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The fourth edition of the Kolkata Retail Summit was a huge success, with over hundreds of people – speakers, partners, and delegates – attending the event at the Park Hotel in Kolkata.
The event was an opportunity for retailers and retail service providers across industries to find the right business partners to drive growth.
Speaking at the event RAI Chairman Bijou Kurien said that the positivity had returned after a last year’s period of uncertainty. “In the past year, we have seen a business environment different that gave us the confidence that we are in the right business i.e. retail,” he said.
Kurien corroborated this statement by sharing data that there had been a massive increase in consumption in the past year. “It’s easy to draw comparison between 2022 and 2021, as well as 2021 and 2020 numbers, as 2020 and 2021 were pandemic years. However, if you compare the numbers between 2022 and 2019, then you’ll see that 2022 did much better than 2019,” he added.
Kurien also commented on the innovative ways retailers were trying to engage with their customers, adding that the pandemic made them think out of the box. “There are stories of beauty shop owners using WhatsApp video calls to give makeup tips to customers, thereby expanding on their digital reach. We also saw a digital payment revolution that has made it accessible to use UPI to pay our local vegetable vendor,” he said.
In a post-pandemic world, everyone has adapted to technology and overcome the initial challenges such as thinking it’s too expensive or struggling to understand it. Kurien says that the biggest insight that the pandemic gave use was the re-emergence of the local kirana store taking on larger players. “They did better during the pandemic because they could do what big players could not such as accepting orders on WhatsApp, home delivery, and know you by name and face, thereby ensuring you got the best service during a tough period.”
While customer experience has always been a key aspect for the retail industry to evolve, this hyper-personalisation has become the deciding factor in what distinguishes the best retailers. “If we have to be competitive, we must acknowledge that digital is here to stay. We also need to realise that children today are customers of tomorrow, and they only use technology to stay in touch. If we don’t adapt to this change, then we will be left behind,” he added.
Shashwat Goenka, Sector Head, Retail & FMCG, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, and National Council Member at RAI, who gave the keynote speech, added that socio-economic development and an enabling environment characterised partially by the growth of e-commerce platforms, not to mention the enabling changes implanted by state and central governments have been the reason behind India’s retail sector’s success.
One key factor that retailers are addressing is the need to start catering to the next generation. Several companies have already made the transition to ensure seamless customer experience, both online and offline. This omnichannel experience is what has started distinguishing the change makers from the followers.
Today, India’s Generation-Z (those born after 1995) comprises 45 per cent of the national population, which in turn becomes 23rd of India’s buying potential. Articles getting published from across the world, along with papers, telling retailers to cater to this crowd, forcing many retailers to get into the fear of missing out (FOMO) zone.
However, during the Kolkata Retail Summit, most retailers were under the agreement that the best way to enhance a customer experience is to have strong basics. Rochita Dey, the Director of Kolkata-based Sreeleathers Ltd said that traditional small businesses may not change much, as the concept of the experiential experience is more of a luxury construct that are seen by larger multinational retailers. “At the end of the day, all of us are here to serve customers. For a company like Sreeleathers, the primary focus is daily operations and how we can optimise every resource to its fullest. You may have a unique situation, but if you provide a unique solution for it, people will talk. Generating that conversation is what has kept Sreeleathers going for the past 30 years, and that is our biggest victory,” she said.
Adding to Dey’s statement, Vendant Modi, CMO, Vendant Fashions, said that when the company started in 1999, retailers did not work on data, but rather focused on maximising space and productivity. Once data became a key, however, things changed. “We solved an issue-based problem i.e. we kept products that were relevant to our customers using data intelligence and kept products in our store that were relevant for that pin code. This way, we were able to maximise experience in the store with relevant products,” he said, adding that if mainstream retailers were to take on e-commerce, then the primary thing would be to not do anything less than e-commerce. “We need to master the same game and then beat them.”
Sunil Menon of Lenskart, while addressing the panel, said that the transition from an online-only channel to a multichannel retailer wasn’t easy. The biggest challenge was not to do what other traditional opticians were doing.
Menon added that when Lenskart opened its first physical store, it was approximately 300 square feet. For an optician, this isn’t feasible, he explained.
“We could not conduct eye check-ups in that space or have a dedicated section that showed how the glasses looked on a person. We realised that we needed larger stores,” he said.
Menon added that the biggest disruptor was the pandemic, as 90 per cent of their customers looked at alternative ways to buy. The physical store, he explained, has started telling you the story from an online experience rather through what happens once you open the front door. “Now, you go online, look at a brand, read the reviews, and then visit the store. If there store experience is different from the experience online, then there is a disconnect,” he said
Today the mantra adopted my most retailers is to sell brand rather than sell product. “If a customer doesn’t buy a product from the store, they may go back home and make an online purchase of the same product. This connect is critical to retain customers. We’re still scratching the surface; this journey will continue to evolve as we move ahead. Social media marketing, and conversions from there will see more traction, as will the slow adaptation to truly understanding the difference between omnichannel and multichannel. All of us are moving towards that road, and there will be time before we achieve that seamless experience,” Menon. concluded.
Before e-commerce was a thing, people would visit malls where they would go into various stores to make their purchase. Some stores are individual brand stores, while others are a mix of brands and products.
Today, general perception is that malls face threat from e-commerce, but data is far from that. In 2022, retail space for malls expanded by 10 million square feet, according to a study conducted by ANAROCK. India is expected to open 15 new malls across 12 cities this year.
Malls can thank the pandemic for this growth. Between 2020 and 2021, when the world witnessed a lockdown, people struggled to step outside the house.
However, once curbs were lifted, a lot of people set out in troves to meet friends, family, and loved ones in neutral spaces. Shopping, too, increased, in what retailers and experts are calling ‘revenge buying’.
Mukesh Kumar, MD CEO Quest India Properties, adds that one thing most developers are doing when it comes to malls, is to ensure a proper customer experience. “We know that we can’t compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, so we do what we know best: that is designing malls in such a way that the entire experience right from entering the mall to exiting it is seamless,” he said.
Today’s malls are designed to the tee that there is also a say about which brand has its store in which part of the mall. The other key aspect of the mall, which e-commerce cannot provide is the food court, which brings in the most footfalls to the mall. “People may or may not visit a store in the mall, but they will grab a bite to eat at the food court,” said Kumar, adding that people come to the mall for the experience; they may not purchase from the store, but it is critical that they are there.”
Biyas Roy, the Director of Arambagh Foodmart Pvt Ltd, said that her company was one of the very few that was still not doing any e-commerce. The future of retail is to move back to basics – or forward with basics. “Sticking to the basics is what we do best for our target audience. Our strength lies in easy reach and quick delivery, with a primary focus on convenience. The omnichannel experience is a natural extension, and while we’re thinking about it, we’re not doing anything yet,” she said.
Roy’s views were shared by Sidanshu Jhunjhunwala, the Director of Turtle Ltd. “We moved back to the basics, and focused on having all seasons in apparel, as India doesn’t have a style season per se, unlike the west,” he said.
Jhunjhunwala, however, added that brands need to take the first step in terms of curating and educating the customer. “We are no longer selling a commodity; we’re selling a brand, and as a brand, we need to connect with the customer and come with a specific point of view,” he said.
While the discussions on the importance of sticking to basics versus going omnichannel continues, one thing is clear: a blend of the two will ensure seamless customer experience in the future.
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