A Different Style of Learning in Retail

We need to learn something unique about Indian Grocery Retail but before that, we should adopt a few things which will help us to understand it deeply. How it will happen? What kind of information is needed for this? And how do we understand it in the context of the Indian retail sector? All such questions will be part of this principle. Let's start with three steps:,

 1. Learn

2. Unlearn

3. Relearn

“Alvin Toffler is credited with saying: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."

 A stage of Learn:

Why do we need to go through the scanner of this principle described by Alvin Toffler? As human beings, we are living in a cage where we believe that things are created by "I", controlled by "I" and that my mind is the powerhouse of all the thoughts that I am creating, describing, and creating. and finally executing. But, why is there a fight between thoughts, we receive those thoughts from our conscious mind which always give us some great importance in terms of the things around us, the happenings around us, and our physical relationships with people? draw towards intimacy.

The cage around us is so powerful that it does not allow us to move towards even the most accessible things i.e. our knowledge that blocks our subconscious mind and the waves flowing through it, and this is because we are the most learned, we are the most experienced and we will never allow others to correct our ideas or we need to adopt such ideas. This situation makes us like a frog (I) who lived almost his life in a borewell. For that poor Frog, the whole universe is the pond, the walls of it sleep, some small creatures around him, the water, and some disturbance of the man who used to suck water for drinking or irrigation in his fields. 

One day a crow saw this frog sunbathing on a large dry leaf floating on the water. He said to the frog, why doesn't he want to come out of this well and see the beautiful world outside it. But, the frog starts to give a different level of knowledge that he is living in a big universe, where he has lots of resources and he has things to make his life better, so what will happen outside your world. The crow promises him that he will see the outside world once and if he does not like it then he can come again to his place. Finally, he gave his consent and came out of the well. When he came out of the Well it was a different experience for him.

This is our learned stage. The limitation of knowledge gives it a mental barrier. We live with it and think we're right, we're doing the right thing, and that our creation is the greatest thought in the world. But, again out of the world, there is much to learn.

A stage of Unlearn:

Start letting go of things that can hinder your growth. Let it melt your thoughts because the journey always starts with an idea. Sometimes we need to forget what we saw in a different world. It is good to have an idea for the better but a sequence needs to be set for its execution. India is almost 50 years behind the US in terms of development and technology and 30 years behind Dubai, Singapore. Even China is ahead of us on many platforms.

If you are looking to bring some new ideas which you have seen working well in US, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, it does not mean that these ideas will work and give similar results in India. Before adopting those ideas and starting working on them, evaluate whether, if the idea is "within" the time or it requires hours, otherwise you will be out of the market like many first movers are now in different sectors. I am experiencing.

Unlearned is a state of personal trait that adapts you to the present level of circumstances, it helps you to see the new world through new glasses.

Unlearning is not meant to remove old memories, experiences, expertise, rather it is mostly a kind of practical work which needs to be changed first. Our active/conscious mind always makes itself the hero, which is where the effect needs to be seen. Is it affecting his personal life or professional? If we are talking about working in an organization then both are important. These represent our traits, behavior, body language, and the way we respond to others.

Give up your bad habits first, and if you're a retail professional, there are a few things you need to forget after reading this. A lot of things are changing in the Indian retail sector where old market knowledge will not work and with this dynamic movement, you need to create a dynamic moment with some different learning styles.

A stage of Re-learning

Now, we will talk about "re-learn". Will the question arise? This is a wise question; Why should we waste our time learning new things. Why should we learn again? We are so knowledgeable, experienced, powerful, and influential, why do we go to erase our years of hardship? We already know more than others.

This is our mind block, like a frog, as long as he was in the borewell, he was the king and emperor of his kingdom, but what happened when he came out of the well. Why had he hidden behind a bush and started thinking about this new world? Here we need to take off those old clothes that are being tailored all around us. Learning is not purely with experience and knowledge, it can be your habits, behaviour, adaptability, line of business, and different method of behaviour. So, how are you going to learn those things? So, start learning about it again here and slowly grow and reach your goal. That is why I am sure that the frog will never return to its old home now.

The above three traits belong to human behavior, it has nothing to do with the company’s strategy, concept, plan, execution, etc. but it will help make those robust once go through thrice through a process.

Let's talk about the relevance of these three words in the Retail segment

Learn:

• Market
• Products
• Distribution Channel
• Marketing & Awareness
• Customer Preference

So far we have learned how to spread the market in retail and have the kind of depth that is needed. In our early days till 2005, we were in a state of the mindset that the consumer is a secondary being taken care of by the retailers. Therefore, the main focus was on the middle channel or the connector between brands and consumers i.e. retailers. Everything was planned to take into account their presence in the ecosystem, hence widely known as the general business (GT) market stream. There, we learned how primary sales and secondary sales work.

The go-to-market approach was a specialist job and was a bit lengthy and had to be planned from scratch to the sky in such a way that it gives a wide array of benefits in the long run. The focus remains to recruit distributors in the focus market, followed by the appointment of Area Sales Managers, Sales Officers, and Sales Representatives as the direct working force or coordinators. There was a huge investment of money and time to shape the distribution network. Years of hardship make a product brand in a struggling way.

C&F was a chain of Super Stockiest, Distributors, and Dealer physical channels which go completely on track by the brand owner i.e. manufacturer through the channel at an eye-catching and hard-working pace.

Here we learned how ATL/BTL works in terms of marketing and creating awareness. Print media and electronic media were the strongest at that time. Many celebrities from Bollywood, Tollywood, and Hollywood, Cricket, etc. create an environment in the ecosystem and television was the main medium of advertisement.

There was no wide range of products in the entire retail ecosystem, so things were managed by a single shopkeeper at his store and it was like over-the-counter (OTC) from where the retailer had control over the goods.

Physical stores, single format and with less priority of service but had product priority. Retail 1.0, Retail 2.0 and Retail. 3.0

Most of the retail professionals have such rich experience and based on their confidence they like to go with their experience but if we do not keep pace with the ongoing development in the ecosystem and we do not follow the new practices What will be the take away for them? So sometimes old tyrants find themselves with a kind of mental block.

Experience counts, here I have no problem picking it up with new developments, but there is a variety of new terminology used by the new retail professional, so here's what we need. If we are to adjust to the new blood and work in unison, we must start dropping some practical things from the past habits.

Unlearn:

Start learning a few things, like changing your perspective. It is one of the most common traits that enhance or hinder our personality and profession. What do we need to change? We need to change our way of thinking which should be positive, progressive, passionate and in the right way. Adaptability is the key to building harmony with your team members.

Your experience is there to give you the right tools, teach you how to be on the right track, make you perfect, and help you speed up your execution, but it requires a new kind of knowledge that is a part of the ecosystem. will provide you.

A very important step is to remove various brain blockages and allow your brain to adapt to new things.

Example: The startup ecosystem was not a new business phenomenon, nor a new kind of entrepreneurship, so why is it so different from the old type of business setup. There are angels, seeds, VCs and PEs to support why foreign investors invest. where were they before?

They were in old times but they have a different look, different style but here startups bring new ideas, investors are investing in these ideas but different types of execution plan, system and processes made it fast paced Is. Which we need to learn but for that we have to leave the old fashioned way of doing business. Time is running out fast, so with this kind of business here, everyone wants to get out fast. They talk about getting 10x return from burning millions of money, maybe a wise way but it is in the ecosystem. 

What to Unlearn: You need to unlearn your few mindsets:

1. Are retailers brand conscious?

2. Retailer's mindset is typical and does not accept change

3. Retail has limitations on IT tools and will not use them for business growth.

4. Distribution depends on the entire distributor.

5. Online will be a challenge in rural and semi-urban.

6. Consumer packs of food items will not be sold in rural areas.

7. IT Won't Do Anything That Promotes Distribution.

8. Consumers need brands and they are not adaptable.

Unlearn Retail 1.0 to Retail 3.0

The above ideas are related to the market, whereas as a professional we need to transform ourselves and adopt the changes to keep pace with the development. This process is called unlearning some obsolete things that were living with us like deadwood and creating a complete mental block for us.

Re-Learn

Now we are living in a new era where we have a lot of time to learn new things, we are IT savvy, we know best practices learned from a section of management institutes. And our market dynamics are changing so fast to make us in line.

Here we need to learn a lot of management strategies apart from the behavioral traits, we know the market, where momentum is the key to success. So what's slowing us down? Is this our knowledge? our behavior? our experience? Or we are not being chosen to do the right thing. What is the most important thing we need to learn or re-learn?

Is the Startup Ecosystem about to Change Everything in Retail? From idea to implementation, there are many such things that have taken a new shape. We need to know about the root cause, so far we learn about the symptoms but our old practices were enough to steer us through a kind of prescribed treatment. It was workable earlier, but in the present system, everything is happening rapidly where there is a need for new learning by professionals. Let's talk about some of the developments that have been going on in the retail ecosystem since 2012.

We have some new dynamics about the market through a new way of doing business. We are startups because our idea is unique, we have seen growth all over the world and that experience is there to give us new lessons, but before we think and compare those learnings in India, we should think twice or thrice that India is a different market.

Here you will be doing kind of injustice to your money, time, and efforts if you compare the markets of USA and UAE. Align your sequence and make sure things are happening as and when you write.

eB2B: A new way of doing i.e. disruption starts happening in different areas. Like B2B supply chain is being aggregated by e-B2B players. Udaan, ShopKirana, Jumbotel and Kirana King are there to disrupt the outdated distribution system by total supply chain. These are positive distributions that are leading the way in technology and empowering retailers in their buying decisions. Bijak on the other hand, they are providing e-mandi services to some startup brokers and agri aggregator like Dehat and many more.

eB2C: Jiomart, Grofers, Amazon, Flipkart, Bigbasket, on the other hand are there to provide one-stop solution to the consumers through eB2C. Now we are talking about Omnichannel, Hyperlocal and Last Mile connectivity. This is retail 4.0 version

Cash and Carry are there, though they are struggling enough to change the ecosystem in the areas they have stores.

Backward integration starts in making supply chain in Food i.e. from Agri Farm to Fork and all is being done through robust use of IT.

MSME on the other side is going heavily to promote farmers through various FPOs and Clusters, purpose is to streamline associations, productions, and supply chain of foods and empower the channels involves at various stages. Organize retail is expanding very fast, the success story of D-mart is there to lure thousands of individuals to open their superstores / standalone stores and they already started doing this.

Retail Fintech is on the other hand is going to drive bia g-budget to get market where funded NBFCs are there to provide various kinds of financial facilities to Retailers, Distributors, Suppliers & Manufacturers of products.

Even logistic providers are also getting funds because they are going tech-driven. Everyone who has the power to drive a segment through technology is part of the disruption.

Pharma on the other side is getting shape every day, companies like Apollo have already done it well before time, many more are in line. One fast-growing pharma chain is Dawaa Dost, all are getting funds.

Now think what will happen to the Frog which was in the Bore-Well for a long and what happened to him when he came out from the Well and saw the entire world. For him, this is new learning and re-learning. He should un-learn the things that he learned while living in that bore well and should adopt the changes for the betterment and should tuned-up his music with the developments.

A Retail professional who joined retail in 1995 and after 20 years when he visits a market, there is everything changed which he wants to describe and understand. Hence, Frog is a new market leader who is leading the startups and teaching them a new way of business.

 Retail 5.0 is ahead – Consumer Delight through Omni-channel services

  Writer: Balwant Singh Rana, originally blogged on 29.9.2020 by me.

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Millet - A sudden Affection

Millet is not a new word or a newly developed or invented grain/cereal, but nowadays it is in a lot of headlines. I can say that the world community has suddenly developed an affinity for millet. It does not mean that we Indians are not aware of it. Truth be told, we are ancient consumers of all types of millet, and our forefathers used to have it in their regular meals.

Unfortunately, as always, Indian resources were underestimated by western scholars and considered backward for using ancient practices in every category of socio-economic factors. There are various facts and figures in the stories related to eating habits, medical practices, religious practices, and even ethnic etiquette. The wisdom of Indians has been questioned in all fora but truth cannot be kept in captivity for long and no darkness can destroy the great power of light. The same was happening in edible oil categories 50 years back or 100 years ago.

India has always been an agricultural country. Here the importance of pets is always intact in their daily routine. The importance of cow is such a thing that cannot be compared to any other animal. But propagated by multinational companies that cow ghee or buffalo ghee is injurious to health and one of the biggest causes of bad cholesterol which is increasing heart attacks. 

They came with some propaganda message that we should eat healthy oil and they started extracting oil from soybean, canola, palm, rice bran, etc. This has not happened suddenly but it was propagated from the platform of WHO. 100 years ago soybeans were used to feed pigs in American countries so that they could get good fat from the animals, same with canola which animals needed for more milk and fat. Palm oil was edible in its natural way of extraction process but later, for high yielding manufacturers started using chemicals s. Recently, rice bran oil has become the healthiest oil in the world after olive. 

These developments did not happen suddenly, the exploitation of natural resources and their various uses were gradually implemented by these giants. A major source of the national GDP of Malaysia and Indonesia comes from the palm oil trade. Same time bad effects can be seen in their agroeconomic and climate. We hardly know about the old use of palm oil, earlier in these countries it was used in soap making and lamps. Big-2 MNCs made their fortune and now they become a trap in terms of selling products or reaching saturation level. What's next for them now that saturation in soybean oil, rice bran oil, and palm oil is at its peak? Now there is a question of stability in front of these companies related to the oil business. It was on the trade side and I heard from various doctors that chemically extracted edible oils are actually not edible and harmful to our health so they are advising to rotate on a monthly basis.  

The same is happening in other grains for more products GMO products were introduced, on the name of organic. a lot of mismatching is going on in the Agri fields. Authentic foods were invented for a healthy life.

Don't you think they are finding some new avenues and inventing new products for more health benefits which they will reveal through World Health Organisation (WHO)?

Before I write critics about this, I want to put some lights on the history of Millets in India. Source: https://www.icrisat.org/a-short-history-of-millets-and-how-we-are-recognising-their-importance-in-the-modern

Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses. widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for human food and as fodder. There is evidence of the cultivation of millet in the Korean Peninsula dating to the Middle Jeulmun Pottery Period (around 3,500–2,000BC). In India, millets have been mentioned in some of the oldest Yajurveda texts, identifying foxtail millet (priyangava), Barnyard millet (aanava) and black finger millet (shyaamaka), thus indicating that millet consumption was very common, pre-dating to the Indian Bronze Age (4,500BC).  So, here we can see how old the history of Indian millet is with us.

We must have heard stories from our grandparents that how they used to prepare their food from millet. It was true Earlier, all types of millet like Pearl Millet (Bajra), Sorguhum (Jwar), Cow Grass (Kodu), Barnyard Millet (Jhangora) are the major staples in those days.  Even Millets were popular and daily food in China and other southeast countries.  Even, there was a time when we were making Wheat bread/ roties only for our elite guests and in normal routine, millets were the main staples.

Various dishes are made from millet. Here in Rajasthan, people used to rehearse bajra ki rabri in the winter season. Bajra khichdi, Jai ki roti, jowar cookies are the main dishes that are loved by all. These are highly nutritious grains that come under the category of millet.

You should know the word "coarse". It was used by so-called western literature and trading companies to denote such grains under the animal feed category, which means not suitable for humans.

The dilemma in all such stories looms large for us, especially when it concerns the pride of our nation. The term coarse was associated with grains of the millet category. They were animal food according to the elite section of society. For Millet, Western culture was the center of such irony. In India, those who ate millet were placed under the poorer section of society and those using wheat products were relegated to the upper-class, elite societies. Things go on like this for centuries. But, the time has come when they realize that Indian ancient/traditional food is full of nutritional value. It is not animal feed or fattening.

Business is at the center of all development and glory to Millet

Obviously, business is the driving force in all kinds of activities. Farmers are farming and harvesting in their fields for business & manufacturers are doing production. These come under the cycle of continuous processes and events in our ecosystem. These are natural phenomena that are used by human beings to maintain their livelihood. Likeminded people used their brains to make soybean oil, palm oil, canona oil edible and create multi-billion-dollar business opportunities in different parts of the world.

These are multinational companies whose R&D always goes on without losing time, resting, and stopping. They are always on the lookout to get something beneficial from natural products. Prima facia for them things should be edible, even if it is a slow poison in the long run, brings incurable diseases, etc but for them it is business.

Now, I can correlate the developments going on in Millet. Great enthusiasm is being used by the big-2 agro-based companies, and even the government is participating in various technology know-how, promoting and trying to bring awareness among the consumers. Cross-border activities are taking place.  following are the few developments which we can follow for more information.

With the aim to create awareness and increase the production & consumption of millets, United Nations, at the behest of the Government of India, declared 2023 the International Year Millets. 

*Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and other dignities enjoyed a millet Lunch together organised by President of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pm-modi-joins-mps-for-sumptuous-millets-lunch/articleshow/96384006.cms

*The United Nations General Assembly at its 75th session in March 2021 declared 2023 the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023). FAO is the lead agency for celebrating the Year in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders. Millets can grow on arid lands with minimal inputs and are resilient to changes in climate. They are therefore an ideal solution for countries to increase self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imported cereal grains.  Source : https://www.fao.org/millets-2023/en

*As part of promoting the International Year of Millets (IYOM)-2023, O/o Addl. DGFT, Chennai in association with APEDA organised Export Awareness Program  to promote "Millet" as Super Food of the Future at Anna Centenary Library, Chennai on 15th March 2023. Source: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1908048

*The Government of India is to launch Millet International Initiative for Research and Awareness. It is in line with the United Nations’ plans for the International Year of Millets, which is 2023. India brings in the concept of “SEED MONEY” in the initiative. Research activities on millet, and increasing their productivity will be focused on the initiative. Indian Institute of Millet Research located in Hyderabad will provide technical support to the initiative. Source: https://www.gktoday.in/topic/millet-international-initiative-for-research-and-awareness/

Why is India taking such an initiative? Is there any lack of awareness about Millet’s consumption in India? Or Indians don't have the taste for it?. These questions seem to float when we heard about the developments on the world level goes on.

Benefits of Millet’s use in our daily diet

 Millets are Good for health, the Atmosphere, and Farmers.

Numerous benefits as regards health, ecosystem, and economy are associated with the Millet. Millet uses less water compared to Rice & Wheat so it is very beneficial to the soil as well as the surrounding atmosphere.  Millet can be grown in low and high altitudes on arid lands, under low irrigated conditions. Like Bajra is grown in Rajasthan, the land of the desert is making it fertile. Rich of iron, calcium, protein, antioxidants etc. i.e. a complete diet for countries looking for self-sufficiency.

Millet are farmer friendly because it doesn’t need much water, is easy to harvest, and Pest resistant features of the crop help them to maximize yield and so help to increase profit on volume. Soon price will go up and it will come under the cash crop segment. And many more.

Critics & Care

I can predict that millet will replace wheat and other grains. The existing multinational agricultural companies will have a new agenda for this. WHO will publish benefits and more nutritional facts on millet. Various micro-manufacturing units will start producing processed food items like Nutri cookies, biscuits, ready-to-cook meals, and many more. The army can start millet in their food for army men. Like, it can be promoted in Countries facing nutritional issues.

Many wise countries like Canada, USA, Argentina, and Australia will be aggressive in this and they will replace existing cash crops with millets. After five years we will import quality millet from other countries as they will spend huge money on advertisement and expensive publicity will attract India's attention. India’s quality will be treated as inferior. These are my own thoughts.

I am glad that Indian millet will find a place in foreign fertile land but in the long run, these MNCs through their fabricated awareness programs will lower and lower the quality of Indian millet. Somehow our politics will help them find India a growing millet market. Amidst all such developments, there may be a dilemma in the near future when our farmers will protest that foreign millets are cheap and competitive despite the facts.

Millet is the ancient grain of India and everyone knows about it. In the current phase of development, only one thing is going viral western countries are taking initiative. So, we here in India are only praising it, nothing more.

For us, this would be a diversification of our food habits from unhealthy to healthy. Millet will provide us with complete food, nutrition, and health. We do not need to look towards western countries for its use. We have our own cuisine, taste, and customs that will stay healthy for years to come.

Millets are the future of our Food.  Include it in your daily diet and stay fit.

Written by Balwant Singh Rana, parjakalyanm@gmail.com

Date: 20.03.2023 , Jaipur, Rajasthan  ,India.

 

Narendra Modi is literate or He is Prime Minister

भारत देश विश्व का सबसे बड़ा लोकतंत्र है। अनेकता मे एकता को लिए हमारा भारत विश्व का सबसे सुंदर और निराला देश है। भारत को आजादी मिले पूरे पचहत्तर वर्ष हो चुके है। इस दौरान बहुत से राजनैतिक घटनाक्रम हुए। देश ने तरक्की भी करी है और आज भारत जिस मुकाम पर है उसमे मौजूदा  नैतृत्व का बहुत बड़ा योगदान है।  पचास साल तक देश मे एक ही पार्टी का शासन रहा, उसके बाद कुछ साल मिलिजुली सरकारे रही। सबने देश को आगे बढ़ाने मे योगदान दिया है।  इसमे कोई पार्टी खराब या अच्छी नहीं हो सकती है।  हर राजनैतिक पार्टी की अपनी विचारधारा  होती है और वे उसी के अनुरुप कार्य करते है। अंतोगत्वा सबका एक ही धेय होता है देश को विकास के पथ पर अग्रसर करवाना। 

देश ने इंदिरा गांधी को देखा  है , उनको दुर्गा की संज्ञा  दी। क्योंकि उनमे  नैतृत्व  की क्षमता थी। वे देश को सर्वोपरि मानती थी। पर उनके साथ भी ईमर्जन्सी का दाग लगा हुआ है।  वे काँग्रेस की नेत्री थी और उस समय तक देश मे नेताओ ने अपने आप को मर्यादों मे जिया और निभाया है। बाद मे अटल बिहारी बाजपाई  जी आए उनको विरोधी भी प्यार करते थे, वे भी मर्यादा को कभी लांगते नहीं थे। नब्बे तक के  दशक की मै बात करू तो राजनीति मे मर्यादा थी और सब उसका पालन करते थे। कोई भी पार्टी रही हो पर सब के लिए देश पहले था। पर मैने  देखा है जब से देश मे भारतीय जनता पार्टी का संगठन मजबूत हुआ और डबल इंजन की सरकार का आविर्भाव हुआ तब से ही देश मे अजीब सा माहौल बनाया जा रहा है। 

आज का माहौल थोड़ा बदल गया है। स्वार्थ ज्यादा हावी हो गया है।  दल दल की राजनीति ने देश को भाषा, मजहब, पंत, क्षेत्र मे बाँट दिया है।  पर ये सब कर कौन  रहा है?  और ये दल दल कैसे बन रही है। अगर हम इन सब बातों पर गौर करें तो हमारे संविधान ने ही देश मे बहुदलीय प्रणाली को रखे रहने का अधिकार दिया है। मेरा मानना  है की उस समय के संविधान निर्माताओ ने संविधान मे  उस समय की क्षेत्रीय विविधताओ और मतों को देख कर ये निर्णय लिया हो, पर आज के परिपेक्ष में हमे इस पर पुनः विचार करना चाहिए।  मै पिछले आठ साल से देश मे जो राजनैतिक परिदृश्य बदल रहा वो देख रहा हूँ।  जिस तरह से काँग्रेस के मणिशंकर अय्यर भाषा का प्रयोग करते है, जिस तरह से और भी बहुत से नेता बोल रहे है। वो बहुत ही निंदनीय है। उसमे चाहे कोई भी पार्टी हो। 

मेरा ये संक्षिप्त लेख लिखने का तातर्प्य  बस ये था की ये सब क्यों हो रहा है। राजनेता राजधर्म की या संस्कारों की मर्यादा को क्यों तोड़ रहे है।  हाल के गुजरात चुनाव मे आम आदमी पार्टी के एक नेता ने मोदी जी की माता को अपशब्द कहे।  कुछ दिन पहले पवन खेड़ा ने मोदी जी के पिता जी पर तंज कसा।  चोंकीदार  चोर है।  किसी ने सौ सिर वाला रावण तो किसी ने नीच शब्द कहे।  आखिर ये सब कहने से पहले उनके दिमाक मे ये बात क्यों नहीं आई की मोदी जी देश के प्रधानमंत्री है ।  प्रधानमंत्री किसी पार्टी का नहीं बल्कि देश का होता है। उनका सम्मान देश का सम्मान है। 

मै व्यक्तिगत तौर पर विपक्ष के ज्यादातर नेताओ के व्यवहार की भरतसन्ना करता हूँ की वे मुद्दे की लड़ाई क्यों नहीं लड़ते, माना  की सत्ताधारी पार्टी ने उनको पिछले आठ सालों से सत्ता से बाहर रखा है पर इसका ये मतलब नहीं है की वेवजह मान हानि की जाय।  जब देश मे ये सब होता है तो वो किसी पार्टी विशेष की अवमानना नहीं बल्कि पूरे देश के सम्मान को नुकशान पहूँचाता है।  क्या ये सब सही  है?

राहुल गांधी विदेश मे जाकर जब ये बोलते है की भारत मे लोकतंत्र खत्म हो गया है और अमेरिका और यूरोप के  देशों को आगे आने चाहिए इसको बचाने के लिए , तो देश की क्या इज्जत रखी एक ग्रांड ओल्ड पार्टी के मुख्या ने।  ये सब निंदनीय है। 

अभी हालिया बयान दिल्ली के सबसे ज्यादा पढे लिखे मुख्यमंत्री अरविन्द केजरीवाल का है जिसमे वे कहते है की देश का प्रधानमंत्री एक अनपढ़ है, भ्रष्ट है, तानाशाह, और बहुत कुछ।  पर ये सब कहते हुए हम लोग ये भूल जाते है की हम अपने सिर को खुद ही नंगा कर रहे है। आखिर केजरीवाल कहना क्या चाहते है। साथ ही उन्होंने कहा है की अदानी का असली मालिक मोदी है, अदानी तो मैनेजर है और मोदी जी का पचास हजार करोड़ से ज्यादा का पैसा अदानी मे लगा है। क्या भारत की जनता इतनी मूर्ख है की झूठ को सच मान  बैठे, अगर केजरीवाल की बात सही है तो फिर माफी क्यों मांगी जाती है।  

ये सब राजनैतिक दल देश की जनता को मूर्ख ही समझते है। जो समाचार पत्रों मे ये मीडिया मे दिखाया जाएगा जनता उसको सच मान  बैठेगी।  अगर ये मानस है तो वाकई मे जनता मूर्ख है। विपक्ष को सत्ता चाहिए इसलिए वे मान  सम्मान को बेच सकते है , उनको सत्ता चाहिए तो देश मे भाई भाई को लड़ा सकते है।  उनको सत्ता चाहिए तो पंजाब में उनकी नाक के नीचे खालिस्थान की गतिविधियों को नजर अंदाज कर देते है।  सत्ता चाहिए तो दिल्ली मे दंगा हो जाता है, ये सब का एक ही मर्म है की सत्ता के लालच मे संवेदनाओ को खत्म कर दिया है। 

चलो अगर मोदी जी अनपढ़ है तो  थोड़ा केजरीवाल ये प्रकाश डाले  कि  एक अनपढ़ आदमी कैसे इतना ज्ञान रख सकता है। सत्तर साल की उम्र मे कैसे 18 घंटे काम करते है, देश को एक सूत्र मे बांधे रखा है, विदेशों मे भारत की शान बड़ी है, देश G20 देशों की मजबानी कर रहा है। देश जिस नेता को विश्व नेता मान  रहा है अगर वो अनपढ़ भी है तो ये तो हमारे लिए फक्र की बात होनी चाहिए की पढे लिखे न होने के उपरांत भी वे लोगों के दिलों को जीत पा रहे है और भारत को विश्व पटल पर सम्मान दिला रहे है। बात मोदी जी की नहीं है उस पद कि हैं, जिस पर वो बैठे है, उसका सम्मान जरूरी है। 

मेरा केजरीवाल जी से अनुरोध है की इस तरह के बयान केवल गर्त मे जाने का साधन ही है। देश के प्रधानमंत्री का अपमान देश का अपमान है। 

मुझे नहीं लगता की ये सब भारत जैसे पुराने सांस्कृतिक और लोकतान्त्रिक देश मे होना चाहिए।  आज इस तरह की जो भी अशोभनीय घटनाए हो रही है उसके पीछे एक ही सोच है।  अंग्रेजों ने अपने प्रभाव को उनके जाने के बाद भी रखे रखा।  अंग्रेज नहीं चाहते थे की भारत कभी एक हो, इस कारण वामपंत की जड़ों को रोप गए। देश को क्षेत्रीय आधार पर , जातपात, रंगरूप, भाषा, धर्म के आधार पर राजनीति करने का अधिकार दे दिया। उनकी इसी सोच और बांटो और राज करो की नीति को पोषित करने के लिए तीन सौ से अधिक राजनैतिक पार्टीय देश मे कार्यरत है, और वे सब संविधान के तहत चल रही है। धर्मनिरपेक्ष है, हालांकि हिन्दू धर्म मे भी अब बंटवारा हो गया है। हिन्दुओ मे से निचले तबकों को निकाल दिया है उनको बहुजन या दलित नाम  देकर एक  अलग पंत इन लालची पार्टियों ने बना दिया है।  हिन्दुओ से जैन, सिखों  को तो पहले ही अंग्रेजों ने अलग कर दिया था अब, और भी पंथों मे बांटने के त्यारी है।  आगे चलकर ब्राह्मण, राजपूत, कायस्त, बनिये  सब अलग कर लिए जायेगे।  पर देश  पहले है, अंदर कुछ भी करते रहो, लड़ो , गाली गलोज जो करना है करो।  पर जब देश को तोड़ने के लिए बाहरी ताकते किसी को लालच दे तो भारत के हर नागरिक को अपने अपने मत भुला कर एक होना चाहिए।

आज वही हो रहा जो अंग्रेज चाहते थे , आज भारत को मतों,मजहवों मे बांटना आसान लग रहा है। ये सब हो रहा है देश मे विध्यमान  क्षेत्रीय पार्टियों और उनके मंतव्वो के वजह से। 

अगर देश मे दो दलीय प्रणाली स्थापित हो जाती है तो देश विरोधी ताकते अपने मंसूबों मे कामयाब नहीं हो पाएगी।  दो दलीय प्राणली देश के लिए अब बहुत जरूरी है।  तभी देश के प्रधानमंत्री के पद  की प्रतिष्ठा बनी रहेगी और देश सुरक्षित रहेगा। 

वरना देश मे छोटी छोटी राजनीतिक पार्टियों पर देश के दुश्मनों का अजेन्डा  चलता रहेगा।  मोदी जी अनपढ़ है या नहीं इससे फर्क नहीं पड़ता  बल्कि प्रधानमंत्री दूरदर्शी और संवेदी है वो जरूरी है।  देश से बढ़कर कुछ नहीं है। देश ही नहीं रहेगा तो राजनीति कहाँ करोंगे मेरे नेताओ। इस पर विचार करने की जरूरत है हम सबको। 

ये लेख मेरी अपनी सोच है। 

बड़े बड़े रीटेल के कारोबारी भी नहीं हिला पाए किराना व्यापारियों की नीव।

राजस्थान पत्रिका के 11.3.2023 के अंक मे प्रकाशित ये लेख यह  बताने के लिए काफी है की छोटे व्यापारी चाहे वे किराना के हो या और दूसरे रीटेल फॉर्मैट के वे आने वाले 10 सालों मे कही नहीं जाते और न ही उनके भविष्य पर कोई सवाल है। 

कंपनियों की चेन के पास मात्र 10% बाजार: असंगठित क्षेत्र के पास 88% से ज्यादा हिस्सेदारा टाटा, अंबानी और अडानी भी नहीं हिला पाए किराना कारोबारियों की नींव

2020 में भारतीय रिटेल बाजार 5000 अरब रुपए का था, जब देश के दो बड़े कारोबारियों ने इस सेक्टर में कदम रखा। इस खुदरा बाजार ने अंबानी और अलिक अडानी दुनिया की सबसे बड़े रिटेल स्टोर वॉलमार्ट, टाटा, बिड़ला, आरपीजी ग्रुप, सैंज ग्रुप कई नाम इस फेहरिस्त में शामिल हैं। इन तमाम कंपनियों ने बीते 20 सालों में देश के रिटेल मार्केट में सेंध लगाने की पूरी कोशिश की लेकिन कोई फायदा नहीं हुआ। मौजूदा समय में आज भी देश का रिटेल मार्केट या यूं कहें किराना स्टोर मजबूती के साथ खड़ा हुआ है।

जब देश में मॉर्डन ट्रेड स्टोर्स ने एंट्री ली थी, तब मान लिया गया था कि देश के किराना स्टोर इनके सामने टिक नहीं पाएंगे और जल्द बंद हो जाएंगे, लेकिन किराना स्टोर अपनी जमीन पर खड़े हैं और स्टैटिस्टा डॉट कॉम के सर्वे के अनुसार रिटेल ट्रेड में इनकी हिस्सेदारी करीब 88 फीसदी से ज्यादा है। मॉर्डन ट्रेड स्टोर्स सिर्फ 10% की बाजार हिस्सेदारी नहीं बढ़ पाई .....

आखिर क्या वजह रही कि इन दिग्गजों की बाजार हिस्सेदारी नहीं बढ़ पाई : इंडस्ट्री एक्सपर्ट्स ने बताए चार प्रमुख कारण...

1. छोटे शहरों में वॉल्यूम की कमी

लो अनकम लेवल, मुख्य रूप से से ग्रामीण आबादी भारत स्टोर खोलना एक बड़ी चुनौती है। वॉलमार्ट ने कम आबादी वाले शहरों में काम कर शुरुआती सफलता हासिल की थी. लेकिन भारतीय बाजार में बड़े स्टोरों को प्रोफिट के साथ चलाने के वॉल्यूम बहुत कम हैं।

2 .  फ्रेश फूड है पसंद

ज्यादातर भारतीय परिवार घर का बना खाना पसंद करते हैं, इसलिए रेडी-टू- ईट और रेडी-टू-कुक फूड, साथ ही फ्रोजन और डिब्बाबंद भोजन, भारतीय रसोई में जगह नहीं ले सके। भारतीय दिन में कम से कम दो बार फ्रेश फूड बनाना पसंद करते हैं। भारतीयों के लिए फ्रीज या ठंडे भोजन का अर्थ है बासी खाना।

3. पूरे साल उपलब्धता

दुनिया के बाकी देशों के विपरीत भारत का मौसम काफी अलग रहता है, यहां पर गर्मी, सर्दी, बरसात हर तरह के मौसम देखने को मिलते जिसकी वजह से  सालभर सब्जियां और अनाज की कोई कमी नहीं रहती है। सालभर सबकुछ फ्रैश मिलता है।

4. हर नुक्कड़ पर हैं दुकानें

महानगरों और अन्य  बड़े शहरों में बहुत भीड़ है, और केवल 7 फीसदी भारतीय परिवारों के पास कार है, इस प्रकार, वॉलमार्ट जैसे बडे स्टोर, जो अमरीका के शहरों के बाहर स्थित हैं, भारत में बहुत कम सफल रहे। इसके अलावा देश वेस्टर्न देशों की तुलना में प्रति मिलियन बहुत अधिक आउटलेट हैं, रेडी-टू-ईट स्नैक्स हर नुक्कड़ पर अवेलेबल है।

उपरोक्त लेख पर मेरी विवेचना इस प्रकार है। 

जो भारत से किराना का सफाया करने के इरादे से आए थे, वे अब खुद को बनाए रखने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे हैं। भारत में किराना रिटेल में व्यवधान लाने की बात करने से पहले सभी को यही सोचना होगा। डिस्रप्शन क्या डिस्टर्बन्स है यानि ये विघ्न है ? और अगर नहीं है तो स्टार्टअप्स द्वारा अरबों डॉलर क्यों जलाए गए? अगर ऐसा नहीं है तो मेट्रो केस & केरी क्यों झुकी और फ्यूचर ग्रुप को अपना शो बंद क्यों करना पड़ा? इस तथ्य के इर्द-गिर्द बहुत सारे सवाल हैं कि किराना खुदरा हमेशा आसपास, जीवित और सदा रहेगा।

Source: https://epaper.patrika.com/Home/ShareImage?Pictureid=1033b0878f8

Burning is earning? Is it a good fit for our startup ecosystem

How can one justify the burning
by the startups? I don't want to mention the name of startups or B2C commerce
players who are trying to bring discount war and luring consumers just for
nothing. Is this an innovation?

Take this incident that occurred
in the city of Jaipur.

Four days ago, my neighborhood
friend told me about a start-up that is delivering #saras and #amul milk at a
discounted and below market price, providing a 7-day free milk scheme. I tried
to go in to find out more about it and when he showed me the transactions it
was actually there. He bought milk for 350 rupees free of cost in 7 days. and
later, he continued but with a discounted price. Saras milk price is Rs. 48 per
Ltr for toned milk and for fat, it is Rs.62. He is still getting Rs.2 per Ltr
discount from the market price ie. price at Saras booths are selling at. 

This is what the consumer is
gaining from such #disruption.

Yesterday I went to a nearby
Saras stall to buy milk for myself. I started the conversation just to find out
what he thinks about these new milk delivery startup/e-commerce players.
Suddenly he burst into great pain. He said that two months ago his daily sales
were 35,000/-and about 250 customers used to come and buy milk at his stall,
but now these numbers have dropped to 22,000/-per day. what was your intake? he
said, due to inflation, people started consuming less milk, and that's why his
daily sales numbers are going down. But he wasn't aware of the online customer
drift. I told him the real reason why he is affected.

This is how the market works and
there no one can control the market forces to be favorable, but at what cost
are these developments happening? Saras is the milk brand of Rajasthan dairy
cooperatives which has more than 5,500 milk stalls supplying milk to more than
0.7 million families in Jaipur city and more than 5,000 small retailers.

Just to facilitate or for the
sake of adoption, these startups are doing quite a bit of burning. Just for the
sake of offers, end consumers are buying milk from them. Even if a family has 5
members and they all have smartphones, one after the other they are using the
offer in the same place. It means that a family is getting 35 days of free milk
because they are offering a 7-day free milk program. Is this a way to create
loyalty? or adoption or customer acquisition cost?

We all know that the Indian
ecosystem is different and it is full of diversity. Amid such uncertainty of
the diverse mindset of end consumers, how long do we think about customer
stickiness? and at what cost by giving a big dent in the traditional ecosystem.

It would be wise if such startups
are getting profit out of such activities then fine but they also know that
their efforts are not real and just an act of building a funding story. I am
worried about the traditional players who are there for decades and earning
bread and butter for their families. 1/3 of India's population is living below
the poverty line. Millions of Retailers, Wholesalers, and distributors are the
backbone of our retail ecosystem. These are the 12-15% contributor to national
GDP and even they are contributing up to 10% in generating employment.

The ecosystem of Indian grocery retail:
Estimated Retailers 12-13 million, Wholesalers 300K+, Distributors 30+, and
more than 5K national brands and thousands of regional and local brands.
Altogether they are driving a retail economy of USD 800 billion and would be
more than $ 1.2 trillion in the next five years.

We need to redefine the
definition of #disruption. Do we really need #quickcommerce #homedelivery of
milk #fruitdelivery? Is it really needed to have merchandise in 10 minutes? It
would be better to walk to your nearby retailer and buy from there. This will
be a healthy movement for the body, society, and for the nation.

We need to bring ideas,
innovation, and efforts to empower the existing ecosystem. We should not create
threats to them but tune with them and align our business model in such a way
that brings efficiencies and empowerment for the traditional ecosystem players.

Being a retail professional, I am sure
that the traditional ecosystem will get more wings to grow in the near future.
Here the only thing is that MSME or SME needs to bring more clarity that how
they are going to formulate policies for traditional retail ecosystem players.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) should also
bring in some strict norms so that online players operate in a regulated
environment and do not affect traditional players just for the sake of
discounts and promotions. Also, all retail associations should work in the
right direction and should safeguard the interest of traditional ecosystems.
Organizations like #rai and #cait should act as the apex body but seems they
are more inclined towards these giants and nurturing them by doing nothing for
the traditional ecosystem.

Even domestic e-commerce players should
also bring under the disciplinary ambit of DPIIT and they should not be allowed
to start a discount war on their websites.

This also applied to brands. Brands
have to bring discipline in channel management & bringing uniform PTR so
that every connector in this ecosystem can earn their share of profits. This
would be a red flag for national brands whose PTR is in the hands of price
cutters. If they fail to harmonize channels, they will be locked out and
replaced by the regional players.

This is a layman's write-up.

#retail #grocery #Stores #retailers #Rai #Cait #DPIIT
#groceryretailer

 

Business fundamentals sidelined by the startup ecosystem

We are regularly updating our knowledge on various aspects of our business,
its facts, and figures. Since we are professionals and working in business
environments so there we have to be equipped with the current affairs of our
ecosystem. 

💥I am working in a Kirana startup
ecosystem and also heading a startup in B2B grocery retail so there my daily
routine is to keep myself updated with the latest developments and maintain the
information flows. Like me, there are many professionals who are closely
following the stream. Things are related to startups, investors, and the
ecosystem. No doubt things were moving in the retail ecosystems since 2014
onwards in the right direction and a big buzz is there in terms of investment
and turning startups into unicorns. Startup definition in layman's language,
Startups are those who do execution with speed, and how fast they were able to
achieve the status of a unicorn or smart valuation was the basis of
success. Huge money was pumped by the VC funds, angel investors, family
offices, and HNIs which helped more than 75 startups turn unicorns in the last
three years time. I am fully convinced of the things that were brought in
by the innovators. But, We are bound to certain fundamentals and basic Laws,
so the same is applied to businesses where things are very much driven by few
fundamentals. The fundamental law of business is to earn profit from business
activities through whatsoever practices. Let's jump to the preamble of this
article " Ignorance of Fundamentals by the Startups and how they sidelined
it" 

👉Startups and investors both started working on some easy
conversion approach which led towards meanless directions somewhere. I am
going to let you understand the fundamental approach in layman's style. This
will surely match with the ongoing practice of the ecosystem stakeholders. A
few things remain constant which we called by fundamentals so the same
is applicable to Startups and investors both.

Inside of Investors and how they forget to apply
fundamentals of investment: 

Investing is simply the process of acquiring assets that you hope will
grow in value. Investments can include owning a home, owning a business, owning
real estate, or having money in savings accounts and CDs at a bank or credit
union. Investors in the startup ecosystem have some different theses.
Investors do have many theses to work on but again they are concluding their
decision that out of 10 investments they will succeed to get a handsome exit in
2 or 3. This means 7 or 8 investments will go in vain and will be a failed
decision. Here somehow they are breaching the fundamentals of investing and
driving them in the direction of such thoughts. Here my question is why
out of 10 investments, 2 are getting successful and some many cases even this
is also not. And if such things are there then what is the use of evaluating
the startup, asking for an Investment Deck, and carrying strict Due diligence? 💥and

If the startup
business model is so convincing, disruptive, and scalable then how things go
negative in near future? 

This shows that the fundamentals were not analyzed before
shortlisting the startup and evaluating them or what about the business model of the
startup they believe it will run and will do best in near future. Why am I
stressing about this? Every business has certain set rules which have to be
followed religiously, these rules are the basic principles of that business
stream. I am not talking about completely IT-driven business models or ideas
that can operate certain businesses on the cloud with nothing physically
running on it. 

But, again if there is the physical movement of goods and services in the
business model like it is in grocery eB2B retail then one cannot ignore the
fact. An investor needs to differentiate those things while finalizing startups
for further-stage investment proposals. If any real business is growing on the
ground then it will take time to reach a level i.e. to reach a scale or
become profitable. There are no shortcuts to making them successful overnight
or say in two, three, or five years. awesome? How can a VC expect 100X returns
or 20X, or 10X? Just think about the cost of that money investing in a startup
for a given period of time and calculate the return. The shortcuts are
good if they help to save time and money but business fundamental works on
certain laws.

The calculation of interest over market risk and its return is the soul of
investment. A 5x return is logical if the primary work is done thoroughly by
the investors before investing in a startup. If you being an investor don't
believe in the idea or you are thinking that 80% of the investment will be
completely devastated and you will make your money from the rest of the
investment in Multi X returns then don't invest.

Investment is not
gambling and investors should not be gamblers  

My above thoughts would give a contrary impression of the present scenario.
But, let us not forget that the current landscape of investment in the startup
ecosystem is mount formation. Currently, the law of 👀FOMO is
operating in the ecosystem and no one wants to be left out of the race. This
show of changing caps is in the stream. Early-stage investors want to hand over
the hat to the big one and this goes on till the startup either succeeds or
fails. One needs to think deeply. The same is going with
startups. 

Fundamental of business that startups
are not following. 

Startups too have some shortcomings or failures on the ground of applying
basic fundamentals in their business model. There are startups that are really
working on some problems at large and through their innovative ideas, something
good has been built. We can talk about #Zarodha #Groww #cardekho
#Shopify #Swiggy #Zomato. They definitely brought
disruption in their area of exploration. In a true sense bringing disruption in
the segment is a kind of outcome by the Startups. If we analyze deeply the
inside story of successful startups, we will find that they are totally
IT-driven businesses and without their stack or involvement business processes
can't take place. I would categorize them as Startups working on the cloud. However,
in the case of Swiggy, Zomato, Dunzo, etc and other delivery startups will have
profitability challenges but they are creating adoption and consumers take them
as granted. Again fundamental of these businesses has to be taken care
of.  

Business fundamentals
are logical and have the compulsion to fit them in the business stream before
ideation, implementation, and execution. 

If your startup is involved in the physical movement of goods whether it
belongs to grocery retail or other retail formats, you have to inbuild them on
your own to tune with some set of market conditions that are prevailing in the
market and no one can bypass them. The cost of changing existing
conditions is very high. Let's understand this equation through a real-time example. 
Startup ABC is working in grocery retail. They got the idea of building an
online marketplace for grocery retail, Built a high-stack IT solution for the
stack holder. It is a seller marketplace model. The model is called eB2B
online marketplace, onboarded thousands of Kirana Retailers on their IT
platform, and started reaching them through Mobile App. This is a kind of
Direct to Retail Model. Why they thought of bringing this kind of change
into the ecosystem as a new idea and how it helped them to raise money? Definitely,
Startup ABC found some gaps in the market, Problem was large so they started
working on a solution. Filling up the gap and finding solutions. In their
pitch, the startup is working to empower Retailers by way of providing them
with one umbrella solution as a Supply Chain Aggregator. DTR model removed the
middle distribution channel resulting increase in margin. This is how a new
idea takes place and the same is with other eB2B startups or even B2C or D2C or
Agri startups. In these kinds of startups, there is the physical movement of
goods involved at each stage.

Now, what happened wrong to this business model? I don't want to mention
the name of startups working in this segment. You know them, but the
question, again and again, is why they are not making profit despite raising
huge money, even burning the entire amount, and also scaling to other
territories like crazy. They tried to convince investors that their business
model is scalable and profitable. 

Here is the answer, they failed to incorporate the fundamental of such
businesses that they tried to disrupt through the innovative business model and
intervention of costly IT tools. What are those fundamentals: 

1. Lack of
   Business Mindset


2. Half of
   knowledge is dangerous 


3. Trying to
   change the traditional miniature practices of market 


4. Managers
   are driving the low-margin business in high profile style


5. Burning
   money on adoption.


6. IT-driven
   business is for unfriendly IT users like Retailers seldom use.


7. Founders
   are highly paid without bringing profit to the organization  

A lack of a Business mindset is the first fundamental
requirement for a business. The founders should have a business-mindedness or
else they will become puppets in the hands of the investors or their KMPs. Mere
finding a problem in a certain area and working on it through KMPs will lead to
a possible failure. A business mindset founder protects the business by
predicting near-future trends based on his inherent capabilities. This helps them
to align their business strategies on time. In the current startup ecosystem,
founders are not of that mindset or I would say most of the founders are
technocrats. They firmly believe that an IT-driven business model will scale
and will be the valuation driver. The business cannot be projected the way IT
can run it. It has to go through the market conditions and accordingly needs to
be coordinated with the business owners.

Half knowledge is dangerous: Skill-driven founders are willing to
disrupt retail based on some logical business verticals, but for physical
business, they must have a deep understanding of market conditions and business
terms in the first place. The skill set is more likely to be the first choice
of professional investors as they have the ability to grow a loss-making
business and increase valuation and even turn it into a unicorn. Half the
knowledge of market practices by the founders is dangerous and ultimately the
ground-level work does not synch with the projected one, resulting failed
venture. 

 Trying to change traditional business
practices: Let's talk
about grocery business or FMCG business in India. Both streams are being
carried by a series of middlemen. The margin spread is there to feed all of
them in their stage of execution but that is too much narrow. In the FMCG
business- Brands distribute their products to retailers through CFA, SS,
distributors, and then retailers. Retailers further sell to final
consumers. In the staples stream, this is done through local mandis, traders,
and wholesalers/ Semi Wholesalers.

What is the harm in it if one is trying to bring solutions for the
retailers and provide them with one umbrella solution? This question will come
to the readers. But, a major point here is that the basic principles of
traditional practices were violated. Generating margins is a big deal in
grocery retail but an existing traditional channel of distribution is making
money from this low-margin spread by keeping its shows on a low profile.
“Remember – the cost of running a business through managers is always a costly
affair but running it through existing owners is always cost savvy and
effective”. Distributors, SS & retailers are owners of their businesses.
They are working in a very low profile and master of earning profit from its
thin margin basket.

Another main reason for not making a profit is: Squeezed
margin - Brands are
not giving preference to such startups as they do not want to disturb their
existing channels, however on the same way, they do not want to lose the
opportunities that these startups are bringing, however here they are not
sacrificing on the margin side. In some cases, they did so but again had to
roll back their decisions amid strong opposition from existing channel partners
as channel conflicts broke out.

I am giving stress on this point because this is one of the major
aspects and practices where startups are hammering. As an eB2B startup,
you have asset-heavy operations in terms of heavy opex, cost of setting up
systems, and processes. based on analyzing the financials of existing eB2B
players. How they will earn from a thin layer of margin is again subjective but
if someone is there who is bringing operation excellence and capabilities will
definitely earn profit and make their startup a real business.  

Managers are driving the low-margin business in a
high-profile style:  The managers are managing the show of the low-margin
business of various startups as they are not working with the existing middle
distribution channel where the owners are working. Getting work done through
managers is always expensive, whether the traditional distributors are working
at a low cost and earning profit and matching ROI. Setting up systems and
processes always attracts a good number of cost components. Metro Cash &
Carry, Walmart, and other heavy Capex and Opex run models are examples.

Burning money on adoption. India is not a country where we think
of bringing change in all spheres as we are living in different walks of life
where there are different demographic changes in our religious thoughts, food
habits, tastes, customs, and even in society. The business model of a startup
is based on certain principles of optimization. It refers to the process of
changing the product in which it is made, to meet the needs of customers in a
market other than that in which it is made. This means changing products to
bring about customization in the long run and that brand has to spend heavily
for free sampling or up to a level where demand can start spontaneously. But,
India is a country of diversity, and spending to bring about adoption is a
costly affair. No one can change the behavior of Indian consumers. A startup
always failed to meet the hyperlocal requirements or they are not able to align
with the diverse requirements.

IT-driven business is for unfriendly IT users like
Retailers seldom use. Startups
are getting funded based on their IT stack as VCs are investing in startups
where IT is the product and the main driver of the business. But, one-third of
India's population is still struggling to meet their daily needs. As per the
current data, only 43.5% of mobile users are using smartphones. 40% of grocery
retailers are using basic phones or they are using basic features of
smartphones. This means that people are still unfriendly towards smartphones.
Startups are trying to bring use cases where their end consumers can start
using their smartphones to order goods. This adoption happens when we talk
about B2C marketplace but it is not the case in B2B. What if you are working on
a solution that the end user is not using. According to a market survey, only
30 out of 100 retailers are using B2B startup App to order merchandise, with
the rest relying on the foot-on-street manpower of those startups.

Founders are highly paid without bringing profit to the
organization:  The fundamental crunch is once again seen in this, & and the founding
team and KMPs take home a large amount in terms of salaries. The basic rule of
business is that promoters should take cash from the business for their
personal use only when the business is making a profit or can take a minimum
amount to run their family's daily bread and butter but in most cases, startup
founders are using to build their personal wealth. Most of them are enjoying a
hefty amount of salary, accommodation etc. This is a layman's argument about
how a loss-making startup is letting its money go out of its cash flow.
Startups are struggling to get funds but founders are investing in other
startups as angel investors. Startups like Paytm, where investors' money
evaporated within a year of their IPO launch, but individual founders are
running their own personal wealth funds and investing in startups. 

There are many other points to elaborate but a question always will be
raised by professionals why is the ecosystem not following the basic
fundamentals of business? Investors and startups need to think about the basic
rules and fundamentals. Disruption is not what comes with success rather it
disturbs the existing ecosystem at large if certain basic principles of
business are not followed. And the cost of disorganizing the existing system is
huge which eventually leaves ashes of burning money behind with a tag of
failure.

Ignorance of fundamentals is tantamount to ignorance of the law which will
not bail you out on the basis of ignorance of the law. The same logic applies
in the business where the ultimate objective is to make a profit. And making a
profit from the business is always an art and some fundamental principles have
to be followed.

We are operating in the Food & FMCG grocery retail ecosystem in India.
As an emerging organization, we carry the business fundamentals and startup
mindset of innovation in our business model. Our focus is on building a
technology-enabled platform for brands, distributors, wholesalers, and
retailers. Taking the grocery retail ecosystem with us at every step for their
empowerment so that we can contribute to building a $ 5 trillion ecosystem in
the coming years.

A Layman write-up is written by Balwant Singh Rana, the Kirana Retail
professional

written on: 18.11.2022, Jaipur, Rajasthan (India)