The Bicycle and the Airlines

"Bicycles, a vital part of urban mobility in the West, are getting crushed under India’s rushing prosperity" It is the 21st century version of the classic rabbit and tortoise story. Last weekend, a group of cyclists decided to race against Jet-Blue Airlines in Los Angeles when one of its busiest highways was shut down for construction and renovation. To help people get across the town fast, JetBlue started a special flight service. A group of cyclists decided to challenge the airlines to a bikeversus-airlines race. It turned out to be a door-to-door race covering 60 kilometers. The cyclists and the airlines passengers started the journey at the airlines recommended time. The cyclists covered the distance in an hour and 34 minutes. The airlines passengers of course had to first go to the airport, an hour before departure, take the flight which took 45 minutes, and then take some transport to reach the scheduled point of arrival. The cyclists had reached their destination and won the race even before the flight took off. The moral of this incident is also fitting with the challenges of our times — pollution, congestion, energy conservation, efficiency, and obesity. As it turned out, bicycles can compete with the faster means of transportation (cars, planes) that are expensive, guzzle energy, and cause pollution and traffic jams. Bicycles are inexpensive, good for the environment, and least likely to cause jams. The added bonus: cycling is a good exercise and helps reduce obesity, a serious health problem afflicting almost a third of the US adult population and its incidence is growing in developing as well as rich countries. Bicycles are back in fashion in the West and serve as important means of transport for short distances. Governments — local and national — are providing incentives in the form of tax subsidies as well as better infrastructure to encourage bike use. Many global cities like Paris, London, and Amsterdam, provide userfriendly facilities for parking and renting bicycles. Since 2006, the US government has doubled spending on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure even as all other state and federal expenses are being cut. The country has one of the lowest bicycle use in the world — about 1% of all commuting. Netherlands is the biggest user with biking accounting for 30% of daily commuting, followed by Denmark, at 20%. It may not be a total coincidence that the people of these two countries rank among the top in the happiness index of the Gallup 2010 survey. India is the world’s second largest producer of bicycles. If world demand for bicycles rises, we hope to benefit from it. Unfortunately, bicycle use in major Indian cities has steadily declined over the years. In 1960, bicycles accounted for 60% of all commuting trips in Delhi. In recent years, their share has fallen to 4%. There are two important explanations for the near-disappearance of bicycles from Delhi roads. The first one has to do with the social ranking of bicycles in our society. Bicycles — or cycles — have been the poor man’s transport. The emphasis here is on man and poor. It is rare to find women cyclists on Delhi roads. Most parents do not like to teach their daughters how to ride a bike, whereas biking is an integral part of the parental guide to raising boys. Cycling also does not go with Indian women’s dress code — saree or duppatta. Indeed, biking in a saree or salwar-kameezwith duppatta increases the risk of choking or other accidents. As an aside, there is a small literature on the contribution of bicycles in women’s liberation. Susan B Anthony, the legendary American civil rights leader, had once famously remarked, “Bicycles have done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” In 2006, the Bihar government started providing free bicycles to girls once they reach class 8. A few other states have followed this scheme with some modifications. Will these schemes improve woman’s status? We certainly hope so. Back to the link between bicycle use and incomes. As incomes increase, people move from bicycles to public transport, scooters, motorcycles or cars. Given the connotations of bicycle to social status, in India, even when it is the most efficient transport, many do not use it. The second factor for the decline in bicycle ownership and use relates to the enormous and chaotic traffic growth. Vehicular traffic in Delhi has doubled over the past decade. Bicycle riders are the most vulnerable in such traffic if they do not have a lane exclusively reserved for them. While there are bike lanes in some areas in Delhi, cars and autos often squeeze their way into these lanes or use these lanes as parking lots. Delhi traffic and roads are a nightmare for bicycle riders as well as pedestrians. Over the past 10 years, the population of Delhi increased three million. Many highways and expressways have been built to accommodate the resulting rise in traffic. There are areas where roads have been expanded by eliminating sidewalks. Often, car-owners unscrupulously use sidewalks to park cars. Robbing pedestrians of sidewalks increases traffic and traffic-related accidents. The National Crime Records Bureau has estimated that 30% of all fatalities on Delhi roads involve pedestrians. In Delhi, pedestrians and bicycle riders are becoming endangered species. Safe sidewalks for pedestrians and separate lanes for bicycles are essential for an efficient public transportation system that depends on multiple modes of transport. The added bonus: less pollution, healthy, better looking, and happy people. NEERAJ KAUSHAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

"Nieghbour's Envy,Owners Pride"..............

The Devil that entertained

We have forever cherished and admired the legendary marketing campaigns that owed their genesis to what is now popularly known as the hub of advertising in America –Madison avenue .Little did we notice that our own mainland has exceptional instances of legendary marketing campaigns that have meticulously metamorphosed brands and their success stories.

Travel back in time and see if you can recollect visual traces of a green devil, a devil who was rather cute than scary whose husky voice, pointed horns, long nails and a spiky tail, stirred you but didn’t really scare you that much. And why you didn’t dread the devil was because he delivered a unique message to you in that spooky yet husky voice. The message was, “Nieghbour’s Envy, Owners Pride.”and the devil discussion was Onida’s unique Mascot during the early 80’S

The then popular home grown electronic brand owned by Mirc Electronics Ltd, established in 1981 was one of the many victims of liberalization and was vying hard for a descent market share amidst MNC players like LG and Samsung becoming prominent by the day.

While the big players fought their battle with aggressive pricing and distribution strategies, Onida had a tough time carving a niche for itself while maintaining the volume of sales subsequently.

And so when the battle got fierce, Onida employed weapons from an ad agency ,Advertising avenues, and art director Gopi Kukade (who initially crated the devil mascot) copywriter Ashok Roy and marketer Gautam Rakshit became Onida’s artillery to win the marketing warfare.

The tag line the Roy come up with, more than just hit the bull’s eye. In those days buying was commensurate to flaunting and thus boosting one’s self esteem and the line communicated that buying an Onida TV could make that easily possible for any one.

The timing worked all the more for them because buying colored television was a new entrant in the list of prevalent fads of that time. Introduction of financial options like payment in installments made the picture rosier!

And Onida , whose sales figures were sinking in deep red sea, resurrected its topline with soaring numbers. This continued for two decades where by the company stayed afloat with a profit line and devil, who were both, err in green!

Probably that justifies why the brand stuck to a devil for two decades and still managed to not scare its consumer but entertain them.

But as we stepped in to the new millennium ,Onida moved on without the devil saying that it was no more relevant to entice customers on those lines because they had developed an individual taste which stood irrespective of the societal preference, whatsoever.

While the art director, Gopi Kukde didn’t concede to the decision, he and many others admit that the tag-line was a benchmark in giving copywriters in the industry their due worth. Guess the devil did a lot of magic in its life or should we say, afterlife!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3h6kOLYGtI

kissing games, utorrent

Speak Asia Fraud

http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1671122

Brand Update : All Out Kills the Frog

In a sad development, the new owners of the brand All Out - M/s SC Johnson has killed the most powerful brand element of All Out- The Frog. The new campaign of All Out does not feature the famous All Out Frog which was instrumental in popularizing the brand across various segments.
From the birth of the brand, the frog has been the unique identifier and differentiator for All Out. The character was very much instrumental in conveying the effectiveness of the brand.
People began to instantly understand the frog's symbolic meaning. But the Frog has now moved into history. The current campaign not only excludes the frog but the entire positioning of the brand has been changed. Instead of the frog, the brand is now following the typical laser effect that all other brands shows in their respective ads . The brand now has the tagline " All round protection for the family " and has moved away from being the " Yamraj for Mosquitoes ".


The removal of All Out frog is a definite retrograde step for the brand. The learned minds of the company forgot to appreciate the effort and the money that has been spent on creating such a powerful brand element. The frog was also a powerful differentiator for the brand. All these has been removed in one stroke. I don't understand the rationale or logic behind killing such a powerful differentiator . If that brand element was replaced by another powerful element, it would have been fine. But rather, the new campaign is nothing but a copycat of other similar brand's advertisements. So in a way the company has found an ingenious way to kill a powerful brand.

Rural Recipes- PepsiCo India

Cracking the bottom of the pyramid market in India is every brand’s dream. PepsiCo India with a healthy snack and vitamin enriched beverage with low price points and different goto-market strategy is taking a shot Rajiv Banerjee The primary school at Sangamjagalamudi, a village around 15 kms from Tenali town in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, has declared a holiday on a week day. But the school children have been told to come to school. No, it’s not Independence Day or a visit by an important dignitary for whom the school children have been summoned. It’s for an education programme on iron deficiency. A Dappu artist readies the flat drum on his shoulders and starts playing it. As the school children gather, the male and female emcees who are part of the troupe conducting the programme talk to them about the reasons for anaemia, the causes and preventive measures like home remedies. Even as the team is talking to school children, another team in the village is talking to the trade — at the local kirana shop or to the smaller distributors — about a health snack. Both the education programme in schools and the seeding of the product are happening at the same time and similar such teams have fanned across 95 villages across coastal Andhra Pradesh. The same company has reached out to potential consumers and trade in Maharashtra across districts like Satara, Aurangabad and Sangli, touching nearly 250 towns and villages for a vitamin fortified beverage. The objective is clear: to test-market affordable products that fulfil a health need of bottom of the pyramid (BOP) consumers. The company: PepsiCo India. The potential market size: over a billion consumers. Geetu Verma, ED - innovation at the beverages and foods giant, is at the helm of test-marketing two prototypes of such products placed squarely on the platform of health and price: Gluco +, a beverage with electrolytes and glucose; and Lehar Iron Chusti, a fortified iron snack. Both are aimed at consumers at the bottom of the pyramid — in rural as well as urban areas. The journey — a few years so far — to win consumers in the hinterland has begun. “It’s about scoping out the next billion consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. What are the gaps? What are the offerings? And what’s the business model required to reach these consumers?” says Verma. Late management guru C K Prahalad brought the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid to the fore and many companies, primarily consumer goods marketers, have been looking at ways to make inroads into this market. Verma says when it comes to the BOP, there are significant gaps one encounters — “not just from a portfolio perspective, but price points and making products available at the right access point.” In the course of opportunity mapping at the BOP, Verma says work first began with a definite price point as a benchmark. “Not more than 2 or 5. Then we started working backwards to create products fit within the desired price points,” she says. But to get SEC C & D consumers interested in a snack and a beverage needed a larger plank that went beyond tackling hunger and thirst. So for Gluco+, priced at 5, the company identified the need gap of health and energy of the rural folk. “A large number of them are daily wage earners. So the key is to remain fit to not lose their daily income.” Similarly, Lehar Iron Chusti is primarily targeted at girls. “The opportunity mapping gave us the insight that 55% of Indian women are anaemic. And the point of intervention is when you are an adolescent or when you are a mother. We chose the former,” explains Verma. T S R Murali, senior director - R&D, PepsiCo India, points out that Gluco+ rides on hydration as well as on the functional benefits of the product. “Indian climatic conditions require hydration but for the BOP market functionalities like sugar, flavour are also important,” says Murali. Industry observers like Pinakiranjan Mishra, partner – consumer & retail at Ernst & Young, a consultancy firm, say that the health platform is a significant proposition in both urban and rural markets. “Studies have shown that people in rural areas are as unhealthy as their counterparts in urban areas. Health for the family is an important consideration. So to reach out to the rural markets, talking to them on family health and health of their children at the right price point could be a good plank,” says Mishra. Verma of PepsiCo adds that the target audience for Lehar Chusti is not aware of the health problem it suffers from. So Pepsi-Co created a composite health programme in audio-visual format. “The AV touched upon the symptoms of anaemia and what kind of diet will tackle the problem. Along with that, we communicated how Chusti can help supplement the dietary regime,” says Verma. Apart from the product and pricing, testmarketing the two products is also enabling PepsiCo to formulate distinct go-to-market strategies. Without elaborating on the exact nature of the distribution plan, Verma explains that the target consumer for both Chusti and Gluco+ will be visiting small chai stalls and travelling in state transport buses. “One can look at leveraging the wholesale network, and a hub and spoke model with lean manpower. Eventually, the product has to create enough pull for it to move through the system.” Further, the element of keeping prices low and creating a viable distribution model also hinges on manufacturing and the location. “Optimizing freight costs is also critical,” she adds. These may be early days for PepsiCo India, but the critical aspect of the test marketing is acceptance of products with a balance between health and taste, even for the BOP consumers. While price sensitivity is an issue, Verma says that initial indicators reveal that the consumers don’t mind paying more provided they see value. Observers believe that rise in incomes at the bottom of the pyramid, aided by government sponsored employment schemes means that the consumers will have more money to spend on non-essentials like snacks and beverages. “Disposable incomes may be higher because unlike the times earlier families in rural areas don’t have to travel great distance in search of work. This helps them save on costs they would normally incur on travel, stay, food etc,” says Mishra of E&Y. Verma and her team are now busy analysing the results of the test marketing and finetuning their strategies. As Murali states, the innovation for BOP involves tackling a complex set of challenges. “The prototyes involved product development, shelf life analysis and even engineering dynamics. For example, Gluco+ means filling a beverage in a cup without compromising on quality and taste,” adds Murali. If PepsiCo India is able to make inroads into the the bottom of the pyramid with these two products, it would have made a solid beginning in its quest to be relevant to the next billion consumers in India. rajiv.banerjee@timesgroup.com

Maximizing Your Price – The Value/Benefit Equation

Price increases are currently occurring at a faster rate than economy for nearly 25 years. The driving forces behind these increases seem to be the rising costs of labor, raw materials, etc. Although these are certainly valid, the real reason for these price increases should stem from the value of the product or service you’re selling, not the cost associated with them.

Unfortunately, for the past two decades, there have been many companies leaving billions of dollars of profit on the table because they’ve been basing their pricing on cost rather than the value/benefit equation.

Why should anyone pay more for something than the amount incurred to produce it?
For many companies, this seems like a logical question. They determine the cost of their goods and services from a cost-plus model which says that the price you charge should not be out of line with what it costs you to produce it. However, if this was true for all items in today’s marketplace, then we’d all be paying a lot less for tickets to concerts and sporting events, as well as items like computer software, DVDs, etc.

When companies understand that the real profit is made by pricing their items according to the value/benefit of what the customer is going to receive from their product or service, their bottom line will reflect it. Over the years, I’ve found that the larger the company, the more confident they are with their role in the marketplace, and thus the more confident they are in pricing themselves based on the value/benefit equation.

Small companies, on the other hand, are less confident and are more likely to set prices using the cost-plus model. Although there are many successful companies that use the cost-plus model, including Costco and Wal-Mart, I believe it’s imperative for every salesperson, no matter who they work for, to push themselves to the value/benefit equation.

The value/benefit equation is very simple. It is built entirely on understanding the benefits that the customer is going to realize from using your product or service. To discover these needs, a salesperson is required to not only ask them questions during the sales process, but also to really ascertain how their product or service will be used for the long-term.

Do not equate value to low-price. On the contrary, the best value is many times the highest price (or at least what appears to be the highest price initially). Take, for example, the price to fly from New York to Los Angeles. I’m sure a person could take a bus across the country for a lot less money, but the value/benefit equation would be low for the bus trip because of the time it would take. Conversely, flying would cost more initially, but provide you with far more time once you reached your destination.

As a salesperson, you should never allow yourself to get steamrolled into a price increase discussion with a customer that is centered solely on raw costs. Whenever you present a price increase, always begin by asking them questions about the benefits they receive from what you’re providing them. This allows the customer to better understand the importance of you and your company to them.

Encourage them to explain how you fit into their supply-chain model or how you impact their overall business process. The key is to get the customer to share with you something specific and unique about how you help them. Then, to further drive this point home, ask them follow-up questions based on what they tell you. Their specific responses will reiterate the fact that you and your company are an important asset to them.

Once you have achieved this level of dialogue, you can then share your price increase. Because they realize how crucial you are to their success, they will be less likely to raise any objections. At this point, you will have achieved the value/benefit equation for which you are looking and the higher price you deserve.

Despite the grim economy that seems to be driving many price increases, the outlook doesn’t have to be hopeless for salespeople. By focusing your customer’s attention on the value/benefits your products or services offer, you can help them see that it is imperative that they continue in business with you because of how you and your company contribute to their overall success.

The Value Equation

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
–Warren Buffett




What is the value equation, and it is really possible to compare and contrast equivalent approaches using this relationship?

In my current line of work of developing and implementing strategies for acquiring the goods and services needed by mission operations in Houston, the value equation plays a central role. In soliciting for goods and services, we weigh the proposed benefit in terms of technical, management, and business approaches, along with demonstrated reliability based upon past performance, and contrast that against the cost for the proposed approaches. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) defines “best value” as “a combination of competitive pricing and improved performance” (i.e., benefit).

With the above we have some clues. In a very simplistic way, the relationship between benefit and cost and the resulting value can be expressed in terms of the following equation:

value = benefit – cost

Let’s look at some results for value in terms of benefit and cost.

One way to increase value is to provide the same benefit at a reduced cost; that is, if the benefit is the same, reducing cost provides more value. Focusing for a minute on the commercial-versus-Government debate on access to low Earth orbit, one can surmise a logical explanation behind the philosophy for handing over routine cargo and crew transportation services to the commercial sector. It is rooted in the belief that standard commercial business practices and the free market will lead to lower costs in the longer run for the same services (i.e., benefits) provided by systems in existence today. This is the relationship that many have in mind as to why it is desirable to reduce cost; as long as one can reduce cost yet continue to provide the same goods or services, it is perceived of greater value. I certainly do. Wal-Mart is the master of this approach with its volume buying and pressure on it suppliers to reduce costs

KFC Malaysia strategies to save its face after disgraced incident

KFC Malaysia had to face embarrassing moment when one of its employees was caught on CCTV tossing the chicken and rubbing it against his shoes before giving it to the customers. Also a video was seen on Youtube wherein the spilt oil outside the canister was put back in the oil canister with an unclean cloth.

Counter measures by KFC:

KFC reported the matter to police and also launched an internal investigation but it was too late the video was put on Youtube on june 25th just days after the incident.

Using facebook and Youtube

Fearing a backlash from the public regarding KFC practises and tarnishing of the KFC brand image ( to prevent what happened to Vodafone)  the team launched a Facebook tab which contains two new YouTube videos addressing the problem, and set up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to anticipate questions that anyone might have.


In one video, En. Mohammad Alwi, KFC Malaysia’s Director of Restaurant Operations, made a personal address to the public in two languages – Malay and English. In the video, he apologized and ensured customers that KFC Malaysia has taken action to prevent the same incident from happening.

The following points were put up to ensure trust of  people in brand KFC

1. Cameras in kitchens: KFC Malaysia has installed cameras to make sure that the kitchen team can be held accountable for their actions.

2. Appoint supervisors: One lead cook will be appointed at every kitchen to supervise the food preparation process.

3. Improve the training program : The training program will be made more rigorous to ensure employees understand the value of KFC and food hygiene.

Alwi also invited enraged netizens to the KFC Malaysia Facebook page to voice their concerns, a smart move which might have won over many critics. Admittedly there are many complaints in the discussions section, but the frequency of negative buzz on the Facebook page is dying down. The incident may come to a graceful close in the next couple of days if nothing major is reported.

KFC was wise to embrace the web (where news of the problem initially took off) to make amends and welcome feedback — essentially fighting fire with fire, so to speak. The video communicated its apology and took steps forward succinctly and responsibly.

More information can be found on :

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/kfc-malaysia-staff-in-scandalous-videos.html

A barber hoping to raise Rs 60 crore through an IPO

For a moment, overlook the quirkiness. A barber hoping to raise Rs 60 crore through an IPO begs a fundamental business question: how will he give value to his shareholders? The service-haircuts-can't be mechanised. Hence, maintaining consistent quality is impossible. Revenue growth will be limited to the expansion of the network of hair salons to tier I and tier II cities. Profits will remain constant for long periods as the fee of haircuts cannot be changed frequently. Most important, the company's brand value will depend on one man: Jawed Habib, celebrity hair stylist, now managing director of Jawed Habib Hair and Beauty Ltd (JHHBL).

Habib appears unfazed by the scepticism. He has taken several risky decisions in the past, the biggest being to start out on his own in 2005, without the support of his father Jahir Habib , hairstylist of Jawaharlal Nehru. In five years, he owns a chain of 225 salons across 62 cities that attract customers mostly because they carry his name: Jawed Habib's.

"People are amazed at my decision but I have no doubts," he says. The move is gutsy, to say the least. Despite a wider bouquet of services, several other companies in the beauty and wellness sector have been unable to take this leap of faith. Vandana Luthra's Curls and Curves is a case in point. Wellness arms of companies with deep pockets have also not been listed. For example, Marico's popular beauty clinic, Kaya.

Globally, only a handful of salons, like Hong Kong-based Modern Beauty Salon Holdings , have taken the public route. Even they bank on a wide range of beauty treatments and branded beauty products to accelerate growth. Currently, JHHBL doesn't have the comfort of either. So what makes Habib so confident? An analysis of the industry reveals some less apparent opportunities and prospects of scalable business model.


Brand Vacuum
The hair and beauty sector forms 40% of the wellness industry. According to a study by 2S Consulting and JHHBL, the wellness sector is valued at Rs 6,900 crore and is growing at around 35%. annually. "The size of the industry will grow to Rs 28,400 crore by 2015," claims Rohit Arora, JHHBL's executive director. In the same period, the per capita spend on hair and beauty is predicted to go up by 316%-from $1.2 to $5. However, KPMG estimates say the size of the wellness industry in India is expected to reach Rs 14,500 crore in FY2014.

Though the numbers are impressive, the sector is unorganised. For instance, hair styling is dominated by beauty product manufacturers and personality-based players. At one end companies like L'Oreal, Keune , Wella and Schwarzkopf have started lending their brand name to salons. On the other end celebrity hair stylists like Aalim Hakim and Adhuna Bhabani Akhtar in Mumbai are powering their parlours by an A-list clientele from the glamour industry.

The opportunity lies in creating a national brand known for quality service at reasonable prices. "Jawed Habib is positioned as a brand for the masses, it makes sense for him to go for an IPO. No one else in the fragmented market can do this," says Yatan Ahluwalia, image consultant and director, Y&E Style Media . Habib claims he saw this potential early. "Through my salons, workshops and seminars in various cities, I realised the need for a salon in every city," he says. The IPO is his way to accomplish this. However, an industry insider who wishes to remain anonymous doesn't think Habib's name can pull in haut monde customers. His salons are not the 'it' destinations.

This may have disastrous consequences in the fashion circuit. But for business the mass market means higher revenues. This can never be bad. Habib has a different take on this perception: "Celebrity or a common man-hair is hair."

Growth Pangs
Though experts do not deny the potential, they are unsure that the business is scalable. Lifestyle companies usually faced this problem in the past. According to Sarabjit Kour, vice-president (research), Angel Broking, scaling up is the biggest challenge for any company entering an unorganised sector. The competition is high and operates at several local and regional levels.

"Companies like Marico have not listed the Kaya brand because it has not scaled up to such a level. It will be interesting to watch the market's response to Habib's IPO," she adds.
Vikram Hosangady, executive director (transactions and services), KPMG India highlights another challenge: there is a lot of interest in consumer stocks-a company like Habib's will face the pressure of being listed and reporting increasing profitability, very often a challenge for a small growing business where several outlets may not have achieved scale.

He has some more doubts: "It is a personality driven company. How will Habib ensure consistency of quality? The profit margins too are set as each salon will accrue fixed revenues." There are HR issues as well. The beauty and wellness industry is plagued by a talent crunch and high churn.

But the barber businessman claims to have covered all angles. His team of managers-spearheaded by Arora, marketing and sales head Zafar Khan, human resource manager Amrit Rao and information technology head Prakash Singh-has spent many days honing the business model.

On doubts of whether the stock will excite investors, Arora says: "The stock will carry a scarcity premium. We are expecting to raise Rs 60 crore though the IPO-25% of the total equity. This means we value the company at Rs240 crore."
What about giving investors their money's worth? Arora cites past data as the company's ability to scale up quickly. In 2006, the company had a chain of 37 salons. At the time of filing the draft red herring prospectus, the number had zoomed to 225. Also, Habib's Hair Xpreso-a Rs. 99 dry haircut for anyone-is catching on in malls in tier I cities.

"There are multiple levels of scalability-by adding more salons, starting franchises and exploiting the floor space for branding," he says. JHHBL has already tied up with Katha Media for branding the floor space of the salon for Rs4 crore.
Will Jawed Habib hair and beauty products flood the market in the near future? Arora is tight lipped. But he says the option is not outside their radar: "Salons like Lakme and L'Oreal are a move from products to services. We will have the advantage of transitioning from services to products."

But what will really set the business going is the craze for looking good, always. Not just youngsters, even people past their prime want to be groomed. As Habib says, "A good haircut is a bad habit." He's hoping the nation will get addicted.