MAM
Apple India’s three senior executives quit
MUMBAI: Adding to the turbulent journey of telecom giant Apple in India, three senior executives have decided to quit the company. Apple India head of national sales and distribution Rahul Puri, national sales head of telecom Manish Sharma and head of operator business and iPhone sales Jayant Gupta are all set to leave the company.
The senior sales executives are said to be leaving Apple as the company is struggling to sell its products in India and with further arrangements made to its distribution system by the company’s new head of India operations Michel Coulomb.
Coulomb wants to discontinue three of its distributors in India by March 2019 and continue with only two national distributors, out of the five the company has.
Even though India is the world’s second largest smartphone market, the iPhone maker is struggling with sales in India and accounts for only two per cent market share in the country. In 2017, Apple managed to sell only 3.2 million iPhones.
Michel has been reported to be struggling with his new job in making business relationships in the Indian market as it continues to remain a market where people still prefer/can afford a mid-range handset.
Apple’s new India chief Michael Coulomb is taking steps to change Apple’s pricing and sales strategies in India. The new India head has decided on blacklisting and cutting off supply to small scale retailers that buy the products from wholesalers to eventually sell it at a discounted price.
Brands
Zepto sets up mini delivery hub at AI Summit
Quick commerce goes live at venue with 1,700 daily orders
NEW DELHI: At a summit devoted to the future of artificial intelligence, quick commerce quietly stole the show at ground level. Zepto set up a compact Delivery Hub at the India AI Impact Summit, turning the venue into a live demonstration of instant retail in action.
Built at roughly one third the size of a standard 4,000 sq ft dark store, the scaled down hub was engineered for speed. Despite its smaller footprint, it was stocked with more than 10,000 stock keeping units curated specifically for summit attendees. From mid morning cravings to late afternoon slumps, the shelves were primed for every possible need.
Till Wednesday, the hub was processing an average of 1,700 orders a day. Lunch hour emerged as the clear rush period, as delegates swapped panel discussions for paneer puffs and product demos for Diet Coke. Snacks topped the order charts, followed by tea and other beverages.
Among the fastest moving items were samosas, plain Maggi, chicken puffs, Bisleri packaged drinking water bottles, Coca-Cola Diet Coke cans and Lay’s India’s Magic Masala potato chips. In short, comfort food met cutting edge tech.
The on site hub gave attendees near instant access to essentials without stepping outside the venue. More than just a convenience counter, it served as a real time case study of how technology led operations can power seamless commerce even at large scale events.
While speakers debated how humans and intelligent systems will co create and co work, Zepto offered a practical reminder that sometimes the smartest innovation is simply getting a hot snack into hungry hands, fast.
