Tag: Retail

F&B and the future of of contactless

Well! 
We all had questions of what it would be like post-COVID, What would it be like going to a restaurant or what would it be like to travel! 
During my recent visit to Mumbai! This was the first visit to eat out at a dining restaurant. 
We all took our seats at the table we reserved and sat down waiting for someone to come and take our orders. 
But, here we were instead handed over a QR Code that we had to scan, browse the menu and for this particular cafe/Restaurant ( Homemade) we placed the order on the web page itself and minutes later the dishes we ordered were served. 
This contactless communication! Was very smooth and hassle-free! 
But, is this the future of not just hospitality but also other business where we will be interacting less with humans and more with technology? 
Will, this not make more of us redundant? 
Will Amazon Go – A shopping experience in the states by amazon where you are billed as you fill your baskets become a reality all over? 
Will online shopping/ Become more of a virtual shopping experience. 
I remember a couple of years ago Rayban had a VR Page on their website. Where you could experience how a particular glasses looked on you. Are we going to see more of us communicating from the comforts of our home and less of ending up at the outlets? 
What about the Spaces/Real estate are we seeing a future of brands having fewer or just one outlet where we can shop (Touch and feel)  and others get converted into warehouses? Isn’t this more like global-localisations? Where we all get connected to being one world? 

Retail in India!!

retail-india.jpg

The Retail Business In India compared to the any part of the world is a challenge for everybody ,not only  the ones coming in to india from International market but also  for the ones within the country.This is because Since India is a country with 29 states and 7 union territories,each having its own culture,Background and traditions which makes it difficult for one organisation in retail to know whether the business will be effective or will it fail.But in all of these states and India one thing is common the size of the product that is available needs to be as small as possible compared to retail business in  United states of America where sizes should be as large as possible.This might be  because we Indians tends to budget our expenditure for our monthly Shopping consisting of Grocery,Personal Care and daily tit -bits.But at the same time we don’t like wasting too much. or may be one of the other reasons that I truly believe might be the reason is of telling their neighbours that I bought all my monthly shopping for an X amount,rather than another X amount otherwise.We like saving and we also ask ourself Do we need so much? Why can’t we buy a smaller or and also if we buy the larger sizes we are unnecessary consuming something we don’t need in that quantity.And we also tend to think that we are being forced to spend an extra amount of money when we don’t need to if we are buying the larger sizes.

Where as in America we  have large sizes,so that we go shopping once a while and not very regularly   in a month,Because we have ran out of the goods and we must now go and shop.Shopping in India is also a way of socialising,where a lot shoppers meet their friends and start catching up with one another. In Usa Indians are programmed  to go every month and shop for  their grocery “Like another Job”.             

A decade ago!!

Foodmart

Decade ago, on this day  9/9 we started a supermarket around 3500 square feet in ground floor in a small city in India,Maharashtra Nashik ,we were the first supermarket even before  the big player like reliance ,and big bazaar or more from the birla group who thought to enter the retail category .

and 10 years later we have still have this store in the same place ,basement but today we have quite a few competitors who have been inspired by us in many ways right from looking after the customer to having the choices for consumer and customer .One right above us ,and we are still surviving ,we foodmart have imported stuff like sauces ,cheese and much more non veg being are Usp ,so in these ten years we have known the city ,people and we too have had a lot of activities from companies ,brand and people coming from another part of the city .
at foodmart I have personally enjoyed being the salesman selling and creating awareness on new products,offers and trying hard to make customer spend more than what they have to spend .
These ten years nothing much has changed the two main staff members are still there ,or rather they are the only ones with us .
the cash counter from two have come down to one and the software still remains the same ,the barcode scanner has been replaced with fingers .
These ten years ,I have also enjoyed communicating with so many people ,who we have known by faces and hardly by names .And these years the interest in the food,different cuisine have just grown wider and wider 
Today 2013 is a much better place for the city since they are aware about the products available with us .
Pasta has become one of those items that go in mostly every basket ,
fewer complaints on well this wasn’t good .
but ,there a few old customer who take the advantage of being regular or friends for either discounts ,
replacements and crediting bills 
These years also made me know quite a few people who were my classmates ,or were in my school would visit the supermarket for things they only found here or just go and check out whats new .
Its been one of those business we have attempted and been most successful even though we  been ahead of the times ,learnt quite a few things ,and the experiences have been infinite from people mostly  being disappointed and hungry for more .
Also not to forget ,these were the same 10 years where kids would normally spend time watching television and just having fun with there friends 
and we would be selling these same kids the things to make them spend more time in front of the idot box and hogg on food 
Yes,we hardly watched television ,since we had are cable disconnected ,it was only in the 2007 when ,yes cricket was at its peak again we installed the Satellite service ,and since then too we still couldn’t enjoy television a lot .
So yes I end with us enjoying the business so much ,that we hardly had time for anything and still today we enjoy going to foodmart the supermarket ,which is now are extended family in town.