09 November 2022, Mumbai:
Every adversity has a silver lining and a prelude to the onset of all-pervasive technology intervention in the day-to-day life of commoners was a fundamental tailwind we have directly experienced out of the COVID-19 era.
Thanks to the pandemic which had the power to impact and taught us many things and the learnings thereof, will hopefully permanently serve us in good stead in the coming times. Like any other sector retail industry languished during the pandemic too staving off the crisis having learned, unlearnt, and relearned valuable lessons during these unprecedented times.
As the internet need and want grown disproportionately during COVID-19 and forces like internet service providers wasted no time in wresting the opportunity with both hands and more particularly the advent of Jio belonging to O2C conglomerate "Reliance Industries" helped trickle it to Urban-semi Urban-Peri Urban-Rural-Hinterland and ARPU went historic high on the back of world's cheapest data available to the last man on the street which did magic.
The great consumer shift
There is a famous adage," Often, some of the best things in life come out of the most difficult challenges". Considering the ever-evolving speeds and technology of the internet and now the advent of the ambitious 5G roll, the shopping experience has undergone a sea-change in concert with the evolving timescape.
What is driving all this is the back of super buying ease E-Tailers have made possible today with merely a swipe of the consumer's finger while using a smartphone taking her to a great marketplace where stunningly she gets spoilt for choices.
More importantly, technology fully backed this emerging changing consumer behavior crystallized by Social media (SMs) platforms of the day such as Facebook, Instagram, and WA (WhatsApp) using portals/web tools/curating strategy cashing in on this mouth-watering opportunity which is only getting bigger by the day. By the way, this presented e-biggies an all-time high chance of engaging and, directly reaching out to the customer, alluring them with a direct shopping experience interestingly enough all this tech evolution has led to GUESS WHAT! that our very handheld device has now become our new shopping carts.
What makes retail special—is its people proving that it has more legs to run.
Reactive mode to the proactive mode
The overwhelming change world has started to see in these two-half years of the pandemic is startling. The good bit is sales recovering back to pre-covid levels at offline markets and large retail stores, as per the latest financial data of several top companies.
Footfalls in retail malls across India are on a rebound as we confidently usher in the Post-Covid 19 era, so much so that the performance of most malls in key consumption centers has either surpassed pre-pandemic levels this Diwali or is at par recognizing the industry's latest retail sales data reports seen across most of the categories.
The festive season has boosted sales, says Mukesh Kumar, Chairman, of the Shopping Center Association of India.
What influences consumer behaviour
Unfolding global events such as the healthcare black swan followed by Russia @ war with Ukraine resulting in red hot inflation, snowballing energy price crisis as the world is trying to negotiate/reconcile and settling into the new normal/norm, unleashing some very noticeable trends/dynamics some permanent and some transitory continuing to impact the retail landscape.
‘Reshaping Retail’; Experts are confident that these are not merely passing trends but forces that have the potential of turning into permanent behavioral changes altering the course of the retail scenario to create a winning strategy.
To pad up the already encouraging scenario is widely acknowledged the inevitable nuanced need to step up workforce's (R.U.N) re-skill, up-skill, and new-skill facilitating enterprises/businesses to weather the challenges the unfolding events & chaotic world poses.
New consumer behavior is sticking in
As per Gaurav Jain, head of strategy Reliance retail," Consumers are shopping in both online and offline channels and shopping more than 35% what was earlier through a single channel".
Quoting the quotable quote of Louise Philippe, “When darkness is at its darkest, a star shines the brightest.” Given the impending global recessionary trends when precisely uncertainty is the new certainty at this juncture knowing what to expect will help navigate retailers better prepare for what lies ahead.
The article gives insights into how the learnings are acting in some sense as guiding principles to the retail sector. What makes retail special—is its people proving that it has more legs to run and Indian 'Retail Resilience' sets in the mood of the segment.
Retail trade has embarked on a planned strategic journey of change when unification and omnification of the offline and online so to say become to be a sacred cow.
Insights on where we are heading; Pent-up demand and instantaneous recovery in footfalls and revenue, after the easing of corona-related curbs by various local authorities, would help FY23 emerge as the best year for both retailers and mall operators, the potential of adding feather believe most of the operators.
