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When Big Apple met Applebees outside the Big Apple….

rashibahadur — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:58:13 +0000

Till a year back, the only Big Apple Indians or lets say the world knew off was ‘New York’. However, the count would need to change now to 66 and to 101 by October 2008. Yes I am referring to the Express Group Pvt. Ltd’s retail chain called the Big Apple which kickstarted a year or more back & now has small stores spread in major cities of North India. The store format is based on the 7-11 daily format of the US. This means its a ‘Convenience’ format, covering just about 1000-3000 sq.ft and meant to serve and ‘emergency shopping need’ finally filling ‘Small baskets’. Thats typically how the retail lexicon defines a convenience store.

The point of this post is divorced from retail. But is to share something interesting. AppleBees happens to be the largest casual dining chain in the United States and in known to offer a wide wide array of food from Hamburgers to … The logos of BIG APPLE and APPLEBEES bear striking & rather uncanny resemblance to each other! The colour combination is just the same. The logos if any different are for very precarious reasons. Wonder if its a genuine coincidence or some research well improvised. Just an observation!

And yes, let me not end this post before I jot down why the Big Apple is called so. Wiki and other less credible sources are unanimous on their stand that there are more than one etymologocal explanations. The most popular remain two. One, coined in the Depression Era , says it was named around a popular Harlem Night Club, after a procuress called Era and her most popular dance rendition called the ‘Big Apple’! The second reason simply a baseless re-iteration of a term that lingered through the generations. Here, New York was the place for Youth to succeed for the myriad opportunities and big monies it offered. It preceded its reputation as elders and experienced preached ”There is only One Big Apple. Thats New York’‘ & the term began to be liberally used by historians and journalists.

Perhaps, they need to insert an addendum to their writings to clarify which BIG APPLE they are referring to, because India has multiple! Ah! And yes… AppleBees is slated to enter India soon!!!!!

Morphy Richards

rashibahadur — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:49:26 +0000

Morphy Richards- a brand of white goods, was fading in the memory of individuals. The mandate was to re-vitalize the marketing communication while introducing a new coffee maker. An assignment at B School… this was just one of the many possible solutions. Positioned towards the youth, DINK couples and the upper middle class!

Is consumer king?

rashibahadur — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:52:50 +0000

A synopsis : From an article by JWT’s Das . I read this article some time back and had slighly different take on his idea.

Consumer is king, but should not be. The premise being the level of equality in society. The explanatory measure.. Hofstede’s power distance index (PDI)! The higher the score, the more likely brand oriented companies will face the wrath of consumers which are spoilt for choice. India is 77 whereas the world avg is 56. Explains why in India we take no time to take the service providers like Airtel to task if a connection which should take 24 hrs to fix takes even an hour more. This in the west is unlikely to happen. PDI is lesser and consumers do not relegate brands relative to themselves but treat them as equal entities! This article focuses on service brands and sites examples of cases where infuriated consumers threaten to change from airtel to vodafone OR from Hathway to Tata Sky or simply blasting a credit card seller, amongst other anectodes. The author also draws our attention to how the shabby treatment metted out to consumers in the past is now being reversed in a revenge where consumers want their due.

My take on it :
I think we are bunking some fundamentals here. No brand will be hailed until it is associated with service that satisfies. In case of India, global standards are being concertedly replicated. However, services cannot be made people proof. Recall the basic difference between a service and a good. The benefit cannot be separated from the provider! Building on this logic unless the service delivered is punctual, accurate and honest; consumers will continue to be king for service brands which over-commit and under-deliver. The author inadvertently bolsters this argument with the e.g. of Kingfisher Airlines on how their service standards have helped them attain the status of an aspirational brand. My own example of a brand that has transformed in the minds of the consumers due to sheer service fine-ness… The Indian Railways. While Hofstede’s cultural indices are novel notes to this raved chant, it cannot be insulated from the rising consciousness of the consumer. Borrowing again from the same theory by Hofstede..the index on Uncertainty Avoidance also explains why consumers become exacting of a service- hence imploring special attention, thats all!

Ofcourse, choice spoils!

Finally, if consumers in the West can sue a coffee maker for their own mistake and still win a court battle, the equation moves from Power Distance, simply to Legal provisions & at times–plain eccentricities.

…….Could not help but let this picture speak a 1000 words

From the streets..

rashibahadur — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:01:17 +0000

SASTA aur TIKAOO….
Cheap and effective way for this new ‘Meetha Meetha’ flavour of Rajnigandha Pan Masala. Men dressed in pink on double peddal bicycles- a fleet of those rode from A-Z of a street, and could not be missed by any… carrying sachets of the ‘chewy’ they successfully ‘induced trials’ with as much ease as was planned. ‘Food Bazaar‘ too has taken to a temporary way of passing the message. For opening of new outlets and to communicate promotions etc, they made ‘banners’ wrapped on two bars, hired daily labour and made them stand at various check-points in the city!! NOT BAD.. so no need to pay any rentails, meagre printing charges and movement round the clock. Wonder if other cities have seen this too.

THE BUSY STREET….
2) The busy Char Minar Area, where u may not like to pick up something you have dropped for in that moment you might just end up losing the rest in your pocket. An unscrupolous crowd of retailers, where the FMCGs complain of missing assets and broken promises!! The only thing that would be attract me to that place again is an independent mandate to correct share if not the long standing, bewildering ‘chudi bazaar’. The best way to go is by cab as parking is limited and a big hassle at that.

WHATEVER WORKS….
3 & 4) Was at a retailer explaining the Pepsi’s and 7 Ups in price ranges Rs. 7/- upwards, when I was compeled to look at this kid you see in the picture. She places a 1 Re. coin in the rusted lid of this small kirana store and asks for Pepsi… ”Is the new EMI scheme for Pepsi??” I ask myself. Just when ‘Maalik (if a Marwadi)/ Anna (if a hyderabadi/telegu)’..pulls out a frozen sachet of a drink which could be anything, who knows- but is branded, Frooti, Pepsi, Thums-Up! Does this testify the resonance of a brand….albeit customised to pockets and clientele? OR is it a failed attempt to permeade to the inner most layer of society where ‘their’ ignorance, is the ‘manufacturer’s’ bliss, and OUR loss!?!?

Spear-Heading a concept

rashibahadur — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:03:53 +0000

I was on my rounds of visiting Stand Alone Modern Trades in the city and came across this very interesting concept. Stand Alone Modern Trades is a name given to the channel that falls between a General Trade and Modern Trade and is more popularly called a Supermarket. These behave like teenagers- They expect footfalls of a General Merchant – they have a regular clientele that shops daily, expects home delivery at times, has loyal customers in its locality, and they expect Cashfalls (deals and margins) of a Modern Trade outlet..basically a cusp that is often found to be a challenge for the evolving FMCGs.

So here is one concept within a concept- a pvt. owned company called SPEARS. This one is a philantropist with a profit motive (now decipher what you want). The concept goes as such: Maps outlets in big residential areas and those that have decent TOM (top of mind) recall. Taps on their weakness/inability to bargain with FMCGs for smart deals. They then promise the local store an upfront amount like Rs. 10K for sporting their name, a commission on sales on the SKUs supplied by them and lay certain norms to run the outlet. By doing so, SPEARS gets to sell their coverage to the FMCGs in return for great margins (currently from HUL and Dabur)!! So basically a FRANCHISE model superimposed on FAT DEALERSHIP being followed here. Seen from a practical standpoint – this model is only as strong as the strongest link!! Till the FMCGs strike their own deals with the SAMTs in a concerted manner.. . However not precluding an option to grow inorganically…till FMCGs are fully geared to combat the retail explosion and fight for space…!