The session ‘Retail Trends’ probed into the growing significance of mobile-commerce in modern retail in India. The first speaker of the session, Frank Riso, senior director, Retail Solutions, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Business, rightly identified that mobile phones are the tools to stay connected hence the retailers can put forward their promotions through this powerful device. Taking this notion forward, Marco De Lorenzo, Industry Principal, consumer products, Apac, SAP added how m-commerce can be utilised to add value for the consumers. He suggested, “As a retailer you can constantly update the consumer about offers like ‘buy one get one free’ at your store. This will encourage more footfalls and brand recall.”
Like the name suggests, the following session entitled ‘No stopping India!’ was a fiery question and answer round with Kishore Biyani, founder & CEO, Future Group. As he is hailed as the ‘Big B of modern retail’, the man who almost started a revolution in India shared with B S Nagesh, chairman, IRF’09 and vice chairman, Shoppers Stop Ltd. tips and tricks that the modern retailers can implement in order to run successful business enterprises. He elucidates, “Retail is a journey, so it will take time. You need to have the patience in order to understand the Indian consumer better. As a retailer, you need to pick up a category and manage the value chain. As a modern retailer the job would be to create newer categories and grow the demands for them. If we can get the consumer to pay even a thousand rupees more, then the GDP can grow by two per cent may be.” There was also a tongue-in-cheek suggestion about creating days that would require people to sport new clothes.
According to him the modern retailers have been able to understand and appreciate the complicated ‘sense and sensibilities’ of the retail space and are formulating smart business tactics for the future.
— Sayanti Banerjee, Mumbai Bureau
