Service Retail - An Overview

The Indian organized service retail industry can be considered to have grown from having taken its baby steps to having begun to blossom in its youth. Today one of the major verticals of service retail, the wellness and beauty industry has seen the entry of multiple organized players turning an entirely neighborhood business into a battleground for growth and innovation.

Service retail, to be more specific, the business of selling an intangible service directly to a customer at a fixed location has multiple limitations with respect to its perception and scale-ability while at the same time can boast of numerous advantages, the most important being high margins and lower operational costs.

Brand value for service companies has always been a difficult hill to climb as the common customer fails to register the importance of the brand in the value that has been provided.  With results being intangible (beauty is in the eyes of the beholder while health is always judged on one’s sacrifices to attain it) the credit more often than not goes to the client touch point – the stylist or the gym trainer. Imagine the credit for an excellent perfume going not to Brut or Chanel but to the saleswoman who suggested it. Hence brand building remains a huge challenge, affecting both the valuation of companies as well as single location scale-ability. For example, a successful product retailer can easily build a 50,000 sq.ft. mega-store with multiple SKU’s and brands while even the best beauty and wellness retailer is limited to a maximum of a 5000 sq.ft. carpet area.

This disadvantage is offset by large margins, generated by lower product costs and operational expenses. Saving in logistics, inventory, shrinkage etc leads to much lower bottom lines enabling companies to increase the number of outlets much faster. Thus we see the major players growing in numbers exponentially. In the beauty segment, the major players are easily able to open 50 to 60 outlets in every large city (in some cases more than a hundred) as capital investment costs are low and monthly expenses even lower. The franchise model has ensured that lack of capital need not be a hindrance to brand expansion if the business model adds value to the investor.

But being a localized business, no service retailer can realistically have a customer catchment of more than a few kilometers in a city. Thus the threat of competition is high and saturation in a major threat. The huge margins available have led to heavy price wars hitting the top lines while the importance of word of mouth publicity in brand perception has led to no brand being able to leverage its successes in new markets. Intra-city growth has been easy for all players while inter-city expansion is a major roadblock.

Though there are a lot of problems to be ironed out before any brand in any of the service retail verticals can claim to have reached a level of stability, the outlook for the industry remains highly positive with a growing middle class with deeper pockets driving demand and an increasing number of players driving supply. While product retailers increase their dependence on services to differentiate themselves from the competition, service retail in itself will soon hold its own in the Indian retail space.

Bring Back the Touch

Men have never understood women. Women have never doubted their understanding of men. A relationship more often than not feels like a luxury wagon, all bells and whistles, comfort and style, but driven by one horse and one ox. There never seems to be a common direction, a common speed or sometimes even a common purpose.

But within the confines of that wagon is a beautiful cocoon of love, one that may not have direction but has a common destination.  Love might make the world a more beautiful place, but within the confines of that wagon, it helps to paper over the little cracks, smother the rough edges and ensure that the journey continues.

When Mini came back from the US after two years, she was a worried woman. After three years of a whirlwind passionate romance and a year of the great Indian marriage party, the two years of a long distance romance had been difficult. Love was not supposed to be shackled by petty but very real differences of time zones and work timings and alcohol levels. She could not be sure that the beauty that love had held in her memories is still there or if she is coming home to a new reality of day to day life. Her life with Dhruv painted till date with an artist’s brush might now be redecorated by a wall-painter’s airbrush.

At the airport, the two of them had nothing to say, no rushing into the arms, no tears of joy, just a static of unsaid questions punctuated by formal salutations and baggage instructions. It was only when they reached the cab, sitting next to each other, swaying together with every turn that the old familiarity began to return. Sitting touching each other, the days and nights spent together as one, drowned in their own world of love came back in a flood of love. With her head on Dhruv’s shoulder, with his hand around her shoulders, y the time they reached home, they had never been apart. There was no yesterday for their love again, only a today and an endless tomorrow.

If an image is worth a thousand words, a touch is worth a thousand images. A hug is worth ten hours on Youtube. When love in a relationship is found in the words that remain unsaid, the images that remain stored in the mind and the touch that reaches deep into the heart, the relationship reaches a stage of purity, of an elegance that can transcend the ravages of time and habit.

#Bringbackthetouch written for http://www.pblskin.com/

Year End Review - 2013

As 2013 is finally over, it is time to review the best movies released this past year. As usual Politics and Sports dominated again. This year movies for the international audience were a bare minimum as the Indian audience concentrated on the domestic market.

Here is the list of the major blockbusters of 2013

The rise of the BJP

Starring: Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh

The most talked about and watched movie of 2013 was about the rise of one man as the best PM candidate for India. A power-packed performance by Modi and a lack of performance from veteran actor MMS were the most talked about features. An excellent comedy performance by Digvijay Singh also had the audience in raptures.

Overall: 4/5

The Legend

Starring: Sachin Tendulkar

A tremendous performance by the evergreen superstar made this movie bring tears into the eyes of every Indian. Easily one of the classics for an entire generation, 2013 will be remembered for this movie. Even other stalwarts like Gavaskar and Dravid went unnoticed by the performance of India’s greatest entertainer. 

Overall:  5/5

AAP Jaisa Koi

Starring: Arvind Kejrival, Sheila Dikshit,

This low budget multiplex movie was the revelation of the year. The young audience entirely lapped up this new generation cinema. This David vs. Goliath movie had a simple story but surprised the audience with its excellent technical skills and innovative marketing. A special mention to Arnab Goswamy for a special comedy narrative that was the backbone of the movie.

Overall: 3.5/5

Mission Mars

Starring:

This mega budget Sci-Fi movie was at last released in 2013 after lots of delays and cost overruns. Shot in a grand scale, the technological brilliance of the movie ensured its success without any major star cast to speak about. Although it might not be able to recover its huge budget, it is worthy of a mention here.

Overall: 3.5/5

Candy Crush Saga

Starring:

This animation movie was a hit with both kids and adults alike. With simple but colorful graphics and an excellent soundtrack, it had people glued to the screen. This movie like most good animation movies will continue to be liked until the next good movie comes up.

Overall: 4/5

Young Guns Blazing

Starring: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni

This young and peppy sports film was an instant hit with the Indian masses. As upcoming actors took the stage, this entertainer won the hearts of many with its racy scenes and heart stopping action. Though definitely not a classic, it was an excellent one time watch. This movie also saw the end of veteran actors like Gambhir and Sehwag.

Overall 3/5

Chess Masters

Starring: Magnus Carlsen, Vishwanathan Anand

This slow paced movie made for a niche intellectual audience managed to get new viewers because of its thriller like suspense and commanding performances. Though the ending was not as most people expected, this movie proved that audiences still appreciate such performances.

Overall: 3.5/5

Digital Democracy...

Everyone says greatness can come from anywhere. But I am sure nobody imagined it coming from a cubicle in an IT company surrounded by 800 other such cubicles. That is my story of greatness, of almost greatness.

Everyone likes to dream. Not many like to work for it. So I hit upon the perfect plan, big dream with small work required.

I intended to join politics. The dream ended at Prime Minister but the plan ended at becoming an MLA. The strategy was simple, do what I am best at – fooling around with my laptop and my phone. All knowledge was on Google, time and a fast internet connection was given by my company (they even pay me for it).

First the research. I searched for the youngest and most metropolitan constituency in Bangalore. Found it. A random search on Google got me enough phone numbers to start off.

Then the content. Copy paste from a few election manifestos and from a few political bloggers and I am a visionary, the next big hope of India. Open Photoshop and I look like the next Rahul Gandhi. Soon I had a blog with my vision, my passion and my reaction waiting for a bit of interaction.

It was time for execution. No door to door campaigning for me. A nice peppy message on We-Chat announcing me as the next big thing with the right amount of smileys and a link to my blog and my campaign in underway. Somebody always forwards everything!

To be great, you can’t just rest after the start. Staring at the blog-counter on your blog cannot be counted as work. One has to persevere. So I put it on Facebook, on Twitter, on LinkedIn and even on Orkut. Why take a risk!

I might have lost my zeal had it not been for the comments and re-tweets I got. Most of them thought I was being funny or stupid but hey, nobody said I was being corrupt or dishonest. I was on the right track.  I followed up my initial post with a renewed appeal. To forward, mention or re-tweet my message to everyone who lives in my constituency. And people were responding. Well, my offer of 24/7 supply of Candy Crush lives might have helped a bit. But it is good marketing. Soon I had a group of people from my constituency genuinely interested in me. I think I got my first vote.

I read a few blogs on digital marketing and a few more on politics and I knew exactly what my constituents needed. They wanted engagement, a full time connect with their representative. Who better than me to give it. Me who feels naked if my mobile or tablet is not at my side.  So I started researching again, scanning Google for any issues in my constituency, trolling twitter for any topic my voters might have a connection with. From a Dominoes outlet which does not deliver on time to a monkey that steals fruits from little girls, I now knew all the problems. So I kept on posting them and messaging them, offering solutions. The solutions were ready made. When I have the whole world at my fingertips, there are not many problems whose solutions cannot be found. As more people became engaged, more and more joined in.

Now initiative can take you so far. The rest of it comes from investment. Now that I felt I had a realistic model, I began investing. And the opportunities for someone with a credit card (borrowed) on the web are limitless. I began promoting my posts on FB, mobile ads in Google, geo-fencing SMS’s and the whole gamut. I even began paying for my own PR. I was getting famous enough. People were discussing me and promoting me. I got myself a hashtag on Twitter, I had my own videos posted on YouTube, my presentations on SlideShare, began posting relevant images, a few search keywords on Google would even pull up my name.

But was all this enough?  Will people vote for me or was I just an entertainment package? I had to provide more value somehow. I came up with the idea of a mobile application just for the constituency. Where everyone can register, send their complaints, however small, upload images, and keep track of all money spent from public funds.

That worked. Everyone was impressed. My followership was growing. I was getting volunteers to spread my message. The local news and print media picked it up. Elections were round the corner and my name was being bandied around. And I had not yet left my desk in office. A few posters with my name started coming up. My blog was my election office, my FB page was my stage and my We-Chat was my mike. Without moving from my seat I was an integral part of the democratic process.

Some dreams can come true. Some couch potatoes can move towards greatness. Like me.

Mobile marketing your next election.

More than half the population of India now own mobile phones. Barely half the population of India cast their vote. If half of all the mobile phone owners have never voted, you are staring at a huge potential customer base just waiting to be tapped. A market at your ready reach, a market one can engage sitting at ones desk in an air-conditioned office. A customer who is connected to you 24/7. It is an opportunity any political party would be stupid to ignore.

For winning elections in the end boils down to selling yourself, as an individual, as a party, as a brand. The government of any country is its biggest service industry. And in India’s multi party democracy, the number of ants trying to bite into this massive pie is copious. As in any service the essential idea is to understand what the customer wants and to deliver it efficiently. So how does one engage the mobile customer and motivate him to vote for you in an election.

Just as in retail, you have to first get the customer to the shop before you can make him to choose your product. Initially you have to convince him that his voting matters and is required for his own wellbeing and betterment. In marketing parlance it is called “creating a need”

This is where mobile applications play a big role especially among the educated smart phone or even low range phone users. It is not practical to get somebody to go, stand in queue and vote as an impulse. It also cannot be incentivized in any way. “Vote tomorrow and get 50% off in the next elections” will just not work. It requires constant engagement and motivation so that the message can gradually sink in. This is where social media applications can really be effective.

Mobile applications, be it extensions of web based platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Google or exclusive mobile platforms like We-Chat or Watsapp can keep users constantly interested by providing a huge variety of content which he or she can choose and interact with. For marketing any service or product on social media, there are certain parameters that mainly define the effectiveness of the campaign. They are:

·         The relevance of the content.

·         The consistency of the message.

·         The gratification it provides – how interesting it is.

·         Differentiation from existing content.

·         The regularity at which it is communicated.

·         The scope for interaction and feedback.

·         The ease of sharing.

When a message, be it a general call to take part in the election process as an appeal to ones responsibilities as a citizen or a specific campaign to vote for a single individual or party will have to stay true to these values to succeed. Ensuring that the user is not overburdened on his time while at the same time being able to provide him enough quality content regularly to change his opinion is a challenge, but not insurmountable. If effective, mobile applications will provide unlimited reach due to the ease at which content can be shared between people. Positive or negative, on opinion can spread within hours to thousands and lakhs of people.

For the content to be relevant, one has to ensure that it reaches the right audience. While in regular Social Media like Facebook and Google, one can depend on demographic and interest based targeting, most apps depend on the user’s judgment to share relevant content to the relevant people. This ensures that information remains credible to a certain extent as well as that there is a human sanction for all content shared. Over mechanization and repetition of any message shall directly affect its credibility and can create the exactly opposite effect to what was intended.

In summary, the digital generation, be it the early adapters or the new entrants are a fickle lot. Digital content does not share the credibility as yet of any mainstream medium and thus influencing opinion is still a huge challenge. But the potential is obvious and any stakeholder in the electoral process should be vary of ignoring this medium.  

Written for a contest on www.indivine.com

Broken Dreams with a Brilliant Tab!!

I looked forward to my first tab like I might look forward to my first wife.
Now your mobile might be your girlfriend, you do not mind changing it, options available are numerous as long as all basic functionalities remain. Your laptop is your best friend, you do not notice the better versions until this one stops performing. But you tab is like your wife, simply because there are just not many options available at reasonable price to be your girlfriend, and it just hasn’t been around long enough to be your best friend.
So I decided to buy a tab. To be mine and only mine, to spend time with me, to put me to sleep showing me a movie or scrolling through a book for me. To expand my energy, to play the High Definition games or browse through the Heavy Duty websites. To come home to after a hard day in college. How glorious it seemed.
After months collecting the money and days torturing the website to deliver on time, at last the tab was mine. At last my big fat wedding was over. The first night was beautiful. It was mine, mine only. It responded to my every touch, was excellent in any position, gave me options no phone ever could, had unmatched performance and unreal possibilities. We were supposed to be together happily ever after.
“Dude, let me check it out, haven’t used a tab before”
“Man, the games are awesome I am sure, let me play just one game.”
“Why don’t we all just watch a movie together on it.”
Some things are just not meant to be. In a Men’s hostel, most things are not meant to be. It’s no place to bring your wife. Everybody wanted a piece of my tab.
“My phone is not big enough to play properly, hand it over for a sec.”
“That video, I need to show it to someone. Be back in a minute.”
If one could run a kilometer on Temple Run, there was always someone to try and run a few meters more. It someone found watching YouTube on it cool, somebody had to watch an HD movie on it. If it was somebody’s newspaper, it would become somebody else’s chess board in a minute.
“Hey it’s yours anyway, let me use it for a few hours.”
“Oh, you will be sleeping soon, will return it tomorrow.”
“Dude, that lecture is going to be boring. Am taking the tab to pass the time.”
In a few months my wife was no longer mine. It was just too adaptable, too functional to remain chained to one man. That unlucky man was me. Soon I never came to know where it spent the night. Soon it was leaving my side without me even knowing. Soon I could sleep with it besides me and wake up with it gone. It was maybe just too good for me.
Today it has seen it all. From my intense possessiveness to a mob’s violent sharing. But it goes on, pleasing anyone who touches it. Today that which was meant for my personal touch is found in different hands every day. Sleeps somewhere and wakes up somewhere else.
“Man, we would have been so bored without your tab.”
“The time we spend fighting for the tab. Awesome fun…”
“That’s some excellent technology there. Made just for us!!”
It was just not meant to be. Me and my tab in a college hostel. It was one failed marriage but life goes on. I would not replace it for anything else.

Post written for contest on www.indiblogger.com

All entries must have a link to facebook.com/LenovoIndia it seems....

Rahul Gandhi, waste or wasted....

Leaders might be born, might be made, might happen by accident or by necessity, but to expect leadership by sycophancy is stretching it. To shout from rooftops that somebody, who has neither the upbringing nor has shown the intellectual ability to lead a party, leave alone the nation, is the next big hope of the nation will not make him a good leader. To accept everything he says blindly, keep him away from any criticism even if he takes positions against his own government, to simply hand him responsibility without accountability will in no means get him ready to lead a nation. Not now, not ever.
While both have failed the nation, it’s a matter of debate if Rahul Gandhi has failed the Congress or the Congress has failed Rahul Gandhi. Yes, sometimes leaders have to be made, potential candidates have to be groomed, initiated gradually into their roles, allowed to make mistakes so that they can learn from them so that at a give point, when they are ready they can take over and lead. Rahul Gandhi could have been that person, groomed from a young age to understand the country whose history has been shaped by his family, and take it forward. The Congress had the senior statesmen, the Pranab Mujherjees and the Manmohan Singhs, the Sheila Dikshits, who could have taught him the nitty-gritty of running a country responsibly and efficiently. Leaders who have a wealth of experience as well as the personal integrity to show a young man the ways of government. To discipline him and gradually give him responsibility, teaching him first to follow before he learns to lead.
And he would have had a good team to assist him and grow with him. The Milind Deoras and the Sachin Pilots could have been his peer group, a group of young men ready to take on the mantle of India’s oldest party when the time is right. Men with vision and a connect with the young Indian, but with the experience and political discipline imparted by older leaders. They might not have been baked in the oven of grass-root politicking but would have learnt enough to lead.
Now who do we blame for such an ideal situation passing us by? Do we blame the same elderly statesmen who were unable to hold their hand up and take responsibility for this young scion, unable to find the steel to discipline a Gandhi, be it the mother or the son? Do we blame the overpowering queen bee, for whom politics has been about power, about being able to shield her fallacies and her personal ambitions under a cloud of opaqueness and ultimate authority? Who could never have the confidence in her heir to work his own way without her pampering and carte-blanche to do whatever he pleases. Or is it all the fault of Rahul himself, a young man who has never shown any propensity for leadership, for discipline or responsibility, whose youth is a story of failed academics and partying ways, who even at forty plus has difficulty maintaining intelligent conversation. Was he always destined to be a failure, no matter how hard the rest tried?
Nobody in these times expect political decisions to be taken keeping the country in mind. Neither are decisions on leadership going to be based entirely on the ability of the individual. But for the Congress to pin its entire hopes, with head and heart on a person who has shown absolutely no potential, no propensity to improve speaks of a depravity of ideas unbecoming of any party, leave alone the Grand Old party. It is as if by screaming long enough and loud enough, reality can be fooled and Rahul might one day turn into the great leader the Congress is waiting for.
Sad is it not?