This is the Second Part of the 3 Part Interview with Kishore Biyani. Read the First Part here.
Part – II – Excerpts from Enterprising India.
Kishore Biyani’s Views on connecting with Consumers and creating a conducive environment
Creating the right environment is very critical. There are a few emotions that determine shopping behaviour. The most fundamental of them are greed, altruism, fear, envy, and vanity. Greed drives a consumer to purchase more than she needs. Higher purchase is also driven by the fear that the current price offer may not be available for long and hence the product has to be purchased right away. And envy sets in when one sees others buying and making the best out of a deal.
Sabse Sasta Din (heavy discounting day that Big Bazaar runs every year on 26 January, which being the Republic Day, is a holiday) is successful because we are able to effectively capitalise on these emotions.
Future Group and Luxury Retail:
We don’t understand the luxury market at all. We believe in ‘masstige‘ (prestige for the masses). Millions of people should be able to enjoy our products and those are the categories that we want to get into.
The Untapped Pockets in Indian Retail
We believe that food, fashion, and home are categories that have the highest potential. Home and fashion meet the aspiration of new India while food as a category will always have consumption. Increasingly, we are moving towards value-added products and consumption.
Comments on Wafer thin Margins in Electronics Business:
Electronics is the fastest growing consumption category, and quite a large one that can’t be ignored by any retailer. Margin profile of this business improves with scale. We suffered for two to three years due to low margins, but now things are improving. We broke even in the electronics business in October last year. There are no reasons why we can’t continue to build good traction in electronics and generate good cash flows.
Limitations for entrepreneurs to flourish in India
There is a lot of regional and community play. Our political system is more of an ‘electrocracy’—lots of decisions are taken to win votes. We don’t have a coherent long-term vision for the country. So, an entrepreneur too can’t think very long term, because everything is very short term in this country. We need a long-term holistic policy about India.
Stay Tuned to learn more about Kishore Biyani’s Personal Life and Succession Plans for the Future Group.