Seducing the 5 Senses of Customers in the Retail Stores

Our brains love multi-sensory experiences. We find something beautiful when our sensory manifestations (of sight, touch, smell, taste & sound) are delightful: a tantalising aroma, an engaging sight pleasing to eyes, a touch delighting our senses, an uplifting and soothing sound or a taste rejuvenating our taste buds. Well, retail is all about details. And to boost sales in a store, firms are doing so much more just to capture those five senses of the customers. Let’s look at how those five senses seduce and boost sales in retail stores:

1. Sight– Impulse purchasing is primarily driven by seeing as per research. Customers prefer easy movement and visibility while scanning the aisle of any store. Their observations of what they visualize drive sales. So keep your stores visually pleasing to eyes.
2. Touch– The urge to touch is quite instinctive to the customers. A store that allows touching engages its customers. Probably,  it instills a sense of ownership in their minds.
3. Smell–  As per research, a male store with feminine scent will make you lose male customers and vice versa. Aroma creates an association and hence sales.
4. Taste– For food, beverages or confectionary stores, providing a sample to engage the taste buds is probably a great idea to get loyalty. Maybe, not every store can engage taste buds in that way; so what, even a glass of water with love would serve the purpose.
5. Sound– A soothing music or head banging rock number can create an impression. Keeping everything upbeat and positive via music does drive sales. So unleash the power of music to keep them captivated.

5 Reasons- Brick & Mortar Stores are Here to Stay

Can you even imagine of getting a haircut online? There can’t be a virtual barber giving you a haircut. The reason is we humans are made up of flesh and blood. And we reside in a physical world. Here are top 5 insights which prove why Brick & Mortar stores are going to stay:

1. Classic Pastime- Since primordial times, humans have always indulged in shopping. The ways to shop have undergone a radical change but the love for shopping as our favourite pastime has always remained intact.
2. Seek Adventure- There is something we carry in our genes since primitive times. Adventure runs in our blood and we act naturally. We seek adventure to fulfil our inner demands and shopping does exactly that.
3. Instant Gratification- Shopping provides instant gratification. As a customer, you walk into the store, select product, then pay and walk out of the store. Even in the case of returns, we experience instant gratification.
4. Most Sought After- The rise of online stores did generate fears among brick and mortar stores all over the world that now is the time to die a slow death. But the trend reversed as big online stores started venturing into opening physical stores. To this day, nothing can beat the feeling of shopping offline.
5. Personalized Assistance- Brick and mortar stores provide personalized assistance to every customer. In fact, that is not possible for online shoppers. You have to be in a physical store to experience that.

Brick and mortar stores are here to stay. To provide a unified shopping experience online, integrating online with offline and vice versa is the key. Physical stores don’t need to go back in time but instead just be adaptive to the new technologies that are coming in.

Prevent Retail Arbitrage by Using Predictive Analytics

Retail arbitrage is fairly simple concept to understand. When someone takes advantage of market price differences of a product and sells it a much higher price for making a profit. Retail stores lose heavily due to retail arbitrage. And how?

Well, let me explain in layman’s term. Suppose you own a group of stores named ‘Parivar’. There are around 10 stores in the city.   Basically, each store sells 10 chairs per week. But one week every store only manages to sell 5 chairs. And the next week shipments of 10 more chairs arrive as per expected sale from each store. The next week also retains the same figure and 10 more chairs are shipped to each store. Remember there are 10 stores like that. In the 2nd week, there is no space left in store to accommodate huge stockpile of chairs in the store. So, each store decides to remove those extras from the stores. The decision is taken to sell it online or to anyone who is willing to purchase at discounted rate and hence quickly remove those inventories. This is known as retail arbitrage.

And this retail arbitrage is causing you huge loss which can sum up to million bucks if not taken care of. Usually, it is not taken care of. So why not use predictive analytics technology to avoid retail arbitrage and to have balanced inventory levels according to the demands of the market. Use retail intelligence and prevent excess stock on a daily basis via predictive analytics. Provide a smart retail store to your customers. Need we say more.

How Can Predictive Analytics Ensure Availability of Food Grains Across India

What a contrast to watch millions hungry and dying and still having reports about the bumper harvest each and every year? What’s the point in being the food basket of the world and yet unable to feed your own countrymen? Why millions remain hungry and yet we are an agro-based economy?

Just a few years ago, India permitted 100% FDI in cold chain storage which is encouraging and positive outlook on the way we are looking at things now. The opening up of FDI in retail with the clause of 50% obligatory investment in backend infrastructure will be quite helpful in overcoming the supply chain inefficiencies. Activities like processing, manufacturing, distribution, design improvement, quality control, packaging, logistics, storage, ware-house, agriculture market produce infrastructure etc. come as the part of backend infrastructure. Outlays like land cost and rentals, if any, will not be counted for backend infrastructure.

At present, lack of education at farm level and obsolete means of production coupled with deficiency of requisite infrastructure have further contributed to shorter shelf life of the product and enlarged wastages. Globally retailers are likely to bring in superior technology; knowledge and years of understanding which ought to go a long way in dealing with these discrepancies.

Recent technological innovations promise to bring out the desired changes in storing of food grains at warehouse facilities around the country. Predictive analytics can be a useful resource to avoid wastage of food grains. It can play a huge role in preventing wastage of food grains and ensuring efficiency in the public distribution system which in turn would ensure availability across India.

Only If They Could Predict!

Thousands of years ago, our holy Hindu scriptures predicted about the materialistic affinity that the whole world will be engrossed with, in Kali-Yuga. It is true in the times we live. Centuries ago, French Seer, Nostradamus predicted about 9/11. “Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis…” It certainly indicated about the two airplanes that crashed into the twin towers of New York, the commercial hub of the world. The prediction about the rise of Hitler was mentioned by Nostradamus. Predicted centuries ago but proved to be true. Predictions have been a very exciting part of the world culture. It could give us a sense of fulfillment only if we could foresee our future.

What if this prediction stuff could be imbibed in the business environment? The retail clan around the world is indeed in need of predictions. The paradigm shift in technology has unleashed the ways to predict inventory levels across the supply chain. Retail Chains have already started benefitting from predictive analytics in a smart way. Predictive analytics is the way to predict what inventory level to keep and what not to keep on the daily basis. The predictions are succinctly based on the fed data of the retail store regarding their daily sales and current inventory level. And managing inventory is undoubtedly quite complex. Logistics and supply chain heads can’t have lofty dreams without realizing the nuts and bolts aspects of their inventory level. Predictive analytics crunches the fed data to get those numbers to keep your inventory levels optimized. Prediction works even now like primordial times. So, expect many path-breaking changes via predictive analytics in retail in times to come.

Unlearning ‘Haste Makes Waste’

“Where is the tablet for migraine? I don’t see them in my cupboard”, Piya said in an irritable voice. “Hold on! Let me check”, I replied. Indeed, it was annoying. I found the tablet but it had already expired. My sweetheart was on the verge of tears along with spotty vision in both her eyes. Well, I tried my level best but a migraine can be very cruel. So, I hurriedly decided to check the tablet out in the nearest pharmaceutical store. Before that, I piled up all the soft cushioned pillows beside her. She couldn’t talk but for keeping a track, I kept her on the phone with me. While rushing towards the pharmaceutical store, I was so much worried about her. I reached the store only to hear that stock is there but it has expired. I had no time to waste so I ran towards another store only to find it there. “Don’t worry, I am coming in a minute”, I assured her on the phone.

Beyond the grief of seeing Piya tormented by migraine, I was irreversibly frustrated by the situation of the expiration of required medicine at stores. Why can’t, at least, medical stores track expiration issues which are critical for their consumers.

Around the world, too many drugs get wasted due to sheer ignorance and hastily taken decisions regarding inventory issues. There are technologies to avoid them and keep track of expiration issues. And informing stores about when to buy and how much to buy. So that working women like Piya do not have to go through so much pain.

5 Lessons of Karma for Retailers from Bhagavad Gita

In the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna enlightens Arjun when he laments over his decision to fight his own relatives. Lord Krishna guided him to do his karma and leave the rest. So let’s discover and unfold the lessons of karma for retailers from Bhagavad Gita, the greatest religious epic ever told.  Retailers cannot control everything but there are few things they can definitely control. And that is their karma. Here are 5 lessons of karma for retailers from Bhagavad Gita:

1. Be Temperate in Everything- Avoid Extremities in Life– Retailers must take this quote seriously in managing their inventory. Excess inventory or low inventory level leads to severe losses.
2. Wisdom becomes inaccessible due to selfish attitude– Just try to remember, your own greed led to piling up of inventory levels which were not required at all. All because the wholesaler gave you an offer you just couldn’t refuse. Hence, your selfish attitude for short-term ended up dooming your long term.
3. Do not abstain from ‘action’- It doesn’t help– Running away from duties is not a way forward. Likewise, when you ran away or simply ignored the upcoming tragedy in your supply chain. The aftermaths could have been avoided.
4. Equanimity in Actions– be free from the expectation of the outcome- If as a retailer, your karma is focussed on providing seamless retail experience to your customers then you would have taken decisions to keep your inventory level in constant check and on a daily basis.
5. Do not doubt- As a retailer if you are using predictive analytics technology to leverage your supply chain then do not doubt because you have done your karma.