Many
organizations take pride in what they've created and how they've crushed
competition in the past to rise to and remain at the top, and how they will
remain untouched by the small newcomers.
Cricket
today showed how inaccurate that fallacy can be. How it is so foolish to ignore
the warning bells and just keep looking within and at big teams like yourself
thinking you're away from danger.
Unfancied
Ireland today chased a huge 300+ target with exceptional ease and over 4 overs
to spare against two-times world champions and one of the ICC World Cup
Tournament favourites, West Indies.
West
Indies would've surely assumed that they had the match in their pocket after
scoring 304. However, a great top order batting performance by Ireland made
world class bowlers like Roach, Taylor, and company look totally pedestrian,
and Ireland romped home with 4 wickets and 4 overs to spare. This was not just a
victory, it was a humiliating defeat beyond comprehension.
Reminds
me of 1983 when Kapil's Devils showed to the world that cricket can produce
Davids who will not only take on Goliaths but also conquer them.
Today,
traditional brick and mortar businesses are facing a similar threat to their
very existence due to the growth of eCommerce companies. These newcomers are
rewriting every rule in the book - whether it is about range, or about pricing,
or about customer service - and are finally making consumer the king.
Those
hit hardest are the traditional trade stores. Whether they're the neighbourhood
mom-n-pop stores or whether they're mall-based modern retail chains, the story
is the same. These businesses just did not see the snow coming down, and now it's
an avalanche that's hit them so hard that they're finding it difficult to even
survive. Such is the storm that even huge global brands like HP and Samsung are
at their wits end as to how to ensure that their traditional channel partners
remain profitable and loyal to them. Their retail partners can't match the
deep-pockets of the eCom giants on marketing, can't match their reach, and
definitely can't match the prices or the product range & availability given
their huge costs for high-street-retail infrastructure, limited shelf-space,
limited shop-floor inventory and front-end staff.
While
one the one hand it can be said that these businesses did not expect eCommerce
to grow so big so fast in India, the truth is that they simply ignored the
threat perception and did not prepare themselves for this.
Today,
some brands have learnt their lesson the hard way and are quickly making
amends. Tatas have already invested in snapdeal.com, thereby ensuring that
their brand Croma doesn't suffer so much and, in fact, benefits from the growth
of eCommerce. Croma mentions that products across various electronic categories
like mobiles, tablets and laptops, that are available at its physical stores
will be available for purchase on Croma's brand store on SnapDeal, taking
Croma's reach far beyond their 101 stores in just 25 cities.
Other
traditional retail majors like Arvind and Reliance have also made forays
online. In August last year, retail firm Arvind launched an online site
Creyate, which retails customizable apparel. After a quiet foray in eCommerce
for their grocery business restricted to Mumbai only last November, Reliance
Industries announced its plans to start online sales of mobile phones, laptops,
televisions and hope appliances within a month in December, 2014. Finally, the
realization has dawned, and big businesses are coming around to the fact that
David can beat Goliath with its nimbleness and with public on its side, and
they need to move fast to counter them or be left behind.
Guess, it is the season of small guys winning against mighty giants!
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