Hi Guys,
Recently I read
the book ‘It Happened in India’. It is the story of Kishore Biyani, the owner
of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar and Central. It is an autobiography type book with
inputs from other people as well.
How I started
reading this book is an interesting story. I went to college along with friend
in order to meet our project guide. After meeting, my friend went to the
college office for getting bonafide certificate to apply for passport. In the
meantime, I went to Library and was just skimming through the books and this
book caught my attention. I started reading the first 3 pages and I was
impressed. I just borrowed the book home and started reading. It was such a
fantastic book to read.
The book starts
with the story of January 26, 2006 when Big Bazaar announced special offers to
attract customers and the shops were flooded with sea of people and had to be
shut down to avoid damage. Kishore Biyani is a very energetic man and he always
thinks in terms of Indian Customers. His main objective from first day was ‘Rewrite
Rules, Retain Values’
He divides India
into three sets – India One, India Two and India Three. India 1 accounting for
14% of the population is the elite group and they are the main spenders. India
2 comprising of 55% of population is the middle class and they avoid the places
India One visits. Kishore Biyani says that this is the main consuming class and
making them to come to visit Big Bazaar is the main advantage of the store. By
strong advertisement, he built the brand and his team also visited the areas
where the Indian – two lived and understood their lifestyle and needs.
After saying
about the Indian Customers, he goes into his early life. Living in a joint
family whose business is textile mills. He was always different from others and
his family members constantly opposed him. The book then zips through his
college life, where he accepted many responsibilities. He then joined family
business.
He says ‘There
are three kinds of entrepreneurs – creators, preservers and destroyers’
His fathers and uncles were preservers and he wanted to be a creator. So he
left the business and started experimenting. Though his father disliked it, he
didn’t stop him. The next phase of his life was setting up the readymade apparel
store Pantaloons. From 1980s to 2000, he tried different brands and struggled a
lot, before he built the brand and set up the giant.
In this phase he
also tried to increase capital by getting into stocks. He says that he was
always willing to take risks and never worried about the future. Towards 2000,
the thought of setting a hypermarket was in his mind. He knew that the structure
of foreign retailing won’t be suitable for our country.
When he was
unsure of how the response will be, he came across Saravana Stores in Chennai
and he was amazed by the response there. Its mantra was ‘Low cost, high turnover’
and he says that the multi – storied building and everlasting crowd cleared all
his doubts. He says that he did two changes to the concept – Saravana was
family business, Big Bazaar is not and he improved the customer service in Big
Bazaar. He says that people think Big Bazaar was inspired by the
Walmarts of the world, but actually it was inspired by the Saravana Stores.
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| Brands started by Kishore Biyani |
He then goes
into the starting of the Big Bazaar and spreading it. He says he believes in
Win-win-win strategy, a strategy which the seller, the distributor and the
customer – all are benefited and profited. He says it leads to long term
relationship.
He is so open in
the book and he openly says the strategies by which he attracts the people. He
says the main aim to draw the money from the people’s wallet or to make people
spend more.
After this he
says about setting the Central Mall, which is a decentralized mall and a place
where anyone can sell their product and they need to give commission only for
sold products. Or, it’s more like a village bazaar, where all products are sold
at a common place.
The book is so
energetic and refreshing. Dipayan Bashya has done a great work in integrating
all the people’s thoughts and also presenting Kishoreji’s thoughts in a crisp
manner. A must read book for people who want to know about the retail setup of
India.
The book I have
is priced at Rs. 99 (2007 edition), but when I checked in Flipkart, I found the
price is increased now (MRP: Rs. 195 – Flipkart gives 30% discount).
Happy Reading!!!
