retail professionalism

With the onset of top brands gunning to get a share of the great Indian Pie,spreading their tentacles across the length and breadth of the country and with the newly acquired status of the rich rural population the retail scenario is going beserk.The land prices swell, the costs skyrocketing and then the ever changing demands for better and plushier setups in the best of locations puts a lot at stake.Especially the green backs---or in our case the Rupee.After this gets set then comes the biggest challenge of equipping the same with the finest and smartest set of people to run the show.The OEM or whole sellers generally try to power down their thoughts and ideas onto the submissive retailer and uses the one shoe fits all concept.If not the wholesale flying squads who keep visiting these locations( partly sightseeing and enjoying the free lunches and dinners)apart from spending"quality" time with the retail staff in showing "how they must sell" and how" a customer needs to be attended to',It makes me wonder if the person who belongs to the area where he has set shop should know his customer or he has to be educated about that by those who are located 1200 kms away and take 2 hours plus to fly down for a 6 hour visit? Emphasis on customer satisfaction--again whose customer is he :retail?wholesale? or both?If so who owns him and does he do so with the same passion?Every one is all out to woo the customer and spends tons of money in his acquisition and then spend money in retention and loyalty.Processes are made by one and all and they are more or less identical for similar products but then it boils down to how professionally all this is managed by the retailer????does he have the vision?Does he still remain the lala with his bunch of cronies around who keep feeding information( mostly unwanted and unwarranted gossip).If he does practise what is taught does he value that or does he just implement it because its a must.Do we have to keep accepting what the whole seller says all the time and keep entertaining him during his visits?Does the retailer get a fair chance to demonstrate his thoughts and ideas?A few do take up steps to get that professional makeover and make sincere attempts , but most of the retail units because of the mentality of the owner or his rigidness to change or simply put " not trusting the professionals he hires to execute and carry out the functions "fail to do so.This then becomes a frustrating experience and good people in the system who want to drive and create the change try and subsequently give up the endeavor simply due to the skewed vision and intention of the "owner".Money is the bottom line and ,any which way get me that profit is the motto!!Everything else gets sidelined.If some of them get in the rat race to catch up one to many retail outlets end up in a financial mess or cut a sorry figure on all fronts unable to do justice to any of the franchise he owns.Then come diverse interest and short term gains that suck short term funds out of the system and vola!!!things start falling apart.The pressure to sell and keep your head above the water builds up by the minute, demands increase, costs catapult and the ever savvy consumer is just about getting highly educated on all fronts making rational and irrational demands by the dozens.There begins the vicious circle of survival of the fittest or smartest.Will consolidation also take place in this space?Will the top 5 survive world wide?Will the people and the owners driving it make the difference?Take macdonald, soutwest airlines and others for example.Its gonna be tough....the road ahead.