Retail Employees’ Day (RED), celebrated every year on 12th December is aimed at applauding the efforts of retail employees in India – and eventually the world. The theme was born from the need to create the pride of belonging to the retail community by recognizing their efforts through public appreciation. This initiative is conceptualized by TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) and partnered with RAI (Retailers Association of India) in India.
RED 2015 saw over 300 retailers and 70 shopping centers celebrate this day with great fervor. Each retailer adopted his or her unique way of thanking their employees. From large department stores like Shoppers Stop composing a special ‘Thank You’ song for their employees; service providers like Microsoft distributing snacks and chocolates to their retailers; traditional retailers like Manubhai Jewellers paying tribute to their employees through a special video – it turned out to be a industry wide celebration.
Brands like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Vero Moda and many others took to social media to thank all their retail employees as well as tag each and thank each other, in order to promote this as an industry specific day.
Retailers who celebrated RED included:
Arvind Brands
Arvind Brands celebrated Retail Employees’ Day on a grand scale. All the employees were wished for serving their customers with enthusiasm and passion. They were treated like ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’ with crowns being distributed to all the employees.
Aditya Birla Retail
A large standee was placed in front of all their stores with Pranab Barua, Business Director of the Aditya Birla Group wishing the team for their hard work and commitment towards the customer.
C.Krishnaniah Chetty and Sons
CKC Group of companies celebrated the 4th edition of Retail Employees’ Day on 12th December 2015. Every year they celebrate with a theme and this year the theme was “FAMILY”. They felt that celebrating with their retail champions without their families will be incomplete. Hence, family members of staff were also invited for a day. To make the event holistic, they also invited their customers!
The response was over whelming. It was a memorable experience where the CKC team, their family members and customers shared their experiences and learning. It was made a special day for all employees. The efforts of retail employees were recognized and appreciated in front of customers and their families. A big thank you to all employees from the organization and customers was duly witnessed by their families.
Entertainment, fun filled events and welfare activities were conducted followed by a sumptuous lunch for all in true “CKC family style”. The celebration was across all CKC group showrooms throughout the day. As a part of the celebration, CKC also offered double points to all their List of Stars members (signature loyalty program)
Lifestyle
Lifestyle ensures that with each passing year, RED celebrations are planned and executed with much grandeur. This year, invitation cards were given to the employees, inviting them to the celebration. The entire store was decorated with flowers. A red carpet for the employees was set with music and flowers. There was a lamp lighting ceremony and a power packed solo dance and group dance performance as well. The employees were the emcee for the event and made sure that the rest of the employees had a great time. The event concluded with a fashion show followed by snacks.
Manubhai Jewellers
Mumbai’s leading jewellery retailer, planned a surprise for its team by celebrating \ RED at the store to show their gratitude to the staff. Samir Sagar and Hiren Sagar, the director duo planned an entire event and created a special video showcasing the team spirit of the Manubhai Jewellers Family. They personally looked into the event flow, creating personalized mugs as a small token to express their gratitude towards every member of the Manubhai family, organized snacks and created some memories for the Manubhai family. The store was decorated on a complete red theme.
The brand believes that a happy employee leads to a happy company and eventually a happy customer.
Panda Retail
A week long customer interaction process was held where customers gave Thank You cards along with chocolates to their sales associates.
The celebrations started three days prior to the big day with quiz contest on customer service, sports and games being held – all with attractive prizes. Art and culture and current affairs were followed by games. On 12th December, more than 100 members of three locations of Panda Retail Pvt Ltd gathered on the 2nd floor of the flagship store at Ashok Nagar. They were welcomed by the MD and the Operation Head with roses, the company also organised the cake cutting ceremony. The members were also honored with gifts and certificates of appreciation.
The company honored members who have contributed 5 Years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years 25 years and 30 years of dedicated service to the organization as Long Service Award with a certificate and gold coin.
Marks and Spencer
The top management visited the stores wishing their employees and thanking them for their untiring efforts. As a sign of celebrations, all the employees wore red outfits to show their support towards the day. Not only the industry but also the consumers thanked their favourite brands and participated in the celebrations.
The buzz around Retail Employees’ Day reached newer heights with recognition received through 16 letters from the ministries of central and state governments of India. A letter from the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi congratulating TRRAIN and the Indian retail industry on this joyous occasion added tremendous momentum to the day.
The event also received support from brand ambassadors across multiple brands. Top celebrities from the Indian film Industry like Salman Khan, Boman Irani and Virat Kohli tweeted and shared video messages thanking all the retail associates on RED. The simple action of saying Thank You has garnered an estimated digital footprint of 10 million.
For the third time in a row, 2 million employees from the whole of Turkey came forward to celebrate the day and thank their shopkeepers. RED received an overwhelming response from the retail fraternity.
TRRAIN, believes that with each passing year, more retailers would celebrate this day and build a culture of appreciating the efforts of the retail associates through the year and make this simple idea a truly global phenomenon.
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