Retail has been a super dynamic sector for the whole of last
year. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon; all have been trying in more than one ways to
woo consumers towards them. So far it was a war based on pricing, same day
delivery and loyalty discounts etc. which was more or less related to how each
one can score over the other. All put together, they were giving the physical
retail a run for its money- though in a small sample survey I conducted, multi-brand
retail stores were still in contention along with the e-retail as the choice
for place of purchase.
To be honest, I was expecting the top three e-retailers to
break the barrier of price- delivery- service with some master stroke,
considering they have been hiring the best marketing brains from across and have
the deep pockets and funding to build the required backend to change the status
quo. But I have been swept off my feet by the most amazing response from a
physical multi-brand mobile store- Sangeetha Mobiles. With a back-end technical
collaboration with ebay, Sangeetha Mobiles has come up with http://shopno47.com with a promise so big that
it might be a game changer- mobile deliveries in 47 minutes to 1 hour and 47
minutes flat. (Currently in Bengaluru, Chennai & Hyderabad)
Impossible??? Just imagine that you have even 10 franchise
stores in a city and a backend hub to process the orders which a spoke can
deliver- in 1 hour and 47 minutes for a minimum order of Rs. 5000 is most
definitely doable. And if you doubt- they have a timer on the ordering page
where it says “Order now and get it in…” which is applicable from the time of transaction confirmation. More so, after 1
hour and 47 minutes, they claim to call the customers and confirm the delivery
has actually happened in the stipulated time.
Considering Sangeetha Mobile is pretty big chain in the
south with outlets in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and other southern towns
and is easily miles ahead of places like UniverCell- it can actually deliver on
the promise. While there have been so many people I have heard talking about Omni
Channel Retail, this is the first and practical example I’m seeing from India. The
process as I believe might be pretty simple; the order is taken on the back end
which will process the payment and the fulfilment will be done by the local
franchise or retailer. I have no concrete idea on the backend and process from
any source but I feel this is the positive way it might be happening.
So why am I excited? Well for a change, it is the physical
retail which is changing the game and trying to get into a space where the
e-retailers might be possibly slower. It is going as per the basics of competitive
advantage to play in a field where they are confident of their own strength.
What’s more, Sangeetha Mobile is now offering a one year warranty against theft,
water & physical damage) + 1 Year pick & drop repair service + 1yr
extended brand warranty. This is the first time I am seeing anyone come
up with such options for customer service post sales.
Now, there were some questions I had in my mind. What’s the
whole gig about 47? Well it seems the first store they had was a Shop no 47 and
hence… Then I have my reservations of what might happen if a model is
not available close to your place, but I’m sure there is a solution for it as
well.
What is refreshing though in the entire thing is the
positive intent and freshness of the thought to think differently to counter
the competition. It is a move to change the status quo and take the challenge
to take on the rest in a bold manner. More so, I’m pleased with the outlook
towards the after sales service (most difficult to replicate) which the others
have been ignoring for the longest time.
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