Pop-up Stores in Malls: How To Get In The Game

Malls have a long track record of offering a place for shopping and socialising. Containing luxury brands, restaurants , cafes, playgrounds, education centres and movie theatres, malls have become neighbourhoods of their own.

They draw on the power to have a diversified environment to appeal to a variety of different audiences, and more and more retail and pop-up experiences are being provided, as well as capturing the rise of e-commerce companies turning to physical locations to provide IRL for their customers.

Issue or a chance?
In relation to the Mark Cohen, director of retail studies says, “The Internet is now hollowing out the great mall.” Mall operators need to innovate as they compete with growing numbers of online shopping customers. Credit Suisse, the multinational financial services company, has also projected that online fashion revenues would double to 35.7% in 15 years and that by 2022, up to a fifth of the 1,211 malls will close their doors.

However, what we are currently witnessing is an exciting transformation in the industry and a revival in physical stores instead of hearing developments such as the demise of brick-and – mortar. The rise of e-commerce, in reality, is not a challenge to malls, it is a call for creativity and a chance for cooperation.

Pop-up shops to get in the game
In-store shopping appears to have value. They provide an irreplaceable shopping experience, encourage customers to try out and evaluate the quality of goods, and provide a space for face-to – face contact between salespeople and customers.

In reality, giant e-commerce companies such as China’s Alibaba have recognised this and they are increasingly looking for ways to open physical stores.

Just as e-commerce firms were looking to pop up, more and more malls were looking for pop-up store options to tackle the closing of department stores, fill empty spaces and enliven the shopping experience. Short-term pop-up shops have shown that they increase foot traffic, target millennial demographics, and raise overall revenue from property.

Malls are not static centres for impersonal purchases, but living hubs of consumption and enjoyment that change with the seasons, inspiring and vibrant.

For mall owners looking to liven up the dynamic in their malls, pop-up shops create excitement and are a great solution. Malls provide a forum for major brands that increasingly use pop-ups to create buzz and attract attention to new products through partnering with pop-up shops. Furthermore, pop-ups are a way for mall owners to open their doors to start-up brands and e-commerce firms that are keen to enter and meet customers in the physical market.

In the form of pop-ups, partnering with existing businesses, start-ups and e-commerce businesses will reinvigorate malls with exciting and rotating deals. Pop-ups will add another degree of liveliness to mall owners and give clients an additional incentive to visit.

Also, another thing with malls booths is, it isn’t mandatory for you to have it in one location all year long. You can have them at different malls at different times of the year. So you can find new businesses in new locations each day. If you think that buying a booth is expensive. Believe me, you can have your own booth designed at the desired amount.

We at Myrsa make this idea of renting out your booth very easy and convenient. You just need to list your mall booth on our website and start earning.

Just a few steps and you are ready to get started. Isn’t it one of the easiest ways to earn. Sit at home and control whats been done in your booth with Myrsa. Stay tuned for more unique ideas to earn. Subscribe to our blog at www.myrsa.in.

October 29, 2020 0

What’s The New Normal For Retail Stores?

Although the world is attempting to return to a sort of normality, it is obvious that certain aspects might have irrevocably changed. The business world is no exception, so what’s the new standard for business?

The Covid pandemic is one of only a few times in history, before and after. When all can be set as ‘before Covid’ or ‘after Covid’ in context.

Physical retail around the world was forcefully modified during the lockout and customer behaviour adapted accordingly. Retailers that start up again work in a different environment.

We recently wrote a piece about how to safely run a store in a post-covid world (check it out here), so we’re going to talk about some of the longer-term impacts in this article and what distributors need to be mindful of in order to thrive.

Physical vs digital a thing of the past

A number of brick-and – mortar stores were suffering long before the pandemic. There are various and nuanced explanations for this, but it is fair to assume that much of it is responsible for the rise and growth of e-commerce.

Consumer behaviour was forcefully adjusted during the lockout. All had to turn to the digital world for their retail needs with physical stores closed, including sectors and consumer groups that previously opposed doing so. Now that these barriers have been demolished, things are unlikely to return to the way they were before. Out of the bottle is the genie.

What this means is that the relationship between offline and online is more critical than ever. Brands that are unable to combine the two will fight. Physical retail remains a very strong customer engagement tool, and the digital world can never compete with the value and experience that can be offered by a physical store.

This ‘phygital’ so-called solution is far from a modern notion. This process, however, will be an ongoing evolution, not a single transition. Are we going to see the virtual wardrobe that Cher Horowitz uses in Clueless to pick what to wear? What about runway shows with holographics? No idea, but those that succeed will be the brands who make the largest leaps and seamlessly merge both the physical and the digital to optimise the effect of each one.

Coping with a recession

It is no secret that the world is facing a possible recession of great severity. However, unlike previous recessions (2008, 1990s etc.), a sudden shutdown of consumer spending caused the Covid recession. Clear, obvious and instantaneous. Previous recessions have left durable imbalances that have taken years to sort out. Although many economists believe we can rebound rapidly, the fact that we’re in for a tough time is not secret.

How will shopping affect this? Well, to begin with , people are going to have less money and be less likely to invest what they have. This decreased spending on consumers would hit retail hard. Retailers will have to fight to build confidence and loyalty by providing outstanding experiences and being trustworthy, much as in previous lean times.

History tells us that recessions reveal internal vulnerabilities, speed up new patterns, and push companies to make quicker than initially expected systemic changes. Brands who adapt, alter their activities and focus on providing value to their customers will emerge at the top, and those that are earliest to do so will have a great chance to develop themselves.

Contactless shopping the new norm?

Contactless shopping refers to the idea of not actually selling something in your stores, another trend that will definitely become popular in the future. A shopping experience without touching items, no show replenishment, and no need for enormous customer numbers. In exhibits, goods are displayed and sales are either made there and there and generated from the back or delivered the next day directly to your home.

Although this is a style that has evolved due to the short-term limitations of working in a Covid environment, consumers are highly likely to tolerate it at first and then actually prefer it.

Appointment-only shopping?

With a range of design labels and fashion companies, we are already seeing this and it’s a trend that might hang around until Covid becomes a bad memory. In short,’ appointment only’ is when you book an appointment on your own or with a small number of other clients and get a time slot in the shop.

While this is very much about preserving social distancing protocols in the short term and making the consumer feel comfortable, it can persist in the long term as it offers a range of significant advantages. From the point of view of the retailer, consumers are more likely to make transactions on an appointment and thus encourage brands to concentrate more of their time and resources on their most important customers who have already made a commitment. An appointment is a far more customised experience from the customer’s point of view; everybody gets a personal shopper!

Experiential retail the differentiator

So far, if there is a common theme, the customer experience is and will continue to be relevant. Physical retail offers brands with opportunities to connect with consumers in ways that the internet does not. With consumers buying all sorts of products online becoming more and more relaxed, physical retail needs to wow and delight. People are looking to be amused, and to establish new connexions with consumers and build loyalty, brands must step up to the challenge.

As physical retail changes from transactional to dramatic, experiential retail would be the norm.

Flexible retail – fewer flagships, more theatre?

The Covid crisis served as a trigger, as we have seen, triggering many of the developments we have already seen. Phygital, contactless, experiential … these are all words that we have spoken of for years. There is nothing that is radically different and nothing that can surprise anyone excessively. But it is possible to get a glimpse of what the overall retail picture would look like when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. This is a new standard.

Will the make-up of the high street and shopping centres look the same if a physical place is all about collecting marketing insight, evaluating new goods and interacting with new and existing customers?

When contemplating their physical retail plan, brands need versatility. We have called this ‘short-term retail’ in the past, everything from six-month pop-ups to one-day activities, but now this tactic is going to be even more common. We’re talking about ‘flexible shopping’ now, the blurring between long-term and short-term tracks.

Expect brands to scale back their flagship stores and create versatile, engaging short-term retail ventures that travel around and grow instead. Positioning their physical retail plans, both completely aligned with and powering ecommerce products, alongside their marketing programmes.

A thing of the past is long-term rentals. Pre-Covid, as brands sought to reduce their risk, we were already seeing a major shift from 5-10 year leases to shorter-term more flexible agreements, but now with an even greater need for flexibility, we expect the pendulum to swing further because more and more brands are seeking flexible terms.

With major retailers struggling and in the middle of a recession, if they want to continue filling their properties with products that attract customers and prove lucrative, landlords will need to reassess their choices and approaches.

Myrsa is a platform where you can find acces to the societies that are close to you and are looking for bulk deliveries.

You can book a different types space through them on a hourly or a daily basis. As this is going to stay for a while you must register on Myrsa now and connect with housing societies even after lockdown. This has now become a lifestyle change and you as a brand must keep up to it!

October 1, 2020 0

Eleven things to consider when planning to open a store in a post-COVID world

With lockdown restrictions slowly lifting throughout the world , people are starting to emerge from their homes and life is taking its first tentative steps towards normalising. In this article we will be speaking through some of the steps that retailers should consider when planning to open a store in a post-Covid world.

While there’s a lot of debate about what the ‘new normal’ will look like for retail post-covid, what’s clear is that retailers looking to open their doors in the short term will have to take steps to ensure their staff and customers are safe.

Government legislation varies from state to state but no matter what the law requires a store to do, there’s a more important barometer you need to consider. Yes , of course you need to make sure that what you are doing is within the legal guidelines, but what your customers expect is the higher benchmark to consider.

When you consider that this way, it’s not a necessity to wait for governments to tell us what to do. We can anticipate what customers are going to expect and this is the benchmark that matters, not what we need to be doing as a legal minimum. Physical stores that plan to reopen must persuade their customers to be safe while shopping in their stores.

What your clients need to feel comfortable and relaxed is inevitably going to be a higher standard than any government policy. It’s not about what we need to do in order to operate as retailers but rather ‘what can we do to make people feel comfortable? ’.

In this article we highlight 11 areas that should be considered when reopening an existing store, opening a new one or embarking on a short-term retail project. There is no one-size-fits-all reopening approach, as this is far from being an exhaustive list. Consider your business goals and resources as you plan (and how reopening those will impact).

Regular cleaning

Repeated cleaning of all areas of your store is a must. It is considered almost as important as cleaning actually is to clean it and make sure customers know that you have a strict schedule of cleaning in place.

You’ll need to focus on different areas, depending on your industry and the layout of your store. Implementing a cleaning regime targets that have frequently touched surfaces and spaces like shopping carts, pin pads and door handles. Don’t forget to cater for staff equipment; like selling machines, shared tools like pricing guns and fridges.

New Safety Devices

Installing safety equipment may seem like a costly investment but it will serve to strengthen customer trust in your policies and approach. Customers are not allowed to enter if they do not see clear effort and expense being spent on their safety. Make sure that the safety equipment is well maintained and clear and obvious, it shouldn’t be something you ‘re embarrassed about or try to hide from.

First of all, consider installing plastic screens at checkouts and possibly placing a hand sanitizer station near the door.

PPE

No matter where your store is located, you’ll need to consider PPE. Even if where you are in the world is not mandatory is it something that will reassure your customers? Probably the answer is Yes. Make sure that you have a reliable PPE source for all staff, and that they are fully trained in how and when to wear it. You will also need to ensure that your PPE cleanup approach is consistent.

Depending on where you are, it might be wise to make it compulsory for all customers to wear some PPE level for entry.

Social Distancing

It’s probably a social distance that will be standard practise for a while yet and possibly longer. At the very least, people’s awareness of their own personal space is heightened and will be integral to doing what you can to make people feel comfortable.

Make it store policy to keep a distance of two metres between everyone (including staff) and place markers on the floor in areas that are likely to experience a queue like checkout.

Other choices. That depends heavily on the specific configuration of your store, including the implementation of one-way and clearly signed ‘flows’ that encourage customers to walk around the store in a specific way, thus minimising the chances of meeting someone else coming the other way. If you have two doors, then another option is to have separate entrances and exits.

If your store is relatively small then creating a capacity limit may be sensible. Sign clear how many people are allowed in the store and make sure that a staff member is at the door to enforce the policy. If you expect to have large numbers of people outside the queuing make sure that you also consider their safety and place markers where they can queue outside while keeping social distance.

Your staff

Never forget about your employees throughout the process of opening your store. Your safety should be as important to you as your customers’, if not more important. Likewise, their adherence to your new policies will be an enormous contributor to whether they are successful and whether customers feel comfortable enough to enter, buy and tell their friends. To this end, make sure that you train your employees well and they understand the role they need to play.

In terms of shifts, try and balance shifts so that not too many people are on breaks at the same time to avoid crowding in the ‘break’ areas.

Signage

You should look at clearly signing the steps that you have taken and explaining your policies clearly. Make them reassuring and highly visible, so that customers know that their safety is being taken seriously. Clear messages reiterating social distance requirements, client volumes or some of your security processes will provide a reassuring and consistent environment. In-store announcements could even be used to remind customers of proper traffic flow and social distancing protocols.

Returns

In a post-Covid world you need to think about how to manage your returns. At first, considering extending your standard returns policy until well after the lockdown ends may be sensible.

Is it enough to wash them when they return, and will customers purchase potentially contaminated clothes? These are things you need to consider – make sure you have your policies clearly signed to reassure customers.

Opening hours

Do not automatically resume the same trading hours when reopening. You might want to extend it, or even shorten it. Keep in mind that social distancing requirements and cleaning processes will mean that opening and shutting your store take longer.

To support social distancing efforts by limiting store traffic, adjust store hours of operation where necessary. Consider offering exclusive early hours access to seniors and other high-risk individuals and maybe boosting pickup hours to serve more online customers.

Changing rooms

Changing rooms are a staple and required part of the sales process for fashion and apparel brands but they represent some major challenges in the immediate future. Keeping changing rooms closed may be sensible, unless you can limit numbers and have a robust cleaning or decontamination process in place.

If you decide to open your changing rooms, position a nearby staff member to maintain social distance and clear items that have been handled immediately.

Just contactless?

Dealing with money presents challenges. Just accepting card payments and maximising how much you use contactlessly would be sensible. If contactless is not possible (some countries have extended the limit for the duration of the crisis) then ensure that you disinfect the pin pad before and after each transaction – and make sure that the customer sees that you are doing so.

11. Shopping by appointment

Finally, one trend that we’re seeing more and more is a switch to appointment shopping. This is where customers book a time slot where they will be able to enter the store. They are the only person in that store during this time, and have the full (socially distant) staff attention. This is obviously not an option for all retailers but is an extremely valid option for high-end goods or brands of fashion and apparel.

Consumer confidence will return when they are confident their safety is a priority.

Book Temporary spaces on rent on Myrsa!

September 9, 2020 0

Will physical retail have a role to play in a Post-COVID world?

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has profoundly impacted many facets of our lives. The way we shop is no exception. Yet what does the pandemic ‘s effect on physical retail futures mean?

With local laws curtailing our movements at the height of the crisis (and trapping us in our homes in many countries), the way we shopped changed drastically. Restricted high streets and malls, and ecommerce underwent tremendous upliftment. Now that the freeze is easing across the globe, the question arises – does physical retail still have a part to play, and if so, what’s going to be different?

The short answer to that is yes. Physical retail should continue to play an significant part in the relationship between customers and brands. Its dynamics may change slightly, but our high streets do not go anywhere and brands will continue to look at physical retail as a mighty opportunity. What’s important to think is which customer preferences in a post-Covid environment will survive, and which will revert.

We’ll take a look at what’s changed in this article, what it means for physical retail and how brands can adapt.

What’s changed?

It’s no secret that ecommerce has seen a big boom in the last few months. As McKinsey’s consulting group points out, retail will definitely see a gradual rise in online shopping and in areas that had been predominantly store-based in the past. That would be attributed in part to consumers who previously preferred shopping offline, such as baby boomers and Gen Z, being more comfortable with shopping online. Particularly for the supermarket ‘routine’ such as groceries. If they have done it once or twice it is going to become normal.

According to Forbes, these new consumer habits are likely to persist with an anticipated 20 per cent annual growth in ecommerce across retail as a whole, compared with 15 per cent pre-Covid

In fact this shouldn’t be a big surprise. That was a phenomenon that we’ve seen already. The last few months may have actually accelerated the trend but there is still a vital part to play in physical retail. This is because while ecommerce may have benefited from being

Nonetheless. Although ecommerce success in recent months may have benefited from being a fast and convenient alternative, it can not compete with in-store experience.

What’s the physical retail getting to the party?
Ecommerce is amazing. What doesn’t want the convenience of their own home to do all their dull ‘routine’ shopping? It’s smoother, quicker and sometimes cheaper. Yet we need to note before we get carried away that this is not a one-size-fits-all case.

Everything this comes down to the experience these days. Name the industry and you’ll find that expertise is at some stage the main differentiator. This is no different in trade. Improvements in ecommerce capability are generally geared towards increasing efficiency and reducing friction. That effectiveness comes at the expense of experience and the key is experience.

Physical stores offer the opportunity to provide interactions that just can not compete with the digital world. There is no alternative. For precisely this reason, digital brands have launched physical stores all over the world over the last few years.

What’s more, it’s obvious that even in the last few months there’s been a big shift to digital, there’s still a need for an experience above and above what a typical ecommerce website offers. For example, here at Myrsa we saw a tenfold increase in inquiries about our Virtual Reality Stores as customers look for ways to differentiate and deliver unique, branded experiences.

That is why we are confident physical retail will recover as consumer demand picks up. People are going to return to the high street, back to physical retailing. Yet while we’re sure that physical retail space for rent will return as a retail force, we ‘re also positive it won’t look exactly the same.

What will become of physical retail in a post-covid world?
We need to think about what it will look like in the short term and what it will look like in the long term to answer this issue. The perspective of the short term is interesting; with the shops opening gradually across the globe, we are still catching glimpses of what is to come. We will go through this in more depth in a separate article but it is fair to conclude that physical retail will concentrate on fulfilling consumer standards about hygiene and health over the next few months. Consider PPE, hand sanitiser, and shopping for appointments.

The long-term view is even more compelling. When brands use physical to attract new consumers and offer excellent brand experiences, we ‘re likely to see even more of a shift to experiential retail. They need to work on the halo effect to do this – using both the physical and the digital to deliver a seamless customer experience.

In a recent interview, José Neves, founder and CEO of Farfetch’s online luxury shopping platform, took this even further when he said: “Brick-and-mortar digitization was ‘good to have’ in the eyes of many brands and retailers but should be pushed to a ‘must have’”

The Covid-19 crisis has increased transition pace, and the need for reform. Brands capable of integrating online and offline to gain advantages on both sides would be competitive with physical retail (so-called ‘phygital’).

Yet not all digital upgrades. Changed the role of physical retailing. Or rather, it has accelerated the change that it was already experiencing. Stores will focus less on shifting stock and generating revenue, and more on building customer loyalty, gathering insight into marketing and reaching new audiences. More marketing … Less transactional.

This is a phenomenon we’ve seen in the emergence of pop-ups as brand trial sites, run product releases and gain marketing feedback in short-term environments designed to offer outstanding experiences.

We expect that we’ll see less but better flagship stores over the next few years coupled with plenty of flexible retail (like pop-ups shop on rent) to highlight brands and goods, draw new buyers, create brand loyalty and improve online sales. We ‘re going to see versatile retailing in affluent areas where you’d never have seen it before.

Such physical stores can offer less items and sell less, but can have even more entertainment.

Entertainment and the experience is everything.

August 24, 2020 0

Shop on wheels finally takes off in India as brands arrive at societies with retail trucks

Some of India’s biggest retailers, from Levi’s and Puma to Reliance Brands and Forever New, are taking the shop to their doorsteps for customers not able to visit a shop. For example, U.S. denim giant Levi’s rolled up wheel stores in the Capital and Gurgaon that park in upmarket residential areas.
Consumers can not only shop for trials at these mobile stores but can also go back to their homes. “Customer response has surpassed all of our expectations,” said Sanjeev Mohanty, MD, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa at Strauss & Co Levi’s.

Many of India’s biggest brands, ranging from Levi’s and Puma to Reliance Brands and Forever New, take the store to their doorsteps for consumers unable to visit a shop. For example, U.S. denim giant Levi’s rolled up wheel stores that park in upmarket residential areas in the Capital and Gurgaon.
Consumers may not only shop at such mobile stores for trials but may also return to their homes. “Consumer response has met all of our expectations,” said Sanjeev Mohanty, MD at Strauss & Co Levi’s, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

Thanks of COVID-19 consumers got used to shopping online. This shift in their shopping habits is refocusing the logistics industry on last-mile delivery services.

Logistics firms will now need to develop their last-mile capabilities to match the modern times.

Since online shopping has grown in popularity over the past decade or so, online retailers and logistics firms have been driven to find new ways to satisfy their consumers ‘ growing needs. Order fulfillment has always been the cornerstone of every retail company but the quick delivery is what consumers really want these days. The challenge for e-commerce businesses is to accelerate distribution for their customers while still holding down their own costs.

Related Post: How will Life be After Lockdown?

Modern technology has changed the way companies do business, particularly for the better. Unfortunately it has created some specific challenges as well. The same technology that allows consumers to buy goods by pressing a button comes with the assumption that the product will also be delivered quickly. Simple, secure, and effective order fulfillment is the secret to retaining customer loyalty, but it’s also one of the toughest challenges every company has to face.

Nonetheless, What is Last Mile Delivery?
Simply stated, the last mile distribution is the transfer of goods from a transport hub or warehouse to its final destination for distribution. In most cases a personal residence is the final destination. The aim of last mile distribution is to deliver goods as quickly as possible to the consumer while reducing company costs.

Dairy giant Amul has started offering housing societies and resident welfare associations (RWAs) retailer margins where it supplies necessities directly in the midst of the ongoing shutdown, with societies turning main channels of consumption.

The housing societies’ margins range from 8-12 per cent everywhere, and Amul is directly distributing bulk orders of milk, cheese, ice cream to more than 500 societies across 10 cities, the company said.

“There has been incredible demand from residential complexes around towns since we started the exercise. The retailer margins on different items are being passed on to the housing societies, “reported Amul managing director RS Sodhi.

“Societies likewise interested in gaining strong retailer margins,” he said. Sodhi added that in cities with large red zone footprints, bulk orders per distributor for large housing societies ranged between 75,000-90,000 per day.

Last Mile Delivery Suggestions For Small and Medium Businesses

As you know that housing societies are looking to tie up with brands that can deliver directly to their society in bulk orders. Brands like you can find societies that are near you and connect with them and put up stalls on a daily basis so that you can deliver safe and also at your customers convinience.

When can you find housing societies near you and connect with them?

Myrsa is a platform where you can find access to the societies that are close to you and are looking for bulk deliveries.

You can book a residential space through them on an hourly or a daily basis and have your good delivered. As this is going to stay for a while you must register on Myrsa now and connect with housing societies even after lockdown. This has now become a lifestyle change and you as a brand must keep up to it!

August 10, 2020 0

Last-mile delivery of product and service is going to be the new normal. How to get there & stay there?

Thanks of COVID-19 consumers got used to shopping online. This shift in their shopping habits is refocusing the logistics industry on last-mile delivery services.

Logistics firms will now need to develop their last-mile capabilities to match the modern times.

Related Post: How will Life be After Lockdown?

Keep reading to learn more about last mile distribution and how to improve order fulfilment.

Last-mile distribution problems because of COVID-19
This crisis has impacted the logistics industry deeply, beyond undermining other industries in the global economy.

Lack of resources to cope with a sudden rise in demand: most distribution companies are struggling to meet a sudden increase in demand online. With limited resources they work hard to handle large distribution volumes.

Handling of orders issues: Logistics companies face difficulties in collecting and handling orders with the rapid increase in deliveries. Restricted resources have made life harder in the customer fulfillment centers. Know how to get perfect precision when handling deliveries with Locus.
Jump in last-mile delivery costs: The last-mile delivery costs have also risen with an rise in distribution volumes. This has contributed to an increase in maintenance costs, cost of idling, cost of fuel and cost of labor. Add to that free delivery and reverse logistics, it’s a tightrope walk indeed.

The housing societies’ margins range from 8-12 percent everywhere, and Amul is directly distributing bulk orders of milk , cheese, ice cream to more than 500 societies across 10 cities, the company said.

Others including biscuit manufacturer Parle Products said some retailers began sharing part of their profits with RWAs in the event that orders are in bulk.

DMart, which operates more than 200 stores across the country, has launched ‘store on wheels’ — a service that will allow DMart trucks carrying critical grocery products for three hours to park in residential companies. The retailer did not comment on whether local authorities are facing opposition from the distribution workers pushing the vehicles.

MD and CEO of Metro Cash & Carry, Arvind Mediratta, told FE that the company was deploying its own trucks to pick up supplies from several warehouses. The company has also launched its e-commerce app to help kiranas order online and give them access to stocks. The company is taking care of the distribution to the business customers, Mediratta said. The availability of items such as Nestle Maggie and HUL toiletries is small , making room for brands in the local area. “Customers are more interested in getting the product than in becoming aware of the brand affinity,” Mediratta said.

Grofers said it launched ‘Society Group Orders’ in a statement on Wednesday, a program in which it has partnered with RWAs of 100 companies across leading metros to make critical products available to more clients. The organization plans to extend the tie-up to other cities in the near future.

Karthik Venkateswaran, co-founder and CEO of B2B startup Jumbotail, said the company is collecting stocks from FMCG companies’ distributors and shipping them to Kirana stores.

Last Mile Delivery Suggestions For Small and Medium Businesses

When can you find housing societies near you and connect with them?

Myrsa is a platform where you can find acces to the societies that are close to you and are looking for bulk deliveries.

You can book a residential space through them on a hourly or a daily basis and have your good delivered. As this is going to stay for a while you must register on Myrsa now and connect with housing societies even after lockdown. This has now become a lifestyle change and you as a brand must keep up to it!

July 15, 2020 0

Ways cafes are getting social distancing right

The way we eat, where we eat, and what we eat may all change because of coronavirus.

Countries around the world are starting to remove constraints on the lockout, and people are looking for lost experiences.

One frequently overlooked experience is restaurant dining. Restaurant owners, chefs and hosts are also looking for ways of securely recreating the dining experience.

If that includes temperature controls or the installation of glass blockages, restaurants around the world have been innovative when it comes to social-distancing initiatives being respected.

Restaurants in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, are reopening in style with mannequins filling seats left vacant due to social distancing directives.

Mannequins provide social distancing at the Inn at Little Washington as they prepare to reopen their restaurant Thursday May 14, 2020, in Washington, Va. The manager say that every other table will have mannequins for social distance guidance when, according to state guidelines, the 5-star restaurant will be allowed reopen on May 29th. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

This week the country started lifting restrictions on lockdowns on bars and restaurants, enabling them to use some indoor seating.

But certain tables must stay empty to hold people away from each other a certain distance and these are used to support local fashion designers.

“Empty tables inside our restaurant look very strange, and we have no way to avoid them,” Bernie Ter Braak, restaurant owner Cozy said in a statement. Aker Braak and the fashion designer Julia Janus came up with the idea.

There are already a few dozen restaurants involved in Vilnius and it is scheduled to be held until the end of May.

“We wanted to reach out to our neighbors, fashion boutique shops, and invited them to use our empty tables to display their newest collections,” Ter Braak said. “The news spread and well-known designers joined this project, which continues to gain popularity in the area.

The restaurants in Lithuania will feature 60 mannequins showing local fashion pieces.

In the middle of the lockout, the clothing industry took a hit as stores closed and retail sales dropped off.

“Designers don’t have many opportunities to showcase their latest collections, and consumption in general is down. We hope this campaign will move the waters and local designers will gain some visibility,” fashion designer Janus said.

According to the official Lithuanian Statistics Office, retail sales for textiles, clothes and footwear decreased by 56 per cent in March compared to February due to coronavirus lockdown measures.

In hopes to create normalcy, waiters at a restaurant in Brussels, Belgium, wore face masks with pictures of themselves.

The Belgian restaurant, Lodge, opened on June 8 and the waiters and waitresses who wore face masks filled with pictures of themselves welcomed customers.

The goal was to cheer up and welcome the long-awaited diners with a smile.

Burger King in Germany designed social-distancing crowns.

The crowns in Germany have been debuted on a Burger King.

Every cardboard crown has a diameter of 6 feet, so that customers are reminded of social distance.

“The do-it-yourself social distance crown has become a fun and humorous way to encourage our guests to practice social distance as they enjoy food in the restaurants,” a representative from Burger King told Business Insider.

A restaurant in Thailand added cartoon dragons to its tables to indicate where customers can sit.

A restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, decided to sit cartoon dragons at its tables.

In an effort to maintain social distancing, customers sit on one side of the table — the side without the bright green dragon.

Pool noodle hats gave people a smile and a way to socially distance themselves at a German café.

Café & Konditorei Rothe reopened earlier this month in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

The café had customers wear hats with pool noodles attached as a silly way to socially distance.

“In these difficult times, it’s a pleasure to make others smile,” restaurant owner Jacqueline Rothe told Insider.

Restaurants and cafes have a lot of empty spaces right now and Myrsa will help monetize all your spaces. You can connect with brands that are local and showcase their products in your cafe. You can earn extra revenue as well as maintain social distancing with it.

June 29, 2020 0

Here are 5 Financial Advantages of Hosting Pop up Shops

If you run an e-commerce retail store, or mostly sell your products at markets and trunk shows, you may have tossed around the idea of opening a permanent, brick-and-mortar location at some point.

But if you’re unsure if it’s worth the investment to spend all your working capital to open a store, try opening a pop-up shop.

Pop-up shops are temporary retail spaces for rent that can last up to a day or a few months. Pop-up stores are meant to be short-lived, unlike a permanent store. You can use them to show a physical location— as well as certain items, or your marketing strategies, or anything else you want to try out in a low-stakes environment.

If you’re still unsure How successful are pop up shops? What are the benefits of pop up shops?; if you’re going to invest your initiative and earnings in a pop-up shop, check out the five financial benefits of shooting it:

Discover the benefits of a shop without any investment

The clearest justification to try a pop-up store before opening a permanent location is that you can see for yourself whether it would be worth investing in the latter.

You can find that your personal sales don’t suit what you’re doing online with a pop-up. Or you might find that people in this community love your goods and if you set up a full-time store, they will help you. But until you try, you’re not going to know!

Take advantage of busy shopping seasons in-store

For many of us, these days it may feel like everybody shops online. But the vast majority of shopping is still taking place in-store during the holidays. (In 2019, 84 per cent of holiday shopping took place in brick-and-mortar shops.)

Supercharge your holiday sales by opening a pop-up shop, taking advantage of people’s love of window shopping and boost buying during November and December — or long holiday weekends all year round.

Create word-of-mouth buzz for your efforts online

Everyone believes that word-of-mouth advertising is one of the most successful ways of marketing available. Unfortunately, measuring is nearly impossible, both in terms of how much it happens and how much you can attribute it to any of your marketing efforts.

A successful pop-up shop is a great way for people who might not have met your brand otherwise to build up buzz. See how much new business your pop-up has offered you by circulating business cards with a pop-up shop-specific landing page URL and enabling shoppers to use a special discount code while shopping online in the future.

If you see from these efforts a lot of movement and new sales, you’ll know that your pop-up on rent has done the trick.

Strengthen your email marketing efforts

Speaking of email, one of the best forms of digital marketing out there is email marketing— considering that the ROI is almost unmatched and that you can effectively measure it.

To raise your email subscription list, use your pop-up shop as an avenue. Collect buy-in email addresses, ask users if they want to sign up to learn about offers, and invite people to leave their business cards or emails with you to enter a raffle and win a prize. Then you can continue to engage them.

Offload unsold inventory

You can burn a hole in your pocket with unsold inventory. It’s expensive to keep on warehouse shelves, and as it gets older and older it will continue to lose value. The pop-up shop may be the perfect place to turn out that old inventory and give it new life. Sell it at a discount and save what you can from its sales, instead of absolutely resigning yourself to losing it.

Myrsa will make this process of finding space for your popup shop easier. You can find spaces like shops in malls or even in residential areas where you can set up your shops, stalls, kiosks. This will help your business a lot with profit-making. Register your brand on Myrsa and keep a check on available spaces that are ideal for your business.

June 14, 2020 0

What changes will coworkers expect from co-working spaces after lockdown?

The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the world and now all of the colleagues who once worked side by side in a vibrant and successful work atmosphere are working from home. For many, coworking is synonymous with a friendly work environment where everyone is a part of a group, and coworkers now confined to their homes desperately lack this group component of coworking.

Although work from home has its own advantages, coworking will continue to expand in the long run as a multi-million – dollar industry that supports start-ups and small business growth.

Of course, there will be a few changes or rather changes in coworking spaces, as expected by companies that are already on the coworking crowd, such as:

Health Screening for new Workspace Joiners

For most companies, like versatile and shared office space providers, the COVID-19 pandemic is sure to be a big hit. As with many other sectors, coworking spaces are unlikely to see clientele growth for the near future.

That being said, the pandemic will be nothing more than a hiccup to the coworking movement ‘s rapid growth and popularity. Until coworking spaces start brimming with new inquiries from small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to join the coworking bandwagon, it won’tbe too long.

After the pandemic subsides, current businesses that will start operating in their coworking room will want new joiners to get proper health screening. So, coworking space providers need to develop a standardized health screening procedure to ensure the wellbeing of all clients.

A Stronger Than Ever Before Focus on Work Environment Hygiene
It almost goes without saying that in terms of maintaining workplace hygiene and sanitation, the coworking spaces are expected to level up.

That is, the office spaces will be littered with sanitizers and tissue boxes. Restrooms are going to be cleaner than ever. Sanitation related coworking policies will need to regularly be revised and new posters will be created to remind coworkers to regularly wash their hands.

Essentially, coworking spaces should become better that will help avoid the spread of all infectious diseases, not just coronavirus.

Regular Free Health Checkups for Coworkers

Most well-established coworking firms go above and beyond establishing a community-like atmosphere in the workplace by regularly organizing networking events, such as breakfast meetups, film screenings, and gaming tournaments where all coworkers can participate.

And from time to time, some of these coworking providers also host free health checkups for all coworkers. Till the start of 2020, free health checkups would’ve been no more than a nice bonus to attract new clients for coworking providers.

But now companies who have signed up for shared space will also expect the coworking service to hold health check-ups to ensure that anyone who uses the workspace is safe. Startups considering moving to coworking spaces can even inquire about certain advantages.

Related Post: The future of Co-working looks bright

Extension of Coworking Benefits to Remote Workers

There’s no relief from the fact that the remote working phenomenon is very much on the rise alongside coworking. The coronavirus pandemic will further the remote working trend and it could be expected that coworking spaces will expand the in-house facilities they provide to accommodate remote employees too.

Such virtual office advantages can include setting up a WiFi network for work, a free software subscription, or a nearby gym membership for remote startup workers who mainly operate from the coworking space. However, only time can tell whether coworking spaces are required to expand benefits and facilities to accommodate remote work and whether they are able to do so.

Change in the Office Layout

In addition, when businesses resume operating from coworking spaces, they should expect a guideline on the social distance to be in place within the workplace. This will consist of maintaining at all times a minimum physical distance between colleagues with the aid of a changed office layout and more scattered workstations.

This may also require a strategy that encourages businesses to work in shifts in order to ensure that the coworking room is not brimming with people in close touch.

Related Post: How will Life be After Lockdown?

Final Thoughts

It seems like we’re still very far away from the novel coronavirus’ full resolution but in the long run, given the various advantages of operating in a shared office, coworking as an industry would only boom.
Ultimately, if anything, the pandemic would further boost the coworking spaces and make them safer.

May 19, 2020 0

How will Life be After Lockdown?

The Center has suspended air, metro, and inter-state bus travel across India for around one and a half months to stop the spread of coronavirus. K ASIF has also been shut down, apart from financial, political, economic, religious and other gatherings, hotels, restaurants, cinemas, malls, gyms, sports complexes, schools, colleges …

Yet even though the lockout is lifted, or more curbs go, life is never going to be the same again. Significant changes are awaiting people as the country has new ways to shop, ride, book in hotels, watch movies or even dine out.

Many businesses engaged in offering services such as air travel, retail, food & beverages (F&B) and hotels are expected to reduce their offerings in the initial months as they comply with social distancing requirements and cut operating costs in the face of a tough business environment.

Post-lockdown preparations are charted as the government prepares to lift new restrictions.
Most businesses plan to remain depressed by demand at least until October until the festive season elevates consumer sentiment.
Hoteliers, airlines, retailers and shopping centre managers state that when they re-open, they plan to play it safe.

After zoning districts and areas between red, orange, and green based on case numbers for coronavirus, the government has significantly eliminated curbs outside hotspots and authorized the opening of stand-alone shops and establishments. It has signaled that after 17 May, the last date of lockdown 3.0, further economic activity will be permitted.

Many industry experts believe the epidemic would result in drastic changes in consumer and business perceptions, habits, and expectations that will reshape their products and services accordingly. Consumers would be more worried about their wellbeing and expect the service providers to be more hygienic.

SHOPPING MALLS

According to industry insiders, consumer experience does not stay the same at shopping malls. Mall owners are charting new rules taking customer footfall and construction structure into account.

Manoj Gaur, managing director of the Gaurs Group, said that large-format stores such as Big Bazaar could be advised to restrict entry and obey social distancing norms, while preference could be given to small stores to start operations.

“It would be best for large format stores to uphold socially distancing norms, high hygiene standards and restrict people ‘s entry,” he said.

On the possibility of lower revenue and high operational costs, Gaur said the government would need to announce a relief package that includes lower GST, without which many jobs could be lost.

Wholesale retailer Metro Cash And Carry India Pvt Ltd have strictly prohibited customers who do not wear masks or are identified at 99-100 temperatures during thermal screening in what appears to offer the glimpse of shopping stores post lockdown.

“We have required wearing masks for each client. We do infrared temperature scans for all and those with 99-100 temperatures are not permitted. Only small people are permitted every hour, 50-60 versus 500-600 at any given time before. Cashiers are expected to wear face masks to guarantee the safety of both customers and employees, “said Metro Cash & Carry India MD and CEO Arvind Mediratta.

In addition, the Indian arm of the German retailer has started to send customers appointments over the phone or online to visit the store so no crowding occurs.

Footwear and clothing retailer Woodland will also restrict the number of customers entering the store at one time and allow them to wear gloves and masks.

The company is working on plans for customers to disinfect a product after trial.

“Normally when we try shoes and all of them, we have disposable socks. Likewise, we’ll see if a product that’s being tested can be disinfected, so we’re working on something like this even with garments,” the expert said.

Cinema

Even movie-goers can be in for a disappointment as new releases are highly unlikely.

They will have to make peace with certain films that have been pre-released.

Movie production has gone haywire and it is inevitable that multiplexes will return to old films.

Upon agreement on shutdown, multiplex operators will discuss a potential action plan with distributors.

“It’s hard to tell. We ‘re going to have to see how things go. At this point, we ‘re going to have to start talking to distributors to see what kind of content pipeline there is and what all the choices we have. So, it’s hard to predict at this point in time,” said Multiplex Association of India (MAI) President Deepak Asher.

Asked whether to play old Hindi movies, Asher said it was an option but there would also be English movies and other content.

Discussing the post-lockdown re-opening plan, the MAI president said it was proposed that multiplexes should not sell more than 50% of the seats in order to maintain a seat difference between two men.

“We ‘re going to schedule film and intermission timings to make sure so many people don’t come to lobby or other locations,” he said.

Unlike other service providers, airlines are also facing a double whammy of low demand and higher costs to enforce social distance requirements.

A top private airline executive said putting any social distancing standard in place has a cost. There is also confusion about some states which enforce a longer lockdown in the red and orange zones, which affect flights.

If the air travel ban is removed and states enforce lockdown, this will pose challenges for both passengers and airlines.

“Grounding the aircraft is easier than flying it again! But when you ground the aircraft you park it wherever you find it, so it is parked all over the country, not usually in official parking bays with fuel pump connections, etc. It would take several days longer to bring them back into service than to ground them,” he said.

The industry expects some pent-up demand in the initial days, as the service will be used by people trapped in different locations. But demand will then slump at least until people felt free to travel.

This is why airlines should sell fewer flights and sectors. The nodal Ministry of Civil Aviation is scheduled to announce the opening of domestic flights for passengers, airports and airlines with separate riders.

Private airlines such as Spice-Jet, IndiGo and Vistara have opened flight reservations with effect from 1 June 2020.

HOTELS

Similarly, hotels are also anticipating demand to pick up after having lifted the lockdown for at least six months. Since other limits, such as on public meetings, are expected to remain even after the lockout, hotels won’t provide space for conventions, weddings and events. The hotel industry is anticipating a substantial reduction in manpower and other costs. They are unable to offer all services at once, in the event of lower demand.

“Business will come back starting with accommodation. In terms of meetings, conferences, weddings, we ‘re looking at a much longer period until the states allow you to do those things and people feel confident getting together in secluded areas. So, we ‘re probably looking at accommodation first and then dining room service.
Bakaya said payroll and electricity were the two main expenses and in the face of reduced demand, they should be rationalised.
“If there is no list, how can we pay? Where does the money come from,” asks the hotelier

May 15, 2020 0

It's all about people meeting people

Shop on wheels finally takes off in India as brands arrive at societies with retail trucks

Last-mile delivery of product and service is going to be the new normal. How to get there & stay there?

Ways cafes are getting social distancing right

What changes will coworkers expect from co-working spaces after lockdown?

Health Screening for new Workspace Joiners

Regular Free Health Checkups for Coworkers

Extension of Coworking Benefits to Remote Workers

Change in the Office Layout

Final Thoughts

How will Life be After Lockdown?

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