A Damp Squib At Debunking An Online Super Market

“Hey man, I am busy counting my grocery items which I bought from an online super market”. My friend Neveen said with a chuckle. I jumped from my seat and shouted on my cell phone “Whaaaaaaaat?...an online Super market? Have you gone crazy?” Naveen was laughing loudly on the other side and singing  Def Leppard song from the album Hysteria “Pour some sugar on me………... Oh man!!! For a moment I was blank and thinking what the hell’s going on here? Having my third cup of coffee I came to my senses and later had a discussion with Naveen bout his great shopping.

Well this happened a few months back when my friend told me that he was buying his grocery items from Rice and Sugar(R&S) an online Super Market in the Hubli-Dharwad, a two tier city. He is getting the quality items with cheaper price at right time. The e-commerce has come a long way and penetrated into everything you can think of. Be it electronic gizmos, computers, clothes, toys you name it. Swiping a few screens, clicking a few buttons one can order anything and get it at his choice of place and time. Isn’t it cool? But an online super market is something I couldn’t have thought of. Well I was just thinking how these guys sell the quality items at cheaper prices? I wanted to give a try and dive deep into this mysterious business; of course it’s no more a mysterious one.

So…I downloaded the app from the Play store and it was cool, within no time, I was able to surf through the app and see what’s cooking there? Ordering was quite easy. I just wrote it down on a piece of paper the items that I wanted and uploaded as per the instructions.  “Tring..tring…tring…”..hummm within 10 minutes my cell phone was ringing and the call was from Rice and Sugar asking a few clarifications from  my order. Ooohhhh!!! What on earth…..so fast…so quick response. The guy from the other side asked a few questions like the brand, quantity etc…that he had doubts and informed me that you will get these items the next day at @ 10 AM. I ordered at around 9.30 PM…well that’s terrific buddy I said. The next day, @ 10.15 AM the truck came to my home with two guys. They smiled and placed all the items on the floor. Once done, one of the guys took out the bill and verified everything with me including the free items. I paid the money and the transaction is done….cool isn’t it?. Well I thought maybe it’s first time and they are extra careful for a new customer but the kind gesture repeated every time I purchased. Wow!!!! Simply great. I verified the prices with our regular grocery store and it was a cool savings of Rs.350 for a purchase of grocery Rs. 3500. Great!!!.

Well at this point of time all the fundamental principles of Online Super Market, like area of operation, delivery module, strong supplier network, a unique USP, marketing and advertising, payment systems etc surfed before my vision …I was just wondering  how these guys take care of these stuff that every online super market should  consider. I was squeamish thinking deeply about the various points related to this business.  My doubt was, even if they follow these things religiously, do they get the profit that they expect? Are they insane of selling the stuff at cheaper rates? How these folks are managing? Definitely it’s not that somebody is supplying these materials free of cost and saying “Hey buddy, I have lot of free stuff, just sell it whatever price you want”. This is going to be crazy. Take for example of Planning the delivery module. A strong delivery module is necessary to keep delivery expenses in check. Optimize the number of people you employ, their travel reimbursements, and the delivery routes and timings, so as to avoid repeated excursions to the same locations. Take another example, creating a Supplier network. Prior to advertising and selling products on your website, it is necessary to get in touch with the local vendors and create an affiliate grocer network. Together, these wholesale shops will constitute of your supply channel, providing groceries as necessary. Take one more. Marketing and advertisement is the backbone of any online store and plenty of money has to be put in this area. Are they justifying the kind of prices they are offering considering the huge cost involved in this area? Another area is the mobile optimization. A huge chunk of 57% of the millennial population opts for the orders on the go through the smartphone. Many features have to be included in the app like rearranging the sidebars, display of the products, cart sharing, multiple payment options, reviews and ratings, quick reorder and repeat order, monthly shopping reminders etc. The point is, the application should be user friendly with all the facilities that a customer expects. Now imagine the kind of IT expenditure involved in this. Just these examples are enough to understand the gigantic work and investment involved in this business. So how come the company Rice and Sugar managing its business is of great challenge for me to understand. 

The next thing I did was to compare the prices with the super market. I bought a few thousand rupees of grocery in a nearby super market and compared the prices to the prices of Rice and Sugar and wow!, I was going bonkers man…they are still cheaper. The goods were not adulterated and the quality too was good. Hummm!!! well, I was pondering deeply over this and trying to figure it out, how come this is happening? Tired of deep thinking, I was sitting in my veranda sipping lemon tea; I heard my daughter’s voice, saying her friend’s moms were able to download the R&S app on their mobile, which they were trying since morning and are ready to order the stuff. One more nail on the coffin..phew..Just then, I heard my wife shouting at me and asking me to put an order to purchase a few items through R&S app. I was going berserk and shouted at her” I’ll get these from the local store”. She shouted again at me telling, if I do this through Rice and Sugar we will have an  an extra savings of Rs.80 and our daughter can use it as a pocket money. I frowned without saying any words, lest I would have a final nail to fix the casket in its place. After a while I thought ….well it makes sense. I put my tea cup (third one) and thought as long as I am getting cheaper quality grocery items at the right time, why should I worry about what the heck Rice and Sugar does?..

- Prakash Dhabadi

Fear of change

Are you scared of change? Then you have kainotophobia. Almost everybody in this world have this phobia or fear of change and a slightest suggestion of a change would cause a tremendous panic. This is the phobia that everybody encounters almost on daily basis. What I am focusing in this discussion is the phobia connected to the disruptive changes in the technology companies and how it can be controlled effectively. 

Change is necessary for an organization to work effectively and efficiently. Many times change may be required in order to improve the processes and the use of better technology. Every day we see changes in the policies, technology, processes etc… rushing with the lightning speed causing a tremendous upheaval in the day today activities. Nevertheless a true leader can easily control the effect of these and can lead the people effectively, provided the leader follows a set of principles and actions. Let me share you an interesting story which I read sometime back.

A long time ago, during a war in the europe region, a spy was captured and the general announced a death sentence to him. But the general has a strange custom and offered spy to make a choice: Face a stream of bullets or pass through the Black door.

The spy was sweating profusely with fear and unable to decide the course of action.

It was not an easy decision for the spy agent and finally he preferred to face the firing squad to the unknown horrors behind The Black Door.

“Well it’s up to you” the general said. The spy has been granted his wish with a stream of bullets from the firing squad.

Finally the general said to lieutenant “You see how it is. People prefer to the known rather than the unknown. Getting fear of the unknown and undefined is the characteristic of the people. I gave him a choice but he didn’t make a wise decision”

Lieutenant asked the general “what’s behind The Black Door”?

“Freedom” with a long sigh the general replied. “Very few people I know have taken a brave decision to pass through The Black Door”

True isn’t it? People have an inherent fear of the uncertainties of the change. A slight suggestion of a change would cause a great panic which might lead to a catastrophe. However a true leader can lead the people through the Black Door of change.

So what are principles and actions true leader should follow to nullify the ill effects of the changes? Though there are many books, articles, white papers written on this subject, I think the following are the principles and actions that a leader should have to drive the change effectively.

1.    A real leader always listens to the people – Change always brings lot of strong emotional reactions. Some employees  will be excited but majority will be full of fear, angry, confusion, anxiety. The key thing to remember here is that these are normal. Listen to then, allow them to vent their reactions. Do not force the employees to suppress their feelings.

2.    A real leader knows the ill effects of non-reactions from the employee – If employees are not venting their reactions about the change then sure there will be trouble ahead. If the employees suppress their reactions or feelings it will explode sooner or later eventually threatening the whole organization. Non communication/reactions from the employees will have a serious counter-productive physiological, psychological, interpersonal and organizational reactions. So the leader and the employees must start talking about the changes.

3.    A real leader knows change must be processed irrespective of the time it takes – A true leader will always encourage the employees to talk about their reactions about the change.  The challenge here is it takes time for the employees to process these reactions and accept the change. It’s very common that the organizations mostly technology companies which are in the throes of change have no time to engage it’s employees to express their reactions or discussing the change. The common complaint is they don’t have the time or can’t afford for this activity. Well if they don’t invest time or can’t afford now, they will have to in the due course when the things go awry creating problems throughout the organization. A true leader would create the forums to talk, discuss about the change with his/her employees.

In addition here are the actions that a leader should execute to drive the change efficiently.

1.    Take the initiative and start with the self – The change just doesn’t create panic among the employees but a leader equally have the fear, anxiety. So first start with yourself pouring your reactions about the change. Whether you have the fear, excitement, confusion bring them out all. Analyze what a change really mean to you and how it can benefit. The best way to do is to peer networking. Ask a few colleagues working in different organizations who have encountered similar situations. Find out the changes in their business processes, how they felt, how they are coping. So with this you will find that you are not the only one on this planet having this trouble. So working with peer would help immensely to gather the valuable inputs and addressing the change in an effective manner.

2.    Appreciate the past with the employees – Very too often employees think that a change means the old way of doing was wrong. So engage in an honest discussion with the employees, appreciate and celebrate the past way of doing. Tell them that there is nothing wrong in doing the old way and probably it was the best way to do. But emphasize that the times are changing, things are changing dramatically and organization must change to remain competitively in the market.

3.    Lead with the influential people – Identify the key influential people in the organization, talk to them as a friend or a family member. Listen to them, communicate the benefits of change, eradicate all the fears, anxiety, confusion etc.. and finally win over them. Continue leading the people by creating small group of forums where people feel safe to say what they think about the change. Then gently move the discussion from “why we have to go through the change” to  “How we can grow with this change”.

The above principles and actions can be applied to any situation be it changing an entire process, bringing a new policy or procedure, implementing a new organizational structure or even a task level activity such as implementing a new project report… you name it.

I strongly believe that a leader following the above principles and executing the actions would definitely bring the change in the organization effectively and efficiently.