Sink or Swim — The Fate of a Retail Family Business

The case highlights the challenges faced by retail businesses all over the world in the e-commerce era. Mr. Divyanshu Soni, a third-generation entrepreneur, is facing the daunting task of reviving his family business. Basant Radio is an electronic showroom dealing in sales of televisions and radios in the last 63 years. The previous generations had their fair share of challenges and their understanding and business acumen had helped Basant Radio become one of the most popular stores across the city and nearby areas. Recently, the sales had dipped dramatically following certain business decisions that had gone wrong. Moreover, advent of the online era had distracted customers away from the existing brick and mortar stores. Divyanshu was worried that the business was faltering because of consumers’ preference of e-commerce sites which offer unbeatable prices. His fear was not unfounded as e-commerce is affecting the sales of physical stores all over the world. The Indian e-commerce market is expected to cross US$50 billion by the year 2018. E-commerce is most popular in the case of the electronics market. The case highlights a number of options available to the entrepreneurs that may help in keeping the business afloat.