Here are two new world orders to chew upon.
1. The power is shifting from the hand of the manufacturer to the hand of the retailer
2. Organized retail is the next big marketing frontier
WIth great power comes great responsibility and even greater influence. Just ask the customers of Walmart and Blockbuster entertainment.
Wal-mart and Blockbuster entertainment are two of the biggest retailers in their category. In recent times they have forced manufacturers to change their products by simply refusing to carry them. Wal-mart will not carry any magazine that does not contain family friendly content. Thats why magazines like Cosmopolitan and Vibe send their magazine prints before hitting the stand just to ensure that Wal-mart wouldnt refuse to carry them. And with 25% share of US home rental video / CD / DVD, Blockbuster ensures that movie studios make two versions of the same movie. One that is released in the theater and one family friendly version that is distributed in DVD.
With that in mind, i propose that organized retail in Bangladesh can take a more proactive role in dealing with customers. By not simply carrying the merchandise, they can recommend the customers based on their wants and needs, which brands to choose. Their role will be more like the doctors, not like the shopkeeper carrying the medicine.
This way super shops like Agora, PQS can add more value, put pressure on manufacturers to increase their brand strength, ensure better customer experience and most importantly differentiate themselves from other super shops.
One comment
parvez
July 26, 2008 at 11:29 am
There are 2 type of doctors in our society “bad doctors” prescribes for commission and “good doctors” prescribes for healing.I want to add some “different story” here. Walmart made the above decision in positive way but here in Dhaka some supermarkets are acting like a “bad doctor”. For example one super market situated in Gulshan (I am not telling the name for valid reason) forced a biscuit manufacturer not to supply them “small pack” biscuit and any biscuit cost below 10 Tk/pack. I feel like consumer’s are deprived from their right. Another super market 2 years back reluctant to take any local Beverage product (Bangladeshi soft drinks like Mojo, Euro etc.) and on the other hand I saw many expensive Australian brand Juices are on the display (expiry was mentioned in white paper by them) of low quality (unwanted smell and formation for white ring).No one can disagree that power is shifting day by day to the organized retailers but in west this change is happening for consumers. Here we should take care not to make syndicate in the name of brand and spoil the whole brand game.When our Brand is at top we will enjoy power & freedom to make difference in the market but we should take care not to exploit it. Hope Retail Brand manager will not forget the other side of the story too.