Cash and Carry Mumbai

Did I forget to mention that the previous post was actually a project in my graduation?

Anyway, this one was done around September 2008. These are according to me, problems/observations/inferences on the opportunities in Cash and Carry in India. The brand I was testing was Metro Cash and Carry, the first-mover in Large Format, modern Cash and Carry in India.

I hear Carrefour and Bharti-Walmart are getting into the industry now. Videocon seems to be having second thoughts....

Anyway, here we go...

Time period: September 2008
Methodology: Literary search, followed by Interviews and Surveys

Results:

1. Considering Bombay traffic and other trasnportation problems, Transport poses the greatest problem to the Cash and Carry business. Case in point: Retailers were irritated that they had to pay for Metro's Transport facilities. I think Metro assumed that like in the West, retailers have pick-up trucks in which they can carry around their stuff.

2. Kirana (traditional, mom and pop retail) owners are happy with their distributors who - take back unsold stock, give them discounts and promotions, have been known to their family for ages.

3. The only problem faced with distributors is that sometimes, stock runs out and the kirana owner has to wait for the distributor to bring it. In such a case, a promise to customers that they will send over the stock/inform them as soon as it arrives usually placates the customers.

4. Most respondents did not even know what Cash and Carry is

5. Often, Kirana owners dictate terms to distributors

6. Metro users are very happy with the experience - they enjoy higher margins, find Metro's in house brands to be of equal quality to the major brands in the market and are thrilled about the extensive collection. But they are apprehensive of the loose products that Metro sells.

NOTE: I have only tested the kirana owners segment of Metro. A bulk of the customer base is made up of Hotel and Restaurant owners and Caterers. Recently I read in the Economic Times that Metro was switching focus to this segment.

It would be interesting to work with Cash and Carry. The advantage is that it is so closely linked to the retail industry that you can learn a lot about retail. Perhaps that is why Carrefour and Walmart are entering into this sector to start with... it also has a higher FDI cap (around 74%) than front-end retail.

Retail environment v/s Advertising

Well, these are the results of my first major survey-based research that was aimed at comparing the effectiveness of in-store promotions, visual merchandising (store environment in general) with that of mass media advertising and other marketing communication. I was all on my own on this one, running around surveying. It helped me make sure I get as relevant results as possible. I could also control the segments that I was researching.

I later took this forward and explored as many aspects of the contemporary retail industry as possible. Many of the later results were a combination of what I found on surveying and from the bibiliography listed below.

Wonder if anyone will rip me off though... but I hope that I get some good inputs and feedback rather than just have people copy this into word docs (in that case don't forget to remove Hyperlinks!!!)

Exec Summary Vara Indi

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

For my surveys and for the full research email me: thapasjosepht@gmail.com

Time period - Dec 07 to Feb 08; Place: Mumbai

Results purely based on my survey:

1. The store environment matches and outperforms the mass media when it comes to customer influence. Thus private labels are on a level playing field with manufacturer’s brands.

2. Even though store environment has a lot of influence, the mass media marketing, if used effectively to form awareness and recall, definitely aids in sales even at the retail level. An integration of the mass media marketing and in-store promotions is necessary in order to avoid the dilution of the brand image, seen especially in the case of overdoing retail promotions.

3. Organized retail falls behind traditional retail by being impersonal and having no ‘face’.

4. Location dictates sales in the current scenario.

Results from survey and other sources

1. The emergence of private labels is going to give FMCG players tough competition, resulting in them going to traditional retail and ‘jazzing it up’ in return for patronage.

2. New hybrid formats (large format kirana store etc…) are emerging which are looking for more innovative competitive positioning.

3. Home-grown department stores, which grew from small to large-format, enjoy the advantage of an established rapport as well as the ability to offer a more exhaustive product range.

4. Sampling and store activities are yet to catch up in India to full-scale

5. Cash and carry systems are a good option to help traditional retail catch up with modern retail faster.

Methodology

I took two highly advertised FMCG brands and tested recall and associations in different environments - traditional retail, modern retail and non-shopping. Consumers who responded were those who had actually made the purchase decision (in case of families, I asked the incomed member, who prompted them to buy the product and then interviewed him/her).

I also did elaborate interviews with managers of different retail formats (for which I was accussed of several unheard of methods of espionage). But anyway, I used my chipped-tooth smile and charming South Indian accent and finally won over them ;)

Bibliography

1. The Business World Marketing Whitebook 2007-2008.

2. USP Age October 2007

3. The Economic Times

4. Outlook December 31, 2007

5. Images Retail December 2007 – Special edition on the 20 retail concepts of 2007.

6. Retailer December 2007.

7. It happened in India – Kishore Biyani.

8. The Knowledge Company Retail Research Results

Interview References

1. Harish Bijoor – C.E.O, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

2. Rodney Fitch – Chairman, Fitch Design, WPP

3. Kishore Biyani – Chairman, Future Group

4. Prof. Dwarika Prasad Uniyal – Asst. Professor (Retail) MICA

5. Gurpreet Wasi – C.O.O, Go Fish Retail Solutions.

6. Partho Dasgupta – C.E.O, Future Media (I) Pvt. Ltd.

7. Shailesh Chaturvedi – C.E.O, Tommy Hilfiger Apparel India

8. Sonia Manchanda – Design Director, Idiom Design (affiliated to future group)

Eggless Golden Geese

I recently read an article about how marketers love to focus on urban India and ignore the immense opportunities that lie "at the bottom of the pyramid". Rural India is unexplored territory which marketers are yet to understand and reap benefits from. There have been a few winners like Coca Cola and Hindustan Unilever (the latter being the undisputed king of rural marketing in India).

But I think what inhibits most marketers from engaging in "rural marketing" is the name itself. I'm currently reading a book by the same name - "The Rural Marketing Book". Why call it "rural marketing" ? Yes, there are differences between marketing in "urban areas".... "tier 1,2" etc... and "rural" areas. But can't we find aspirations which are common in Warden Road and Wadakancheri? I'd courageously imagine that if you went ahead and did a recall test, you'd most probably find that "Thanda matlab Coca Cola" would find a full blown nasal "aaaahhh" more easily in Wadakancheri rather than in Warden Road.

Wadakancheri is a typical South Indian village-town in Thrissur, that has cable television, internet browsing centers and more number of electricity hours during the day than most of Bombay. Its located in a state where 99% of the population has had high school education. Most of its residents have sons/daughters/husbands who are making big money in the Gulf countries. Many own large agricultural properties and are in the business of cash crops (and I literally mean "Cash" crops) like pepper, cardamom, rubber and exotic spices that this region is known for. Move up north and you have "rural consumers" who own acres of tea and coffee estates. People here have a distinct taste for 'western movies'. The internet browsing centre is buzzing with gamers and orkut-addicts.

There are so many other El Dorados hidden away by the prejudiced fog that marketers have created with the term "rural marketing".

The RK Swamy BBDO Guide to Market Planning 2008 is one of those HUGE books that marketing people and perhaps media planners like to showcase on their shelves and make themselves feel smart. I've never been able to give a single volume more than 45 minutes of reading without turning blue. But the book makes for easier reading as compared to other encyclopedias of statistics, graphs and indices. This book classifies districts as AAA, AA, A, B, C, D on the basis of Market Potential Value, which is proportional to population.

It's interesting to find that the MPV of all B and A districts are 6813 and 6383 respectively. All AAA districts and AA districts have just 2920 and 3905, even though their per capita purchasing power may be higher.

Great place to bring in the old 80:20 rule. The untapped 80 in rural India is waiting for marketers. If you find them early, you can keep them when they go to the cities and are exposed to a plethora of marketing. Consumer goods, durables, entertainment, telecommunications... the list is endless. Marketers who work on volumes should take a serious look at this potential.

Makes you think... arre what man!

It's amazing that we overlook the 'fatted oxen' of rural India while chasing the 'eggless golden geese' of the 'urban markets'.