The Eclectic Zone

What is common among Avatar, iPad, and Justin Bieber… and sets them apart from the other crowd too? They all come in good packages! Well, yes. But so did many others as for as content is concerned. What sets them apart is everyone you know “seems” to like them, and the fact that you know it.

There was a time when a suburban population would not know what people in the metro thought about a particular movie during its first weekend. The word of mouth did travel but slowly. Plethora has been written on promotions, buzz marketing, product quality over time on how companies succeeded (or not) in that era.

Times have since changed drastically. The opening weekend is “the” decider of a film’s success. Reception to a product like iPad from Apple is decidedly positive even before the release announcement reaches the last paragraph. Justin just doesn’t seem to be taking any break from trending list on Twitter.

The “hype” has become a big game-changer. And the one sole factor behind all this is the groupthink phenomenon, and in the highly interconnected world today it has become a very powerful marketing tool.

Humans have an inherent tendency, in general, to conform and to fit-in. This is well-engrained in our mind-sets from the time we set out foot in school, & in society. The most neutral reaction (that originated from isolated processing within one’s brain) to a product is only possible in the consumption of the product in absolute confinement. Most of us consume the information in context of what our friends are thinking, & what majority of population is saying. In the highly inter-connected world, it is impossible to remain oblivious to the first reactions or pre-occupied responses of the world before one consumes the product oneself. And good marketers are leveraging this to a huge advantage!

How is one not going to like iPad?! The whole world loves it, and it’s from Apple!!! How much of that is first-hand reaction? Well, when an avalanche with tonnes of snow heads your way, you wouldn’t want to think of the gunshot that triggered it! This is Avalanche Marketing!!! Better get used to it and use it too.

PS: The other day, I saw some of my friends on Twitter tweeting about #chai (Tea). Almost everyone seemed to be pitching in with tweets on #chai, it didn’t matter if that made any sense. I tweeted a #chai song or two, and felt really good – I managed to fit in, didn’t I?!

We already know from Ram Charan how much a street peddler knows about the turnover and running a business. But, from what I saw today tells me he knows much more than just that…

I live in Dwarka (not the one made famous by Lord Krishna, this one is one of the suburb in New Delhi), some of the self-acclaimed educated lot call it home. The shopping complex (or the market) tells as much about the locale and the population. The book-selling hawkers on the roadside boast of the coveted business and hard-core literature stuff.

I was taking a post-dinner stroll when I got pulled by some stuff that one of these hawkers showcased. Before I get further into this, let me also mention that I’m talking about a 4ft x 4ft space on the floor where all the books are arranged on a mat [This has to be really quite portable as this guy may need to wrap up and run every time a constable - a cop - comes patrolling. Thanks to the business arrangements (!) the constable doesn't rough him up as many times as the government would like, or would they who knows ]

Right in the front he had couple of books on A R Rahman (who won 2 Grammys yesterday!), then few by Erich Segal (who died few days back), some Sherlock Holmes (recent movie release) and more stuff so current that would embarrass the Home page of professionally managed Amazon and the shelf space of Barnes and Noble…

The bookseller here is a 12-year-old who cannot read even his native language properly (forget about reading English). He knows most of these books by cover and designs. But, he knows about running this small business effectively.

- Shelf space is the key (He’s got space of 4×4). Use it for the customer-pull. Keep the current up-front.

- Manage Supply to demand (J-I-T anyone?) Grammy win for ARR and the time for the relevant books to his shelf = Half a day! Valentine’s day coming up – get more Mills & Boon already!

- Flexible Business model. This guy goes for any model that gets him his return for the day’s investment. Sells paperback, Second-hand (used), Lease, Supply-on-Order, Retail/Whole sale, and even free Home Delivery!

- Cross-sale!!! (You want Covey? Why don’t you take Tom Peters today, get this back tomorrow & I will replace with Covey by adjusting the price difference!)

- Knows his customer. Within few seconds he knows what you’re looking for without you saying anything. (Sir, do you want White Tiger. Booker winner sir, it is good.)

- Keep the store light and mobile (there’s a warehouse few steps inside)

And did I mention this 4×4 space seems to have almost all the books from my reading list on Amazon. Talk about targeting the segment! The same guy at the central Delhi market would be selling Playboy and How to learn English in 30 days!

Lessons learnt! Can we execute some of these from our 400×400 offices?