Something unique we need to learn about Indian Grocery Retails but before that we should adopt a few

things which will help us to understand it from deep. How it will happen? for this what kind of information
is needed? And how we will grasp it in the context of the Indian retail sector? All such questions shall be
part of this theory. Let’s start this from three steps:

1. Learn
2. Unlearn
3. Relearn

Alvin Toffler is credited with saying: “The illiterate of the 21 st century will not be those who cannot 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 theory narrated by Alvin Toffler? As a human, we are
living in a cage where everything we assume that things are created by “I”, controlled by “I” and my mind
is the powerhouse of all thoughts that I am creating, narrating and finally executing. But, why there is
fighting between thoughts, is because we get those thoughts from our conscious mind which always pulls
us to things that are around us, incidents happening around us, and our bodily relationship with people in
terms of some great intimacy.

The cage around us is so powerful that does not allow us to even move towards the most reachable
things i.e. our knowledge which blocks our subconscious mind and vibes flowing from it, and this has
happened because we are the most learned, we are the most experienced and we will never allow others
to mend our thoughts or we need to adopt such thoughts. This situation makes us something like a Frog
(I) who almost lived his life in a bore well. The entire universe for that poor Frog is the Well, its sleeper
walls, few small creatures around him, water, and some disturbance from the human who used to suck
the water for drinking or irrigation in their farm fields.

One day a crow saw this Frog taking a sunbath on a big size dry leaf floating on the water. He said to the
Frog, why he doesn’t want to come out from this Well and see the beautiful world outside this. But, the
Frog starts giving a different level of wisdom that he is living in a big universe, where he has plenty of
resources and has things to make his life better, so what will be there outside your world. The crow
promises him to once see the outer world and if he does not like it, he can again come to his place.
Finally, he gave his agreement and came out of the Well. It was a different experience for him when he
came out from the Well.

He was almost mesmerized to see the beauty of fields, bright sunlight, flowers, trees, birds, and the
greenery across the place. He thought what was his world, a Well having 6 feet width and 20 feet height,
for which he always thinks that he is living in heaven but he was wrong that another world is different, big
and beautiful. It was because he was learned a lot from his existing circumstances and some born
instincts. This is our Learned stage. Limitation of knowledge gives it a mental block. We live with it and
we think we are the right, we are doing the right thing, and our creation is the world’s biggest thought. But,
outside the world, there is a lot to re-learn.

A stage of Unlearn:

Now, you are in a different world which is bigger than the bore well, so now what is the relevance of
thinking about that poor place. There are lots of things that we need to unlearn for betterment.
Sometimes it happened with our bad dreams, bad experiences, some mishappening in past but it does
not mean that it will be dealt with only when you encountered some bad situations. It may have related to
the line of business, its way of working, your habits all attitude. Start unlearning those things which may
become obstacles for your growth. Start meeting this from your thoughts because the journey always
starts from a thought. Sometimes we need to forget what we saw in a different world. Keeping an idea for
betterment is good but a sequence needs to be set for its execution. India is almost 50 years backward
than the US in terms of developments and Technology and 30 years same with Dubai, Singapore. Even
China is ahead of us on various platforms.

If you are thinking of bringing some new ideas which you saw well working in US, Dubai, Singapore,
Shangai it does not mean that these ideas will give the same results in India. Before adopting those ideas
and starting working on first evaluate that, If the idea is well within “Time” or it is the need of hours,
otherwise you will be out of the market like many first movers are experiencing now in different fields.

Unlearn is a state of a personal trait that makes you adaptable to the present level of circumstances, it
helps you to see the new world from new specs.

Unlearning does not mean deleting old memories, experience, expertise but it is mostly a kind of
behavioral act that needs to change first. Our active/conscious mind always makes ourselves a hero,
where one needs to see the impact. Is this affecting his personal life or professional? Both are important
if we are talking about working in an organization. These represent our traits, behavior, body language,
and way of responding to others.

Unlearn your bad habits first, and if you are a retail professional you need to unlearn a few things after
you read this blog. Lots of things are changing in Indian retail where old market knowledge will not work
and with this dynamic movement, you need to create a dynamic moment with some different styles of
learning.

A stage of Re-learning

Now, we will talk about “Re-learn”. Question will arise? This is a wise question; why should we waste
our time learning new things. Why should we re-learn? We are so knowledgeable, experienced, powerful,
and impressive that is why we go for wiping out our years of hardship? We already know more than
others.

This is our mind block, like Frog, till he was in the bore-well, he was the king and the emperor of his
kingdom but what happened when he came out the Well. Why he had hidden behind a bush and started
thinking about this new world. Here we need to put off those old garments which are forming tailored
bound around us. Relearning is not entirely with experience and knowledge, it can be your habits,
behaviors, adaptability, line of business, and different method of dealings. So, how you will learn
those things? So, here starts relearning about it and grow slowly and reach your goal. This is why I am
sure Frog will never return to his 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:

1. Market
2. Products
3. Distribution Channel
4. Marketing & Awareness
5. Customer Preference

So far we have learned how to spread the market in retail and how it will have that kind of depth that is
required. In our early days till 2005, we were in a state of the mindset that the consumer is the secondary
creature that is taken care of by the retailers. So, the prime focus was on the middle channel or a
connector between brands and consumers i.e. Retailers. Everything was planned to keep in mind his
presence in the ecosystem so widely it was known general trade (GT) market stream. There, we learned
how a primary sale and secondary sale works.

Go to market approach was an expert job and was a little bit longer and had to plan from scratch to sky in
a way that it gives a wide array in a longer period. Focus remains to appoint distributors across the focus
market followed by Area Sales Manager, Sales Officer, and Sales representative as a direct working force
or coordinators. A big investment of money and time for giving a shape to the distribution network was
there. Years of hardship make a product brand through a struggled way.

A chain of C&F, Super stockiest, Distributors & Dealer was the physical channels which go entirely on a
track from brand owner i.e. manufacturer catching the eyes through the channel and a pace to work
harder.

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. Numerous celebrities from Bollywood, Tollywood, and
Hollywood, cricket, etc. created the eco in the ecosystem and television was the main medium for
advertisement.

There was no big range of products across the 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 on
merchandise.

Take away: Physical stores, single format and with less priority of service but the product was
the Priority. Retail 1.0, Retail 2.0 and Retail. 3.0

Most of the retail professionals are carrying this kind of rich experience and based on their confidence
they prefer to go with their experience, but if we do not tune-up with the current developments going on in
the ecosystem and we do not follow the new practices what will be the take away for them. That’s why
sometimes old processionals find themselves with a kind of mental block.

Experience is counted, here I don’t have an issue taking this with new developments but there is various
kind of new glossary which is used by new retail professional so what we need here. If we have to tune
up and work cohesively with new blood, we should start unlearning some behavioral things from past
habits.

Unlearn:

Start unlearning a few things, like changing your attitude. This is one of the most traits that enhance or
hamper 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 a perfect way. Adaptability is the key to
being cohesive with your team members.

Your experience is there to give you the right tool, teach you to be on the right path, turn you to be
perfect, and help you to speed up your execution but that needs a new kind of knowledge that the
ecosystem will provide you.

A very important phase is to unlearn various mind blocks and let your brain adopt new things.

Example: Startup ecosystem was not a new business phenomenon, also not a new kind of
entrepreneurship, so why it is so different from the old kind of business setups. Why investments are
infused by foreign investors, angel, seed, VC & PE are there to support. Where were they earlier?

They were there in the old-time but they have a different form, different kind of style but here startups
bring new ideas, investors are investing in these ideas but different kinds of execution planning,
system, and processes made it fast-paced. Which we need to learn but for that we have to unlearn old
fashioned way of doing business. Time is going fast, so here with this kind of business, everyone wants a
fast exit. They talk about taking 10x return from burning millions of money, maybe a wised way but it is
there in the ecosystem.

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

1. Retailers are brand conscious?

2. The mindset of the retailer is typical and does not accept change
3. Retails have limitations for IT tools and they will not use them for business growth.
4. Distribution depends on entire distributors.
5. Online in rural and semi-urban will be a challenge.
6. Consumer Packs in foods will not be sold in the rural area.
7. IT will not do anything that will drive distribution.
8. Consumers need brands and they are not adaptable.

Unlearn Retail 1.0 to Retail 3.0

The above mindsets are related to the market, whereas as a professional we need to change ourselves
and should adopt changes for pacing with the developments. This process is called unlearning a few
obsolete things which were living with us like deadwood and causing a complete mental block to us.

Re-Learn

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

Apart from behavioral traits here we need to learn lots of management tactics, we know the market,
where speed is the key to success. So what is making us slow? Is it our knowledge? Our behavior? Our
experience? Or we are not getting selected for the right work to do. What is the most important thing that
we need to learn or re-learn?

Is the startup ecosystem in retail going to change everything? From idea to execution, there are lots of
things that took a new shape. We need to learn about the root cause, so far we learn about symptoms but
our old practices were enough to drive us through a kind of set remedy. It was workable earlier, but in the
current system, everything is going fast-paced where new learning needs to be done by the professionals.
Let us talk about a few developments which are 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 the developments worldwide and that experience is with us to
give us new learning, but before we think and compare those learnings here in India, we must think twice
or thrice that India is a different market.

Here if you compare with US and UAE markets then you will be doing a kind of injustice to your money,
time, and efforts. Align your sequence and ensure things are happening in the write time and within
time.

eB2B: The new way of doing i.e. disruption starts happening in various sectors. Like B2B supply chain is
going to aggregate by e-B2B players. Udaan, shopkirana, Jumbotail & Kirana King are there to
disrupt the old distribution system by the aggregate supply chain. These are positive distribution which is
leading technology and empowering retailers in their buying decision. On the other side few startups like
Bijak, Way cool, Dehaat are providing E-Mandi services to brokers and dealers.
eB2C: On the other side Jiomart, Grofers, Amazon, Flipkart, Bigbasket are there to provide a one-stop
solution to consumers through eB2C. we are now talking about Omnichannel, hyperlocal, and last-mile
connectivity. This is the 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

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