Kunaal Kumar owns the Modern Bazaar store chain in Delhi-NCR. He is a passionate grocer with almost 28 years of hands-on experience running modern grocery retail outlets in some of the toniest locations in Delhi-NCR. It currently operates nine stores over a total retail area spanning 40,000 sq. ft.. Modern Bazaar stores stock about 15,000 SKUs across a product range that covers all home care products, Indian and imported food products including groceries, staples, fresh ready to eat, bakery, chocolate, in house products of nuts, dips, sauces, and personal care products.
“We are perhaps one of the few modern trade retailers in Delhi-NCR to be operating profitably,” says Kumar with a hint of pride at the success of his stores, and letting in sideways that he runs a business that is now 48 years in the reckoning and going strong. “I have been in this trade since I was a kid and I learned my lessons watching my father run the operations and take it forward.” He lets on that he has friends who are board members at very high-end retailers and they consult him informally about how he manages to make the business tick loud and clear.
“I believe that the sweet spot in grocery retail is to take the middle path – neither position yourself as being very high-end nor become very downmarket. This way you have a catchment that is very broad and diverse and includes both the well-heeled and the better-off.” “Our stores are a reflection of this kind of positioning where a customer walks into a store with a nice lay-out and can get to pick his choice from a wide assortment of products and brands – from the basics to the upmarket – which are all priced very competitively and come with various deal offers.” “And interestingly”, he cuts in to make a brownie point, “most of the goods that the high-end retailers stock are available at our stores but none of the basic stuff that we offer can be found at their stores.”
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