“Making contrarian decisions at a cost that break you away from the herd, and doing things a little different from the rest” will be defining in the history of growing businesses, said Hemu Ramaiah, Managing Director, Shop 4 Solutions at a TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) meet here on Thursday.

Ramaiah who originally founded the Landmark bookstores in 1987 with an investment of ₹12 lakh , said, “We did something that nobody had done before, that is to sell general books only unlike other bookstores that carried 85 per cent text to survive.” The Landmark chain of bookstores is now a part of Tata group.

Ramaiah said that emerging entrepreneurs should understand the industry before branching out on their own. “Most of the entrepreneurs don’t have a plan about what to do five years hence and where do they want to take their business,” said Ramaiah.

Ramaiah said that once the business starts, reputation building becomes vital for the outcome. Focus should also be paid in staying ahead of the trend and innovate based on buyers’ requirement.

V Rajesh, Consultant and Trainer, Retail SME, said customers’ perspective has undergone a tremendous change in the past three decades, from shopping for necessity in physical stores to online and offline shopping for convenience.

“Repetition is the key to loyalty, so to bring back consumers, it is necessary to understand their needs and stock them in the store,” Rajesh said.

He added that it is essential to overcome the purchasers’ mind blocks using surveys at regular intervals, as it would have a significant impact in the business. Jai Subramaniam, Co-Founder of Shop 4 Solutions, said, “The role of e-commerce in retail, especially in the food and grocery space in India, will be important since the delivery cost in India is much cheaper than it is in the US.”

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