Bikanervala - Operations Management

I visited Bikanerwala on 7th March 2012, i.e. Holi day, and a day before Dhulivandan. Holi is major festival in North India and sweet shops witness a major rush. I too had gone to purchase sweets and was amazed at the change in operations they had undertaken.

Usually, when one wants to purchase sweets at Bikanerwala, one has to make the payment at cash counter, take the bill and token and present the token at the respective sweet counter. At the sweet counter, the attendant weighs the sweet, puts in box, packs the box in a plastic sheet and seals it by passing it through a machine. Packing and sealing takes considerable time.

For that particular day, the packing and sealing operations were separated and put up in the open space outside the store. The sweet corner attendant, weighed the sweets and put in the box and gave them to customer. There were some more attendants helping customers carry the boxes outside, get them packed and sealed. This ensured two things - less crowding at the sweet corner and high turnover time in sweet packing. Additionally, once a customer gets the box in his/her own hands, there is a sense of satisfaction of having got the sweets. The service was quite efficient and I liked the change they had done to tackle the seasonal rush!

Additionally, Bikanerwala could have done one more thing. "Gujia" is a special sweet prepared for Holi and the store had around 16 types of Gujia - all stacked at the same place. Being a Holi special sweet, there was a huge rush at Gujia counter. The Gujia counter should have been separated from the sweets counter and spread across with more space and more attendants, which would have reduced the rush at the counter.

The store attendants wore traditional dresses on the Holi day and free color was also distributed over a certain bill amount.

All in all, impressive operations management!

Big Bazaar Exchange offer

Yesterday I went to Big Bazaar to purchase a travel bag. The salesperson was very helpful in showing me different travel bags, explaining the offers, the exchange offers etc. Once I selected the bag, he asked me whether I have any 'Exchange Offer Coupons'. I did not have any.

Big Bazaar has an exchange offer scheme, wherein BB buys all old household stuff starting from newspaper raddi to furniture and electronics and issues coupons for the same. Lets say i have 10 kgs of newspaper raddi, then at rate of Rs. 30/kg, BB issues me Rs. 300 worth of coupons. Now, I can't just buy Rs. 300 stuff at BB. In order to use this Rs. 300 coupons I have to spend a min. of Rs. 900 - why? Because, a maximum of 25% of Offer Price can be availed through Exchange Coupons. So if a Bag costs Rs. 1000, I can use Rs. 250 in exchange coupons, but will have to pay Rs. 750 as cash. Obviously the entire scheme is to increase sales! And to top it the exchange coupons are valid only for a week - to ensure that anyone who comes to sell raddi, turns into a customer in the same visit.

When I said, I dont have coupons, the sales representative suggested that he can get coupons in exchange for some cash. My bag costed Rs. 4000, so I could use Rs. 1000 exchange coupons. He would provide me Rs. 1000 coupons for Rs. 500, thus enabling me to save Rs. 500. Imagine this at BB!!! I thought why not try it out and asked him to get the coupons, but by the time he came back I changed my mind and told him I dont want them. When he had come back with coupons, he was behaving in a very fishy manner and I realised that there is major scam going around here!

I moved on towards the billing counter and another gentleman/customer approached me asking what is the cost of bag, whether I had exchange coupons and then offering me the same. I just walked away towards the counter and got my bag billed and moved away.

I am intrigued by the way the schemes function and mal-function!!! Hope BB takes note of the same !

Goggles and Shawls

On Saturday, i.e. 3rMar2012, I was travelling by the Metro towards Karol Bagh in the ladies compartment and I could observe a change in the clothing of women. The winters are making a retreat and the sun is out shining. Goggles have come in a blizzard - one out of every three women was sporting a goggle. Simple goggles, designer goggles, brown ones and black ones - all are back on the head - some working more as head-bands rather than goggles.

More surprising was the presence of shawls - women were still wearing/carrying shawls - an indication that winter is still here and one might need a protective layer of shawl anytime. It was interesting to see the blend of summer and winter accessories - Goggles and Shawls!!!

Big Bazaar Visit

Today I had gone to the Big Bazaar (BB) in The Great India Place (TGIP), Noida. My sole agenda was to buy some groceries and browse to find out if there are any attractive deals.

The moment I entered the store, I sensed there was something amiss. Firstly, there was no security check. Secondly, no trolleys or carry-bags were available and people waiting for trolleys had turned into a mini-crowd. There were some who ventured and got a trolley from the exit gate. When I enquired with the guard, he said that I would have to wait for 10 mins to get a trolley. I was carrying a back-pack and asked the guard whether I can take use the same for making purchases. He asked if it was empty (did not check at all) and thankfully said yes. When I entered the store, I found some carry-bags (ones with wheels, to be carried inside the store), however, these were extremely dirty and the moment I picked it, i threw it. Had these been kept in a better condition, some of the people at the entrance could have used these for shopping.

The store was very much crowded, much more than anybody would like it. The aisles near the soap/shampoo and grains sections had absolutely no place, while most of the other sections were relatively empty. I am sure, BB team could have done some re-arrangement for stocking up of things as they would have observed these trends in the past many months. Additionally, fruit and vegetable shopping turned to an absolute no, as one has to get in queue twice, once to weigh it and again at billing counter. Whatever in the size of crowd, BB has only two counters for weighing fruits and vegetables, adding to the exasperation.

BB has a variety of items kept near the billing counter to entice the customers standing in the queues do some last-minute impulse shopping. But somehow, these racks are loaded with discarded purchases of the customers, which makes it look like a waste-bin. It also reduces the space for the customer to stand.

One comment that I overheard while standing in the billing queue - "Big Bazaar aane par jyada paise kharch hote hai. Jo cheeze nahi chahi hai wo bhi le lete hai". I am sure this would bring a wide smile to BB promoters, as this is the strategy of supermarket/hypermarket. However, one should take a note of this, as there would one wise person in the family who will point this out and the middle/lower middle class would stop visiting BB. Value provided by deals should be great enough to cover the travel cost and other expenses entailed by visit to BB.

Since the ban put on plastic bags, BB allows customers to carry their own bags (which I did today, for the first time). However, there was no check on the bags carried inside (probably due to today's rush) and when at the billing counter, the attendant just put my purchases in the bag, without checking the emptyness of the bag. High value items could be easily taken out through different pockets of bags. Scanning of bags should be done before filling them with purchases.

I have visited 2-3 BB stores a number of times. These include the ones at Lower Parel and R-Mall,Mulund (Mumbai) and the TGIP one. The Lower Parel store has the crowded look each and everytime. R-Mall and TGIP have variable crowds.

I like BB, however, now-a-days I am finding it slightly uncomfortable to shop at. I intend to keep posting on this blog about my experiences at BB and hopefully someone will take notice of the same.

Yet to write...but story is in making

It was June when I was deliberating on whether to write or not to write and the verdict was - To Write, I havent yet started writing, but I have a faint idea on what I am going to write on. Today is 1st Mar 2012 and I believe by end of this month, the story would have a detailed outline and I would be able to complete the first chapter of my book. Wishing me all the best :)

I now have many of my classmates as authors of various books, some of them have written two books - looks like once you get over the first one, you can get on a roll!

Let me start by writing atleast one blog per week :)