The Wise Inception!
The 5th Indian Retail Congress initiated by Franchise India at Hyatt Regency, Gurgaon (Gurugram) started with a kickoff including India’s top leading conglomerates such as Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India Pvt. Ltd. and R. S. Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF (Amul)inaugurating the session and sharing their expert views with the delegates on core values to run a retail business. Moving on with a huge start, the next session revolved around building a sustainable e Commerce business that was caressed by Prashant Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, abof.com. The show carried all of the insights from starting an entrepreneurial venture to investing in a full` fledged franchise opportunity. The very next session revolved around the connection a brand builds with its customers and to speak on this eccentric Summit, various industry leaders joined the speaker’s avenue such as Arvind Vohra, Country CEO & MD, Gionee India, Unnat Verma, Managing Director Pizza Hut and Shiv Inder Singh, Managing Director, Firefox Bikes etc.
The Depreciating Omni Channel and Revision of Brick & Mortar
The two day massive biz fair also showcased various influential start-ups that entered the market with a zest to make it big and also explained how Omni channel acts like a slow poison for businesses in the current scenario with leading players speaking from the industry, catering from Siddharth Bindra, M.D, BIBA to Arvind Singhal, COO, Bluestone.com . This was again followed by a very illuminating discussion that pointed out the comeback of the Brick and Mortar format and why it can never die; the session was headed by Rajesh Jain, M.D & CEO, Lacoste India and showcased speakers such as Sumit Dhingra, COO, Gant, Nautica, & Aeropostale (India), Tanmay Kumar, Director-Finance, Burger King India, Ajay Agarwal, Executive Director, Donear Industries Ltd. and Naunihal Singh, Founder & CEO, Strands Salons Pvt. Ltd.
However, on the second day of the massive retail fair, players like Rohan Bhargav, CEO, CashKaro.com, Ankit Jain, Co-Founder, AskMeGrocery, Dimple Mirchandani, Founder & MD, Secret Dresser shared their insights about how successfully their brands are operating and disclosed the negative notes that need to be kept in mind.
On a Conclusive Note
The massive business opportunity summit, discussed upon all of the verticals that an established businessman or a new age entrepreneur would think and focus upon. The next session discussed diversely about the new age trends being set and followed in retail, following with a small session discussing the important elements to win retail via licensing. On a conclusive note, the last session having Shirish Andhare, Chief Product Officer, Ezetap along with Vikram Khanna, SVP & Region Head - North & East India, Payments & Cash Management, India, HSBC as speakers discussed about the new age payment methods and how a cashless retail society can be created.
The 5th Indian retail Congress was an in depth overview of what the future holds for the retail industry of India and how new age modern technologies are transforming its face towards new verticals.