Retail Leadership Summit 2013

108 | January - February 2013 |

lso with Foreign Direct AInvestment (FDI) in retail

g e t t i n g a n o d , re t a i l

landscape will change further. As

retail organisations respond to such

experiences, they also cull out and

share best practices that are worth

replicating. Committed to the growth

of organised retail in India, Retailers

Association of India (RAI) has always

taken various initiatives to boost the

industry through its various work-

shops and annual events. The most

important being its flagship event -

The Retail Leadership Summit (RLS).

Taking the tradition forward,

February 07 - 08, 2013 shall see the

5th edition of RLS taking place in

Mumbai at Grand Hyatt, Santacruz

East, Mumbai.

The central theme of the Summit for

RLS 2013 is “An invitation to

Innovation”. India's huge consump-

tion capability is a big opportunity for

retail. However there are also cost

challenges. This propels Indian

Retailers to innovate in various

aspects of retail including space,

people, products, pricing, processes,

finance etc. and that is what the

summit aims to do – to create

thought leadership.

Citing the theme of the Summit,

Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive

officer, RAI shares “Retailers in India

can see high opportunity to sell to

customers. However customers too

are getting accustomed to competi-

tive retail offerings and channel

options and they know that it is time

to demand for items where they want

, when they want and at prices they

want. Media explosion, internet,

smart phones, social media and travel

options are creating various demands

for time of consumers. This means

that retailers have to get a larger

share of time and wallet of consum-

ers. Innovation and local adaptation

of international retail strategies are

essential elements to thrive in this

market. Retail Leadership Summit

aims at creating a platform for various

people to connect, converse,

collaborate, celebrate with others in

the industry and create new strategic

focus for businesses.”

The Summit shall also see LoyaltyOne

as its co-presenter and they shall be

talking about the company's most

important asset – its customers!

The traditional business model as it is

generally understood holds that a

company must focus on manufactur-

ing a gamut of products and services.

Owing to the high competition in

most markets, it is forced to produce

mass quantities of the same product

India is a nation of shopkeepers with innovative competencies to delight customers. The

evolutionary process has been quite exciting for modern retailers, who have had to re-

examine the traditional methods of retailing, constantly upgrade processes and practices and

develop them in order to increase their market share. Modern retail in India witnesses high

property costs and operational costs while the sales transaction sizes are not very large. In

response to this combination of inherent consumption demand and a tight cost structure;

retailers in India need to develop indigenous models of innovation in five key aspects of the

value chain namely – Space, Merchandise, Price, People and Processes.

Forthcoming Events

109 | January - February 2013 |

for a lower price. Consequently,

marketing has to focus on gaining

market share and marketers have to

plumb markets to find as many

customers as possible who want that

'lowest common denominator'

product.

The 1960s propagated the 4 Ps

(Product, Place, Price, Promotion) of

marketing and a generation of

product managers followed this

philosophy, leaving little room for

individual customers' needs.

From then, the world has changed a

lot. It's now not a product-driven but

a customer-driven business format

which often marks out the more

successful companies.

Extending the same logic to retail, the

innovation here was in the merchan-

dising, product management and

store operations. But not anymore. If

new store concepts are designed for

new-age customers and innovative

products are for early adopters, then

the business of retail innovation

starts with knowing your customers.

The result of this approach will entail

the rapid need for companies to

change their focus of business

planning from one of a cost cutting

prescription for corporate prosperity

and an internal focus that underval-

ued the real needs and values of

customers…to a truly centered

business planning approach. Come

join us for an interactive session on

the Loyalty track led by LoyaltyOne

that entails:

An insider view on mature retail

markets from leading global experts

And how retailers there derive those

critical customer insights and execute

retail strategies to give them the

competitive edge. This session will be

co-hosted by Caroline Papadatos,

Senior Vice President, International

at LoyaltyOne and Chris Goodale,

Vice President, Loyalty and Customer

Insight at Sobeys. They will with the

help of live examples demonstrate

how innovative customer strategies,

co-creation and social media can all

be part of a bigger customer

management blue print that comes

to life in the retail environment.

A panel discussion on leveraging the

customer asset for improved

profitability

Where senior representatives from

Indian retailers come together to

discuss and share innovations they

have made in craft ing their

customer's retail experiences,

identifying opportunities to be more

relevant and hence create that much

needed differentiation as retail

competition heats up in India.

The Power lunch presented by

Caroline Papadatos

Where Caroline will take us through

an interesting session on how

“Customer footfalls can be translated

into financial gains”. This talk will

revolve around the importance of

customer data, its collection and

management and most importantly

its application.

More information on the summit can

be sourced from - www.rls.net.in

RAI cordially welcomes industry

players to Retail Leadership Summit

(RLS 2013): An invitat ion to

innovation!! on 7th and 8th Feb 2013

at Grand Hyatt, Santacruz East,

Mumbai.

Forthcoming Events

Attendees at RLS 2012