MEET INDIA’S MODERN RETAIL

Kishore Biyani, the founder and CEO of Future Group, is often referred to as India’s Sam Walton. India’s Retail King Kishore Biyani revolutionized the retail industry. Kishore is the man who has taken the retail business by storm and now has zillions of successes under his belt, but he has also experienced his fair share of disappointments! The Future Group already has more than 70 million square feet of retail space in 90 cities and 60 rural regions, with plans to develop another 9 million square feet in the coming years.

Kishore Biyani

• Born: 9 August 1961 - Bombay, Maharashtra, India

• Age: 58

• Citizenship: India

• Occupation: Founder and CEO at Future Group, Chairman and Managing Director at Future Retail, Founder and Group CEO at Future Lifestyle Fashions

• Net worth: US$1.78 billion (2019)

HOW DID HE BEGIN?

Kishore Biyani, the company’s creator, comes from a business experience. His grandfather had a garment store, and his entire family worked there. Kishore wants to accomplish something different in this industry. He then decided to open a retail business where he could get everything, he needed under one roof at a reasonable price. His initiative stunned the retail industry as a whole. He started his first store in Kolkata and went on to open more than 50 locations across the country within a year. Kishore Biyani started Big Bazaar in 2001. Biyani wanted to be a filmmaker at first, but after failing at that, he became one of India’s largest retail proprietors.

Career

Biyani began his commercial experience in the late 1980s by creating readymade trousers, but his retail journey began in the late 1990s when he opened a Pantaloons store and a Big Bazaar in Calcutta. He is a graduate of HR College in Mumbai and comes from a business family with roots in Rajasthan.

Biyani planned to rely primarily on white-label FMCG created under Future Consumer Enterprises and to stock his stores with the cheapest and best groceries. While he will continue to stock FMCG products from companies such as ITC and Hindustan Unilever (HUL), having his labels allows him to provide the best value while still safeguarding his margins. Biyani believed it would be a big source of money and profit, as well as the most important aspect of his strategy.

Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, and Central were among the new formats and labels he introduced. Biyani was compelled to restructure the company in late 2009, de-merging the non-retail assets. He concentrated on only four formats rather than the usual 24. Pantaloons, Central, Big Bazaar, and Food Bazaar were among the stores that were kept. The debt problem, on the other hand, refused to go away.

The debt for the core retail company increased to INR 5,800 crore in April 2012, with a net debt-to-equity ratio of 1.8x. The debt was roughly 55% of the EBITDA in FY12. In the same year, he sold Pantaloons to the Aditya Birla group for INR 1,600 crore, his first big triumph. He and his family-owned 33.5 percent of Future Group, but almost all of it was committed to lenders.

BIG BAZAAR SUBSIDIARIES

• Food Bazaar

• Pantaloons

• eZone

• Fbb

• Some of the products sold by Big Bazaar are as follows:

• Food Products

• Eatables

• Grocery

• Kitchen Appliances

• Home and Furniture

• Jewelry

• Electronics

• Toiletries

• Toys and Stationery

• Clothing and Footwear

Big Bazaar opened 250 retail shops in 125 locations across India. They now have more than 12 million tales around the country. Clothing, kitchen appliances, toiletries, and other household items are sold at their 7 million outlets. The remaining 5 million stores sell everything connected to food. Big Bazaar purchases products directly from manufacturers, eliminating all intermediaries. It allows them to make a significant profit margin on all of their products. They also give their consumers discounts without incurring any losses.

It didn’t help that the country was put under lockdown after the COVID-19 disturbance at the end of March. Although stores offering essentials may be opened, customers preferred to purchase at their local stores or turn to internet retailers. Big Bazaar stores were largely found in malls that were built much later and are still struggling to attract customers. The shares of the company dropped by more than 80% in just four months as a result of the damage.

Kishore Biyani began his career by renting modest rooms or simple stores to display his wares on the spur of the moment. This allowed him to gain a better understanding of his customers. Biyani, according to Future Group staff, is frequently seen standing in the mall atrium, monitoring his customers. One of his key interests is stated to be understanding people and their attitudes. Biyani, according to many who know him, has a sixth sense of what customers want and goes to great lengths to measure the pulse of the Indian client.

He is also a Bollywood fan and producer of two Bollywood films: Na Tum Jaano Na Hum and Chura Liya Hai Tumne spent nearly INR 26 crore.

Achievements

• Received the “CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards” (2009)

• Pantaloon Retail was awarded as the “International Retailer of the Year” (2007)

• “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young (2006)

• “Retail Face of the Year” Images Retail Awards (2005)

• “Most Admired Retailer of the Year” (2004)

• “CEO of the Year” (2001)

KISHORE BIYANI QUOTES

• If we provide people with an occasion to shop, they will come, whether in the cities or the small towns.

• “We live in an imperfect world, and it is meaningless to strive for perfection. It is far better to strive for excellence. Strategy”

• “A manager always fears making a mistake and that is where he differs from an entrepreneur.”

• “For example, while we were developing the staff uniform, several people suggested that they dress up and wear ties, white shirts, and other formal attire. Kishoreji was adamantly opposed, stating that a salesperson should never appear to be smarter than his customer. Allow the salesman to appear to be in Grade 4 on the social ladder if the consumer is in Grade 5.”

Providing Expertized Solutions In The Arena Of Energy And Environment

The global energy and environment industry is going through an extraordinary transformation driven by innovation and disruptive business models. The emergence of greener, smarter, and more connected products and services will transform society into a digital and sustainable domain. Due to climate actions, industries including water, energy, and other critical resources will embark on a new era of extension. By observing the growth opportunities in the domain, many organizations are entering the same to explore it.

EaSol Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:2015 company driven by a bunch of young enterprising minds spread across varied regions in India and globally. The company, since its inception on 4th September 2013, is engaged in offering solutions in the area of energy and the environment. It is dedicatedly involved in offering innovative solutions to the existing needs of clients, keeping in mind the conservation of energy and protection of the environment.

The company provides unique and effective solutions in diverse areas including, water purification solutions, liquid storage tanks, sturdy toilets with onsite waste decomposition solutions, and solid waste management solutions for residential and commercial establishments. The services offered by the company are well-differentiated, unique, and easy to operate along with being effective, low in maintenance, cost-efficient, and easily accessible as well.

The company widely offers its services in rural, periurban, and urban areas over a large spectrum of users such as iPhone factories, Amazon warehouses to small rural habitats. Many well-established countries, including India, Middle East, North America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, have adopted the solutions by EaSol and are satisfied with its services.

Inception Story

The story of EaSol began with the idea of providing easy and efficient solutions to critical concerns of clients in the space of energy and the environment. However, Mr. Abhitabh Honap, the Director, and the team of EaSol were well aware of the challenges related to ease of operations and sustainability. And those major challenges were building credibility around these solutions, putting stakeholders in the supply chain together, and offer wide-ranging solutions to the clients.

The company also wanted to bring out technically intensive innovations, which could provide highly efficient solutions to the clients. It also engaged itself in simplifying and improving the existing solutions to make them not only sustainable but also userfriendly.

After a lot of market research, the company broke through with the first of its kind solution for water purification-PurAll which changed the landscape of the Indian market.

Enthusiastic Team

“It does not make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do,” quotes Steve Jobs.

EaSol is a young company, not only owing to its age but also due to the aspirational team members. The average age of the company’s team is mid-30, which makes it a young and enthusiast group with innovative ideas and smart implementation techniques. The team of EaSol believes in having complete participation and empowerment right up to the shop floor and job sites and encourages innovation and improvement from bottom to top.

One of the biggest reasons for the unstoppable growth of EaSol is the unfaltering attitude of its team to challenge conventional ideas. ‘Why’ and ‘Why Not’ have been the most potent words in the work culture of EaSol. The team, with its numerous stunning ideas, efficiently practice Poka-yoke and TQM in the daily activities of the business.

It is equally important for the company to keep the morale and motivation of the team sustainable to harvest more output, and EaSol does this job efficiently. The company arranges monthly and quarterly rewards and recognition programs for the employees, which help them increase their productivity. It also provides yearly performance appraisals and incentives along with regular training and developments of the team members.

Edge Over Peers

“You cannot look at the competition and say you are going to do it better. Say you are going to do it differently.” EaSol is taking an edge over its competitors by having a welldocumented internal business process, quality control, and assurance plan for in-house production as well as external sourcing. The firm plans and strict adherence to it ensure consistent quality the company promise to provide.

EaSol has a reputed clientele, including global giants like Amazon and Apple Incorporation to large EPC contractors like L&T and Tata Projects. It also connected with food giants like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, etc., to name a few, that play a pivotal role for the company to excel in the market competition. The company has an excellent record of having old players of the business market in its clientele while getting repetitive orders from them as well. It transparently shows the unbreakable trust and faith they have in EaSol.

Moreover, the company has patents for every specific product it offers, which is an exceptional case and shows the uniqueness and innovation it possesses. It prominently works towards offering incremental value to clients along with its firm and determined promises. EaSol relentlessly works on the issues and problematic areas of its competitors and wins clients’ confidence.

Coexisting With Technology

The products offered by EaSol are designed in congruence with international codes of design, and all the changes and updates in code contents are incorporated well in the design. The company has automated its design process to ensure consistent output and its learnings from across industries, gained through the rich experience of its talented resources, helps it incorporate cross-industry technological advancements in the products. R&D and product development have been the heart and soul of EaSol as they have played a successful role throughout their journey. Each solution the company offers is attached with an appreciable share of innovation which keeps it ahead of the competition.

Dealing With Pandemic

Being in the business of drinking water and water storage during COVID-19, most of the solutions provided by EaSol is categorized in the essential goods category. The company put a lot of effort to cope up with the crisis, such as making accommodation arrangements for factory personnel to follow SOP. The team of EaSol has successfully catered to the requirements of its local as well as global clientele throughout the pandemic. The company also took care of all the bureaucratic hurdles that occurred due to the partial closedown elsewhere with its diligent involvement.

Accolades Bagged By Easol

The exceptional features and passion of the company helped it gaining tremendous recognition and respect in the respective arena including:

• Golden Peacock Award

• Fastest Growing Indian Company Excellence Awards

• The Most Innovative New Technology of the Year

• Most Innovative Technology -World CSR Congress

• Rotary International Recognition For Exemplary Work In Sanitation And Purification

• Pride of Maharashtra Award for Excellence

And the list is relentlessly growing. The team of EaSol has already made itself stand away from the crowd and now progressively working towards expanding its scale of operation as well. Being a onestop solution in the market, EaSol is now approaching its goal of becoming the best storage solutions company in India.