“What sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and it’s not. And a lot of the time, it’s what makes you great.” – Emma Stone. “Every person is unique and so are their expectations.” I was talking to Shekhar, founder of a start-up product company. “We need passionate employees who will work towards our vision. Have you thought about their needs?” It is hard to...
NRF Converge 2021 event, held in July 2021, was attended by well-known names and brands in the retail industry. One key takeaway from the event was that "Retailers who are ready to experiment, automate, innovate their services, data using Machine learning will be better equipped to maximize in the new normal" Retail Customers will favor Retailers who take efforts to...
“The rest of this year (2021) will be full of uncertainties.” Was my response to the following conversation. I was discussing with a CEO of a tech start-up during the half-yearly review. We were looking at last year's numbers and comparing them with now. “Well, this year looks much better than the last one.” “No doubt last year was bad, but we...
In 2020 many businesses pivoted to make quick changes for survival. There was a rush towards multiple contactless shopping mechanisms, online shopping. For retailers, in 2020 the focus was on survival rather than growth. Customers were not stepping out because of the fear and then-unknown nature of Corona. Everybody preferred shopping from the comforts of their home. Retailers who could...
“Don’t perform tasks in sequence, when they can be done in parallel.” I was talking to Manisha. She was planning for a company event. “I have the list of people to invite. I am collecting and verifying their contact information. As soon as I have all the addresses available, I will send out all emails using mail merge.” Manisha explained her...
The pandemic has forced businesses to quickly adopt new technologies. When forced to face the might of the pandemic, retailers started opting for off-the-shelf products like chatbots without recognizing its limitations. As AI and machine learning make significant leaps, retailers may have to pivot from the standardized chatbot setup they’ve integrated into the business to see a significant uptick in...
With peak shopping season looming close, abandoned carts continue to be a recurring nightmare. It became a millennial pastime during the pandemic in 2020 — with a 94.4% cart abandonment rate on average for the retailers. Had these abandoned carts converted into actual sales, what would the numbers look like for your business? Paralysis of the pandemic and user experience During the...
“This is completely unreasonable, I am expecting a complete professional behaviour, I can’t work with such emotional xxxxx.” Sujit, one of the managers in my team was completely upset with an unnatural behaviour from one of his team members. Sharad on the other hand was really a good person, he had done wonderful job in the past. His last mistake...
“Whenever I need to talk to you, you have never said no. When I send you a message, I always get a response back, almost any time of the day. How are you able to work such long hours? Can you give me some tips to improve productivity?” The conversation started in a very interesting way. I was having lunch...
“The need for empathy towards the buyer is huge. It’s a differentiator…” -Doug Brown, former CMO, IBM Systems“I am looking for a laptop computer, for my daughter.” A middle aged customer called in using the support line. What would be your answer, when a customer calls a support number for buying? Would it be - “That is great, we have many available to buy online, please login...
