It's quite amazing that "store productivity" doesn't grab the attention of most people in the retail trade in India, despite the fact that real estate costs are riding an all-time high. It's become quite typical for rentals to range 20-25% of sales, and in many cases even higher than that. (In those instances, a retailer could only hope to make money out of illegitimate activity or illegal merchandise, which is not part of the business plan of anyone I know!) Many brands will (and possibly can) justify paying absurdly high rentals with the rationale that in the store portfolio, some locations will never…
From a simple tower to human-sized figures of cartoon characters - we've seen a whole range of creative expression using a simple plastic brick. (Well, to be accurate, a wide variety of plastic bricks - but all developed around the same principle.) An icon in a child's world, the LEGO ® brick has just turned 50-years young. According to the company, "there are actually more than 900 million different ways of combining six eight-stud bricks of the same colour." Ample room for creativity! The company itself is about 75 years old, and was named LEGO after the founder Ole Kirk…
We've been discussing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and whether its implications (and need) is fully appreciated by businesses. A couple of years ago I did a project with the weavers of Chanderi and it was a good reality check of the India that struggles to live behind the facade that the world thinks real India is. India really isn't only about Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, or Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra for that matter. Neither is it about the stage set villages with its token computer/cyber point dressed up for visits of foreign heads of state. The potential to…
Last year in an impassioned memo, Starbucks' Howard Schultz identified several strategic and operational decisions that, according to him, were responsible for a deteriorating customer experience at Starbucks. Starbucks faced the classic problem of any company scaling up (especially a retail brand) - how to be large without being bureaucratic, how to be efficient without losing the soul of the brand, how to be consistent without losing the differentiation edge. The problem created by Starbucks taking the certain decisions was compounded by the fact that competitors have not stood still either. Competition has improved its core products (coffee), as well…
At a faux “pubby” restaurant, I asked a friend why she didn’t order fries with the fried fish she had asked for? (I was looking for a carb-fat fix, but couldn’t legitimately order a whole portion just for myself.) A withering look accompanied the dismissal, “You and your excesses!” Undeterred, I went on, “But if I suggested having fish and chips?” “Well, that would be a fine. That’s standard British fare.” That clinched it for me. “So it’s okay to have it when you call it fish and chips, but not if you ask for “fried fish and fries”?!” [After…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
