Leading From The Front..With The Team

Things are changing fast in cricket. And it's not about the usual talk of T20 and the effect it has cast on Tests and ODIs. The point is well and truly settled that 300 is a below par score in ODIs and a run rate of 3 doesn't make you an aggressive, result-oriented test side. The change which is becoming more apparent is the aggression with which the game is being played and the captains who are coming out all guns blazing and setting an example for their teammates.

We have always had captains in international cricket who will have a great tactical and strategic head on their shoulders but will rarely be seen shouting or being over-animated in their approach on field. They would go about their tasks in a calm and composed manner and leave the aggression to some of their teammates who are willing to offer a piece or two of advice to their opponents. Remember how Steve Waugh used to go about his tasks in the calm and composed manner, which I believe has been matched by MS Dhoni only till now. Continuing with yesteryears, Ranatunga could be one more example though he used to be a little bit more animated than the above two gentlemen. I think its about 2 things which are changing in the current crop of players. One is the attitude, and the second is the willingness to show it through performance. Also, I am not saying the winner's attitude was not there earlier. It is just that it is much more visible these days than it was earlier. I will take the example of some of the prominent names here for 3 tournaments (ODIs). Let's see if we can pinpoint some other similarity which connects these captains.

1. Brendon McCullum: World Cup 2015 was a fairytale for New Zealand. They lost in the final game at the hands of their arch-rivals but not before they had shown a new brand of New Zealand cricket to the world. As much as the credit goes to the whole team for making it to the final of the World Cup for first time in their history, the same goes for the captain, Baz. You will not find him being very vocal on the field against the opposition, but his attitude and style does the talking. He is explosive at the top of the innings, be it any bowler in the world. Sometimes, it doesn't click for him and he gets dismissed cheaply as well, but when he gets going, the opposition can do nothing else but pray. His innings against the English in the World Cup game can only be described as a gem as he just tore through the English attack and would have finished the game in 10 overs had he continued. And very few words can even begin to describe the live-wire Baz when he comes for fielding. This brand of cricket from a captain is quite a different sort of phenomenon. A captain was supposed to steady and control the innings from one side when the other batsmen might be going great guns. However, New Zealanders have worked out what works for them and they are showing the world the results as well. The trust the team has on Baz and his captaincy is what taking the team forward, even when Baz himself hasn't been very consistent top of the order.

2. Eoin Morgan: The English suffered a humiliating loss against a spirited Bangladeshi side in the World Cup leading to their subsequent elimination from the group stage itself, but boy, haven't they bounced back strong in the just concluded ODI series against New Zealand. England have shown great cricket beating the Baz's side 3-2 in the ODIs and clinching a convincing win in the lone T20 as well. For me, I was mightily impressed by Morgan leadership in the 5 ODI matches than anything else. It was fearless cricket to say the least. Although the score line of 3-2 suggests a closely fought contest, I personally felt England were the stronger of the 2 sides, barring the loss of 5 wickets for 14 runs in the 2nd ODI by the English. Eoin Morgan has an air about him which has brought this team from the edge of disappointment and criticism (KP's incident is only too fresh in all our minds). His aggressiveness is shown by the way he backs his players on the field and off it. And he enjoys his time when he takes the field. Be it batting or fielding. During one of the matches in the series, a misfield by him was being jeered by the fans in the stands. When the ball next came to him, he fielded it properly and then raised his cap towards that stand and the crowd saluted its captain. This shows he is not taking results too seriously but wants to enjoy the game and take his team to new heights together. The best part of all this, the team sticks together and the players back each other on the field and off it. Exactly what McCullum does.

3. Masrafe Mortaza: If the above 2 captains believe in enjoying the game more than worrying for results, Bangladesh skipper is getting the job done in a different fashion. Masrafe's side has seen a lot of good victories starting before the World Cup 2015. Right from series win over Zimbabwe, Bangladesh evolved as a side and beat New Zealand in a home series before going to World Cup. There too they reached the Quarter Finals for the first time in their history. More than this, their biggest moments of joy would have been, undoubtedly, a Banglawash of the Pakistani side and a series win against the  neughbours, India, and hence, guaranteeing themselves a place in the upcoming Champions Trophy. Masrafe on the field is a captain, the likes of whom is difficult to find that often. He literally screams at mis-fields and keeps shouting at players if they drop a catch or don't seem giving their 100% on the field. His aggression is literally visible on the field. He is not one who will sledge the opposition, but he expects his players to keep trying even if they are in a losing position. And when he bowls himself on for a spell, there is more than 100% behind every delivery. And that too, when he has spent a lot of time undergoing surgeries. He is a man who has the confidence of his teammates and the result is there to be seen.

So what connects these fine captains and what can others learn from them? To me, the answer is two-pronged. A captain needs his aggression to begin with. And it doesn't need to be verbal banters and the like on the field. It can and has to be through performance. A player can run through a rough patch and its no different for a captain. What will make him better is his ability to still give 100% on the field and keep trying. The second most important aspect for a captain is the way he commands respect from his teammates. You cannot be right always and you have to understand it. You can't demand respect, you have to earn it. All the 3 captains listed above have both these things going for themselves. They have different ways of showing aggression and all 3 of them command respect from their teammates.

This brand of leading a side is not very new. MS Dhoni has perfected this concept long back and that's what has earned him the title of Captain Cool. As I mentioned earlier, Steve Waugh used to captain in a similar vein. Take any successful captain, and all of them will have the above 2 points. When Michael Clarke came up as a captain, he was aggressive but lacked the command which Ponting had. He has worked hard at it and now is one of the most successful skippers of the Aussies. Closer home, Sachin Tendulkar commanded (and still does) the most respect for any team he played, but his aggressiveness in the field as a captain was always missing. He had a larger devotion towards his batting and his team doing good, but somehow that didn't transform into the aggression a captain needs. Does Virat Kohli have the two facets needed to get a world class team? Is there anyone else who has this, if not Kohli? As Jeffrey Archer says, 'Only Time Will Tell'.

Please feel free to comment in the section below. Tweet to me at @NishantSinha88.

A Game of Thrones..of a Different Kind!

So Game of Thrones completed the airing of its 5^th season last Sunday, and speculations and spoilers have been on full swing regarding Jon Snow and other characters. By the way, nothing to worry for you folks, there are no spoilers here. Sometimes, I guess even the creator of the series, Mr George R R Martin (affectionately or due to a long name, also referred to as GRRM) would wonder at all the plot twists the TV show has, and the deviations from what is there in the books. Halting this digression of our own about the GoT show, let us turn our thoughts to another little game which has become equally exciting over the last few years, with no clear leader in sight (leave alone thinking about winning). This is the game of e-commerce in India.

The e-commerce space in India has been touted as one of the major frontiers to conquer for many companies. All the major empires are leaving no stone unturned to bleed themselves dry in order to catch hold of a bigger pie of Westeros (the consumers’ wallet). The bloodbath in the name of discounts and offers have been coming from all the players over the last few years, and although the discounts have mellowed down a bit, there doesn’t seem a clear change of strategy in order to capture the throne. Same as in the GoT series, there are 4 major players in the Indian e-commerce domain, viz. Flipkart, Amazon, PayTm and Snapdeal. Although Flipkart leads the market-share currently (Lannisters?), none of the other players are too much behind. We also have niche players, just like the smaller empires in the series, which occasionally get acquired by a bigger player and in turn, add to the arsenal of the larger empire. The 2 biggest of such M&As have been that of Myntra (by Flipkart) and FreeCharge (by Snapdeal). Did anyone mention about Tyrells’ and Boltons’ closeness (or the lack of it) with Baratheons, Starks and Lannisters? And how can we forget the dragons in this game as well. Any guesses?

I was surprised at the parallels we can draw between the two completely different subjects. I am sure a more creative mind can find many more connections between e-commerce and the hugely popular series, but let us also focus on what strategy can the different empires undertake to win this game in India. And we need to look no further than the creator of the series, GRRM. Let’s look at it in some detail, shall we?

• G - Grocery: Ecommerce in groceries is not as easy as it sounds. Period. To state the obvious, this segment has not been really cracked by the 4 biggies. We do have a few successful models in front of us which have started on really well and are gaining some good traction in their home markets. Grofers and PepperTap have been working on 2 completely different models among themselves, the former ties up with local kirana stores and hence does not necessarily own any inventory, whereas the latter has been mostly working on an inventory-led model. There are other niche players as well like LocalBanya, BigBasket and AaramShop, among others. Amazon India recently launched its Kirana Now program in Bangalore and has been piloting different models to see what systems will actually work in India. A year or so earlier, Sachin Bansal had been quoted by some sources that Flipkart will not be entering into groceries and F&B ecommerce, however, it’s a known for a fact that even the market leader won’t be able to hold onto its position for far too long if it does not crack the groceries business. PayTm has been piloting grocery retailing in Bangalore for around a month and a half now, and this business will most likely be as a separate vertical for the Alibaba-backed company. Snapdeal already has a tie-up with Godrej’s Nature Fresh for retailing groceries and it is expected to extend the presence and deliveries to other cities very soon. It is very apparent that everyone wants to crack the code of this segment, which has been touted to grow at 25-30% per annum in the major cities of the country. The biggest challenge in groceries will be the perishability factor, and control over deliveries while keeping the costs down. As we have seen Game of Thrones, help can come from any quarter if you are in trouble. The same may well happen here as well. Did anyone mention Ola and Uber?
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• R - Rural: Tier 2, 3 cities along with other parts of rural India has been witnessing phenomenal growth in smartphone usage, helped in a major part by improvement in internet penetration. Flipkart, Amazon and most of the Indian ecommerce companies have gone on record stating a major chunk of their sales happening in non-metro cities. Nearly all of them have separate teams working dedicatedly to connect India’s deep hinterlands with the commerce happening from the comfort of a shopper’s home. Amazon has warehouses on the outskirts of Bangalore, which cater to demands from towns like Belgaum and Hosur. They have employed local village entrepreneurs and assigned the task of deliveries in these towns, thereby greatly reducing the last-mile logistics costs. Snapdeal too has set up village kiosks where the company keeps its wares and locals are encouraged to order through smartphones or village desktops. The company uses this kiosks as pickup points as well, where villagers can come and receive their ordered goods, thus eliminating the last-mile connectivity in these cases. However, as much as the potential which these smaller cities and towns hold, they are still part of an unconquered frontier owing to lack of quality infrastructure and logistics in India. To succeed in rural India, companies will have to focus on simple, yet innovative, ideas. One such idea has been piloted by Amazon earlier (and now launched at full scale) is that of a tie-up with India Post. Amazon has a similar tie-up with US Post in US and has brought down the same idea to India. Flipkart and Snapdeal also have recently moved together with India Post and have begun to take advantages of nearly 500,000 post offices across the country for deliveries. The biggest beneficiary of this has been India Post itself, as this gives a chance to it to bring back its days of glory. Having strong networks and partnerships always helps, as Lord Baelish will gladly tell us. 
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• R - Returns: Returns and reverse logistics have always been areas of concerns for ecommerce companies and sellers, although they provide immense value to the end-customer, who can literally pick and choose the products s/he wants. Returns add a lot of cost to companies and it affects more severely the sellers, as most of the ecommerce companies are running on the marketplace model. Some companies have tried solving this problem in unique ways and there is a lot to learn from them. Apparel and accessories company YeBhi.com gives a choice of 5 dresses which a customer can order during purchases. The delivery person will bring the 5 dresses, which can be tried out by the customer. In the end, the customer can keep the one which is the best fit and the delivery guy returns with the other 4 dresses. This method reduces one complete trip for the delivery personnel, and at the same time, adds a bit of personalization as well. The same model, with some variations, is being followed by Lenskart.com as well, where in it brings some set of eye-wears to the customer’s doorsteps and the latter can pick and choose the one which gives the desired look. India’s largest mobile commerce company, Snapdeal, too has been working diligently on this front. It has already acquired a stake in the logistics company GoJavas and together they have launched a 90-minute return policy in 15 cities of India. That’s how e-commerce is changing how customers shop now, with same-day deliveries and 90-minute returns. Other players soon will catch-up and we might see reductions in pick-up times from 90 to 30 minutes.
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• M - Mobile: We spend a lot of time on our mobiles. We might actually be looking at photos and people more on our screens, than lifting our heads and seeing actual people. Some of us might be watching the entire GoT series on mobile. E-commerce cannot be behind then, can it? Companies have already started shutting down their websites and going app-only. A lot of companies have been app-only since their inception and have little intention of marking their presence on a desktop as well. Mobile commerce is here to stay and companies like Myntra and PayTm may well be on the path to actually define how the game will be played in the near future. With PayTm applying for a banking license as well, mobile payments and virtual cards might actually make a few ATMs shut their shops. Even Lord Varys would have to agree that technology has been moving at a pace faster than birds’ whispers.

E-commerce has been in India for quite some time now (with sites like IndiaMart etc), however the real seeds were sown when Flipkart started up in 2007 and has been the leader sitting happily in King’s Landing since. The competition has caught up with it now, with 3 other major players vying for the coveted throne of "India’s biggest e-commerce player". From US to China (remember the Alibaba ‘Dragons’ we talked about earlier?), everyone is trying to gain a share of our (mobile) wallets.

A lot of bloodbath has happened through discounts and although things are a bit calm now, I believe the Indian pie is big enough to accommodate these 4 players (and more) along with the smaller niche ones. We certainly don’t want a 'Valar Morghulis' situation here, with each one killing the other off, do we? The key to supremacy may well lie in #GRRM (just like the TV series and the books). #GoT it?

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts. Tweet to me @NishantSinha88.

Delays and Postponements Are Not Necessarily Bad!

Delays and postponements have always been talked about in a negative connotation. A delay in making a final product or a delay in servicing your customer doesn't sound good at all, be it any industry in the world. However, sometimes delay in some aspects of business can be more than just 'good'. This delay is in the field of supply chain, more generally called as Inventory Postponement strategy.

A few of us would have read about this during our UG/PG courses of Operations and related fields. However, most of us would have come across this concept regardless of reading about it in college. I have seen it being deployed in one of my previous companies, however what sparked this current blog post is when I saw this concept being used (unknowingly, perhaps) in areas where I had not given much thought earlier. I will continue with the instances where I observed the above concept in action, but first let us get to know what Inventory Postponement is all about.

Inventory postponement is about delaying the difference in your products. The lesser the differences between products, the fewer is the cost associated with holding the inventory. The differences should appear only when it is absolutely essential, the best situation being that differences are included just before shipping the products to the customer. This way a lot of costs can be saved by companies and their supply chain along with balance sheet will be stronger every quarter. Since, a company doesn't need to store all types of intermediary or final stock keeping units (SKUs) it sells, the amount of space required for the same, the amount of handling charges, the amount of other in-store/in-plant logistics, insurance, depreciation etc, everything comes down. And since all of the above (and some more) are part of inventory carrying cost, the direct impact of this strategy is reduction in capital tied, unprofitably, in stocks. Also, think about the reduction in the stress for the person who has been entrusted with the task of ordering different SKUs, when instead of 1000s of varieties, he has to place orders for 50. These 50 with suitable variations based on actual orders will get transformed to 1 of final 1000 SKUs, whichever a particular customer will order. This particular concept is also called Assembled to Order (ATO) and has been employed most notably by Dell and automobile companies. Giving an example of cars, a company will keep a basic model of its brand ready. Now, when an actual order comes from a customer (most of the times, they work on forecasts as well), the company will fit other different features which the customer desires and finally assemble the car as per the order. Inventory postponement with ATO's best examples are seen in this industry. The other end of the spectrum sees another concept called Make to Stock (MTS). In MTS strategy, a company will keep its final products ready and ship it as soon as the order from a customer comes. Although different industries will employ ATO or MTS for their products, inventory postponement will help any company in any industry.

The above can be made more evident by real life examples which I encountered recently.

1. Recently enough, we were getting our house painted and is normally the case, every person in the family wanted a special and different color for his/her room, with the just the right shade and hue. We had chosen Asian Paints for our coloring needs and (although I had studied about them and their extensive palette) we were surprised to know of about 3000 different colors they had on offer. To be frank, I was of the opinion that all these colors will only be available in bigger, metro cities and a city of Ranchi's size may not have the entire collection which Asian Paints had on offer. When I visited a retailer with our different choices and enquired him if he would be having all the shades I wanted, he calmly said that I can have a shade which is not even listed in the catalog. Pleasantly surprised, I asked him how was that even possible, he invited me to the opposite side of his shop which had an old desktop and red-colored machine with Asian Paints written on the top. He told me that he keeps around 7-10 different 'base colors' in cans and all the remaining pigments (for different shades) are in the red machine. Whatever color a customer might choose from the catalog, he just has to enter the code for that color in the desktop, fit a can containing the base color and within 2 minutes, the shade which the customer wanted is ready. Although I had seen the concept working in a different industry altogether, seeing it in action where I had least expected it was extremely pleasing. Imagine the reduction in the amount of inventory that retailer and people similar to him have to keep because of the concept of inventory postponement. This delay in differentiating the final product till the customer places an order has created immense value, both for retailers and customers. That particular retailer also showed me a similar machine of Berger Paints, installed at his premises, serving the same purpose.

2. Strolling in the evening, my friend wanted to have an Ice Gola, which is quite a rage among some people (although I am not a big fan of it). I had read a post on LinkedIn regarding these Golas and how inventory postponement is employed by the seller, and I was reminded of the same when my friend who had earlier ordered a particular flavor, changed her mind at the last moment and ordered some different flavor altogether. Although the seller had already made the Gola with the crushed ice he had in a bucket, he simply proceeded with the new order without ever complaining. He simply put down the bottle which contained the flavor my friend wanted earlier and took up another bottle which had the new flavor. Just imagine what would have been the size of his stall and the amount of different Golas he would have to keep had he not followed, probably unknowingly, the concept of inventory postponement. That same evening we went to a theater for a movie and came for some popcorns during the interval. Although, 7-8 different varieties of popcorns had been listed on display boards, the counter had just one big machine for making the popcorns. Based on the orders from the customers, he would give them chocolate-flavored ones, or cheese-and-butter ones, or caramel ones, or caramel-chocolate-with-extra-cheese ones. Another perfect example of inventory postponement.

This concept can be seen everywhere in today's world. Whether you are out shopping or getting something to eat, whether you are in your office or on the beach, inventory postponement can be seen in one form or the other.

Please post your thoughts in the comments' section below. You can describe if you also have encountered this concept in action. Reach me on twitter as well at @NishantSinha88.

New Frontiers for Ecommerce

Ecommerce has taken the world by storm. Its not-so-new 'sister concern', m-commerce is turning a new page in online buying, with Myntra, India's largest online fashion and apparel company, going app-only last month. However, we might be on the verge of seeing new platforms, which most of us didn't think of going the ecommerce way, changing the way we shop online. Some prominent among these, in the very near future, will be Google, Twitter and Pinterest.

1. Google: Google recently initiated talks of featuring a 'buy' button in its search results, thus enabling a customer to buy from the search page directly. Google's most important service to the world has been its ability to organize the world's knowledge and the company makes big bucks through advertisements on its search page and AdWords. But, this side of the business could very well be witnessing its biggest competition so far, shopping apps.

Nearly, every company has moved over to promoting its app for buying anything and everything available on its portal. Taking example of India, its ecommerce market is slated to touch US$ 300b by 2030, according to a recent report by a global bank. If consumers go to native apps of ecommerce players for searching and shopping, it could become a huge opportunity lost for Google if consumers bypass its services. All the AdWords and other features won't do much good to Google if people don't really go to its site for their shopping needs. And this is why, Google is planning to incorporate the Buy feature in its search results. They already have put some aspects of this feature while searching for flights in India (on google.co.in). Currently, if you search for a flight on Google India, it will give you details of the prices and timings and button for booking the flight. Clicking on the button takes you to the site of the airline, with another option to look for other prices on Goibibo (only aggregator listed as of now). So, although payments and other options have not been provided currently by Google, but they sure are going to focus on this now. With mobile wallets slowly picking up (courtesy PayTm, MobiKwik, Airtel Money etc), Google Wallets won't have to work too hard for customer acquisition, when you can use the wallet for any purchase across categories. Ecommerce players like Flipkart, Amazon will be wise to see this happening sooner rather than later. They can buy slots on Google search pages for their products, with consumers getting all different options to buy a product of his choice without having to download a lot of apps. Also, the recent Google I/O conference talked about how the company is planning to use its biggest weapon in its arsenal, Android, by allowing the OS to read the user data from all the apps installed on a phone and tailoring the search accordingly. Google is increasing the bar and defending its territory, for sure.

2. Twitter: Any company which is focused on serving its customers has taken the twitter route. This platform has helped them be in touch with their customers to solve their concerns, launch new products, launch new campaigns and do just about anything. How about enabling the companies to sell on Twitter as well? Twitter did come up with a plan to introduce a Buy button in US last year, it hasn't seen much traction there, or any other markets globally. Imagine buying stuffs directly from tweets, with just a few clicks. An artist just launched a new song and the music company has tweeted about it. Along with the RT and Favorite buttons, there is a Buy button as well alongside the tweet, from where you can legally buy the new song without the need of an iTunes or other such service. Or think about buying the newly launched book for your Kindle, without leaving the Twitter interface. Extend the idea to any product you see these days. This service will be a pure-play marketplace as Twitter is not going to hold inventories and sellers can sell any item they wish. Combine this with customized offers through the 'big data' which gets generated on Twitter, brands and companies can target their customers with pinpoint accuracy. Some months back, ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, introduced transfer of funds through the use of tweets and DMs. With Indian ecommerce growing at the pace as it is currently, a lot can be done in products and services through Twitter. As such, the potential of Twitter is immense for a market like India, which has one of the fastest growing user base who tweet day in and day out.

3. Pinterest: User-generated and curated content has been garnering quite a lot of talk lately, with some startups in the 'Silicon Valleys' of US and India already grabbing VCs' attention and (more importantly) money. Although this is still at a nascent stage for India, Pinterest is not for brands. A lot of brands have very active accounts on this website (a prominent example being Myntra). Pinterest, however, is monetizing now. It has begun testing and piloting 'Buyable Pins' in US, where customers can buy an item while just browsing pics. The logistics is handled by the sellers themselves and (currently) payments are handled through PayPal and other leading services in the US. Pinterest is still to gain a lot of traction in India, but going by the trend of other platforms, a focused approach towards India can make it one of the fastest growing and leading markets for any platform (prominent examples being LinkedIn, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and more recently, Amazon). Pinterest through its Buy buttons (or pins) in the Indian market can aim for the disruption that it might be seeking. Indians, most often, don't really shop when they have to. For apparels, people keep browsing (window-shopping, a few years back) and buy a dress when something suits the eye. This nicely mimics how people interact on Pinterest as well (apart from the buying part). They browse through images and post or pin the ones they like. Pinterest can ideally up the game a little bit by adding that 'buy' button next to the 'pin' button.

In one of my earlier posts (read here), I had talked about how the app-only strategy is here to stay and why Myntra's latest move deserves appreciation. I still believe most of the other players will try going this route sooner rather than later, as it can result in customer stickiness. However, the 3 platforms explained above, can be the shot in the arm that the (current) offline players need. A Bharti Retail or a Future Group might get more interested in selling through Google or Twitter than an Amazon or a Myntra. This will give them a lot of traction right at the beginning of their game, and not worry a lot about customer acquisition and discounts.

The ecommerce game has only begun for India and other countries, and a lot of new chapters are yet to conceptualized and written. Sit back and witness the changes and uncertainties. One thing which is certain, however, is that the end-customer will be the final winner.

Comment your thoughts below or on twitter @NishantSinha88.