Detailing Retail
It was the turn of Jamshed S Daboo to enthrall the students during the foundation fortnight at WeSchool next. An illustrious alumni of WeSchool and with an association with Tata Group for over 25 years, Daboo is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Trent Hypermarket Ltd (THL).
His address took the audience through the entire gamut of the origins and evolution of the Retail industry, with a focus on practical insights in the contemporary retail business in the world and the sweeping changes that recent government policy is going to bring, making it the most sought after sector for foreign direct investment.
“Retail is not necessarily B2C, it could also be B2B.Banks and hospitals are also retail businesses. We must take broader view of retail. It is a system where the maker or deliverer of goods and services interacts with the buyer or end consumer; it’s the interface between the maker and end consumer. It is one of the oldest industries in the world.”
“Although Retail has arrived rather late in the history of economic progress, today Wal-Mart , the largest retailer in the world is the largest company in the world .It was also the game changer, the turning point which changed the manner in which industry worked and influenced consumer thinking. Interestingly, this largest company in the world commands only 10% share of global retail industry, so you can imagine how big the market is worldwide and it’s potential to grow” he emphasized.
As he described the success story of the retail giant, he went on to unravel the strategy that was adopted to make it happen. “Wal-Mart excelled in supply chain management ,it focused on its continuous improvement by investing more into emerging technologies to offer better and faster services to the consumers and also to capture more of the e-commerce market .The supply chain evolved with better distribution practices, operating its own fleet of trucks and technology. It resulted in in time savings, more cost-effective inventory management and improved product range at affordable prices.”
“And then came Amazon, which made the whole world its playground. It overcame geographical limitations, gained new customers with search engine visibility ,offered lower costs ,helped locate the product quicker, eliminated travel time and cost and remained ‘open’ all the time. With the abundance of information and deals, bargains, coupons, it offered convenience at the click of a key and both the supplier as well as the customers were delighted.” Ecommerce allows the customer to visit the same store virtually, with a few clicks of the mouse, he added.
While elaborating about the impact of digital technology on retail, he shared,” We are at a point where digital channels are not considered a separate or distinct business, they are fundamental to the entire shopping experience. Retailers need to change dramatically the way they look at digital by understanding the power of data analytics.”
As a business leader that hires a large number of young people that manage the multiple function at his stores located across the country ,he had the following advice to offer to the future retail managers from WeSchool , “Dependability, communication skills, being self-motivated, respect for team leaders and co-workers, an attitude to serve , the ability to work on a team/in a team environment, thinking on your feet & problem solving , ability to prioritise in workload situation to make the consumer happy are some of traits that I would look for while hiring people .”
With the government announcing announced sweeping changes in India’s foreign direct investment policy, allowing foreign retailers to open multi-brand stores with 51 per cent ownership, relaxing rules for single brand retail and putting most sectors on the automatic approval route, making it the most open economy in the world for foreign direct investment. While the American E-commerce giant Amazon has already entered the country two year ago , Apple is all set to set up its own stores in India followed by others , the retail business is only going to grow and create more job opportunities for Indian youth. Star Bazaar, the chain of flagship stores by Trent Hypermarket Ltd (THL) is reinventing the shopping experience through its farm-to-fork offers, superior-value products and services, while catering to different cities, localities and customer groups with great customer service. It was therefore a great experience for the wannabe retail managers at WeSchool to have an overview of the multi-billion global industry and understand its finer nuance from a stalwart like Daboo.
