2025: The year that was…

It was a lonely night on 31 Dec. ’24. I was laid off from my previous role 2 months ago and had been wondering what should I do in the coming months. 

Wanted to go on a long pan-India drive, but didn’t have enough to cover expenses for 3 weeks. Thought of a few start-up ideas that would work in the post-Covid, quick commerce era, but Capital & subsequent scaling was a concern. 

After struggling to attend half a dozen interviews for senior management roles, I realised that the market for CXO roles was not just shrinking. 

It was also getting clear that the closures were happening through references to the Chairman’s / MDs Office from within smaller circles.

I had two choices – to go through the arduous route of connecting with top CXOs within the Retail Industry one by one and seek their support. The other one was to take the “miles” less travelled. 

In the pre-Interval scene of his 2024 outing Jailer, Superstar Rajinikanth would sit down on a chair, slowly turn his face, smile and utter his next steps. 

Similarly, I said it to myself – if I do not get an assured Offer Letter by 15th Jan. ’25, then I would get back to the road less travelled – Independent Consulting. I had bootstrapped Miles2Go Consulting, a boutique Advisory firm in Aug. 2014.

In no time, I was already servicing two prestigious clients, one a 25-year old global FMCG brand at Bangalore and another one - a Fahion behemoth backed with over 50 years’ legacy of the Promoters.

Fashion and FMCG continue to be the two key verticals within organised retail that I am most passionate about in Consulting.

I began my road and rail travel across states and was giving my best, learning every day about the vast ocean that is Retailing, one SKU at a time.

 

In a sudden & unexpected turn of events, I managed to get placed as a “Partner” to be based in Bangalore at one of the Global Consulting & Advisory firms in the world. 

The annual take home package was an exciting 8-figure salary to build from scratch and lead their Retail Practice in the Indian sub-continent. It sounded surreal and I was overjoyed.

After sending the “offer letter” at 2pm on Friday signed by none other than the Chairperson of the Firm, which was after a month of deliberations, discussions and several rounds of interviews, the Firm decided to retract the offer given to me the following Monday!

I was stunned. Sugar levels trebled. Blood pressure shot up. Irregular bowels, coupled with sleep pattern disturbances and a general loss of interest in life led me to several disturbing days and nights. Was being pushed to border-line depression. 

The world came sinking. Not because I lost a job. Not because of someone invalidating my credentials based on hearsay and rumours. 

But the fact that there was zero-professionalism left in several corporates in the garb of international firms, which I have seen one after the other.

A bit of solo-travel and short-bursts of temple visits during April 2025 helped. 

I spent a lot of time alone, speaking less, reading more and articulating more than ever, what was being said and between the words. 

Thanks to a bunch of well-wishers and close friends, I was pushed to restart my Advisory firm – “Miles2Go Consulting Services” – M2G which was on a break since 2022.

And not just to start, those around me suggested that I build the “Practice” along with a team, rather than living and dying as an Independent consultant supported by associated off and on. 

When I mooted the idea to a few other professionals, they too advised that I take this up in a bigger way and lo-behold, on 1st April 2025, I began Ver. 2.0 of M2G.

This time, it was going to be a planned approach on scaling. A crafted, chiselled one, rather. With a clear Vision, surrounded by a bunch of passionate professionals.

First was to decide how will we be different from our earlier avatar, when Shriram and M2G were intertwined and the names simply replaced each other. In Ver. 2.0, I told myself, that shouldn’t be the case. 

M2G should be a team and the outcome should also be credited to the team. 

While I would remain hands-on in every project, I would take a back seat in the day today operations.

Then, I set about to focus on the five key verticals that we would focus on in 2025 – Retail Leasing, Hiring, Training, PR Strategy + Offline / Events Execution. Know more about us here.

These are areas I have chosen to remain afar since I began Consulting in 2014. 

We felt that these could not just bring in additional revenues, but would also provide us with a bigger reach to newer clients and a larger world out there.

On 31st August 2025, we organised our first public event at Spencers Plaza to celebrate the “Madras Formation Day”, now celebrated over a month.

What was most unexpected was the office space we landed upon. 

I have been infamous for not taking my parents advice seriously since childhood, however this time I decided to cold-call at a large office complex as suggested by Dad. 

I was lucky that the place was not only available, but I was able to finalise the place and move-in within a record time. A fully furnished 2,500 sq ft A-grade office in the heart of the city at Mylapore, Chennai.

On the auspicious Vijaya Dasami Day 2025, my parents performed the office pujas and we started working from there since then. 

The team size slowly began to increase, even as knowledgeable and passionate people from their domains agreed to give me a try and to join my team. 

It’s been a good three months in the new office and I cannot thank my personal and professional family enough for their unstinted support all these months.

As we speak, we are serving half a dozen clients across Business Strategy, Hiring & Training, with a team size of 40 members. 

Whenever I sit in my chair, it sounds surreal. This is not what I had vaguely dreamt about 365 days ago. But God had other plans, after all.

As I say every morning when I wake up, “We have just begun. We have Miles To Go…” 

Do drop by our office and encourage us to do more. We are located here.

Does EBIDTA mean much for businesses?

I was in a review meeting with a client recently and we were going through the store level profitability with the CFO. Around 100 stores across India. 

The sales team were quick to point out that many stores were profitable after paying rents and salaries. 

Let alone the store fixtures’ depreciation, they were not considering the proportionate cost of warehousing and logistics as well as back office overheads. If the brand marketing costs (incl. making the Ads and releasing them) as well as Leadership + Management salaries were considered, then the bottomline was a pittance.

Yet, everyone wants to feel good about EBITDA, as if it were the holy grail of a retail business.

EBITDA positive is the first stept towards achieving a profitable and valuable business, no doubt. 

But to feel excited just because there is enough margin after fixed and variable costs is the single most reason why brands drown the drain.

Another example, for renting stores, deposits are paid to landlords which carry no interest. 

However, a notional interest @ 12% should be recorded in the P/L, as this is pure working capital being deployed elsewhere.

In another example, a client wanted to purchase a truck rather than renting out citing higher efficiency. 

What the Client did not consider was the interest cost of the asset if it was borrowed from the bank (let alone from cash acruals) and / or, the efficiency of such cash if it was invested in a Capex (they run a factory too) which would yield finished goods that would fetch revenues.

It’s high time Corporate Leaders stop giving so much importance to EBITDA and leave the joy of celebrating it to the newage StartUps and their Investors rejoice over this word.

Not sorry for being blunt. This is what a true and honest Retail Management Consultant would say, after all. 

Wish to have a no-obligation consultative meeting for your requirements? Mail me - Shri@MilestoGo.in

Convenience over Experience or Vice versa?

At last count, the quick commerce players such as Blinkit by Zomato, Zepto and Big Basket are said to have delivered over 1,000 units of the newly launched iPhone 16 series. In contrast, a single Apple Authorised Reseller (AAR) store – the exclusive Apple franchises across India sold over 150 units a day on 20 Sep. 2024 when the iPhone 16 was launched.

The staff at one of the stores told me Sat. 21 Sep. that the sales was bit dull being the second day while he was confident of selling over 200 pieces on Sunday, as he expects a lot more customers to drop by at the store. There are an estimated 3,000+ AAR in India, though all are not equal in footfalls and revenues. 

During my 40-min hang out at the store, there were at least 30+ Apple aficionados at the store (along with yours’ truly!). I spotted a few kids in their early teens with their parents exploring the new launch of iPhone, Apple Watch among the iPad and iMac. 

Two elderly couples, possibly in their 60s came to have a curious look at the range of Apple products. They seem to have come with an intention to buy, I could make out. 

 

The typical fanboys and fangirls were engaged in a thorough dissection of the various features of the device even as the store staff struggled to answer many of their tech queries.

 

There is a charm in offline retail, after all, I reckoned.

Last week, Hari Menon, Founder & CEO of Big Basket, which was launched in 2012 and sold off to the TATA Group in 2021 said at an event that local shops (read Kiranas) were not under the threat of Q-Commerce. 

Incidentally, Big Basket launched its quick commerce service with the iPhone 16 – an order places at 0800 hrs was delivered at 0807 hrs on 20 Sep.

 

Despite the convenience of doorstep delivery of groceries and household items, pet food, fresh food and everything in between over the last few months, electronic items too, why do people still step out of their homes and shop at offline stores – to buy the iconic Apple devices or Apple, the fruit?

As the adage goes, humans are social animals and need company. They need to simply step out of their physical bondages (read: comfort zone) to get a peak at what’s happening around them and around the world.

 

Take the film industry’s conundrum, for example. When the OTT model of watching and consuming entertainment took shape during and after the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, visitation to cinema theatres was declared a no-hope zone. Yet, movies are raking in crores of box office collections – the only catch, audience want crisp scripts and not just stellar star cast.

Even though foodtech players like Swiggy and Zomato are minting in billions of dollars annually, offline visits to restaurants has not dwindled. 

For most restaurants, their delivery channel through foodtech is between 15-20%, and consumers continue to visit their premises just like before 2020.

 

Quick Commerce brings in tremendous convenience for consumers while E-Commerce offers a massive range to shoppers, as they can sift through thousands of products before they buy. 

However, what amount of dent it would create to offline and neighbourhood shops is yet to be seen. “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”, as Shah Rukh Khan would say with a grin.