India is the land of ‘jugaad’!
Jugaad retail!
In a bygone era, this was the land of Aryabhatta with the discovery of zero, satellites and Sushruta, the father of medicine and surgery. But today, put it down to the lack of time or whatever you may – it is the land of incremental improvements on the existing.
This is post-modernist reality catching up with India, I guess. Everything that had to be invented has been. But that should not deter us from exploring a bit more. One never knows what good may come of it.
Coping with need for indigenous transport solutions where none existed, rural India combined a steering wheel with 4 tyres, a diesel engine of a water pump and some used parts to fabricate the MRTS - mass rural transportation service....which when not transporting people, works like a water pump!
But the omnipresence of jugaad in our daily lives makes it inconspicuous. Modern business practices where everything is perfected to a science ends up completely missing this trick.
Take ‘Retailing’ – the word throws up pretty pictures of modern trade and swanky new shops but the thrust of this rambling is to uncover some interesting build-ons or ‘jugaad’ if you may call them on existing vending systems. The lettered world will call it ‘mash-ups’. So be it!
Calling it a vending system may be a bit of a give-away.
Take your sabzi wallah. With unerring regularity, day after day the man makes the trip from the local wholesaler to does the round of a locality. He is the ultimate CRM program front end. Knows what you like. Knows what you bought yesterday. And has brought what you asked for today. Marry the world of CDs and is there a business model lurking in the wings. Smarten the cart. Make a provision for a water-proof compartment (remember the tendency of the man to splash water on the veggies to make them look fresh) and here is a good thing going.
One has often wondered, why a powerful person like the barber is not used more often. After all, the man holds a razor to your throat ever so often. Imagine the persuasion power that he wields! Jokes apart, a barber’s shop is ideal for receiving messages. The audience is captive. Waits patiently for its turn and has nothing much to do except leaf through some magazines or watch a small TV placed high in the corner for all to have a bird’s eye view of. The radio is the substitute. Can it be the place for a non-disruptive, subliminal delivery of a brand or a social message. Let us not forget the power of the ‘nai’ in the days of yore as a carrier of messages.
What about the 3 other people who have access to your house every day? The newspaper-wallah, milk-man (dhoodh-wallah) and the dhobhi. The door opens to them willingly. Sure, they are critical to our appearance in manner of speaking. One ensures that we look right. The other ensures that we talk right and are well informed. Can they be distribution extensions for fabric care and detergents. The dhoodh-wallah is the last kilometer of a cold-chain. Distributes in a fixed time when the sun is not blazing down. Can cold chain products look at this man? Other milk products can be the first natural extension. Products packed in PET bottles, soft-drink concentrates and there could be others.
Then there is the favourite haunt of men and college kids – the chai-wallah! Idealogical and heated exchanges aside – the tea-stall remains the place where men sit and exchange views on life and the world in general. But there one sees evidence of evolution. The chai-wallah becomes the first outpost of retail / vending expansion. The counter or the shelf across which money changes hands, holds a variety of packaged products from edibles to personal care to tobacco. More often than not, the stove finds a tava which finds an egg and a parantha and is born instant food. May hold interest to the many ready to eat or heat and eat or instant food preparations. Micro mini-restaurants – are these the next wave in the foods business?
This ‘Jugaad’ spirit can find a role in the supply chain of many a business. But to do that, businesses will need to think true to the meanings of this word Jugaad. Improvisation. Inventiveness, Ingenuity. Cleverness. And taking it literally, it seems a leading soft drink company has started using ‘jugaad’ – the vehicle to spread its distribution to rural areas!
Closer home, the Samaan Foundation seems to have taken a step in this direction. Working with rickshaw pullers who now get an opportunity to increase their income by carrying advertising on the vehicles, also stocking them bottled mineral water, fruit juices, mobile phone top-ups, newspapers and magazines. The rickshaw puller gets a certain commission on the sale of every item!
It’s only a matter of time when some enterprising mind will come along and amaze us with the simplicity of his quintessential Indian ‘Jugaad’ tactic and show us a business model that always existed, right here in front of our own eyes.