Bengaluru  : The apex body of retailers in India, Retailers Association of India (RAI), organised the second edition of theRetail India Summit and Expo (RISE), today. Themed “Successful Retail through Innovation, Digital and Design”, the summit brought together key decision makers from across Indian retail to exchange ideas and discuss demerging retail paradigms.

“Today’s customers have high expectations from their shopping experiences—be it online or offline: They seek seamless interactions and want to be entertained, pampered, and even inspired while they shop. To deliver on these expectations what retailers need is a potent combination of Innovation, Digital and Design. RISE 2018 brought together various stakeholders of retail including service providers as well as retail companies to discuss and deliberate on ways to achieve this, keeping customers at the heart of it all,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, RAI.

Shri Pawan Kumar Agarwal, Honourable CEO, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) & Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare was the chief guest for the day. He challenged retailers to help realise the vision of sustainable consumption that will help organised retail grow healthily and sustainably.

Shri Ashok Sangwan, IAS, Honourable Director-cum-Special Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department; Adviser, Civil Aviation, Haryana and Special Secretary to Govt. of Haryana, Civil Aviation Department was the guest of honour. Both dignitaries acknowledged the contribution of retail to India’s economy and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to facilitate ease of business for retailers. Shri Sangwan shared the state’s plans for the warehousing, logistics and retail sector.

Honourable Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation Shri Suresh Prabhu expressed his support to RISE through a video message. Recognizing retail as one of the driving forces of the economy, he said that the government realises the key role retailers play. According to him, organised retailers bring in new ideas into play and should work with the multitudes of household/small retailers in the country such that it becomes a win-win for all the stakeholders, mainly consumers.

Next came the power-packed keynote delivered by Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India who lauded the government for its work on improving ease of doing business both at state and centre levels and emphasised that retailers should create shared value on every level.

With such a robust start, the day progressed with several panel discussions and presentations on relevant topics. These included:

• Successful Retail through Innovation, Digital and Design
• Smartening up the Customer Experience 
• Are You Ready for Omni-Channel 3.0? 
• The Retail Real Estate – The Way Forward
• The Secrets of Successful Retail Brands
• Food: Serving the Right Mix of Technology, Assortment and Experience

 

The audience was also treated to special addresses by representatives of some of the most respected brands in the country such as Manish Sapra, Sr. DTC Director, Adidas India; Anna Carin Mansson, Country HR Manager, IKEA India; Sahil Jain, Co – Founder, Dineout and Vipin Gupta, Head – Digital, KFC India and Amit Chaudhary, Co-Founder & COO, Lenskart. The dignitaries shared their experiences on critical areas such as Digital in QSR, and the role of HR in the growth of a business. The Summit concluded with an interactive Masterclass on Road to Retail Profitability – Store Design | Store Planning | Visual Merchandising by senior design consultant Surender Gnanaolivu.

While the Summit sought to equip retailers with insights on the current trends and paradigms in retail, the Expo served as the definitive platform to help retailers find the right business partners and solutions to help take their businesses to the next level.

Yet again, Retail India Summit & Expo (RISE) proved to be a great learning and meeting platform for all stakeholders of retail.