Retailing is booming. Really! The Attrition rate in retail is comparatively high in retail than as compared to the other employment options in the industry. What is the entire concept like? What is the manufacturer’s perspective in retail? Why is special about Walmart’s Retail mix? What are private labels? How does value addition happens in a retail? What do we mean by retail management? What are store layouts?

These were certain questions, the answers to which I had prepared for my very first session at IIM Shillong. A batch with a mix of Assam Rifle officers who were on the verge to putting an end to their service with Indian army, then there were corporate executives and few business people from the North east region. Yes, I was prepared but at the same time nervous too.

Most of my listeners were almost my dad’s age or even older. And I was dressed as per a Saturday in corporate world and they were all in absolute formals. Anyways, we commenced.Briefly on Retailing as a service, the value proposition and the value add strategy in retail with the Indian perspective of retail industry was discussed in the first phase. Decision Variables in Retailing, The Wal-Mart’s retail mix was also a major area of interest. I also tried to cover the basic kind of services in retail: Self service, assorted service & Full Service. A detailed discussion phase was on the Retail Formats, largely:

Food Oriented Retailers:

Ø Convenience stores
Ø Conventional supermarkets
Ø Food based super stores
Ø Combination stores
Ø Box stores
Ø Warehouse store
Ø Hypermarkets
General Merchandise retailers
Ø Mom-n-Pop Stores
Ø Specialty Stores
Ø Full line discount store
Ø Variety store
Ø Off Price Chain / Factory outlets
Ø Membership Club
Ø Category Killers
Ø Department Stores
Ø Boutique

From here we went on discussing Private Labels & Mall Management in details….you can read about that in the next post.