Damas CEO quits

Arabian Business reported today that the managing director and CEO of UAE jewellery retailer Damas International left the company after admitting to being responsible for unauthorised payments worth up to $165m. The company announced that it has accepted Tawhid Abdulla’s resignation.The luxury retailer said in a statement that he had stepped down "due to his disclosure to the Board of what is understood to be unauthorised transactions conducted by him".

Read the full story here.

The 10 rules of Sam Walton

The 10 Rules of Sam Walton:

Rule # 1 COMMIT to achieving success and always be passionate

Rule #2 SHARE your success with those who have helped you

Rule #3 MOTIVATE yourself and others to achieve your dreams

Rule #4 COMMUNICATE with people and show you care

Rule #5 APPRECIATE and recognize people for their effort and results

Rule #6 CELEBRATE your own and other's accomplishments

Rule #7 LISTEN to others and learn from their ideas

Rule #8 EXCEED EXPECTATIONS of customers and others

Rule #9 CONTROL EXPENSES and save your way to prosperity

Rule #10 SWIM UPSTREAM, be different, and challenge the status quo

Mr. Sam followed his rules with passion, rarely deviating from them throughout his life. Each of Sam's 10 Rules is easily understandable by others and can be duplicated by others in their own businesses and personal lives. They do require a high degree of commitment and discipline to successfully implement. Oftentimes it is the breakdown in the execution of personal success strategies like Sam Walton's, not the strategies themselves, which lead to failures. To understand the 10 rules is to understand Mr. Sam's coaching playbook. Entwined in each of his rules are reoccurring themes about leadership, innovation, commonsense, hard work, simplification, the power of positive thinking, and how to treat people. This is why his 10 rules for success and “The Sam Walton Way” are so widely adaptable and applicable for just about anyone.

Extracted from What Can You Learn From “The Sam Walton Way?” by Michael Bergdahl, International Speaker

Retail in 2010

Most retailers in the UAE expect reasonable growth in 2010, according to a new survey. Almost a year ater the financila crisis hit Dubai and after having seen sales drop significantly, 94% of the retailers polled by Emirates Business said that the sector would grow in 2010. Of those, more than half of the retail giants questioned (55.5 percent), said the growth would be between five and 10 percent, the paper reported on Wednesday.

Almost 28 percent said they believed growth would be between 11-20 percent, and 11 percent said they were upbeat and put growth between 21-30 percent.Only five percent said they believed there would be no growth at all next year.

Read the Emirates Business 24-7 report here

"The financial crisis has not really had an adverse effect in the Middle East and other Gulf countries. We, being a homegrown brand, have done quite well as we cater mainly to the local population. As for the international brands, a huge portion of tourist population comprises its customer base and with the fall in tourism, the sales for international brands are bound to decline," - Mohamad Iqbal Yacoobali, General Manager, Shoe Mart.

The experience economy

Customer is the KING in Retail?? For that matter customer in any business is always the king.

In the textbook sense, customer service is identified as the manner in which customer is treated upon entering a store and dealt with. It includes the employees and policies, practices and procedures the businesses put to use. However, there is no guide book on delivering the best in customer service, rather it is an instinct, which continues to evolve even today.

We are in the customer experience business where future purchase is directly impacted by how customers feel about doing a business with us, rather than what they think about our product / service. Experiences are what customers’ value most. Hence business must be finely tuned to what customers think and feel.

We should never lose sight of our customers; strive to understand their needs and buying patterns. In order to build and sustain customer insight a company must maintain constant contact with it's customers. Means are many; use the most appropriate ones.

When an entire Organization is imbued (filled) with the kind of empathy for customers, employees are more likely to anticipate and respond to customers in a consistent and reinforcing manner.

The total customer experience is affected by signals, which leave lasting impression on shoppers. These signals may be rational or emotional, each carrying a message, suggesting something to the customers. Sensitizing our people to recognize and evaluate customer signals is an essential part of experience management. The goal is always the same: Eliminate negative signals, overhaul neutral ones to enhance a positive impact; and insert a variety of positive signals that encourage BRAND LOYALTY.

Welcome to the experience economy, where what you sell is less important than how you sell it. Forget about product differentiation, retail today is in short supply of distinct experiences, create one, and we will establish a long-term relationship with our customers. Our competitors may be able to match our services, product/service feature for feature, but the experiences we create are ours alone. This is our true “COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE”

Contrubted by M Radhakrishnan - MMB Six Sigma

Radhakrishnan can be contacted at raadha@rediffmail.com

World's largest candy shop opens in Dubai

Candylicious, a 10,000 sq.ft. candy shopped opened its doors to Dubai residents today. Located at Dubai, Candylicious is the largest andy shop in the world. A concept by 'Retail is Detail, Candylicious will be a delight for the young and the old. Read more here

Sam Walton’s Simplified 5-P’s of Retail

Sam Walton’s Simplified 5-P’s of Retail - Product, Price, Place, Promotion & People

Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart) didn’t follow the 5-P’s to the letter but I’m certain he incorporated each of the 5-P’s into the rest of his strategies and tactics. Having said that I’ll try to provide my simplified description of what I think were Sam’s beliefs about the 5-P’s as follows:

Product: Sam used an outside/in approach to product selection. He asked his customers and his own employees for product ideas and he shopped his competitor's stores for ideas. Of course he also asked his supplier network for product ideas and Sam was one of the first to establish true "vendor partnerships."

Price: While everyone else in retail was using a cost/plus pricing model in an attempt to see how much they could get for every item, Sam tried to figure out how little he could get (charge) for every item and still make a razor thin profit. Under Sam Walton’s Discounting Philosophy, he might make half as much profit per item, compared to his competitors, but he'd sold such tremendous product volumes that he'd make a greater profit overall. This was his EDLP strategy which is what discounting is all about: high volume and low margins generating big dollar profits.

Place: In the early days Sam was the first to admit his stores were poorly merchandised when compared to the planogrammed stores of today. In bygone days brands were king receiving the best shelf position, but not anymore. Wal-Mart’s private label products now receive preferential treatment over the national brands when it comes to shelf placement. Wal-Mart is renowned for its distribution/supply chain technologies that help it to keep its shelves stocked iwth products "just in time."

Promotion: Sam’s first stores were merchandised using a “stack it high and let it fly” approach. Using bins, tables and boxes coupled with hand written signage advertising too good to be true prices, Sam would create a buying frenzy with his special buy merchandise. Word traveled fast in the early days and Sam relied on word of mouth advertising. Not any more. Today, Wal-Mart’s focus on improving margins has turned the giant retailer into a marketing driven company.

People: Sam had strong beliefs about the importance of employees, his associates, to the success of Wal-Mart. Six of his ten self-professed rules for his own success had to do with how you treat people. He was a servant leader and he lived by Golden Rule Values. He used to say, “Our people make the difference.” He believed, “If you take care of your people, your people will take care of your customer, and your business will take care of itself.”

Sam Walton must have known what he was doing because he was worth US$100 Billion when he died!

Contributed by Michael Bergdahl, International Speaker

News

A round up of the important retail industry news in Dubai.

• Damas CEO quits Updated 12th Oct 2009
• Retail in 2010 Updated 9th Oct 2009
• World's largest candy shop to open in Dubai Updated 4th Oct 2009