Recipe for retail: Right products, right prices

Organised retailers need to offer the right product mix at the right prices to the Indian consumers, and consumers in the country are more adaptable to changing retail dynamics. That’s what Y S Bhave, secretary, department of consumer affairs, said at The Financial Express Retail Round Table Conference (RTC) sponsored by Brandhouse Retails Ltd, with NDTV Profit as a media partner. At the event, titled “More than Footfalls”, Bhave said, “Till the last mile, retailers are perceived as manufacturers of products to the entire world. Hence, organised retailers should focus at strengthening their supply-chain management in order to offer satisfying front-end services to the customers.”

Raghu Pillai, president and CEO (operations and strategy), Reliance Retail, said, “Execution is a key in making organised retail business a big success. The retail industry has to cope with major challenges such as untrained manpower, high land acquisition costs, and the fact that 100 per cent FDI is not yet allowed in single-brand retail. This can be tackled with sound association between small kirana stores, farmers and modern retailers to strengthen the supply chain. Moreover, forming alliances is yet another step in that direction. We are looking at forming alliances for setting up specialised stores in India.”

While Saurabh Dhoot, president (retail), Videocon Industries, stressed the need for a direct relation between retailers and consumers to understand the latter’s needs better, Tarun Joshi, managing director, Brandhouse Retails of S Kumars , said, “Strategy plays an important role in the organised retail format and it is important for retailers to convey their strategy to customers.”

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Sumant Sinha, chief executive officer, Aditya Birla Retail said, “Retailers should follow the right model when it comes to execution. A flexible approach in dealing with customers becomes important for various retail models in order to understand customers mindset better.”

Gibson Vedamani, chief executive officer, Retailers Association of India, plans to appeal to the government to cut down on the number of licences, about 30 at present, required to enter the retail business. Vedamani said, “We are also going to appeal to the government to repeal the service tax on rent in retail which is not required.” On FDI policy retail, Sinha said, “We are open to 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail if the investment is to strengthen the supply-chain management of organised retailers.”