Explore the world of retail through practical concepts, real-life situations, and engaging storytelling. From retail basics to leadership, operations, customer experience, and business learning, each blog simplifies one concept at a time to make retail easy to understand and apply.
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 12
Finding the Right Customer — And the Right Catchment
Sep 19, 2026 | 10–11 min read
How do you turn multiple customer segments into one practical target? Som applies a structured evaluation to AHLAD, examining measurability, accessibility, durability, affordability and other criteria before using market research to identify the target customer and catchment.
Strategic Targeting for AHLAD Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 11
Deciding Who You Will Serve — And Who You Will Let Go
Sep 06, 2026 | 10–11 min read
You may identify many customer segments—but which one should you actually serve? Follow Som as he moves from segmentation to strategic targeting, exploring how brands define their customers and what can happen when a business chooses the wrong audience.
Strategic Targeting: Choosing the Right Customer to Win Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 10
Segmentation Identification
Aug 08, 2026 | 8–9 min read
Can customer segments really be discovered by observing the market? Som spends seven days visiting cafés and tea stalls, studying customer behaviour, pricing, dwell time and experiences. Follow his field research as patterns begin to reveal potential segments for AHLAD.
Retail Strategy : Segmentation Episode 2 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 9
Segmentation
July 26, 2026 | 8–9 min read
Why is “everyone” rarely the right customer? Follow Som as he discovers the importance of segmentation and sees it in action through café brands such as Starbucks. Learn the four practical ways businesses can divide a market to understand customers more clearly.
Retail Strategy : Segmentation Episode 1 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 8
Concession Retail Format
July 19, 2026 | 8–9 min read
What if you could enter a store without building one from scratch? Explore Concession and Shop-in-Shop formats through examples such as USPA, and understand how they differ from COCO and FOFO while examining the opportunities and risks of each approach.
Organised Retail Format – Episode 5 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 7
Master Franchise Business Model
July 12, 2026 | 8–9 min read
How did brands like McDonald’s and Domino’s build large networks across markets? Step into the Master Franchise model to understand how global brands expand through local partners, the opportunities it creates, the risks involved, and how it can reduce the need for heavy real-estate investment.
Organised Retail Format – Episode 4 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 6
Franchise Business Model
July 04, 2026 | 8–9 min read
How do entrepreneurs grow beyond the limits of one outlet? Discover why businesses often begin with friends and family, how franchising changes the path to expansion, and how different franchise ownership models can help build a larger retail network.
Organised Retail Format – Episode 3 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 5
Why Retail Chains Fail in India?
June 19, 2026 | 6–7 min read
Why can a retail business lose its way after early success? Through the stories of Subhiksha Retail and Citibank’s India journey, explore how decisions around expansion, local markets and changing business environments can influence the success or failure of a retail format.
Organised Retail Format – Episode 2 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 4
From One Café to a Retail Chain
Jun 12, 2026 | 7–8 min read
How does a single outlet become a retail chain? Explore how ownership shapes retail formats, from an individual café to a growing chain, and understand why rapid expansion can create opportunities while also bringing hidden operational and financial risks.
Organised Retail Format – Episode 1 Read More »
Som’s Retail Journey | Part 3
Challenges to Organised Retail for Penetration in Developing Countries
Jun 05, 2026 | 6–7 min read
Why do many family-run businesses struggle to pass the business to the next generation? And why does organised retail still face challenges in expanding its share? Explore the practical hurdles that businesses must overcome to build scalable retail operations.
Challenges to Organised Retail Read More »
