What started with a bit of blog post statistics analysis soon turned to a Googling frenzy – First, to determine if this piece of authorship would feature even remotely on the Google radar – (alas, it didn’t !) – and so, what does Google throw up when I type “FDI in Retail”…
This led me to an interesting web page hosted by The Hindustan Times at – http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/What-s-FDI-in-retail/Article1-775543.aspx.
This page had links to other articles on the FDI in Retail issue, one of which was written by Mr Harsh Mariwala – the top boss at Marico Industries – for the Economic Times : http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-30/news/30458687_1_retail-chains-foreign-retailers-retail-fdi – It details out the impact of the retail revolution on job creation with relevant data, and also touches upon other relevant points of view in favour of this idea.
As I was mulling over this, I realized that I had rather ambitiously somewhere in my earlier posts mentioned that I would talk about data and its impact on modern retail.
And that in my enthusiasm to capture the history of modern retailing in India, I had completely missed this bit out.
I then suddenly recalled a brilliant article on data mining, and how retailers in the west use it to gauge when female consumers could possibly be pregnant – yes, you read that right ! – and after some more mind search and googling, I found the link to – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all – truly an amazing piece of “detective work” if I may call it that..and the interesting thing here is that Indian retailers are not unaware of this and similar data related practices to track and predict consumption – two circumstantial pieces of evidence to support this notion –
1) All modern retailers today try and push sell a loyalty / membership card – one that rewards the user with points for every purchase. This is precisely what is used to study and analyze consumer behaviour trends.Its not a bad thing, as it helps them to plan assortments, time new introductions, and even store lay outs in some cases.
2) That it is now being put into action was corroborated today, when a senior colleague received an SMS from Domidoesntknow’s PizzaChain, saying that its been three months since he’s visited them and how they would like to hear from him again – and all this while communicating a discount offer!
So, if companies in India are now doing what is an already established practice in the evolved modern retail markets out west, what are they doing to survive and thrive, given the difficult times they seem to be facing.
Cue – to the second interesting article which was discovered amidst the frenzy..http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6944.html – highlighting how JC Penney is attempting to re-invent itself, in order to be more competitive in the future…
That’s all for today guys – no weekend off this week again, so I have to end it now.
Cheers !