Leanest Inventory Management Practice in Retail

Not too long ago, I was listening to a captivating talk by Rajeev Karwal, CEO of Milagrow and one of India's most prominent names in Retail. Rajeev was talking at IIT Madras, and his argument was why and how the small retailer will continue to thrive in India.

Well, my wife and I were at a shopping complex here in Chennai and we stopped at a footwear shop. My wife picked up something that caught her attention, which was fancy looking footwear on display. She wanted to try it out, and so she asked for the second piece of the pair ( not a different pair but the left foot one, while the right one was in her hand).

The shopkeeper cum salesman stepped out, walked out to a shop across the lane and then appeared back with the left foot fancy chappal and gave it to her. "It was on display in my brother's shop", he said matter-of-factly.

Think about that. He did not even have one pair of chappal but half a pair. We heard about back-to-back ordering etc but no one ever boasted of selling stuff, with half a unit in inventory, and still doing spot delivery on demand. Cool!