INDIA RETAIL FORUM 2009 - 4

Day two started with a power track on Consumer Electronics retailing. The session was chaired by Ajit Joshi of Croma and other members of the discussion were Ravindra Jutshi of Samsung, Nilesh Gupta of Vijay Sales, Srikant Gokhale of X-Cite, Manoj Kumar of E-Zone, Srinivasa of Viveks, Ajay Baijal of Reliance Digital & Sunil Mehta of Next.
The session started with some internal bickering between big guys and small guys with Nilesh complaining about the manufacturers on giving more importance & margins to big brands and so called LFR controversy. The key challenge discussed by everyone was the art of managing inventories and sales cycle of the committed quantities since technology upgrade is very rapid and retailers run a huge risk of landing with unsold inventories of outdated products.
On the other hand I felt that no one is really looking at delivering desired experience to the consumers while making a purchase. Consumer durable is an asset purchase by every consumer and they want to make the best choice and there seems to be very little help available at any of the above retailers to consumers to make an informed choice. In fact sometime small format retailers are more informed in product knowledge and helping the consumers to make the right decision. These retailers need to invest in methodology to keep the product knowledge of their sales staff in line with the market and introduction of new products. Also, manufacturers and retailers need to have better coordination in ensuring that the consumers rushing to a retail store after hearing the manufacturer announcement are not disappointed that store staff has no idea of these new products introduced. If retailers & manufacturers can put this together then this will be biggest value addition to their consumers.
Similarly when I attended the next session of mobile & mobile services retailers chaired by Shankar Subramanian of Nokia all of them were talking of the challenges of retaining people and getting right people in their stores but no one seemed to have the solutions. Mobile category is a fast growing category but retailing has not yet met consumer expectations in all respect. This format is also driven largely by discounts and not experience to their consumers.
Retailers in this category need to realize that if they are able to deliver desired experience to every consumer then they really don’t need to discount their store since the consumer will keep coming back only for the sake of that experience. Once again in this category the technology and commercial offerings are so dynamic that consumer needs a retail partner who can honestly keep offering them right product & plans from time to time. This is the biggest value every consumer is looking for. Most of the times the sales staff in these store is not aware of new products & plans and they are only trying to push their own agenda and this can piss off the consumers more often.
I feel that since mobile is a fun category, young school & collage students are very well aware of technology and trends well in advance and most of them enjoy in this space and mobiles are like toys for them. Mobile retailers shall spot such youngsters to work with them on a part time basis. These kids will not only enjoy doing this work but they will also earn some money from this. They will carry their own motivation to deliver the desired experience to every consumer. It is like in the old days many youngsters used to work in music stores since they enjoyed listening to new music and this was the best for them have fun. Based on this theme retailers can work out a model to rope in such services in their stores very successfully. In fact I have a very clear picture in mind and I will be glad to help on this, if they need help on this.