Me, I am old school; and perfectly happy
in that classification, thank you very much. When I say a ‘successful” company
I mean a profitable company; preferably one that is among the top brands in its
market segment/s. To be even more specific – operating profit; that is a
positive cash flow from operations to be crystal clear, a company where revenue
is greater than expenses. What are
these words doing in a book review, you say? Well, thing is, I have just read
an entire book – yes, an entire book –
that analyses ECommerce Companies, and not once does it fully look at the
above. Nice, isn’t it? And yes, before you mention it – have been in ECommerce
Sales for years as well.
So, I don’t buy this current trend of
looking A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z series funding,
valuations, GMVs etc.{Sarcasm added for
effect} As a professional, I have
one, and only one question – be it brick-and-mortar, or be it ECommerce : Is
your per unit sales value greater than your procurement cost? Are you making a
profit on sales? If not, how soon can
you strategise and execute towards a model that can deliver profit? That is it,
period, sayonara, Jai Ram Ji Ki. If your entire model is based on discounting,
either grow large enough to be Wal-Mart; or exit from the business before the
business exits you by force. You don’t build lasting value on deep discounts –
period. I don’t care if it is ECommerce or Brick & Mortar or Asbestos or
Cement or Sand or Air or whatever. Again,
sarcasm for effect.
I have handled sales in B2C, B2B, B2E
models in the ECommerce space; in several product lines. The large majority of
the sales are basis deep discounts; this tends to disturb the retail channels.
Several companies in my certain knowledge have stopped deep discounting online;
I myself stopped one large digi-powerhouse from discounting as I had my
Category Head screaming for several heads in a blue fit as his channel
revolted. But I have also executed a
0-discount policy and garnered sales through the ECommerce space. It is
eminently doable, though exceptionally hard, and segment specific.
THE BOOK
I refer to the book “Click : The Amazing Story of India’s E-Commerce Boom and Where Its
Headed, by Jagmohan Bhanver and Komal Bhanver”. I have, as is my habit,
outlined the weaknesses of the book first, so that the reader can get a positive
yet balanced overview, and can make the decision to buy or not to buy in a
balanced frame of mind. Make no mistake – this is an excellent book, and a
must-read for anyone in the ECommerce space. My heavy sarcasm above is calculated and deliberate, as I want all
people from the industry to think of this deeply, and try and answer these
questions. I repeat – deep discounting can only be short-term strategy, and
cannot repeat cannot build a sustainable market.
The book looks at several leading players
in the ECommerce space, most of them household names at least in Urban India – Justdial, MakeMyTrip, Redbus, Flipkart, PayTM,
InMobi, Snapdeal, PepperFry. Each case study goes deep into the minds of
the promoters and outlines how they executed their plans, how they made their
dreams a reality. That said, each story is told only and only from a top-down perspective; we do miss the
tiny teeny practical details that go into real success. However, it has to
accepted that this approach does have its distinct advantages.
The book itself is divided into 2 parts :
The first part contains the case studies. I wont say much on them – except two
cases that, to my mind, stood out as exemplary cases in ethics, morality in one
case and communication and management in another. One case involved creative
accounting, tax avoidance, and FDI Rules; I couldn’t help but wonder at that;
and the other a classic case of bad management wherein employee trust was
shattered, communication fell through leading to massive issues. There are many
other learnings – large and small, that can be had from these pages. In these
pages itself, you can find examples of genuine models emerging, selling on
product features rather than price, for example.
This is why I rate this book 5 stars
despite my heavy sarcasm, - which by the
way is aimed not at the authors, who have done a really appreciable piece of
work. My one suggestion – I wish you could have been as open about profits, and
analysed each firm’s profitability and cash flows from operations in specifics.
I understand the stage of the industry – but we do need a dose of reality, and
start thinking hard on how to reduce cash burn and establish a proper scalable
concept that is based on features, customer needs and unfulfilled wants – not on
price. You yourself give two or three excellent examples.
The second part is where the book comes
alive, quite literally. This part is a deeply engaging, thought-provoking and
educative look at the overall state of the ECommerce Industry in India. Here
you will find the structure of the industry in India, its overall makeup and a
fantastic segment-wise analysis. It also identifies trends, challenges, most of
which are accurate, and logically & cogently analysed. The authors identify
the accurate factors that are responsible – fuzzy finance, business model, team
and so on. But the most vital contribution is the segment on why Startups
should learn to pivot at the right time; for what that is – buy the book and
read it! My sarcasm aside – it is an excellent book.
CONCLUSION
When an entire industry revolves around
deep discounting, my sarcasm is both excusable and warranted, as well as vitally
needed. What is so great about throwing money on customer acquisition, money
from hard earned funding? Sad part is, that is the trend; that is exactly what
happens in the growth phase of the PLC as the industry grows, matures and
learns. Thus, in order that a sustainable market develops, you have to find a
way to solve customer needs, not his desire for a low price! A low price can be
easily copied – a product or a model feature cannot. Admittedly, that is hard
to do; so, over the short term, some amount of tactical warfare is needed. But
tactics should not dictate strategy.
The industry needs to find a way out of
the morass it is threatening to land in; happily, one can see positives emerging
in some segments of the ECommerce space and sanity prevails, the market
acquires maturity and size, and things settle as a valid customer proposition
develops that is non-disruptive, does not disturb existing channels but rather adds
to their strength and helps all grow. That is another learning from this book;
hopefully, this is a trend that will carry on, as the numbers get near critical
mass, ensuring a large enough market that can allow these propositions to be
identified and developed. That is what makes this book best-in-class, one of
the finest I have read in the ECommerce space! Kudos!
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