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August 6 2018

Start a business & Not a startup !!

Nowadays, the most trending topic in any networking is about Startup and entrepreneurial ventures.

Recently I attended the middle east retail forum 2019 #mrf2019 wherein I met with wonderful people, retailpreneurs, successful retailers and mall developers. It was a very well organized event, ( i shall write a separate blog on the same soon).

One interesting feature that caught my attention was a panel discussion dedicated to startups, for instance.

It was like a famous series called Shark Tank, wherein the startups would pitch their business proposal to a jury and get shortlisted for the awards or VC fundings.

There were some really good concepts that were really path-breaking, however, most of the entrepreneurs had missed on a few main points, which inspired me to re-purpose my earlier written blog on startups.

There is a wonderful saying “What got you here, won’t take you to next level”, you need to keep enhancing your skills, keep innovating yourself by breaking old habits ( point of caution- innovation is not always product-centric, it can be very personalized, even the way you think can be innovated)

One important point that I would like to convey to entrepreneurs is that the VC fund is something like “Vapour capital” it evaporates as soon as it comes into your business.

Try to follow the basics of business i.e. if you invest USD 1 into your business, you need to generate USD 2, re-invest this again in your business till your business becomes self-sustaining. If you follow the ratio 1:2, you shall never have cash flow issues in your business.

I am putting down the most important tips which would help upcoming retailpreneurs with their projects.

1. Start with your own Pain points:

The easiest and straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use yourself.

As you build the project, you would soon figure out whether or not you are making any good.

Case study:

Coach Bill Bowerman felt the need for better lighter running shoes for his team. So he went out to his workshop and poured rubber into the family waffle iron. That’s how Nike’s famous waffle sole was born.

Key learning: “Start with your own pain point” and coming out with the solution, lets you fall in love with what you are making.

This very source provides you inner-motivation and go-getter attitude.

2. Keep customer focus through-out:

Always at the start of any project, keep your customer on focus, imagine what you would like your customer to say about your product or service.

3. Be Action taker:

You should feel an urgency about whatever you are planning to start or to do. If you are building a break-through product or service or even a Me-Too product, JUST DO IT (as Nike says it).

Don’t sit around and waiting for someone to make the difference that you would like to see.

Case study:

The Drudge Report, run by Matt drudge is just one page on the web run by one guy.

Yet it has a huge impact on the news industry- television, radio talk-show hosts, and newspaper journalists all visit this page daily to find out as to what’s the current stories.

In July 2016, the site garnered 1.47 billion Pageviews, as a result of US Presidential elections

The Drudge Report’s traffic beat out the likes of news sites from Disney Media Networks (which includes ESPN.com and ABCNews.com), Yahoo, Google, Time Warner, and Fox Entertainment Groups.

Key learning:

Make the difference that you would like to see yourself. Drudge’s report came from nowhere and disrupted the old models that had been around for decades.

Learn as to why good writers build great companies, read here.

4. Understand Your core “WHY”:

Great businesses have a point of view and not just a product or service. You have to believe in something. As you get going, keep in mind as to “why” you are doing “what” you are doing.

Frankly speaking, this is the real Mission and Vision statement of the business.

For instance, Big corporates shell out millions of dollars to copywriters to write it, ideally, it should be written by the founder himself because that is his or her vision.

Case study:

Wholefoods (now a part of amazon.com) stands for selling the highest quality natural and organic products available.

Their customers know and understand Wholefoods purpose, they don’t go to their stores asking or looking for potato chips or coke or junk food.

This very “WHY” adds rock-solid positioning for wholefoods and is one of the reasons for their success.

I shall be writing more about entrepreneurship and management leadership stance in my upcoming articles. I hope you would find these tips or pointers useful in your journey.

In case if any of my readers or LinkedIn connections want any help pertaining to their startup ideation, you are more than welcome to reach out to me at riteshmohan@yahoo.com.

(References: Just tell it – Nike’s story- fastcompany.com article; reference book “Rework” by Jason Fried and David Hansson; My learnings from attending Middle east retail forum, thanks to organisers & management of Retail Images group of Publications.)

Learn about Persistence, read here.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 21 years in the retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. Ritesh specializes in Retail management, Product development, Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, Business Management & Empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

July 22 2018

What is the Last-Mile Logistics & Why Ecommerce retailers are looking at this logistics function?

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Stage set up for the Last-Mile logistics

Recently, there was a news headline in one of the business dailies in UAE under “Last-mile Logistics headline” about one of the region’s leading e-commerce platform to initiate grocery deliveries to its customers.

The headline got my attention and prompted me to deep dive more about “last-mile logistics” and why it has suddenly become the “blue-eyed” function for major e-commerce players in the region.

I am sure my article and its insights would help my readers and blog followers in understanding the importance of logistics function and how Omni-channel retailers are using it to their advantage.

What is the “last-mile logistics”?

Last-mile logistics refers to the final step of the delivery process from a distribution center or facility to the end-user. Although the name implies, it is the final mile delivery, actual last-mile delivery can range from a few blocks to 50 or 100 miles.

Most often, last-mile logistics involves the use of courier or small package carriers to deliver products to consumers.

Why is it crucial for e-tailers or e-commerce players?

It’s pertinent to understand the logistics process in any e-commerce company.

The Logistics Cycle in e-commerce can be broken down into 5 major components, first-mile delivery, fulfillment, processing/sorting, line haul, and last-mile delivery. (For some lean start-ups, it involves 3-4 components only)

First-mile delivery: This involves picking up goods from the sellers and transporting it to the e-commerce retailer’s fulfillment center or directly to the mother warehouse.
Fulfillment: Post first mile logistics, the next phase that follows is fulfillment, which involves picking and packaging of products once an order is placed on the website and then moving it to the mother warehouse.
Sorting: After fulfillment, the products are sorted on the basis of the final delivery location.
Line-haul: This stage involves connecting the main supply center with the main demand center, via land or air.
Last-mile delivery: This is the last however the most important phase of the logistics cycle. It involves the dispatch and shipping of products from the mother hub and to the delivery hubs, from where they are delivered to the end-customers.

The reason why “Last-mile delivery” becomes critical is due to the fact that the majority of customer complaints in any e-commerce company are pertaining “Late deliveries” which are mainly due to lack of processes in workforce management, no real-time coordination between fulfillment teams and last-mile delivery teams.

Customer returns and the ability of a retailer to quickly process the returns to enrich customer experience is another major challenge faced by e-commerce retailers.

learn about the business model of food delivery apps, click here.

The emergence of new entrants in “last mile logistics”

Companies such as Amazon have already jumped into the fray with its Amazon Prime Air service that it hopes will soon use small drones to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less. Drones, droids, and parcel copters are here to stay.

Future for Last-mile logistics companies:

Companies like Uber eats, Deliveroo has mastered the model of Airbnb but for transportation/logistics.

Technology has allowed these companies to leverage their advantage and offer jobs to anyone with a car or bike. They are able to analyze data and figure out how to do the job for less. They can fill capacity in vehicles that weren’t previously open to them.

I feel the future for Last-mile logistics providers is very promising provided they adapt to technology advancements at the earliest & ride the disruption wave.

Case study: Carrefour Valet trolley (home delivery services) available in Dubai.

Hypermarket giants like Carrefour have been fast enough to realize the importance & advantages of last-mile logistics for enhancing their customer experience and also leading to customer retention strategy.

Today in Dubai, Carrefour offers a Valet trolley facility to its customers. Leave your trolley at their store and have your items delivered to your doorstep at your convenience.

The benefit to customers:

Convenient shopping experience without going through hassles of pulling overloaded trolleys to parking lots etc.

My article would definitely help budding entrepreneurs and start-ups who are either venturing into e-commerce or are already an established player. I would be more than glad to share my knowledge and wisdom on “Last-mile logistics” with budding entrepreneurs in case they need any of my assistance to build up their e-commerce model. My connections can reach me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com if they wish to know more about this exciting tool.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion, and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Ritesh has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

June 12 2018

Is your brand ready for Omni-channel retailing? Learn from Brand Zara- leading the Phygital evolution in fashion.

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Do you know what is the biggest challenge in today’s digital era for businesses? Here it is, we have access to gigabytes of information at our fingertips yet we fail to see or identify or decode this information/data into useful insights for our businesses.

Zara, the Spanish fashion retailer has been fast to decode the importance of Phygital experience in their stores.

Zara is attempting to elevate the customer experience with a technology-enhanced concept store in London’s Westfield Stratford shopping center. The store focuses on a service where shoppers can try on the clothes they like in store, pay for them online and have the clothes delivered to their homes.

Inditex SA, the Spanish company that owns Zara brand, calls it an example of the technologies it will implement around the world.

Key features of Zara’s Phygital experience are:

Use of robotic arm to retrieve online orders and deliver to customers in-store (Buy online pick up in store):

The new flagship store uses an optical barcode reader system which scans the QR or PIN codes that customers receive when they place an order online. Behind the scenes at the automated online collection pick-up point, a robotic arm then collects trays and organizes the packages optimally based on their sizes, smoothly delivering orders for customers to collect in seconds. Customers can collect online orders made in store on the same day if placed before 2 pm, or the next day if placed after 2 pm.

2. Use of Interactive Mirrors based on AI and AR technology:

In addition, the new store also features interactive mirrors equipped with RFID technology which is able to detect what garment a customer is holding and offer more information on the item as well as multiple choices of what a complete outfit may look like. In store employees will work with iPads and be able to advise customers on product selections or accept payments on the spot.

3. Use of RFID in merchandise inventory planning:

Every garment is fitted with a radio-frequency identification tag. The technology lets Zara check a store’s inventory in two hours, a process that used to take about three days.

4. Digital payment options:

Customers can choose to pay using their mobile phones via the Zara app or the Inditex’s Group app, InWallet.

5. Self-service checkouts:

Shoppers can buy clothes without talking to anyone. Self-service checkouts on floors let customers pay with their mobile phones or credit cards.

Retailers will need to connect decades-old fundamentals & processes with the newest front-end user interfaces. The Spanish brand Zara is one of the few fast fashion brands who has embraced technology and leading its brand’s evolution into the digital world.

Food for thought for Middle Eastern retailers:

Are we getting ready to embrace the fast-changing consumer’s shopping trends? Are we fast enough to embrace the change in our retail environment?

I shall conclude my article with these two thought-provoking questions to my readers and retail fraternity members to share their opinions by leaving a comment below and let the world learn from their wisdom.

About the author:

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.

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