Things that my iPad will replace

Things that my ipad will replace (or I want it to replace) 1. Newspaper – the primary purpose of an ipad was reading(is what they say!). I started with TOI and NDTV app for ipad and was thrilled because they were good. This was till I realised that times have changed. I don’t want to read what TOi or NDTV want me to read. Iwant to build my own paper. So here comes Zite and Flipboard – where it is the news that I want, from mediums that I choose delivered to me. All that is left now is for me to discipline myself into reading it twice a day (and not refresh throughout) 2. Laptop – my office laptop. I haven’t picked it up for last two months. I don’t need it anymore. 3. Desktop – my home desktop – is not needed anymore. All my files are on cloud/ dropbox . 4. GPS in my car – with the  3G simcard installed – I have said good bye to the GPS in my car. My ipad does it and does it well. They are all talking about apple buying into few map companies – am eagerly waiting for news from developer conference in June. 5. Home entertainment system –I am going to install JBL airnote speakers soon at home and already have an ipad dock in my car. No need to invest in separate music systems. With apple TV – I will be able to stream all movies and music on my TV. The future of these speakers is when you can play different music from single itunes on your ipad in different rooms. 6. Book shelf– I have stopped buying physical books/ magazines. The very thought of having these on my ipad (though I prefer using kindle than ibook), and having them on cloud anytime that you want – is fantastic. Add to it the power of referring a dictionary, thesaurus and highlight or copy parts of book that you like. Icing on the cake is that this s at a discount compared to hardpaper editions in stores. I am not going back to crossword or landmark in near future. 7. Copier/ Scanner – with HDscan app – I had installed my plan to purchase a scanner/ copier for the house. I will be still investing in a printer that can print over wifi. The power of Optical Character recognition (OCR) helps in converting visiting cards to contacts and pages in word documents as an additional feature. 8. Gaming console – gone are the days when I used to aspire for psp handheld. With HD display – gaming has come a far way on an ipad. It is a matter of time when content/ game developers will follow and we will have the best of all EA games on an ipad. 9. Remote – no more remotes lying all over your house. You can control not only your TV, music system and camera’s installed in your house – but if required you can control curtains, alarms, locks, geyser and refrigerator. That is some power in your hands. 10. Alarm clock/ calculator/ calendar – those stupid alarm clocks in all my rooms, to see time and to wake up. Here it is all on my ipad, with information on weather, time in different cities and alarms synced to my calendar. Just waiting for SIRI update on ipad and it will be all new world. 11. Engagement for kids – from a drawing pad (without messy colours) to comics to mind games to interactive encyclopaedia – it is a fairly advanced teaching tool for my son than all the chaos that used to exist in my room as a child. 12. Camera – though this is slightly uncomfortable – I have still switched to taking pics and videos from my ipad (cant carry that massive SLR around). With iphoto and imovies – it is so rewarding to edit pics and showcase it to the world. My dream application will be built in projector and printer in my ipad. I am going to buy new HP air printer though which is close to having a printer "in" your iPad.

Being clever or kind ?

I was watching a you tube video - jeff bezos talking to graduating class of 2009. Very relevant thought he left with - we are all gifted, with intelligence. But we have to exercise the choice to be kind. When I look at it from organisational point of view - so many of us, in our over enthusiasm to prove our intelligence, make a choice not to be kind. It can be called politics, brownie points, #$$ licking - what is in a name. The fact remains that we try to draw a larger line mostly by erasing lines drawn by predecessor, colleague or bosses. I have made that mistake and have been at the receiving end too. But life teaches you - most of the people who are at the top, are the ones who made that choice to be always kind with their intelligence. Ones who never cared for individual mileage but for organisational benefit. I look forward to surround myself with more and more of such people.

Target Setting - for Store Managers

Targets for a typical store are like rains - they land from heaven and leave you wet (read sweat) all over !

In the absence of managers who are on top of their nos - area managers and operations manager use this as an excel sheet exercise to please their bosses at the start of the month (knowing that they will be able to come up with one reason or other by end of the month).

This is the start of mistrust and buffer at every level - and hence variable pay as a concept not being accepted in India.

Need of the hour is proactive store managers who can challenge this way of target setting.

An ideal store manager will set the targets in a simple three step manner :

Step I – Set Like for Like Growth objective
Look at the best of x% LFL (like for like) growth over last year same month and average of last three months.
(For eg - Last year Dec was 100 and company is targeting 15% LFL this year. On comparison of Sept to Nov achievement, LFL is at 18% - this automatically should give a confidence for 15% LFL achievement)

Once the broad no is agreed, move to step 2.

Step II – verify sales equation
Look at the sales equation – (refer previous blog.)
Sales = walk-ins * Conversion * UPT * AUV * (1-disc)
Put your achievement for last year same month in this equation and see what parameters that you will want to change.
For eg last year equation was
100 = 200 *10%*1*5((1-0)
From last three months, we have seen that Avg unit value has already increased for this season by 10%. Also our UPT for last three months have been 1.2. If we use same walk-ins and conv, it will lead us to achievement of 132 (32% growth over last year with same walk-ins and conversion)

Step III - Look at category mix
Once the broad no and KPI that will deliver that no has been agreed, deep dive into stocks.
Look at category wise sales and stock mix for the same month last year. Compare this with stock mix projected at the start of the month this year.
This is the most important tool with a store manager to keep brand and head office teams on their toes and also to serve the customer correctly at his/ her store.
Do not accept targets if the stock mix is incorrect. If I was the store manager, I will not only stop at broad category mix, but will deep dive into sizes for top three categories.

I hope – we will see more intelligent, proactive and assertive store managers in future. It is critical for success in retail

If someone wants to discuss formats for these , you can feel free to write to me at purohitvikas@gmail.com

Great by Choice - Jim Collins

Just finished reading "Great by Choice" by Jim collins.
Very simple read -with loads of numerical data supporting three basic "fundas"

1. 20 mile approach - talks about how imp it is to focus on doing what you have decided to do on a daily basis. if you have decided to run 20 miles a day - data supports the guy who runs just 20 miles per day (whether he is tired and not fit, or feeling extra energetic and fit - he does not reduce or increase the distance) v/s a guy who runs 30 miles when he is feeling great and 10 miles when he is not in the mood.

The illustration of how southwest airlines opened 3 sectors every year - year after year - for three decades v/s United and continental who opened 10 in good times and 0 in recession.

There will be critics who will say that with favourable tailwinds - why not run 30 miles. But I am sold on the 20 mile concept with my current experience.

2. Fire Bullets and then cannonball - How imp it is to try with bullets to set your aim correct and then accumulate all gunpowder to go for final charge. the importance of low cost, low risk and low exposure (to org) of experiments - and then pick the winners with data and fund/ fuel/ support them.

3. Oxygen Canisters - The guy who worries about oxygen when he needs it, v/s one who worries about it from day one. The funda holds true for insurance, SIP, early savings in life as well as cash/ debt exposure for the company.

In current retail scenario - one needs the leadership that can motivate teams to march 20 miles - in good times and bad times - one who can keep firing bullets and evaluate results without bias and ego, and one who do not risk future of entire organisation over egoistic store openings or so called "gut calls"

Retail Mathematics : One basic equation

Over last six years, i have conducted over 1000 interviews for store managers and store teams. To my disappointment, 99.99% of the people have been found lacking on basic retail understanding. It looks like we are creating a set of machines who know just two numbers - targets and achievements.... and nothing beyond that.
Simple questions like - "if you have been given a task to increase sales for your store by 20% over last year, what will you look at" - meet with the standars answers like "i will ask company to spend more on marketing" or "i will ask buyers to buy correctly for my store" .
For benefit of all others, who will go through interviewers like me, here is the equation

Net Sales = (Walk-ins) * (conversion)* (Average Unit Value) * (Units per transaction) * (1-Discount %)

hence to increase net sales :
1. Work on walk-ins - and DO NOT depend on marketing to drive walk-ins. Calls from customer database, acquiring new databases, better service resulting in increased frequency of customer visit - is what a store manger is supposed to drive.
2. Conversions - Most neglected aspect and a non measurable one too in Indian scenario. have never trusted these figures till date (be it guard with click timer or automatic walk in counter). Every single customer walking out, is a loss of sale - present or future.
3. Average unit value - if i have a store in the most premium mall of India - why will i want to drive sales through my entry  price points? One should understand how better understanding of consumers can help suggesting and selling higher price point items - which will result in increased AUV
4. Units per transaction - basket size as it is sometimes called. a dogged determination to increase this beyond two is required in every store. Whenever we have announced incentives, we have seen increase in AUV by 20-30% which clearly shows how much sales one looses in every transaction if employees are not completely motivated.
5. Discount - i have seen trigger happy brand heads who have "promo" as the solution for all increase in sales. It does not work that way. Control on discounts during peak season as well as judicious discount during EOSS is critical to optimal sales and profits.
And see how all of these can be done by people in the stores and not a marketing manager or buyer sitting in some office.