Retailing Conclave and Mumbai Alumni Meet

An interesting week that saw me in Pune, Mumbai and back. The occasions were a Mumbai alumni cum corporate meet. Followed by a Retailing Technology Conclave at Mumbai Exhibition Centre, Goregaon. I did not know of the existence of this Centre, the venue. It is a huge, sprawling place in the heart of the crowded metropolis and feels like a farmhouse. Excellent facilities for an exhibition. Lot of technology providers to retail industry had stalls there too. Many good speakers from industry-retail and branding/marketing from India and abroad. In all, a professionally done program which was useful to understand where Retail in India is going. Poised for the entry of multi-brand retailers from the world over, Indian retailers still haven't reached optimum efficiencies, barring very few.

Challenges they face include manpower related challenges. May be an opportunity for small town India again, for a lot of frontline jobs are to be filled in the next few years as these guys grow in size and stature. The Wal-Marts and Carrefours of the world will surely enter and spice up the proceedings. The session on Social Marketing or Digital Marketing by Mahesh Murthy was very good, with some interesting stats. For example, that Social Media have the same reach as IPL matches-every day! And are probably more trusted than multi-million rupee ads. Mostly, these are free to use by the marketers. Of course, with some caveats. Like, it requires IQ to make use of these intelligently.

The alumni meet saw around 120 IMT alumni and 20 plus corporate invitees turn up. Numbers that are encouraging!