Emerging Retail Paradigm

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Snippets from the Retail Conference Organized by Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) @ Hotel Taj Coromandel, Chennai On September 5th & 6th

Indian Retail is facing the proverbial Chicken and Egg scenario where we are desperately identifying who we need, the Guru or the Pupil. This programme clearly addressed that. For us, the retail students of CBS, these two days at the TAJ on the Emerging Retail Paradigm was an eye opener to various aspects of organized Retail. SICCI has indeed done us a great help by giving a wonderful industry forum to understand the key concepts and terminologies in a matter of two days which might have otherwise taken two or three months of classroom study.

This seminar was a first of its kind to be held at Chennai and we felt really honored to be a part of this bonanza. The Session was kick started by Mr.Bhaskar Bhatt, MD, Titan Industries. He set the right mood for the day as he elucidated on the needs and wants of the customer and how organized retail could help the customer satisfy his needs. He gave us the various ingredients which constitute a so called perfect retail recipe. He being a HR head, closed his session with a note “Celebrate people!!”

Mr. Radhakrishnan,CEO Reliance Retail, then gave the keynote address of the session and he emphasized on the need to focus not on FDI but EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). This would have enormous effect on the supply chain and hence contribute to adding value to the customer. He held us in a stance with his excellent and down-to-earth insights about store management. An amazing session.

The next session was on Visual Merchandising (VM), about the importance of “Looking beyond the obvious ”. Mr. Ranju Mohan , Marketing Head of Henkel delved into the finer aspects of VM and explained how the footfalls could be drastically increased . Positioning and display play the pivotal role in VM. The emphasis on VM was further stressed on by Mr. David Blair, Managing Director- South Asia, Fitch, who has done the design for numerous retail giants across the globe. He charmed the audience with his design strategies and also presented some innovative models of supermarkets of the future.

Post lunch session was delivered by Mr. Venkataramana , Sr. VP- HR from Reliance Retail about the challenges faced in the Retention of employees in the retail sector. He stated with a note on keeping employees happy , as happy employees create happy customers. A very lucid and interesting talk with lot of practical insights. Then the baton was handed over to Mr. Connie Murray , VP- Manufacturing, Coca-Cola . Once again , the limelight was on SCM ( supply chain management). With the words “ Fish , Where the Fishes Are” he had us on the hook. He shared some of the valuable strategies implemented at Coke to achieve world class excellence. His words “ Plan your work and work your plan” are still reverberating in our minds.

The day came to an end with a session by Mr.E. Bobson from TUV Rheinland. He went one step further in SCM by elaborately speaking on “The Information Security System in SCM”. Only after this did we come to know of the various standards related to SCM especially ISO28000-for Security Management Systems.

The next morning began with Ms.Preethi Reddy from Technopak giving us a glimpse of “Managing Market Research”. We learnt about one more incidence of pareto principle in play - that only 20 % of the customers gave 80% of the Sales. She went on to explain how data was effectively used to do a RFM ( recency , frequency , Monetary ) analysis. To further strengthen the views , we had Ms.Tara Prabhakar from Envirosell delving deeply about “ Developing Shopper understanding”. The visuals she played corroborated how even trivial things like a door positioning can affect the consumer’s purchase decision . It was initially hard to believe that customers made 70 percent of their purchase decisions inside the store. But, it’s a researched fact ! That indicated a huge opportunity in the retailer ’s hands to influence the consumer. There is thus an increasing need to understand the consumer before even advertising products. Her closing remark “Bring science into shopping ” gave us a new mantra to work on .

Mr.Sanjay Mishra , VP- Merchandising, Spencer’s Retail commenced the next session on “ Profitable Store Operations”. He stressed that ultimately every transaction boiled down to a measurement of LCM per sq.foot. He started off with the concepts of store operations and how immaculately it has to be planned out. The major expectations of the deliverables of any large chain were spoken of. He concentrated on the various back-end activities needed to run a store and how it is important to bring about a differentiation in service. His precise focus to details was so high that it could have helped any entrepreneur to get inspiration for opening a profitable retail chain.

Finally to complete the circle , we had Mr.Saurav Dalmia , HSBC who pointed out “The need for Electronic Banking in Retail”. With mammoth scale and enormous number of Suppliers and Vendors , it becomes highly mandatory to have an efficient way of dealing with monetary transactions in organized retail chain operations. He pronounced that Electronic Banking(EB) to be the most suitable solution for the current scenario . EB transactions can be carried online and alerts can be sent to the mail or to the mobile. He also spoke vividly on the usage of technology like SAP to provide better banking solutions.

The seminar ended with Mr.Satishkumar, MD, Henkel and also the Convenor of the summit summarizing the two day proceedings. Mr.Balasubramanian,President of SICCI gave the final address. Followed by the retail awards distribution which were given in 3 categories-

Traditional Retail - Nalli Silks (Received by Mr.Nalli Kuppusamy Chetty)
Consumer Durable Retail - Viveks (Received by Mr. Kodandarama Setty)
First generation Entrepreneur - Received by Mr.M. Subramanian, Subiksha

The icing on the cake was the valedictory address by our dearest Mr.Pradipta K Mohapatra, who had the entire audience spell bound with his captivating speech about the international and Indian trends. A very interesting feature of his talk was the comparison of the volume of organized retail trade in India and that of the city of the Bangkok, which showed the long miles to be traveled by us.

Altogether, a great experience for all of us, not only in terms of learning for the real world, but also as an opportunity to brush shoulders and personally interact with the leaders of the industry.

Contributed by Khadeeja Bilquees, Retail Varsity

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A feel of retail !

Special session by Mr.P.K.MOHAPATRA, President & CEO, Technology Business Sector, RPG & Chairman- Retail Varsity & Governing Council Member, CBS


“A feel of Retail” were the words mentioned on the first slide of his presentation, but, the students got much more than a feel of it. For those who believed that there was nothing much to discuss about the Retail world, this session was a pleasant surprise. It was an eye opener for the marketing and the marcom varsity students as well, as they gained useful inputs which would play a crucial part in helping them understand the business world better. The quantum of knowledge that was delivered was fundamental in nature but crucial as it laid a foundation about the retail world in our minds.

He started off by giving us a comprehensive definition of the word Retail and its meaning; “Organized retailing presupposes an ability to influence, or more importantly manage a set of supply chains to be able to deliver value to the customer in a commercially sustainable & viable way”. He stressed more on the ability to influence, delivery of value and the commercial viability, which, as he explained, formulated the crux of any Retail establishment. We were simultaneously subjected to an array of general knowledge questions which covered not only the Indian market but the international scenario as well. We were introduced to the “who’s who” of the retail world, in the process.

Some of the interesting information were:

“10 million retail stores in India alone, making it the largest booming retail hub in the world”

“7/11 being the Largest convenience store in the world”

“Ginza district – Costliest shopping district in Japan” etc.

He then, took us through a journey about big guns of the international Retail market like M&S, NEXT, TESCO, HARRODS etc. and provided a brief overview about the culture, volume of sale and turnover of each of these business giants. The students received every piece of information with awe and utmost interest. The right amount of fuel was required to be injected to illuminate our minds towards the world of Retail and Mr. Mohapatra did just that, with incredible ease. By the time he finished, he had already captured the imagination of all and had ignited many minds with passion for the retail industry.

He then shifted our focus towards the 3 main attributes of a Retail establishment viz. right price, right quality and right time. He explained that with these three elements in place the success of a retail outlet was inevitable, but even if one of them is compromised with it would have a huge impact not only on the business but on the whole supply chain, thus making it very crucial for the very existence of the establishment.

He then introduced us to the various formats in the Retail world, classifying them on the basis of product categories and size. Mr. Mohapatra followed a systematic approach to explain the magnitude of the various businesses like standalone stores, boutiques, general stores, grocery stores, departmental stores, convenience stores, supermarkets category killers, warehouse clubs and hyper markets. Such was the clarity in the information delivered that the students almost immediately related it to the various shops and markets they had either visited or heard about and clarified which segment it belonged to.

He then highlighted that in-depth understanding of the customer’s needs was one of the main pre requisites and some times a tough challenge faced by retail outlets, because at the end of the day it’s the customers who determine the success of the outlet. Efforts need to be taken, unfailingly, to determine the type or strata of customers the outlet will be dealing with, their mindsets, their preferences, their expectations and last but not the least their opinions of feedbacks, which in turn will determine if the outlet will be enjoying customer loyalty in the future.

After emphasizing the importance of customers he explained the virtue cycle which was a shot in the arm for the students. He explained that the virtue cycle was a very important concept as it was based on the very fundamentals of retailing and each of its aspects depended on the proper execution or deliverance of its predecessor. The merchant provides for value for goods with additional service and by offering various other benefits to the customer which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. He concluded by saying that when customer satisfaction is attained it automatically leads to an increase in the volume of sales and an increase in sales means a subsequent increase in margin which in turn leads to more profit and thus forcing the merchant to continue providing value for goods to sustain the growth and look for a probable expansion in business in the future. Numerous interesting cases that were discussed include Brioni suits, Tie-Rack & BodyShop.

Mr.Mohapatra answered our questions in the simplest of ways and made sure none of the numerous questions that we fired at him went unanswered. He showed us only the tip of the ice berg which was by itself taking a long time for us to digest the facts and figures but we were really grateful to Mr. Mohapatra for at the end of the lecture each one of us developed this insatiable thirst for more knowledge which wouldn’t have been possible if not for his inspiring lecture..

From the moment he walked in and till the moment he wrapped up the lecture, we were captivated by his persona, the volume of information and the style of presentation. We were thrilled to know that he was scheduled to take many more sessions on retail in the future. We are looking forward for that day when Mr. Mohapatra hypnotizes us yet again with his insights from the world of retail.

Contributed by Suhas, Marketing Varsity
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Retail Assortment Planning – Simply Complex!!

Session @ CBS by Mr.K. Radhakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Retail(Hyper)

"Retailing is simple, but it aint easy". A statement that has defied the test of times, be it the Wal-Marts of the world or the next door Kirana wala. This very fact emerged even more realistic as Mr. Radhakrishnan, CEO, Reliance Retail (Hyper), took us through a real time journey in to the world of Assortment Planning. A session that took us beyond the realms of detailed theory to experience the real world approach to one of the most important pillars of efficient customer Response (ECR). i.e., Efficient Assortment.

A well planned assortment in a retail store is one of the critical factors that drive customers, as it defines the real value to the customer. Value!! A tricky word that is, had always been yet another "low price tag-low value" funda. This myth got shattered as Mr. .Radhakrishnan made us realize that low price doesn't always translate into low value. It is nothing but a game of price and other attributes that establish a product's perceived value to the customer; at the same time ensure that the game is a "win-win-win" proposition for the customer, retailer and the manufacturer. A statement that yet again redefined that retail isn't an easy game after all, a game played in and with the minds of the customer!!

We got an insight into the years of experience and practical learning that weaved various success stories in the retail arena, as he introduced us to an important tool which helps the merchandiser to strike a trade off between retailer productivity and customer satisfaction. The Category role matrix helps the retailer classify merchandise bricks based on the level of gross margin and sales volume on a high/low scale. This helps in various assortments level decisions that form the crux of merchandising.
Understanding merchandise hierarchy made us realize that planning is that thin line that rules a game well played and won

Every game has its own set of rules, so does merchandise assortment planning, rules that can redefine a category. We, the future retailers were exposed to five rules to get a high five with a merchandise category!! However, science is always not the solution, but an aid. It all boils down to common sense when a merchandiser takes deletion decisions. For example, deleting range building SKUs can have a suicidal effect on the customer's needs.

If science is one block in the big retail puzzle, we realized other bodies of knowledge such as economics, marketing, psychology also make up the retail pie. Brand Equity and Elasticity of demand are some concepts that can turn the tables around for retailers.

"Its all in the mind", How true!! Planograming using the technique of mind mapping re-enforced the statement .To sum up the session in few words is as difficult as retail, yet as fun and challenging as the same. It proved to be a highly informative and down-to-earth session.

Contributed by Binoj, Kunaal & Ramya of Retail Varsity CBS-Main Campus