India Retail Forum (IRF), India’s largest retail intelligence event, hosted the second edition of the South India Retail Summit (SIRS) today at the ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru. Comprising a day-long conference and exhibition, the event’s mission was to focus on ‘Retail Transformation and Winning Strategies in a Connected World’. Speakers, attendees and delegates discussed the following retail trends in detail.
The 2nd edition of the Summit kicked off with SIRS breakfast meet, followed by a session moderated by R Sriram, Co-Founder, Next Practice Retail on understanding of Experiential Retail: The Act & Art of Millennial Shopping. The session largely spoke about immediate shoppers seeking experiences and relationships when they shop, and how they want the experience to be consistent across all touch points. Who the consumer is, in addition to how, where, and even why they shop, is changing rapidly and forever. The way retail stores look—and retail brands interact with them—are constantly in flux.
The panelists largely conversed on how customers often make purchase decisions spontaneously in the store. Nowadays, shoppers use their smartphones to access all kinds of information as they browse the shelves. If they find a better deal, they may spend their money with another retailer, either online or elsewhere. With integrated sensors and wireless communications, connected lighting systems create an indoor positioning system that can pinpoint shoppers in store, letting retail brands send targeted information directly to them via specially designed mobile shopping apps.
In addition to this, Shabori Das, Senior Research Analyst, Euromonitor International, did a session on Euromonitor Research: Key Retail Trends, which discussed drivers of change in convenience in retail largely focusing on the delivery service in the sector. Das also shared insights on new trends in retail sector. The brief discussion largely spoke about the varied consumer behavior influenced by millennial, advent of E-commerce and technology. She also discussed the introduction and use of various tools like Omni channel and Mobile as a tool for click-and-collect initiatives.
Harish Bijoor, Brand Guru & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc., shared insights about the latest trends in the retail industry and highlighted the emergence of small retail brands affecting a threat to the established players in the sector. In his brief session called, “Hey Retail! What’s New? , Bijoor, introduced the new futuristic trends which largely comprises,Naked Retail, concentrating on stores without brand presence, Organism Retail, which gives impetus to the new age digital application based retail, Segmented Retail, highlighting the demographic sectors and Internet of Things enabled stores