Silver Jubilee Year celebrations begin!

I was almost in tears when I was informed that I have been posted in the Group’s HQ city as a Management Trainee for a year. 

I walked in to the office of Ms. Latha Nambisan, the General Manager of Human Resources at the time and was almost in tears that this had happened to me among the 2 dozen MBA students who had joined the company, for I have not crossed the city’s borders even for a vacation (sic). 

She gave me her warm, trademark smile as ever and said that this would be the best thing to happen to me in my career and that I wouldn’t regret. It was she, along with Mr. Dasharatharaman (Dash) and the late Retail legend Raghu Pillai, who recruited me after my MBA in Marketing from ITM Chennai.

She was right and her statements, true. I am deeply thankful to the Management at the eponymous RPG Group, which gave me this incredible opportunity so I could share my story one day. 

The only solace for me then, was I could listen to music all day – for the retail format I would work for, sold cassettes and CDs across languages and genres.

After 3-weeks of corporate induction at Spencers Plaza in Chennai where RPG Retail was head quartered, I was put on the 2nd class coach of an a/c compartment – a first in my life – on Coromandel Mail to Kolkata, where I would join Musicworld as Assistant Manager from this day –25th June 2001.

When I reached the Howrah city Railway station in the wee hours, all I could smell was fish and shrimp, coupled with the unique smell of river Ganges which joins the sea here, ending her journey which begins in the Himalayas.

I couldn’t miss the buzz of a city where the majority is hardworking (though a few are hardly working!), as I traversed in a taxi crossing the famed Howrah Bridge and snaked through the narrow roads and bylanes laid by the British 100 years ago.

Since I had reached a day earlier of my date of joining, I decided to take a stroll down “Park Street”, the eponymous shopping destination in downtown Calcutta at the time. There, I met my Area Manager, Dipra Jha who, to my surprise was working on a Sunday!

I introduced myself to him and he welcomed me warmly to the city of joy and wished me a wonderful career in retail. He then showed me the section which had music from “Southern India” and asked me to redo the entire collection in 2-weeks.

When I formally joined the next day, I was treated with so much of warmth by my first boss and Area Manager Sanjeev Rao and the HR Manager, Partha Bhattacharya, who treated me for lunch at the city’s most famed Peter Cat restaurant, followed by pastries at Flurys.

Over the next 5-days (and the months I spent there), my colleagues – all locals, gave me the desired comfort for an outsider and guided me to find a small dwelling. 

I chose to live independently at New Alipore. The country’s first Metro Rail ran in the city and the stations at my departure and arrival destinations where a 3-min walk. 

I didn’t even have a basic kitchenette in my room but had a stereo system with 2-large speakers and a centre unit with a 3-disc player and could play 2 cassettes!

All I had taken to Calcutta were my beloved music system, a few clothes and 2 pairs of shoes. What I brought back was unforgettable memories, a few relationships that I still cherish and the man I became personally and the Retailer I would later become professionally. Of course, I learned conversational Bengali too…

I would travel across River Ganges to Belur Math and Dakshineshwar temple, to Kalighat temple, Birla Mandir and the Alipore Zoo during my off-days and sometime walk back 7kms to my home, from Park Street. 

Every third day or so, the store would host music album releases and I had the opportunity to meet several celebrities during this period. Saurav Da was a frequent visitor. And so was our MD, Shri Sanjeev Goenka of the formerly unified RPG Group.

Food was an issue, being a vegetarian. But after sunset, I partied heavily at famed watering holes in town such as the London Pub,  Someplace Else, Trincas, etc. with friends and acquaintances. 

Since DJs would frequent my store to explore new music, I became their “beloved” guest at the Pub and would announce me on their hand mikes as an eligible and newest bachelor in town to the crowds at large, even as I would hide in embarrassment. 

Along with local friends, I danced all night to drumbeats seeing off Goddess Durga to the sea after Navarathri, watched the horror of 9/11 that fateful day at a friend’s place having dinner, attended so many parties across the clubs of town and even travelled overnight to Siliguri where the second Musicworld store came up. 

The 2002 New Year “rave” party was one to remember all my life. Enough said, I say! 

Being a bachelor, I offered to my bosses that I can work on Sunday, so they could spend time with their families. This also meant, I could learn the retail business in detail, as most of the shopping would happen on a Sunday, especially post noon and the mostly in the evening.

Back in the day, Musicworld Park Street was the largest music store in Asia, spread over 7,000 sq ft in a single floor with a 18 ft ceiling, designed by globally renowned Fitch PLC and hosting listening pods on pillars by Japanese music giant Nakamishi.

The store would record monthly sales of INR 60 lakhs and above. We would sell 40,000 - 50,000 units of music cassettes and over 3,000 units of CDs a month, with an average selling price of INR 30 per cassette for Bengali and Hindi music, and INR 200 for CDs of Indian languages and INR 300 for western music. 

During the month of December 2001, we recorded a monthly revenue of INR 96 lakhs, the highest ever done by the store in its history. By 2010, the music industry had moved away completely from hardware to digital and the last few MW stores were shut down as well. 

But for this unplanned escapade to a town that I feared so much and the initial days of learning in grassroots retailing, I wouldn’t have been able to remain so firmly over the last 2.5 decades in the Industry. Dhonyobad Kolkata… 

Celebrating our 11th year, I had launched the new website for my Business Advisory Firm Miles2Go Consulting Services on 14th April 2025 www.MilesToGo.in with an ambitious vision to file for an IPO in 2030 and to become the first Business Advisory Firm India too do so. Let’s see. 

Idli, Dosa and a lot of hype!

Finally, took time out to visit the much hyped Rameshwaram Cafe during my latest trip to Bangalore. 

As an ardent foodie, a student of Retail for 27 years and an avid observer of consumer behaviour, I wonder what are they doing so differently for all the hype around. 

It was 8.30pm when I visited the outlet at JP Nagar, one of the busiest neighbourhoods of namma Bengaluru. The place was quite crowded with over 50% non-Kannadigas.

The food I had - button Idli and benne (butter) Dose (Dosa is pronounced that way in typical Kannada!) was normal, usual and as tasty as any other similar eating joint in Bengaluru. 

There were just too many staff in the preparation area - perhaps each part of the making process had arms. 

This leads to a higher cost of operation, but is perhaps recovered with high prices of the menu items! 

Finally, I too lived the hype. Been there, done that. Tick mark on my bucket list.  

But why has the restaurant, now with a few branches and also on a franchise mode garnered so much PR & free publicity? 

I truly didn’t find anything so remarkable in their offering that makes them stand out. Perhaps the name. Perhaps the way they have positioned. 

Possibly, the speed of delivery (my dosa took more time than it would take otherwise in a similar outlet). Am still wondering the what and why of the PR outreach the cafe garnered. 

Here’s wishing them a good run and a great future.

GoV, GMV and Profitability

In a recent post on this platform, one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs Aadit Palicha cribbed how a competitor employee was maligning Zepto - his company’s reputation to potential investors.

For those who may have missed, Zepto is currently raising secondary investment ahead of their much touted IPO.

During their last funding round in 2024, the company was valued at USD 3.5 Bn, perhaps the first ecommerce platfiorm and the fastest to reach such sky high valuations.

In that post, he also shared several details, according to this article which breaks it down.

He says the monthly GoV including Ad-revenues and sales of Fruits and Vegetables in currently INR 2,400 Cr.

Say, INR 300 Cr comes from advertising revenues pm.

Then, it is about INR 70 Cr per day and with an estimated 700 dark stores, that’s 10 lakh per location every single day. Top Hypermarkets in India do not report such daily sales numbers! But Zepto does. Investor money, after all.

With a bill value of INR 350, that’s 2,000 daily transactions. A delivery boy makes around 60 deliveries day and earns up to INR 30 per order. 

Let’s assume Zepto makes a Gross Margin of 20% on each order. That’s INR 70, of which they pay almost half to the driver (which includes fuel cost). 

With the balance, will the dark store, including corporate costs ever be profitable? If so, then every kirana store in this country would have been a rupee millionaire at best. Reality is different. 

I really wish Zepto good luck in their endeavours but will they ever be PAT positive?

Job Openings - Miles2Go Retail

As the new Financial Year began on 1 Apr. ‘25, we set-out a clear path of action to accomplish our goals over the next 60 months. 

We are charging ahead with a single Vision - to become the first Management Consulting Firm in India to file an Initial Public Offering - IPO by 2030.

Quite ambitious, some said. Stupid, a few quipped - on my face and behind. Never mind.

“A dream is not what you get in your sleep, rather one that doesn’t let you to sleep” - famous quote by my mentor, Late Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India. 

So, I decided to go ahead and dream, and work it off to accomplish what I have set out to, with the support of our esteemed Clients who have reposed faith in us since 2014, when I first began Miles2Go Consulting Services.

As a beginning, we launched our revamped website on 14 Apr. ‘25, when the new Solar calendar began and the Sun began its journey in a new direction, in a new phase, just like us!

We have also launched our exclusive offering KAVACCH™ which we believe would be of great use to our Clients. Checkout our website to know more about our focussed approach. Visit www.MilestoGo.in to know more. 

Incidentally, we have already started putting things together for our ongoing Client engagements.

We have immediate opportunity for pursuing and completed Graduates and Post Graduates. Calling Boys & Girls in Chennai & Bangalore. 

We are offering a plethora of roles in the following areas of work - 

• Offline Retail
• ECommerce 
• Quick Commerce
• Omni-Channel Retail
• Travel & Tourism
• Data Analytics 
• Retail Technology 

We are currently catering to Clients in the following Industries, while more are in the pipeline -

• Fashion Retail
• FMCG - Organic Food 
• FMCG - New Product Development
• Tea, Coffee & Cafes
• EV Retail & related areas
• Furniture & Lifestyle

Salary range starts from INR 3-4 Lpa + incentives for freshers and those without any formal experience in the Retail Industry. For those who carry 2-4 years experience, expect salary ranges upwards INR 7 Lpa. 

For those with over 10 years’ experience, we have roles which offer over INR 15-25 Lpa. Needless to say, salary levels would only go up as one’s experience reflects.

We have also opened up ‘Recruitment’ as a business service from this FY. 

Currently we are recruiting for various roles across clients in FMCG, QSR, Lifestyle products, Apparel & Fashion. These jobs will soon be posted on our Linkedin Page.

If you know someone who might fit our requirements, then please ask them to send their resumes to Shri@MilesToGo.in

We have just begun. Miles To Go…

S. Shriram

CEO - Miles2Go Consulting Services

Based in Chennai, catering world over!

Why Visual Merchandising matters

VM is all about attracting a padserby, making the passerby curious about the product and attempting to make the curiosity convert in to sales. 

Loosely, this is what I was taught over 2 decades ago during my days at Foodworld Supermarkets as a Store Manager. 

I couldn’t but resist taking a pic of this display at Bengaluru Railway Station this morning. 

The packs are all neatly displayed and the various brands and categories are clearly visible. 

Just one thing… many packs are displayed upside down!!! 

Marketings teams, along with their packaging & design teams, followed by advertising support teams spend ₹₹₹ to promote the brands and the business. 

However, the devil lies in the detail. And Retail is all about detail, after all. 

The sales executives who visit the shops regularly should probably coach and train the shopkeepers for better display. 

“It anyway sells” would be the shopkeeepers response. Rightfully so. 

But the brand is not his!

Does EBIDTA mean much for businesses?

I was in a review meeting with a client recently and we were going through the store level profitability with the CFO. Around 100 stores across India. 

The sales team were quick to point out that many stores were profitable after paying rents and salaries. 

Let alone the store fixtures’ depreciation, they were not considering the proportionate cost of warehousing and logistics as well as back office overheads. If the brand marketing costs (incl. making the Ads and releasing them) as well as Leadership + Management salaries were considered, then the bottomline was a pittance.

Yet, everyone wants to feel good about EBITDA, as if it were the holy grail of a retail business.

EBITDA positive is the first stept towards achieving a profitable and valuable business, no doubt. 

But to feel excited just because there is enough margin after fixed and variable costs is the single most reason why brands drown the drain.

Another example, for renting stores, deposits are paid to landlords which carry no interest. 

However, a notional interest @ 12% should be recorded in the P/L, as this is pure working capital being deployed elsewhere.

In another example, a client wanted to purchase a truck rather than renting out citing higher efficiency. 

What the Client did not consider was the interest cost of the asset if it was borrowed from the bank (let alone from cash acruals) and / or, the efficiency of such cash if it was invested in a Capex (they run a factory too) which would yield finished goods that would fetch revenues.

It’s high time Corporate Leaders stop giving so much importance to EBITDA and leave the joy of celebrating it to the newage StartUps and their Investors rejoice over this word.

Not sorry for being blunt. This is what a true and honest Retail Management Consultant would say, after all. 

Wish to have a no-obligation consultative meeting for your requirements? Mail me - Shri@MilestoGo.in

Bottomless Coffee anyone?

Seated at Third Wave Coffee outlet in Bangalore for the last 2 hrs preparing an important presentation. Done with a cappuccino already and going for the second one. 

The cafe has around 32 covers and there are atleast a dozen guests who have been here since the time I arrived. All of them are busy with their devices - someone is writing codes, another is working on something, another on a video call and one is even watching a movie (I didn’t prowl their screens - just giving a distant glance, so not intruding anyone’s privacy). 

I would reckon the cafe had no more than 10 bills cut in the last 2 hours and each bill size is around Rs. 600, so that’s Rs. 6,000 over 2 hours. Assuming they operate for 12 hours a day, on a weekend, the cafe would have an average turnover of no more than Rs. 30,000 (weekdays will be still lower). 

Like how multiplexes and pubs offer unlimited popcorn or beer for an incremental price, what if cafes offer unlimited cappuccino for a certain price, but to be consumed within, say 3 hours? 

This would be a great way to sweat the same table, than letting customers use the real estate for an unlimited period of time and without contributing much revenues. 

Of course, this should be an option to consumers and not a forced fit. 

Are there any such cafes doing this already in India or elsewhere in the world? 

I recall Pizza Corner offering unlimited pizza and bottomless pepsi / fanta in the late 90s in Chennai and during my college days, my friends and I have ransacked the place many a time!