SUSTAINING A RETAIL STORE BUSINESS IN THE

ECOMMERCE WORLD: JOURNEY OF A TRADITIONAL

RETAIL STORE OWNER

CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Lavasa, Pune, India

Email: treesa.thomas@mba.christuniversity.in, jayant.mahajan@christuniversity.in

Abstract

Keywords: e-commerce trend, traditional business model, consumer perception and

consumer buying behavior
JEL Classification Code: M310

INTRODUCTION
Traditional business system plays a vital
role in the world economy (Dr. G.
Somasekhar, Dr. S. Ahamed Basha, and Dr.
Varadarajan Rangarajan 2018).
This system developed centuries ago is
getting replaced by new retail system,
powered by e-commerce industry. Online
shopping system was introduced in India
around mid-90, but it took about sixteen
years for Indians to become comfortable
with online shopping system. Till then the
competition was only between traditional
businesses. (Patterson, M. C, 2009).
The e-commerce shopping companies had a
large impact on traditional retail marketers’
especially small-scale business (Phani
Bhaskar, & Prasanna Kumar D, 2017). In a
price sensitive market like India, it is
common to see that when a customer finds
a small price difference between products
sold in a traditional store and online items,
the trust towards retail store starts fading.
 Sustaining a Retail Store Business in the Ecommerce World: Journey of a Traditional Retail Store
Owner
(Dr. Preeti Mehra, 2017). This price
difference exists because the vendors who
operate on e-commerce platform, procure
the products directly from the company
thus making the involvement of
wholesale/distributor redundant (Mhango,
Mary W, Marcketti, Sara B, Niehm, Linda
S 2005). Consumers depend on e-
commerce not only due to offers and prices
but also the ease of shopping experience.
(Swaroop Mohanty, P. C. Panda, 2016).
In traditional retail system there is usually a
physical store or office, where a standard
interaction between the customer and the
shopkeepers take place. This quality of
interaction with shop and the products was
one of the success factors of traditional
retailers. Customers are able to see and try
the product before buying, which give the
customer a sense of security and comfort.
Physical retail as an institution is based on
this experience logic. Face-to-face, direct
interaction between companies and
customers and resulting experience are
essential. The direct interaction reproduces
the experience logic. The role of
technology is to support this interaction.
(Prof. Ram Mohan, 2014). The growth and
decline of a sales depend on customer’s
shopping experience. Business is all about
understanding the target customer and
satisfying their needs and wants (Soumya
Saha, Munmun Dey and Sumanta
Bhattacharyya 2010).
According to researchers, small business
owners are higher risk takers (Sahai, S.,
Mahajan, J., & Nandkeolyar, D. (2020).
Business depends on the perception of the
customer. Understanding the insights of the
customers allows the business to work more
focused on the target group and market to
get the desired return on investment.
(Guan, S., & Wang L, 2005).
This case study illustrates how to make
timely changes in business to sustain in
competitive world. These changes could be
in the form of managing human resources,
upgrading/ altering the store ambience and
enhancing the customer engagement
process. It outlines the challenges faced by
the traditional footwear shop owner during
his journey as an entrepreneur and possible
his innovative ways of dealing with these
challenges. The case study concludes with
the description of the current biggest
challenge of survival and growth of his
business in world threatened by the
competition from e-commerce players.
Early days of MPF Store
This study helps to identify the changing
needs and demands of customers in
footwear sector and to identify the
importance given by the consumers to each
of the product and place factors.
Thomaskutty was running a bakery and
catering business, along with that working
as a private finance lender in 1990’s. At the
same time he was exploring the possibility
of switching to another lucrative business.
He thought of many business ideas, did
market study and analysed the market for
footwears in his home town Pallickathodu
which is a small town in Kottayam district,
Kerala. Market study was mainly done
from his observations as well as interaction
with few other business men. The main
problem was finding a space for starting the
business. Finally he rented a shop of 100 sq.
ft. in a building of 6000 sq. ft. in the central
junction, which is the heart of
Pallickathodu town. Source of investment
was from his savings. Initial investment for
footwear was Rs. 130000. He did a
furnishing of Rs. 30000 and stock was of
Rs. 100000. On 1993, July 15 he started his
Footwear store named Mundeparambil
Footwear, which then later shortened as
MPF Store. Beginning there were four
competitors in town, in a congested market
place.
2
 VISION OF MPF
“To ensure the comfort of our consumers,
by providing the best shopping experience
under one umbrella”
Thomaskutty started the shop as a footwear,
later on from the market learnings, came to
the point that a store must not stick on same
product line, there should be an element
that makes people to visit store regularly.
Whenever someone come and ask for a
product it is difficult to say ‘we do not have
that product”, therefore the owner moved
along with the changing market, introduced
new products which can be associated with
a footwear store with an affordable price
which gave a compelling reason for people
from next town to visit MPF store. MPF
later started the business of mobile SIM
cards and mobile services along with the
footwear. The owner maintained a good
collection of pure leather vanity bags,
wallets etc. Invested a significant amount
every year on renovating the showroom,
which made store more attractive. Every
year one could see some changes made in
the interiors so that the shop gets more
space to display the products. This also
gave a feel to the consumers of wide variety
of products to choose from. Thomaskutty
looks at everyday as an opportunity and
work for the betterment of business.
INITIAL CHALLENGES
In the earlier days’ people were not so
conscious about fashionable footwears.
Thomaskutty wanted his store with trendy
collection of footwears in different price
ranges, his aim was to provide service to the
consumer coming for high as well as low
budget purchase. Therefore, initially there
were dust stocks of leather shoes, since
hardly people wore leather shoes and it was
difficult to market those as, there were only
limited options of media for advertising and
also the market was congested. Once a
consumer purchased a footwear, he/she
may come back only after six months or a
year. Business was not that easy, always
people did not buy footwears like apparels.
Those days’ people tried to use one pair of
sandals or shoes for more than one year.
More popular chapel were paragon slippers
and sandals. People bought expensive
footwears only during wedding functions.
For this reason, he thought of introducing
other items that can be associated with
footwear shop, so that there will be regular
visit of consumers which helps in cross
selling and increasing popularity of the
shop and rise in the number of foot falls.
This also resulted in rise of sales of
footwears, the core business.
Initial profits were very less, due to that
funding was another major challenge. He
ran the shop himself with a single staff till
the year 1995, after that hired one more
staff and this team continued till 2002.
Nearby shops in the same building started
closing down due to lack of profit, while
facing a financial crisis
Thomaskutty took over those shops on rent
resulting in expansion of the present 100
square feet store to 500 Square feet. There
were days when financially business was
slow, mainly because Pallickathodu was a
small town, where population was less and
people were more price sensitive. MPF had
more stock and less sales initially. As a
result the owner could barely recover the
operating costs.
ALLIANCES AND NETWORKING
As the business grew Thomaskutty started
expanding his social contacts. Same time
tried to build up a good contact with many
entrepreneurs he meet during several events
conducted by top footwear brand
distribution companies. Thomaskutty has
created a good contact within sandals
companies like Paragon, Lunar, Action,
Rubco etc. He also received recognition,
awards and rewards from many distribution
companies. MPF has a special
consideration in wholesale market due to
his regular purchases, contact maintenance,
communication skills as well as ready
payment system. Thomaskutty gives
financial as well as business advices to
many who come to him. The store has built
up alliance with the Umbrella Companies
Johns and Poppy the top brands in Kerala
he have a prominent position in their list of
customers. MPF had won gold coins
several times from the telecom companies
(Idea and Vodafone) distributors, as a
reward for selling more than 300 SIM card
activations in a month. The store had won
several rewards from Paragon, Lunar
distributors for doing targeted amount of
business and for the bulk orders. The team
always tried to add one business extra to the
current business every year, thereby started
becoming more popular in terms of variety
collections. By 2005, the owner renovated
and expanded the store to 2000 sq. ft. Along
with the expansion of the store, number
employees also increased to about eight
personals. One employee to manage the
billing section and other seven to handle the
sales.
GROWTH AND MARKET
POSITIONING
Though initial profits were very less
because low sales, following years MPF
positioned itself in the market through the
neat and well-studied market play.
Thomaskutty never missed the opportunity
to develop the store and moved according
to the market condition, also tried to
introduce more products, which can be
associated with the footwear store. The
owner believed that along with good
collection, ambience plays a vital role. This
approach of keeping the ambiance of the
shop vibrant all the time and maintaining
good customer relations by Thomaskutty
was the stepping stone to the success of
MPF. It would have been easy for the
owner to give up, not take the risk and close
the business like the other shop owners.
Instead he rented those shop’s which were
vacated by others, and expanded MPF, even
though the financial risk level was high.
This helped in the growth of the business,
people
started getting attracted to the store, and
gradually business, coverage and the fame
of the store increased. By understanding the
market of mobile phones and telecom
service’s opportunities the owner started a
mobile store named ‘Mobile Palace’ near to
the footwear shop. It was a good start as the
telecom industry was booming and mobile
phones were becoming more popular. Two
years later, a hotel behind the store also got
closed, Thomaskutty acquired that hotel
area and expanded the store to 3000 sq. ft.
This done to sustain in the market. This
required a high level of confidence to invest
the revenue in renovation and development
of the store in a congested market like
Pallickathodu. Truly it was a roller coaster
ride. But the investments didn’t go wrong,
because later on Pallickathodu started
developing, many institutes, hospitals,
schools, and tourist spot, cinema theatre,
and shopping mall etc. This gave rise to the
population in the city. It also resulted in the
taste, expectations and behaviour of a
consumer in the city. At the same time, to
harness the potential of the growing market
many new competitors also entered in
footwear business. Thomaskutty looked
with a different perspective towards the
increasing competition. According to him
development happens only if there is a
healthy competition, it helps not only in our
growth but also the growth of the town,
because when people have multiple options
in one place they are drawn to that place for
their purchasing needs, resulting in the
development of that place. MPF wants
businesses from the hometown to stop
depending only on nearby towns and start
getting more consumers from hometown.
Thomaskutty achieved that dream in the
following years. He introduced toys section
and sports items since there were very few
stores who sold branded toys and sports
items, MPF followed the market needs
where people would be happy and
comfortable if they get everything under
one roof.
Since Pallickathodu is a small town, the
business strategy was to sell more with
small margins. People were happy to
purchase because everything available was
at affordable price, hence people from
nearby towns also started visiting MPF.
Thomaskutty started giving advertisement
in local newspapers and cable TV
networks, every year to create brand
awareness in the market. Over a period of
time he noticed the impact of word of
mouth is more than these advertisements in
building the brand image. Next year in 2006
MPF started a new campaign of ‘one bag
free with one school bag’. The objective
behind the campaign was to drive the
footfall in the store and increase the sales
using upselling and cross selling marketing
strategy. Advertisements were given as
flyers along with the newspaper in five
main towns along with flex boards and
banners. However, as observed earlier the
‘Word of Mouth’ as a method of
advertisements had a greater impact on
increasing the sales as compared to the
traditional advertisement channels. That
year the store achieved the highest turnover
in school-college re-opening season (May-
July). He believes that marketing is
everything in business, in his words “one
can manufacture 100’s of bags but if you do
not know to market that, it doesn’t work”.
Gradually number of employees increased
to fifteen personals. One employee was a
supervisor, two employees for billing and
packing, and rest in sales. By 2010
Thomaskutty took over the lodges which
were running on the third floor of the
building, and used those room for keeping
the stocks. Kids were the primary
promoters of the store. It was evident that
from the starting of toys section, kids were
more attracted towards the store and
because of kids, parents were forced to visit
the store. One of the main reasons was,
everything they wanted was now available
in the same store at an affordable price.
This attracted more customers towards the
store.
Whatever brands people wanted, were now
available. As mentioned earlier the owner
tried to introduce more products that can be
associated with footwear showroom, so that
the store displays were attractive which
induced impulsive purchase behaviour in
the customers. For example, if a family
visits to buy toys for kids, since the toy’s
section is in the ground floor, while walking
through the store for selecting toys parents
would move around and see the new
arrivals, they may buy shoes or heels for
themselves or at least for the kids, or kids
may force to buy chapel along with toys.
Even if they did not buy, they would at least
suggest the shop for their colleagues,
friend, relatives and family members to
visit the store. This worked better than any
formal method of advertisement. So, people
visiting the shop to buy one item would
leave the store with three to four items at
least, thus increasing the sales.
In 2012 after a sports section started, sports
items of all top brands were arranged as like
in a professional sports store, these all
factors attracted sports people to the store.
There were nearly eight schools in the
town. The fact that sports and games are
mandatory in school curriculum and
presence of several sports club in the town
contributed to the popularity of the store
and boost in the business. Most of the sports
events happen in between the month of
March and September. Usually, every year
March to September the sale of shoes for
school children, formal shoes for adults and
sports shoes would be high. Weddings
generally happen in the months from July
to December hence these are good months
for the sale of wedding footwears. Stocks of
Wedding footwears are specially purchased
from Mumbai and Agra, a cobbler is
assigned for final fitting of wedding
premium shoes and heels. Thomaskutty
was the first to think of this idea of
customizing the wedding footwears to suit
the need of the customers. This gave him
the edge above all his competitors.
By 2015 Thomaskutty bought the entire
building, finally in a span of 22 years, that
100 sq. ft. store turned to 6000 sq. ft. store.
In 2018 MPF celebrated their silver jubilee
by conducting lucky draw during the school
college season that is May to July, the first
prize was family trip to Malaysia, second
prize as one LED TV, third prize
Microwave oven and fourth prize a mixer
grinder. On 15th July 2018, 25th anniversary
of MPF was celebrated in the evening in
front of the store as a grand program where
many senior politicians, Circle Inspector of
police, Panchayath presidents were invited
as part of the announcing the lucky draw
winners. The old staffs who were there
since the beginning of the store were
invited with their families and given special
gifts as part of thanks giving, for playing an
important part in the success of MPF .
There were total of 80 staffs including old
and the current staffs who participated in
the event. Employees were considered as
greatest assets always, the owner always
treated the staff like family. They were
given all facilities including kitchen with
food items in the ground floor. They were
given freedom to buy and consume
anything during their meal timings. Also
MPF introduced annual tour program for
the staffs as part of employee engagement.
Since Thomaskutty, who has come up the
hard way in life, never forgets the roots, and
wants everyone depending him to be self-
sufficient and happy working with him.
2019 he again came up with next new
campaign, named as ‘treasure hunt’ were a
gift of Rs. 1500 and above with a visible tag
named as ‘gift’ will be hidden somewhere
inside the store and whoever finds the gift
first would win the gift. Almost all the
internal stakeholders including staff were
against the new campaign, because people
who would participate may mess up the
whole display. And in reply Thomaskutty
said, “that’s what we want, whoever comes
and search for gift will be walking all
around the store and checking each and
every items which, thereby they will find
any products which they feel like buying,
that is a trick to make people check all the
products available in the store and it will
be there in their mind so that even if they
do not buy anything also they will get to
know each product and also will suggest to
others regarding the products, which again
helps in increasing the sale” .
The campaign implemented from 2010
May 15 to July 15. Without any fail by
giving small clues somehow everyday
somebody would win, and everyday
winners’ photo with the gift would be
posted in MPF Facebook page, which gave
the shop more coverage and popularity.
People are now curious and every year they
look forward to these new events. People
from faraway towns who visit store at least
once on a year during school season says to
experience the excitement created by these
events and change in interiors and service
patterns. Thomaskutty gives more
importance to the ambience and appearance
of the store, he invests a significant amount
in renovating the store every year. The
displays were arranged in a way that even
without a staff, customers can pick up items
without any confusion.
 Sustaining a Retail Store Business in the Ecommerce World: Journey of a Traditional Retail Store
Owner

Summary of main events in history of

the organizations

Started a business of
1982bakery and catering service
•1990: Started Personal Finance business 2012 Sports and toys showroom
along with bakery & catering service •Started Sports and toys showroom in the
same building.
Entered into Footwear
1993Business
•Rented a 100 square feet shop and 2015 Bought the entire building
started footwear business •100 square feet shop turned to 6000 square
feet showroom
•Gradually rented nearby rooms of the
same building as business developed •2016 started renovating: the building was
2008 Started a mobile shop around 35 years old
•Started the mobile store with the name 2020 Renovated the entire shop
' Mobile Palace' adjacent to the
footwear shop building
•Now the entire four storey building has been
•Bought around 2500 square feet of completely furnished with well designed
the footwear shop's building. show racks and lights.

•Introduced yearly tour programs for •Items are displayed in such an aesthetic way
the staffs as part of employee that the customers could find what they need
engagement. even without any assistance.

The new items introduced in the store collection, showroom ambience, customer
during the beginning of pandemic were service and reasonable pricing, location
masks and sanitizers. He sold surgical mask were the competitive advantages of MPF
for Rs. 7 as part of a service than business, which helped them to become one of the
when the medical stores were being sold it largest as well as popular stores in the town.
for Rs. 15, and he contacted many certified
manufacturers of mask and hand sanitizers The Entrepreneur’s Challenge
and got bulk products which sold out during
With e-commerce becoming popular choice
the pandemic, where people hear from
of doing business, consumers have been
others and comes to buy masks and
now presented with plethora of options to
sanitizers in bulk, same time since they
make their purchases. Market is something
visited a footwear shop most probably
where we get everything, and with
purchase chapels or any other products, that
ecommerce the market place has entered
too was a part of survival. As mentioned,
not only homes but the pockets of
adding on items in the store according to
consumers. Consumers carry the market
the needs was always and added advantage
place in their pockets. Consumers give
for him to sustain in tough situations
more importance to convenience. It is quiet
because during the pandemic people do not
easy ordering something from somewhere
need new footwear but sales of toys, sports
and getting that in front of the doorstep
item, boots, games, recharge mobile and
within few days, people will feel more
tablet, helmet business all increased. He
comfortable than visiting a physical stores.
created new ways through which people
This has affected all traditional retailers. E-
would be attracted to visit the store. With
commerce entered the market years back
variety of
1
 Sustaining a Retail Store Business in the Ecommerce World: Journey of a Traditional Retail Store
Owner
and now it has conquered the entire market.
The current pandemic situation has also
helped in the growth of online businesses.
Traditional retailers cannot reach out to
manufacturers of top brand items, prices
also varies since traditional retailers have
distributors or wholesalers in between.
Therefore even though they are moving to
online platform they cannot reduce the
prices like e-commerce platforms, because
of the overheads, being a physical store.
MPF started with their website and have
pages in social media. He and his team are
working with an exclusive page of
footwears and bags only were people can
make orders through online or book the
item and purchase by visiting the store. He
has taken two shops near to current
footwear building to start a separate shop
for toys, cycles and helmets, which is
planned to start by November 2021.
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3
 FINANCIAL DATA OF MPF
G raph 1: Balance sheet
Balance Sheet
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
Capital
Sundry Creditors Furniture & Fittings Closing stock Sundry Debtors
The Graph 1, shows that in case of Sundry
Creditors, over a period of time, the sundry
creditors have increased substantially,
which indicates that they pay the suppliers
on or before time. The last financial year
(2018), saw the least number of Sundry
Creditors. The investment in furniture and
fittings and renovation of the shop shows
year on year increase. The decrease in
between the years, 2017- 2019 indicates
that they have purchased more furniture
which resulted in increase of tangible
assets. In case of closing stock, the lowest
was in the year 2010-11 which means that
this was the year they had the minimum
level of unsold stock. Incidentally, the last
year was the year with maximum closing
stock, which means they had a lot of unsold
stock on their hands. Sundry debtors, show
a rising trend for last 5 years (2015- 2019)
which indicates that they have more trust
worthy customers which is a healthy sign
for business.
G raph 2: Profit and loss
Profit and Loss
7000000
6000000
5000000
4000000
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
2010-2011
Sales
Gross profit b/d
Net Profit carried to B/S
The Sales figure, show an increasing trend
until the financial year 2013-14. In the year
2014-15 has shown a decrease and after
that, for the next two years (2016 and 2017)
it increased. The peculiar thing that must be
noted that the sales figure for 2016-17 and
2017-18 is exactly the same. So basically,
when you look at all the years, the sales
figures are at an increasing trend. This
means that the productivity and sales
generating capacity of the company has
increased with respect to the last year. From
the financial year 2011-12 to 2013-14
shows an increasing trend. In fact in the
year 2013-14 it was a 170.79% increase
with respect to the year 2012 which means
that they have been earning more than
reasonable profit on sales. In the
subsequent two years, even though it wasn't
a loss the gross profit had decreased
significantly and that means the company
wasn't able to earn good profit on sales.
Subsequent year, shows high profit earned
on sales as per the percentages shown and
again the same thing happened with respect
to the previous decrease and increase
scenario. In 2016 and 2018 gross profit
percentage is at a positive figure which
means they're earning significant profit on
sales. Net profit, as per the percentage
calculated it shows a similar trend.
Comparing to the year 2010-11 and 2011-
12 their net profit percentage has decreased
significantly in 2017. This indicates that the
company had lost their ability to earn more
net profit in certain years. But they gained
back their capacity, as seen in the years
2018 and 2019, the net profit percentage
has increased comparatively.
TEACHING NOTE
Synopsis
Thomaskutty was running a bakery and
catering business, along with that he a
private finance business in 1990’s. At the
same time he was exploring the possibility
of switching to another lucrative business
which can have a high turnover. After a
brief analysis of many business ideas
Thomaskutty realised the scope of footwear
in his home town Pallickathodu, Kottayam.
The main problem was finding a space for
starting the business. Finally he rented a
shop of 100 sq. ft. in a building of 6000 sq.
ft. in the central junction of Pallickathodu
town. Source of investment was from his
savings. Initial investment for footwear was
Rs. 130000. He did a furnishing of Rs.
30000 and stock was of Rs. 100000. On
1993, July 15 he started his footwear store
named Mundeparambil Footwear, which
then later shortened as MPF Store. There
were challenges initially due to saturated
market condition, attitude of consumers,
and less population in the town. Currently
Pallickathodu has changed from a small
town to a centre of many institutions like
hospital, tourist attractions, cinema theatre,
shopping mall etc. This has increased the
footfall of people to the town. MPF is
located in the heart of the town, which
makes it easy to get attention of the
consumers walking from any direction. At
present the showroom has the area of about
6000 sq. ft. which was less than 600 Square
feet when it started. Changes were made in
the business strategy, more items which can
be associated with footwear were
introduced which levelled up the coverage
and fame of the store. MPF is stepping
forward to online marketing and changing
the mode and style in order to sustain in the
e-commerce world. However, with
ecommerce becoming more and more
popular the retail shop owner faces a tough
competition from small businesses all over
the world unlike the earlier times when the
threat was only from the local players. Mr
Thomaskutty in recent times is always
battling with this challenge and exploring a
possible way to find a solution to this
looming problem.
Broad areas that the case can address
• Market Analysis: Understanding
the market condition, market size,
sample population, market
perceptions etc. through qualitative
or quantitative assessments.
• Competitor analysis: Study on the
competitors and their ways of
competence, existing market
opportunities to sustain in
competitive market.
• Bricolage: Observing and
collecting resources and ideas and
apply it in a different way that in
developing something new to
overcome existing problems.
• Entrepreneurial opportunity
recognition: Recognizing the
opportunity hidden in the market,
viewing the future as an opportunity
to start off with something new,
which add value to the business and
life.
Key Issues in the case:
• Explore various challenges faced by
a traditional retailer in the e-
commerce world
 • Struggle to adapt, sustain and grow
in the changing world of e-
commerce
Suggested student assignments
1. Identify any one business that they
know of which is going through a
similar struggle and suggest possible
ways to deal with the challenges
2. Compare the challenges faced by
small business across different
industries due to ecommerce
becoming mainstream way of doing
business
Suggested readings
1. Quayle, M. (2002). E-commerce:
the challenge for UK SMEs in the
twenty-first century. International
Journal of Operations & Production
Management.
2. Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2016).
E-commerce: business, technology,
society.
Potential audience for the case
MBA students studying e-commerce,
Business Driven Technology as a subject
Possible discussion questions
1. In hindsight do you think moving
from bakery to footwear business
was right decision?
The bakery and catering business were
earning profit but the turnover was very
less as the margin for the food products
are comparatively less. After a thorough
market research Thomaskutty figured
out various businesses that can provide
a high margin and turnover in
comparison to his existing business.
Finally, he shortlisted with the decision
to start a footwear business. Students
may do some secondary data research to
find the profit margins on bakery,
footwears and other business that Mr.
Thomaskutty started.
2. What do you think the reason
behind this successful journey?
Some of the qualities that made Mr.
Thomaskutty a successful
entrepreneur are, strong work ethic,
strong people skills, determination,
creativity, competitiveness, self-
starter, open minded, disciplined.
3. How new ideas are generated?
Observation and keen market study.
Interaction with wholesalers and
distributors also helps in getting ideas.
Being creative, and open-minded
approach helps.
4. How should Mr. Thomaskutty deal
with the existing challenges posed
by ecommerce to sustain the
business?
Proposed black board plan
o Understand the journey of
ecommerce adaption by different
business of different industries and
sizes.
o Outline the Journey of Mr.
Thomaskutty
o List the possible reasons for the
decisions taken by Mr.
Thomaskutty at each of the critical
points of his entrepreneurial journey
and evaluate pros and cons of each
of the decisions
o List the challenges faced by his
business due of advent of e-
commerce
o Suggest the short term and long
term solutions to his challenges
Sustaining a Retail Store Business in the Ecommerce World: Journey of a Traditional Retail Store
Owner

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