Author: Editor's Desk

Categories
E-Commerce

10 Tips for Starting an E-commerce Business

Introduction

  • Are you thinking of starting an e-commerce business?
  • Do you know how to start an e-commerce business?

According to a survey, in the next 3 years, that is until 2021, the market size of

e-commerce will expand by more than double from what it is right now.

E-commerce will help you to expand your business at a minimum cost.

Here are some 10 points that you need to prepare on before starting an e-commerce business.

Tip #1: Key Strengths of the Marketplace

If you are making a product that you want to sell to the entire world, then you should choose your marketplace wisely.

First, choose your marketplace according to the nature of the product, you want to sell.

If you want to sell apparel, then Koovs, Myntra, Jabong would be best; if your product is related to electronics to transportation, then Yatra, MakeMyTrip would best and henceforth.

Other than this, before starting an e-commerce business you should also look for a marketplace that has good reach, transaction ease, customer friendly, goodwill, good customer base and best for your product.

Tip #2: Look for the Quality and Level of your Competitor

In a marketplace, you will find a lot of competitors. So, before jumping in, carefully analyze the behavior of the competitor, the pricing and range of their products, their policies, shipment processes and the discount they are giving. This will help you to make your own policies and strategies to market your product and beat the competition.

Look for a marketplace where there is a large number of customers and competition is low.

Tip #3: Catalog and Presentation Catches the Eyeball Attention

The presentation and catalog play a vital role in the online market because the customer cannot touch or feel your product. So, work hard on what you have presented in the catalog.

If you properly give details about your product in a presentable manner, then you can grab the attention of your customers and they will definitely buy your products.

Tip #4: Merchant Support Service

You will get different types of merchants in the marketplace like small, big, niche, and expert merchants.

You need to select a merchant which handles your customers’ queries and help you in making policies, displaying your products, and giving discounts.

Tip #5: ROI, Fee, and Margins

Before starting an eCommerce business, you need to identify:

  • How much margin you are getting from it?
  • What fees they are charging on returns?
  • What is their cancellation policy?
  • Which product is not available in the marketplace?

You should also determine which marketplace is providing better ROI in terms of visibility and sales.

Tip #6: Shipping Charges and Mechanism

Do you prefer shipping your products all by yourself or you want the marketplace to do it for you?

Different online portals have different schemes and charges for shipping your products.

If you are selling your product in the regional market, then it is better that you do the shipping yourself.

However, if you do not want to get into the fuss of shipping, let the marketplace do it and you just need to pay the charges for it.

For example
Flipkart usually charges 10%, if you ask them to ship your product.

Tip #7: System Access and Control

Before selecting a marketplace, you should know how much system access and controls a marketplace is giving to you.

Some marketplaces will not give you good access control and some will not even let you showcase all your products.

For Example

Amazon never shares the email Id of their buyers, as they say, it is not your buyer it’s our buyer. They are just taking your product over others.

Tip #8: Payment Mechanism

While starting an e-commerce business, do take care of the payment mechanism that the marketplace offers because you are investing in it; so, you’ll like to get good returns at a fixed interval of time.

If you are not getting the payment on time even after your stocks have sold out, then you won’t be able to buy new stock.

Amazon takes 14-90 days to pay back their customers, Flipkart takes 45-120 days and ShopClues takes 30-90 days.

Tip #9: Returns and Refunds

Sometimes, the marketplace gives a very small margin and it takes away all your money from the refund and return cycle. How? Let us study some cases.

Categories
Finance

Do You Want to Invest in Learning or Earning?

पटरी पर लौट रही अर्थव्यवस्था
पटरी पर लौट रही अर्थव्यवस्था

Introduction

  • Do you want to get unlimited growth in your life?
  • Do you want compounding growth?
  • Do you want to invest in learning?

Everyone is running after earnings, but sadly no-one wants to invest in learning. If you invest in your learning, earning will follow automatically.

”Best investment in your cash can anytime Crash, but the Best Investment in your Brain will give you the highest Gain.”

– Dr. Vivek Bindra

  

To understand the reason of why invest in yourself, read through the complete article.

Compounding Inflation

Compounding inflation shaves off your saving accounts. Before understanding compounding inflation, let us understand what is compounding effect.

When interest is applied to the interest of the principal amount, it is called compounding interest. This is the compounding effect.

So, inflation is decreasing your buying and purchasing capacity. It is eating away the actual value of your money.

Let us understand this with the help of some examples.

For Example

In 2000, the average fee of doing an MBA from an average college was Rs 200,000. The consequent salary package of that MBA student was Rs 300,000.

In 2015, the average fees of doing MBA was Rs 2,000,000 and the salary package that MBA students got was Rs 900,000.

This shows that the cost of education has increased 10 times but the cost of earning has increased only 3 times. This is called inflation.

Inflation is not just reducing your return on investment but it is also including negative growth.

Example:
 If the inflation rate is 8% and you are getting a return of 4% on your savings account. This implies that you are de-growing by 4%. It means that 50% of your money value is de-growing.

You are not experiencing growth in your life because the rate of inflation growth is higher than or equal to your salary growth.

Compounding Growth

If you are growing with compounding growth, then the inflation will become very small and you will become powerful.

Suppose 3000 Assistant Managers are promoted after every 3 years turn-by-turn in the car manufacturing company.

By this logic, there should be 3000 Directors and 3000 Chairman.

But this is not the case!

There is only one Chairman and a few Directors because people in lower bands are promoted initially but later their promotion takes place slowly.

Why invest in yourself?

When you stop investing in yourself, after a certain time, the turn-by-turn promotion stops coming.

You can get compounding growth only by ’out-of-turn promotion’ in which the salary packages increase with a very high percentage.

In such a case, an increase in inflation will not affect your growth.

How to get out-of-turn promotion?

You can get the out-of-turn promotion by investing in your brains.

All the millionaires have not become a millionaire by investing in the market but by investing in their business and their brains.

Whether you are an employee or an employer, there is only one way to grow – invest in learning, investing in your brains.

Some examples of millionaires who invest in learning:

Successful People

 Reading Habits
Bill Gates Reads 500 pages book in a day and 50 books in a year
Oprah Winfrey Reads one book in a month
Mark Zuckerberg Reads a book in every two weeks
Warren Buffett and Elon Musk They say that they are successful only because of reading book
So, eliminate the effect of inflation on your growth by investing in learning and the brain.

Categories
HR & People Management

7 Most Critical Recruitment Process Steps

Introduction

  • Are you unable to hire the right manpower in your organisation?
  • Do you know the right recruitment process steps for hiring the right person?

Hiring is a systematic process which decides your company’s fate. A wrong person hired in a hurry, without following the appropriate process, can ’disrupt your whole business’ and become the headache for your company.

A productive employee can make your business and an unproductive employee can break your business.

Hence, the hiring process is very crucial for building an organization’s future.

Below given 7 significant recruitment process steps
will help you hire the right person at the right position with the right process, which will help your organization grow.

Tips#1: Prepare, Plan and the Process

Before hiring a person you have to prepare the whole ’hiring process’ to access the qualities and capabilities of a candidate. You have to prepare:

  • Detailed job analysis
  • Job description and specifications
  • Job responsibilities
  • Job summary
  • Job purpose and importance
  • It’s value and contribution to the growth of a business.

It is a prerequisite of a recruiter to inform the candidate about the challenges he/she is going to encounter at the concert position.

Moreover, you have to prepare a systematic process to evaluate candidates-

  • Education
  • Experience
  • Skills
  • Knowledge
  • Competencies
  • Roles & Top 3 future goals

Tip #2: Internal Promotion or External Hiring

Before hiring an external person, you have to ascertain whether it can be replaced through internal job rotation/promotion or not.

Promoting an internal employee at a higher level of instills faith among your employees, which is good for your organization.

However, if you have decided to hire an external person, then you have to select an interview panel of expert and experienced persons in order to ascertain all aspects of a candidate.

It must include cross-functional people to judge different competencies of a candidate before hiring.

Tip #3: Cultural Fit

Another most important factor during the hiring process is whether an external person will be compatible with the working environment of your organization.

You need to ask the candidate:

  • What kind of working culture and environment does he like?
  • Which kind of boss does he like?
  • What is his dream job?
  • What is his comfort level?
  • What is his cultural background?

You must also figure out whether he/she is a team player or a single player.

Tip #4: Evaluate the Potential, Performance, Skill and Will

The interviewing process must evaluate the following traits of a candidate:

  • Potential:
    The interview process should be designed in such a way to judge the capabilities of a candidate which can be crucial for your organization’s growth.
  • Performance:
    Go through his performance in the previous job to check his performance.
  • Skill:
    Evaluate technical and soft skills which are required for a particular position.
  • Will:
    It is very important to access the level of commitment of a candidate towards his work.

While evaluating the competencies of a candidate, it is imperative to ensure that a candidate is neither a job hopper nor he has a long gap in career. Evaluate his promotions and talent progression in previous jobs.

Tip #5: Check the Hard Skill and Soft Skill

In your recruitment process steps following hard and soft skills need to be evaluated during the interview process:

Hard Skills:

  • Functional core competencies
  • Technical skills
  • Knowledge of statistical analysis and data mining
  • Network Information System
  • Digital Marketing (SEO or SME)
  • Accounting or Finance

Soft Skills:

  • Communication skills
  • Leadership, Motivation, Persuasion
  • Flexibility, Patience
  • Team Work, Problem-solving ability
  • Decision-making ability
  • Public Speaking, Verbal & Visual Communication

Tip #6: Check the Background and Reference

In order to ensure the best recruitment process, it is necessary to check the working performance of a candidate in his/her previous organization.

Most of the organizations do not check the background of a candidate before hiring, which sometimes results in hiring a candidate with an unimpressive record.

Categories
Motivational

How to Convert Failure into Success

घाटे में एमएसएमई सेक्टर
घाटे में एमएसएमई सेक्टर

Introduction

  • Have you failed in your personal or professional life?
  • Do you want to know how to overcome failure and achieve success in life?

If you never fail in your life, it means you have been playing way too safe. To grow everyone has to take risks in life.

The biggest risk in life that you can take is not taking any risk at all.

No man in history became successful without taking a risk. You have to take a risk which may fail you many times, but failing repeatedly will tell you how to convert failure into success.

Following are some tips that will help you direct your failure to success:

Don’t Make Excuses for your failure

Don’t complain that you failed due to the scarcity of resources.

Even if you don’t have resources, you have seamless potential to generate resources. Even if you don’t have the talent to become successful, you have the potential to create talent.

Now, let us understand how to convert failure into success.

You Have Seamless Potential

No matter how adverse situations are, or what talent and resources you have got, you have to imbibe enthusiasm to convert repeated failures into success.

According to 7th versus in 15th chapter of Bhagavad Gita:
mamaivamso jiva-loke

jiva-bhutah sanatanah

The verse says, ’All the living being in this world are my (Lord Krishna) eternal fragmented parts.’
In other words, Krishna has unlimited potential, therefore, you have the benefit of his unlimited potential because you are the part and parcel of Lord Krishna.

Make Maximum Use of Possibilities

Many people complain that they didn’t get a chance in their life to
become successful They go on magnifying difficulties and overlook seamless possibilities around them.

In mathematics, one problem has one solution, but in real life, one problem has many solutions.
Just focus on that solution which will solve your problem.

Circle of Difficulty and Circle of Possibility

Wherever your mind is focused, it gets zoomed. If you think that difficulty is big, then it will go on magnifying it, but if you focus on possibility, then it will become bigger enough to solve all your problems.

No Success without Failure

No person in history has ever created history without tasting some failures. You cannot understand how to convert failure into success until you face failure in your life.

There is a story of failures behind every successful person.

  • Figure out as many possibilities as possible around you and delete difficulties.
  • By focusing on possibilities you can convert every failure into success.
  • You can create a resource from resourcefulness.

Build a Positive Attitude

A bad attitude can never help anybody. So, shift your attitude towards positivity and possibilities, and stop focusing on obstacles.

The disease of negative attitude is far deadlier than diseases like Cancer and Brain stroke.

If you don’t help yourself, nobody in the world can help you to help yourself.

Categories
Marketing

How to Increase Sales with Low-Cost Marketing Ideas

Introduction

  • Do you want to know low cost marketing strategies?
  • Do you want to increase your sales with low-cost marketing ideas?

Many small shop owners and vendors do not make an effective marketing strategy for their product because they think that customers will automatically come to their shop/store.

Also, they have a misconception that marketing is a cost-intensive technique to increase sales.

As a result, they lose customers to their competitors.

In this article, we will discuss some interesting and tested low-cost marketing ideas and strategies to place your brand on the top without spending too much.



1. Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing helps to get the customer’s attention by generating a powerful memory in their mind through an unusual way of displaying the products at a very nominal budget.

Guerrilla marketing includes activities done exclusively on the streets or other public places to attract the mass audience.

Once a unique marketing idea reaches the market, it becomes the “talk of to town” But, the problem is that every talk becomes the talk of the town only for a short period until you work consistently on it.

2. Viral Marketing

Of the most important low-cost marketing strategies is Viral marketing which gives an extremely emotional experience to people so that they feel proud to share such things in their friend circle.

This experience is created through small shocks, too much happiness or excitement.

Categories
Process & Business Expansion

Importance of Distributor Selection Criteria

Distributor Selection Criteria

Introduction

  • Do you want to know how to select a distributor?
  • Do you have proper distributor selection criteria?

If you want to expand your business in the whole country, you should have a good distribution network. You should have a big distribution network including distributor, wholesaler, retailer, and dealers.

Partner or Distributor Selection Criteria

How can you grow exponentially with the help of proper criteria for the selecting and appointing distributors?

Selecting and appointing distributors involves the following activities:

  • Conduct the due diligence of your partners or distributors accurately.
  • Understand the pattern of the sales success and financial pattern of your partner or distributor.
  • Check the balance sheet of the distributor.
  • Check the profitability and Earnings before Interest, Depreciation, Tax, and Amortization (EBIDTA) of the distributor.
  • Determine the amount of cash and debt of the distributor.

If your distributor is in debt, he will try to come out of debt with your help while you are seeking his help to succeed.

In such a case, both of you won’t be able to succeed. So, distribution channel selection criteria play a vital role in the success of your business.

Recruitment Process Manager or Channel Partner Manager

Along with a strong distribution channel selection criteria, you need to establish a recruitment process to expand your business in the whole country.

Hire recruitment process manager. He/she will perform the following functions:

  • Check and search channel partners in all the territories of the country.
  • Understand the succession planning of different territories.
  • Identify the distributors and retailers who can replace the existing non-performing distributors and retailers.
  • Collect the professional relationship data of distributors and partners.
  • Forecast the sales of the company from different territories.
    Forecast the manpower required in different territories to expand the business.

Recruitment Package

  • Provide great offers and a total solution to the distributors and partners. Give proper training and services to the distributors and partners.
  • Make an exciting price catalogue for the distributors and partners so that they can estimate their Return on Investment (ROI) easily.
  • Provide demo team support and marketing support to the distributors and partners.
  • Show your media plan support, product customization feature, and testimonial references to the distributors and partners.
    Provide guarantee, warranty, free samples, scheme, and incentives to the distributors and partners.
  • Understand the business of your retailers and distributors.
    Identify how your retailers and distributors are earning and losing money.
  • Provide a clear goal to your distributors and partners.
    Provide an up-selling incentive to your distributors and partners.
  • Invest some money and time on distributors and partners by attending their family functions, conducting corporate lunch, etc. to build healthy relationships.

In some businesses, you don’t require a distributor or retailer. You can go online or build some alternative channels to reach your customers. You need to understand which channel is required in your business.

Categories
Motivational

How Successful People Become Successful

Introduction

  • How successful people become successful?
  • Do you know how to get successful?

Why only small proportions of people become successful?

Because according to a survey 95% of people are busy in proving themselves and only 5% are improving.

Proving is said to be the result score, and improving is said to be the effort score.

Proving is only the outcome; so, you should focus on improving.

Is there a Need to Change! Why?

Japan introduced a word
’KAIZEN’.

KAI means ’Change’ and ZEN means ’Good.’

So, KAIZEN means change for good.

It is the key to the competitive success of Japan in the World.

When America was busy gaining royalty for what they were doing, Japan was busy gaining loyalty. As a result, people say that American products are good but they buy Japanese products.

People who focus on royalty, neither gets loyalty nor get royalty.

People in Japan have implemented KAIZEN everywhere. They have used the ABCD model for the implementation of KAIZEN.

Meaning ABCD: A= Zero Accident | B=Zero breakdown | C= Zero Cost of wastage| D= Zero Defect

KAIZEN means continuous improvement starting from the manufacturing to all the business processes. They continuously improve all these processes and are reducing the defects. This is how successful people become successful.

The most notable feature of KAIZEN is that big results come from many small changes accumulated over a period of time.

Based on KAIZEN let’s discuss about a few crucial tips to be successful in life.

Ritualistic Continuous Improvement (RCI)

RCI is the surest way to almost zero defect life.

Ritualistic

It means you have made it a ritual. You are going to do it everywhere you go, every time and in every circumstance.

Continuous

It is not an activity, it is a process. You need to do it over and over again.

Improvement

It will work on improvement.

So, if you are continuously improving yourself and make it your ritual, then you will NEVER FAIL.

how successful people become successful can be understood better with example as below:

Example

Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli used to play together.  Vinod Kambli was a better player than Sachin during that time. But, one day, when a slower bouncer hit Vinod Kambli on his helmet, he quit playing.

On the other hand, Sachin was hit on his body many times but he stood up each time. He continuously worked on improving himself and today, he is called the God of Cricket.

Success Mantra: How fast are you creating your Success Rituals?

People are rewarded in public for what they are practicing in private. This is called Ritualistic Continuous Improvement (RCI).

It is the common reason of how successful people become successful or the failure of every person. Those people who are continuously improving themselves are successful and those who are not improving themselves continuously have faced failure.

GKI – Gap between your Knowledge and Implementation
Are you implementing the knowledge and the frameworks that you study or create?

Are you making your actionable or not? If you are not implementing your knowledge, then this is the GKI.

If you want to grow or become successful in life, start filling the gap between your knowledge and implementation.

I Know Better (IKB) Syndrome is a new disease that is surrounding many people around them. This is the biggest reason for their failure.

Categories
Business Case Studies

How to Start Quick Service Restaurant?

Introduction

The idea of starting a food restaurant, definitely, would have crossed your mind once in a lifetime. Isn’t it?

But are you confused,

  • Whether to start a QSR or FSR?
  • How to start a quick service restaurant in India?
  • Which, QSR would be more successful?

 

If you have decided to start QSR, then how to start it and make it successful would be your next objective!

No need to be confused further. Here we will discuss the ways how to start quick service restaurant and make it successful?

 

How QSR Differs from FSR?

Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) offers fast food at a reasonable price and minimum time. The concept of QSR is evolving fast because today, people neither have time nor patience.

In QSR, the fixed menu is prepared in bulk in the semi-cooked form so that whenever the customer requires they can provide the food in minimum time while maintaining its quality.

Full-Service Restaurant (FSR) offers complete cuisine, like Chinese, Thai, Indian, Continental, etc. It is good for fine dining and it is comparatively expensive. Here, people come to spend some time and eat lavish, and so, the ambiance is also designed accordingly.

Full-Service Restaurant usually does not prepare a lot of food in advance because of the variety they offer and hence, it takes time for them to prepare food.

Reasons for the Success of QSR

Starting a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) has become a norm. Why this is so? Let’s see the reasons for its success of QSR:

  • Limited Menu.
  • Semi-cooked food items (Repetition of the same items).
  • Franchisor and Franchisee both are easily available in the market.
  • The actual cost per meal is less due to bulk production and bulk cooking.
  • Easy to replicate; so, sales volume increases.
  • Outlets are ready whether it is Mall, Railway station or Market Area.
  • Delivers tasty food within minutes.

 

How to Start Quick Service Restaurant?

Below given are 10 Tips to start a successful Quick Service Restaurant in India:

Tip #1: Innovation in Product and Process

Quick service restaurant industry needs continuous innovation in cooking and process of cooking.

Example:

Burger Singh delivers the Burger as other fast food restaurants do but with a different name and taste, viz., Chana Burger, Rajma Burger, Keema Pao, Patiala Shahi, Amritsari, Udta Punjab, etc.

Do not present a food recipe in a simple way;

try to represent them in a different way.

Tip #2: Use of Technology

Today, your business processes should be digitalized to make it successful. In a QSR, use of software and technology helps in – Taking Orders, Billing, Inventory holding, Backend support of Supply Chain Management, and Managing things in a better way.

Tip #3: Standardized operations for Progression

In QSR, you must have-

  • Centralized Procurement
  • Receiving Supply- 1. Good quality 2. Timely Delivery
  • Stocking and Inventory Management- 1. Fast Product 2. Slow Product 3. Non-Moving Product

Tip #4: Quality Control and Continuous Audit

You must have quality control at each and every department of your QSR business whether it is- Cooking, Delivery, Packaging, Services or Billing.

Do a proper audit of every outlet as well as Mother Kitchen.

Also, take care of following things -Hiring, Training, Handling Complaints, Making Reports, Quality Service, Safety, Cleaning, and Maintenance.

Tip #5: Retention of Quality Manpower at Affordable Rates

To be successful in quick service restaurant in India, you should retain quality manpower at affordable rates.

You need not hire an executive-level chef or a celebrity chef because food recipes and ingredients are already fixed. So, try to retain good staff at an affordable cost.

Categories
Motivational

How to Connect With Anyone

Introduction

  • Do you want people to trust your brand?
  • Do you want to become an Effective Communicator?

Well! We all want that. Isn’t it?

But, do you know that without building the ability to Convince and Influence people, you won’t be able to communicate your Unique Value and Ideas to the World.

Let’s read further to know those 3 Powerful Tips on How to connect with people by which you will be able to Easily Impress, Convince and Inspire those around you.

In this article, we are sharing 3 ways to connect with people, which will enable you to impress and convince anyone.

Tip #1: Become a Connector Detector

Business is Logical but People are Emotional. Every Person has a Connector. All you have to do is ’ find the Connector!

There is always a way to connect with people.

You might have seen Security Guards and Policemen using a Metal Detector to Detect Metal.

Similarly, you will have to Detect a Connector in People to be a Connector Detector.

For Example

If a person comes to a mobile shop and says, “The battery of the phone drains off easily”. Now this problem is a connector because the battery problem is causing a problem to the customer.
OR,
If there is a person who comes and says, “The phone hangs a lot”. Now this problem is also a connector. Do not let this connector go, just hang on tot it and hold it tightly.

 

Make sure that you do not go into the Auto-Biographical Listening
it is not about communication; it is about Comm-you-nication.

It is not about informing people, it is about involving people.

Every person has their own Needs, Interests, Concerns, and Expectations (N.I.C.E) and from these set only you get the Connector.

You don’t have to find a connector that will be from your life, find it from other’s life.

You don’t have to be interesting; you need to be interested in other people’s interests or problems. The moment you get interested in someone, the other person starts feeling connected with you.

  • You cannot influence people by just talking about you.
  • To influence or convince others you need to make them know that you are interested in them.

The connector could be from anything, viz., Sports, Music, Movie, Tech & Gadget, etc. You do not have to delve deep into this. Rather you just have to catch the first two-three lines to find the Connector.

Once you have find the Connector, Just Repeat it!

How to Connect With People Through Parroting & Paraphrasing

The most powerful techniques in finding a Connector are Parroting and Paraphrasing.

The moment you find the Connector, quickly do Parroting and Paraphrasing to Repeat it.

When one person says something and you repeat it, the other person feels connected with you. He feels happy and comfortable.

So, the first step to convince anyone is to get connected.

Tip #2: RAPP Analysis

Meaning: R= Recreation | A= Aspiration | P=Profession | P= Problem

How to connect with people better by doing RAPP Analysis of people?

Once you get connected with the other person, now you can dig deep into their life. Now you need to talk with:

Empathy? not with Sympathy?

In this, you need to know:

What makes the person happy, excited and what gives him recreation?

This depends on your intent and not content, the deeper you go, the better it is for you.

What is Auto-Biographical Listening?

Example 1:

If you show your mobile to someone, he comments ’you have only 4GB RAM, this is nothing I have 6GB’

Example 2:

If you say, I walked for 3 Km, he says, this is nothing to what I used to walk.

So, the above examples show why people are unable to connect with each other.

Through this process of understanding the problem of the person -NICE analysis ’ you can better understand ways to connect with people, anywhere instantly.

Tip #3: Building a Lifetime Impression
How to connect with people better by building a lifetime impression in people’s mind?

Impression means pictures, and when you create a very good and strong impression in one’s mind then you can have very good communication with the person. So, even if you think that you are unable to