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MCCI Retail Conclave – “Reinventing Retail through Innovation & Technology” – held today at Kolkata
Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised MCCI Retail Conclave on “Reinventing Retail Through Innovation and Technology” on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at Taj Bengal, Kolkata. The main speakers were Shri Bijou Kurien, Chairman, Retailers Association of India, Shri Gunjan Shah, Managing Director and CEO, Bata India Ltd, Shri Venu Nair, Managing Director and CEO, Shoppers Stop Ltd, Shri Sandeep Barasia, Whole Time Executive Director and Chief Business Officer, Delhivery and Shri Suvankar Sen, Managing Director and CEO, Senco Gold Ltd.
Shri Namit Bajoria, President MCCI, delivered the welcome address. Shri Manish Gourisaria, Chairman, Council on Retail & Marketing, MCCI delivered the theme address.
All the speakers mainly dwelt on the changing face that retail was witnessing though Bijou Kurien said that there were 13- 15 million shopkeepers in India at present that contributed to 80% of the retail business. Organised retail contributed 10-12% of the total retail business and online retail around 4-5%.
He said 60% of the retail market was of food and groceries and 40% of the market was fashion and life style. But retail space was a constraint in India and it was only one tenth of the US and one fourth of China.
Venu Nair, Managing Director and CEO, Shoppers Stop announced opening of India’s largest beauty store in Kolkata in the next 6 months. Although he didn’t mention about the investments to be made in the beauty space, he said, Shoppers Stop has been rolling out 18-20 beauty stores in India every year.
Suvankar Sen, Managing Director and CEO, Senco Gold, shared the story of his journey in becoming a Rs 4000 crore company. He said the Indian jewellery industry was a Rs 4 lakh crore industry and it was rapidly transforming from unorganized to organised. “While 60% of the jewellery players were in the organised segment, 40% were in the unorganized segment”. GST and other newly formulated auditing conditions were leading the jewellery players to move into the organised segment. The diamond jewellery segment was growing at the rate of 25%, though it would increase exponentially with the lab grade diamonds coming more to use, Sen said adding bridal jewellery, which was 60% of the overall jewellery market has come down to 50% of the jewellery market with lighter jewelleries taking the place, mainly used with western wears and formal dresses.
While all the speakers stressed on the use of technology and adopting the hybrid model to run and grow their businesses, post Covid, stores have started opening up, Sen stressed that to grow in business one should keep a goal. Businesses would require to keep an eye on trends, technology and training its team, which should match the vision of the business owner.
Bata’s managing director and CEO Gunjan Shah said that the Bata shoes have turned from a functional brand to a fashion brand. Casualization has taken a major place in the footwear market and for companies to sustain, will be required to be amenable to changes.
According to Sandeep Barasia, of Delhivery, logistics was the last thing that businesses brought into consideration but logistics plan should be made at the drawing board level. The logistics industry was $200 billion industry and would grow to $ 300 billion industry in the next five years. He said more than 4.5 million trucks operated in India but most businesses didn’t look logistics as a strategy.
However, Kurien said, of the total digital transaction at present 65% were UPI and 130 million people have started buying through e- commerce or online platform.
Namit Bajoria, President, MCCI said, retail has been evolving for a long time and it was not that everything has settled down at present. Retail will have to get adapted to newer technologies if it had to sustain.
Manish Gourisaria, talked about product innovation citing use of augmented reality and virtual reality in attract customers in the retail stores. Mayank Agarwal, Co- Chairman, Council on Retail and Marketing gave the vote of thanks.
