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By Vishal Krishna BusinessWorld September 21, 2009 Normally, the performance of the market leader is a fair indicator of which way the wind is blowing in a sector. But there are always exceptions, and this is one such. According to data from JP Morgan, Pantaloon’s store sales have been on a steady rise since March this year (see ‘Scaling Heights’). Another big player in retail, Shoppers Stop, has also declared a profit of Rs 3 crore for the April-June 2009 quarter, after making a Rs 40-crore loss in 2008-09 fiscal. These signs of hope, however, stand starkly against overall consumption…
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The dark clouds of recession and rain seem to be lifting just a little bit. Governments have been energetically throwing seeds of stimulus and economists are eagerly spotting “green shoots”. The festive season is around the corner, with anticipation of higher sales. So perhaps it is time to cheer. Or perhaps not. In the recessionary environment during the last year or so, ‘cutting back’ rather than ‘building’ has been the philosophy for most businesses. The implications of these cut-backs are not always visible in the place you have originally made the cuts. But, unfortunately, they inevitably impact the area which…
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By Manish Pareek Progressive Grocer Food retailers are investing in a war on the senses Food and grocery retailers are leaving no stone unturned to gain the loyalty of the spoilt-for-choice consumers. One bad experience and poof! The loyal shopper is gone for good. Not only does this imply assuring good shopping experience every time a consumer enters a store, but also retain them by ensuring an impressive visual treat for them. You get only one chance to create the first impression. This impression would either create a happy loyal shopper or would eliminate their chance of ever stepping into…
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A few years ago when I was called upon to make a presentation about customer loyalty, I ran into this brick wall of, "Do loyalty programs work or don't they?" The way around the wall was to not look for a black or white answer. Some programs work and some don't. The difference, I found, was in the degree of impact on core operations (e.g. product selection, displays, pricing etc.) - i.e. how these were fine-tuned from the feedback and other information collection from the loyalty program. What was certainly clear is that we can clearly differentiate between loyalty that…
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