, product, and consumer.

In a pop-up shop, you can create buzz during holiday at these places and create awareness about your brand. For this, you can do:

Flash sales

Heavy discounts for few hours

Fun activity

Social media hashtags

Selfie campaigns

Social share campaigns

92. Gold Fish Retail

Gold fish has an attention span of 5 seconds. Similarly, Gen Z, i.e. the people who are born between 1995 – 2005 and they are 19-20 years old, have very less attention span.
Gen Z is the new generation. To acquire these customers, you should have attention-seeking potential.
Gen Z says, “We try happiness on 5.5 inch screen.” It means they are on mobile all the time.
If you want to attract them, then you need to be available on the mobile.
Earlier, advertisements are of 1 minute, i.e. they are very long. Later, the duration of ads decreases to 30 seconds, and now, the YouTube ads are of 10 seconds and 6 seconds only.
You should build relationship with Gen Z and give them freedom to speak.
More than 50% youngsters spend 6 hours online. So, you need to go online and attract them with fun and entertainment.

93. Telling a story is selling a glory

You should have a story behind your business. It can be happy, sad, motivational, or inspirational story. People want to listen to your story.

Golden statement:

Common thing amongst a good writer, good speaker, and good movie is their story.

The purpose of storyteller is to give you a question you can think upon.

Stories can express the most complicated ideas in a digestible format.

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put the ideas to the world.

Golden Statement:

आगे बढ़ने के लिए जरुरी है लेते रहना feedback; यही करता है बिज़नस का bounce back

94. Hire a lawyer

In retail business, especially in case of franchise, keep a lawyer from starting to:

Draft deal maker and deal breaker
Contracts for distributors and wholesalers
Draft of delivery acceptance letter

Hire a consultant lawyer that will cost you Rs. 10,000 – 20,000.

In franchisee business, you can take the help of lawyer for making contracts related to:

Proprietary tools
Business process
Trademark
Manual
Software
Patent

95. Local Ad Campaign

You should do branding on everything like your brochure, banners, bags, packaging material, business card, etc. You should give your taglines on it as it helps in generating leads and recalling your brand.

While making an ad, take care of the following things:

Who is your customer?
What is your unique serving proposition?
Are your ads’ headlines powerful? If not, then make them powerful.
What is your lead magnet i.e. the problem you are solving?
What benefit are you providing?
Are you providing any guarantee? If yes, then mention it in your ad.
Why does a customer should buy your product? Give a reason for it.
Do you have any social proof i.e. testimonial? If yes, add it in your advertisement.
What is your call to action?

Golden statement:

You are out of business, if you don’t have a prospect.

96. Family Run Business

Most of the family businesses have the following characteristics:

Conservative
Do not have written down plans
Do not have execution strategy
Parental control
Tunnel vision
Unsystematic plan

You need succession planning in a family run business. You need to build your team and leaders.

Golden statement:

Succession planning is primarily about building not just preserving.

You should:

Hire a professional and connect with them in such a manner that they become family
Train your family member in a manner that they become professional

Golden statement:

Professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts on anticipation.

97. Training programmes to improve conversion

Train your employees very well so that you should not lose 80 customers out of 100.

If you train your employees, you will retain 60 customers out of 100.

You have acquired a customer after investing so much in marketing. But, your untrained employees are unable to sell the product to the customer. This is a huge loss for you.

You should:

Build in-house training department for employees
White labelling training solutions are provided by Bada Business Pvt. Ltd. for employees
Conduct orientation and induction for employees
Inform employees about company ethics
Provide product training
Train them about stock handling
Provide soft skills training for employees

98. Empower your customers

You should take feedback from your customers.

Golden statement:

Feedback is the breakfast of champion.

You can take feedback through different channels like telephone, technology, surveys, feedback forms, opinions, etc.

99. Channel Partners

Bada Business has 80+ branch offices in India and we are planning to increase these offices to 150+. This all happens with help of channel partners who are our retail franchisees. We provide them:

Learning Management system
Support
Infrastructure support
Complaint Management System
Technology
Automation
Lead management
Invoicing process
Payment link
Digital identity
Timely commission

100. IBC – Independent Business Consultant

They are our partners who start their business immediately with minimum investment. We provide them:

Mobile number
Basic joining fee
Interest free loan
Free training programmes
Support
Lead generation
Business
Hand holding support
Product manual
Collateral
Communication
RIBCM support
Infrastructure
Conversion
Marketing
Make their sales process easy
Digital Identity Website

Key Learnings

Select the retail strategy according to your business and implement it
Use ERP to manage your inventory and rack
Train your employees so that you do not lose customers