Q1 – Explain your background and interests.
Do the name – G D Birla, Jamnalal Bajaj, Gautam Singhania, etc. ring a bell in your mind!!!! They are some of the large Indian Industrialists who own a sizeable amount of the organized Retail industry in India. Apart from being retailers, they also have one more thing in common which is that they have their roots in the semi-arid Shekhawati region of the western state of Rajasthan in India.
I say this because when I look back, I find my own interest in the world of retail due to my birth in the same region in the tumultuous year of 1975 when India was reeling under the pressure of the international community after the first nuclear test and the imposition of the nationwide emergency. Coming from a humble background with 5 siblings (I was the youngest), I was always surrounded by people who were into various retail businesses. Although the majority of it was in the unorganized sector with the permission for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Multi and Single brand retail, the organized sector was taking shape and this is when I was also at the cusp of my life when I had to decide the right direction for my own career. The fate may be, I decided to take up the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) Degree course as I hoped to utilize the knowledge to Design and Build the retail outlets of international Retail brands that were expected to open stores in India soon.
In terms of my interests and hobbies, I am an avid reader and writer. I read almost 30-40 non-fiction books a year on the subjects of Retail, Self-development, Biographies, etc. I am currently writing my first book on an interesting subject of the Retail Industry. I am a fitness enthusiast so spend an hour daily in the gym and doing outdoor fitness activities. I also love to play Badminton, Cricket and Squash. I love to meditate, cook and listen to melodious Hindi music. I also spend ample time networking with like-minded people. I spare my post office hrs. And weekend days to spend with my daughter and spouse.
Q2 – Highlight the key aspects of your professional journey so far.
A few years after my graduation, I started working with the largest business house in India for the expansion of their retail stores. In this job, I gained a lot of knowledge of how retail store designs are conceptualized. With this initial experience, I embarked on my international sojourn starting with Mauritius in 2004 and then landing in Dubai in May 2007. Since then, it has become my second home. Since my first job in India, I can proudly say that I feel vindicated in terms of my choice of industry. The journey has been exhilarating, adventurous, and satisfactory so far.
I find myself blessed to have worked with multiple large retailers and retail brands for the Design Development and Project Management of 100o+ retail stores in the Middle East region. In the past 15 years, I have gained experience on the entire gamut of retail activities making me a thorough retail professional and practitioner.
Apart from my regular full-time day job, I have also started imparting my knowledge & experience. I write on various platforms (social media channels, magazines, news articles, etc.) on the subjects pertaining to the retail industry. I participate, contribute and network on different Retail forums, Events etc. I am also a member of multiple organizations in UAE, USA, UK, and India that caters to the needs of Retailers, Retail Brands, Shopping malls, etc. Recently, having gained authority as a Certified Customer Experience Professional from CSIA, USA, I now promote the principles of Customer Experience for the ultimate Customer Delight, Loyalty, and Advocacy mainly from the perspective of the retail industry.
Q3. What are your goals?
I’m a very organized person in life and always work on various goals from the
Personal and Professional point of view. In terms of personal goals, I am currently working on multiple short and long terms goals concerning my Family, Health & Fitness, Financial, Social and Spiritual areas. On the professional front, I’m on a mission to help Small and Start-up retail
businesses in their growth journey to build and create “top 10 retail brands” of this world in the next decade.
Q4. What do you consider your biggest strength?
In the past 20 years, I have worked in various roles and positions of authority.
I had the privilege to closely work with the brand principals (from more than
17 countries), brand managers, visual merchandisers, planners, marketing
teams, sales associates, and many more which have helped me become the
competent retail professional, I’m today. Therefore; I believe my biggest strengths are my professional skills, qualities, passion, understanding, and two decades of experience of the retail industry. Additionally, my professional traits of being courageous, resilient and trustworthy which come from my father and my upbringing in the Shekhawati region also helps in my daily conduct.
Q 5. What was the path you took to get to where you are today?
Since my childhood, I was always inclined toward the retail industry. To make my dream of working in the industry true, I first opted to obtain adequate professional qualification and then embarked upon gaining ample experience working in various areas of the industry across multiple countries and cultures.
As happens with any professional engagement, it has been a challenging journey as the industry had undergone multiple bouts of ups and downs in the last 3 decades. However; with the support from my coaches and mentors, I could always course correct and take the direction in which the industry was heading from the days of unorganized retail to the organized one, to the
exponential growth of online shopping channels and the need of the Customer Experience (CX) principles in the last few years.
Q 6. What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Apart from so many challenges, I would say that one of the major challenges which myself and the retail industry have to deal with is the ever-changing customer behavior needs and wants.
This forces one to change tracks every now and then. My own professional the journey too was affected because I started being a staunch proponent of physical retail stores but I had to understand, accept and believe in the Omni- channel nature of the retail landscape and accordingly upgrade and make myself fit for the role.
Q 7. Give us one word that describes you the best.
FEARLESS
Q 8. What makes you excited about Mondays?
I believe Mondays give me the kind of kick required to sail through the week with energy, optimism, and enthusiasm. I never feel devoid of work or looking for one. My days are filled with daily to-do lists and I always aim to accomplish those.
Q 9. Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
I always give the example of the flagship store which I designed and built for one of my previous employers in one of the largest malls in Dubai in the year 2015. This was the project which forced me to use all my experience and innovative, creative & administrative skills because of the reasons such as:
• It was in many years that the store was being renovated
• It was the first store with the new concept which adopted the digital signage concept which was not in vogue in those days
• It’s always been a challenge to work in this mall as they look for most innovative and creative store designs
• It was the store where I had to utilize the knowledge of creating customer delight through strategically aligning various customer touchpoints
Q 10. What are the key values which helped you to overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership.
I think “having the flexibility to adapt as the situation unfolds”, has been one of my strengths in overcoming the roadblocks/challenges as and when they arose.
There are so many memorable incidences which I can re-iterate but the one which I can never forget is the approval of a mock-up of a life-size retail store from our top management. This was the first time I was building a mock-up of a store in a non-mall location. Therefore; all eyes were on me to utilize my prior experience in managing multiple teams of vendors, suppliers and
contractors to successfully and timely complete it including obtaining approval from the management. It was also important because without this we would not have been able to embark on renovating more than 200 existing retail stores in the Middle East region. I was eventually able to achieve the feat by – pre-planning the entire end to end process, obtaining cost approvals in advance, appointing external vendors well in time, having a tight project schedule in place, devising a communication strategy and working on alternatives to avoid difficultly situations that could have delayed the project.
Q 11. Tell us something about where the retail industry is heading towards and what role the Customer Experience (CX) can play in it?
Even before the arrival of the pandemic, the retail industry was struggling to keep pace with the advent of online shopping channels and the interference of futuristic technologies. The pandemic aggravated the situation and as a result we saw a further acceleration in the closure of thousands of physical retail stores across the globe. The ones who were working on extending their offerings across the digital channels sailed through the pandemic days easily and became the leaders in the process but those who were not prepared, had to either speed up adoption or perish on the way.
We’re in times where retailers and retail brand have to accept the fact that the traditional way of retailing is a forgone conclusion. The world and customers are moving towards a digital way of shopping. The future belongs to being “phygital” which is a combination of physical and digital retail, to serve the customers. Omni channel retail is here to stay for the foreseeable future and those who can create a seamless, friction-free, and exciting shopping experience, irrespective of the channel, will be a winner in the long run.
Customer Experience (CX) has been one of those elements in the journey of a customer, which if understood well and taken care of, can result in creating league of loyal customers who not only buy again and again but also advocate your brand to other customers. This is the only way to sustainable revenue growth and keeping the customers intact in today’s fiercely competitive retail landscape.