IRF 2011 at a glance!

Bhaskar Bhat of Titan honoured at Images Retail Awards 2011
Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries was honored with the most coveted title ‘Most Admired Retail Personality of the Year’ at the 8th annual Images Retail Awards (IRA), the concluding extravaganza of India Retail Forum (IRF) 2011 - the largest gathering ......

Revealed: Secrets of great customer service!

“Why do retailers call the buyers at their stores as customers? Why don’t they call them guests?” asked Visheshwar Raj ......

Tier II and III cities increasingly becoming mini-metros
Riding on the economic boom, small towns of India are rapidly turning into mini-metros. Many malls are being developed in these places and big brands are opening up stores there to cater to the rising aspirations of customers living in ......

Experts advise retailers to realize the full potential of malls
Malls are the future vehicles of marketing and retailers need to pay much more attention to them than they are doing currently. Malls are mushrooming across India in large numbers and businesses can ignore them at their own peril. This ......

"Being omnipresent is the mantra for success"
"E-tailing is nothing but retailing," said Anubhav Kushwaha, Director- Biz Strategy and Alliances. “It’s no more about multi-channel commerce, as omni-channel commerce is the new buzz word. Retailers need to be omnipresent across all channels such as web, mobile and ......

“Technology is a key pillar in retail but it alone is not enough”
Technology is increasingly playing more influential role in retail than ever before but in co-ordination with other resources and management strategies. This debate and discussion was carried forward at a session titled “Increasing Shopper Conversion Through Store Intelligence, Back-end Planning ......

Many countries moving toward modern retail
In Brazil, the share of modern retail has grown from a mere 5 percent
in the 1980's to a whopping 36 percent in 2010, which shows the kind
of potential for organized retailing that exists in India, said Dr Tarun ......

Professionals need of the hour for family-run businesses
How do Indian retail businesses transition from family managed to professionally managed in the most suitable manner? This was the hot topic for discussion at a powerful session on the second day of the India Retail Forum 2011 that is ......

“Led by private consumption, the resilient Indian economy is now less volatile”
The main characteristics of the Indian economy in recent years are its resilience, reduced volatility and a growth mainly led by private consumption, according to Ireena Vittal, Principal, McKinsey.

While addressing the delegates at a session titled “The ......

TRRAIN sets off to a fantastic start at India Retail Forum 2011
B S Nagesh Chairman, RAI, and pioneer of organized retail in India announced the launch of a not-for-profit organisation to train and provide financial products to front-end staff in the retail sector, at nominal fees. Titled TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers ......

Gen Next shines at India Retail Forum 2011
India Retail Forum, the largest congregation of retail industry professionals, brands and ideas threw open its doors to Gen Next with its novel initiative – Rising Star Challenge. This first-of-its-kind competition gave students of leading business schools of India their ......

Retail pioneer Raghu Pillai enters ‘Indian Retail Hall of Fame’
Raghu Pillai (1957-2011), considered the father of modern retail in India, was declared the first inductee into the Indian Retail Hall of Fame at a function organized at the India Retail Forum 2011.

In an emotional ceremony jam-packed with ......

Keys to successful branding

Highlighting the importance of brand positioning, repositioning and how it should be done fruitfully, an informative session, “positioning your retail brand” took place on the first ......

“Raising Equity should be a habit, not an event”
An interesting interactive session took place on the first day of the India Retail Forum 2011, titled “Retail Funding: Everything You Wanted to Know about Funding and Valuation.” Moderated by Hem Javeri, Co Founder, ForumSynergies, the participants included names such ......

Responsible retailing is profitable retailing
The brainstorming session “The New Success Strategy: How Responsible Retailers are Profitable Retailers” held at IRF on 21 September at Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai, clearly left behind the message that responsible retail is the new success mantra for the Indian retailers ......