The first two days of India Retail Forum 2008 was not just about the retailers, the speakers and the journalists nagging every possible who’s who of the industry. But it was also about some of the best retail designing firms, which were present for all to know and understand what retailing is all about.
One such retail design firm was UK-based ‘M Worldwide’, and while speaking to Indiaretailing, David Martin, joint managing director of the house revealed their plans for India and shared their global experiences. He said, “We come to India with the promising view that the retailers will need what we have to offer as the present Indian booming retail needs world class appeal to offer to its consumers. We are here to help create a brand and deliver products as per the expectations of retailers.”
“Ours is a consumer focused retail design agency that builds brands and retail environments for most successful businesses. We are targeting the major luxury and niche retail market segments in India and wish to establish a mark here with the names that the Indian retail industry buzzes with,” added David.
He further said, “As we have worked with the likes of TESCO and other F&G retailers in Europe, we feel that the Indian F&G segment should also look at us for what we have to offer. The big players already have their stores according to their choices and preferences as to how they want to display their brands. But the retail design of a store is much more than what has been offered here in India and we feel that the Indian market should not be deprived of it.”
Another such retail design firm was the UK-based HMKM, which is mainly involved in fashion and high street retail designing and wants to bring an international feel to Indian stores.
According to Christian Papa, director and Alison Cardy, managing director, HMKM: “The Indian market is oozing with retailers who have the financial back up but do not have the right retail design and strategy for their stores and that is where we are focusing. We at HMKM are trying to find out ideas for the retailers rather than retailers coming to us. We are in talks with retailers like Westside and other high streets fashion brands (which they declined to disclose) in India for their retail designs.”
Both of them opined that Indian retail is seeing something that was not seen before and they are ready to go ahead with niche targeting. They also feel that IRF’08 has offered them a good ground to learn what Indian retail and Indian consumers are all about.
“The company has done a primary research and we feel that in a few months time our work will be seen within the Indian retail industry,” they added.
– Manish Pareek
