In today’s time, malls have become a one-stop shop for a daughter who wants to buy a new dress and for a mother who wants to buy grocery for home. Malls have changed the way consumers shop nowadays with modern retail shops like Big Bazaar, Spar Hypermarket, etc becoming a complete solution provider under one roof, ranging from clothing to television and from a bottle opener to bakery products. More and more people are thronging malls, which are mushrooming not just in metros but also in tier II and tier III cities. This culture has given the customers a diverse variety of products and brands to choose from along with ongoing lucrative offers and discounts. The highlighting factor of these stores is achieving customer satisfaction by offering quality products, discounts and prompt salespersons along with loyalty programmes. In this scenario where the customers are being bombarded with lucrative offers, the neighbourhood “kirana” or grocery stores, bakery shops, apparel stores and other departmental stores seem to be taking a lesson to keep their customers intact and not lose them to the organised retail shops.
Looking at how the retail segment is evolving into an organised sector and taking a lesson from the rapid spread of modern retail, the shop owners are sensing the need for change in order to offer customers those advantages and experiences that are akin to the ones offered by organised retailers.
Even though the modern retail segment constitutes of only 6-7 per cent of the total retail industry, the impact it has had on the local retailers is huge. Revamping has become the only answer to all the challenges traditional retailers have been facing. These retailers are now seeing growth prospects in a better manner than they did before, as they indulge in revamping of stores, more with the new generation taking charge and bringing in new technology and better products to the customers. The concentration is on shelving, better POS services, quality services, discounts, larger variety of products and brands and merchandising.
Bakery chain multiplies with upgradation
Golden Fiesta, a bakery chain, has emerged as one of the finest examples of growing from a single bakery shop in South Delhi to now having restaurants, banquets, bakery shops and take-away corners. “Golden Fiesta was established by my father, Arjun Malani, in 1981. He started with a bakery in Lajpat Nagar, which offered products like cookies, birthday cakes, pastries, fruit cakes, ice creams, beverages, return gifts, etc,” says Saurav Malani, Managing Director, Golden Fiesta. The company took up expansion within 10 years of operations and opened its second bakery store in East of Kailash, followed by one more in 2002. “Climbing up the ladder of success, he also opened a restaurant in 2003, a banquet hall in 2004 having a capacity of 80 people, followed by two more in 2006-2007. A take-away corner was launched in 2008, a 15 room guest house in 2009 and a terrace garden having a capacity of 250 people in 2010,” he adds.
The expansion was taken up looking at the customer needs and also the competition that has arisen in the hospitality and retail sectors. With expansion, came a lot of challenges, including arranging the capital, getting the license from the government and finding trustworthy employees.
Talking about customer feedback, Malani says, “We serve a lot of customers everyday at our outlets, which makes us get all kinds of feedback – be it negative, satisfactory or positive. And we, as a service provider, give utmost importance to customer satisfaction. I think it’s only the customers who can give us true feedback with the help of which we can improve our range of products and the services. We respect and value the feedback of our customers and try to overcome the negatives. We also maintain a customer feedback register at all our outlets so that we regularly get feedback from our customers and work upon any problem or inconvenience faced by them.”
As the times changed and the business expanded, Golden Fiesta made technological upgradations. “Now, all our POS have computers installed and the complete system is computerised. We have also mechanised our production by the use of modern machinery at our back end,” he adds.
Apart from technological upgradation, Golden Fiesta has also upgraded its product range and today, it offers almost everything in the fast food product line. Moreover, it also offers customised cakes and at present has more than 4,000 designs of cakes. “We now have a live bakery at our East of Kailash shop, where the cake is made live in front of the customers,” says Malani. Golden Fiesta also offers home delivery service, which has made it all the more popular among customers.
“Every business, which is in a constant expansion mode, comes across various challenges. For us, the biggest challenge is to maintain the quality of products and the four POS. Further, we need to upgrade ourselves technologically more and more and gather finance for the same,” Malani adds.
Revamping has surely given a skewed growth to Golden Fiesta. The company, which started off with annual revenue of ` 54.7 lakh back in 1981, presently earns revenue of ` 3.7 crore with an average growth rate of 10-15 per cent every year.
Upgradation coupled with value added services triggered the growth
Another example comes from Assam, where Druba Jyoti and his brother, the second generation shop owners, run four apparel stores in and around Tezpur. The shop, which was started off in 1957 as a government subsidised clothing shop, has now transformed into a privately owned retail chain of four stores.
The shops offer apparels for men, women and kids, which are being sourced from Ludhiana, Surat, Delhi and Kolkata. They also sell brands like Levis, Pepe and Reebok. “Looking at the growing population in our town, we have been bringing in more and more variety to our shop, with more designs and brands,” says Juba Jyoti, Co-Owner, Puberun.
“With the growing volume of merchandise, a lot of challenges arise, like offering competitive prices, discounts, purchasing and coordinating with manufacturers. Moreover, when dealing with established brands, we have to book products and pay an advance amount, which means a lot of capital is required in hand always,” he adds.
As the town sees insurgence of more and more exclusive brand showrooms, the competition has become more cut-throat. He sees a lot of customers going to exclusive showrooms because of the services they offer, the shop décor, merchandise and discounts.
“We have always believed in customer satisfaction and we offer that by selling the products at competitive prices, offering discounts and also by providing after sales services. We ensure replacement or money back on a defective product even if the manufacturer or brand doesn’t offer such a facility,” Juba Jyoti says.
Furthermore, in terms of technology, Puberun does stock management in all the four showrooms through Tally. In order to ensure security, the showrooms are installed with CCTV cameras.
“We are further planning to grow our business by strengthening our existing showrooms. Right now we are investing in having better infrastructure like revamping our shops with wooden or marble flooring, better shelving, putting up air conditioners and better furniture. We will also update our software for stock and will initiate an online contact with our suppliers. This will allow us to check designs and communicate with suppliers online, saving us time, money and energy,” says Jyoti.
Taking up all these steps has surely enhanced the kind of growth these shopkeepers are experiencing. This has also called for customer satisfaction as they can move to each shelf, judge and choose a product of their choice unlike before, when items of specific brands were passed on over the counter by the shop owners and customers had no direct access to the merchandise.
With no looking back now, the neighbourhood shops are now all set to compete with the organised retailers.
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