question hour. The year ahead in business

The year ahead in business

A new year has begun. What’s ahead in the world of business?

Mumbai

Mohita, wish I was a seer. I can only attempt a trend-spotting reply to this question. Here are three quick trends.

Mergers, acquisitions, and burn-outs as well. Those who are able to leverage their retail play well will merge and acquire. Those who are No 4 and below in the pecking order will struggle, and those who are the also-rans much beyond in the queue will fold up.

There is going to be a bloodbath with e-commerce and e-retail giving the traditional modern retailer a run for his long-invested money. This will happen in every terrain, whether it be durables, telecom, electronics, fast moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals or fresh vegetables and fruits, for that matter. Many modern retailers will invest in e-commerce as well. E-commerce players will eventually invest in the modern physical retail formats as well. This might be interesting to watch, as cash-rich e-commerce players will look at physical outlets as a great valuation play. That’s taking the battle into the terrain of the already embattled brick-and-mortar retailer.

A city is also a brand. How is its image crafted?

New Delhi

Sapra ji , a city brand image is crafted by many elements. It is a lot about its history, heritage, people, culture, attitude to life, attitude to business and most certainly it is all about conveniences and city infrastructure as well.

To an extent, a city is all about a way of life. There is a New York way, just as there is a Boston way and a Delhi way.

A strong brand identity helps project cities to those that don’t know too much about it. When a city picks up its dominant USPs and tom-toms it around, it helps cement that as a memory-tag that will come to the fore when wanted and needed. Businesses are about people. And people live and work and entertain themselves in a city as well. Therefore, what is important ultimately is the way the city projects its work culture, its physical infrastructure, its ease of commute, its entertainment abilities and attitudes, and most certainly more.

I work for an old brand of undergarments in India. We are very popular. We are seriously thinking of extending the brand to a brand of umbrellas. How do you react?

Mumbai

Panda ji , I do not react very favourably. My suggestion would be to go for a new brand name altogether.

India is a typical old-world market for brands. Just as long as a brand is a clearly defined ‘one thing’, consumers are happy. A brand is a focused entity. It must mean just one thing, and preferably just one category. To that extent, India does not like brand extensions. They are seen as frivolities. And brands are not meant to be frivolous.

Brands tend to spread themselves a bit too thin at times. When a brand moves beyond its comfort zone of core competence, then there is trouble.

The advantage of brand extension is that you spend less money to build salience. When you piggy-back on the existing name, you tend to spend less and achieve big in terms of awareness for the brand. The disadvantage is that awareness does not translate into enough traction in the space of interest development in the brand. It is even weaker when it comes to converting interest into desire to buy. Think again before your brand becomes an umbrella from being a pair of briefs.

Harish Bijoor is a brand strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Mail your queries to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in

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