e-commerce
Retail’s runway moment as offline struts ahead of digital discounts
MUMBAI: Clickbait may be sexy, but cash still walks into stores. That was the clear takeaway at the Phygital Retail Convention 2025 (PRC), where industry heavyweights made a persuasive case for why offline retail continues to bag the profits even as online steals the spotlight.
“Online is a matter of discount in India,” quipped Kumar Nitesh, CEO of Ajio Business and Trend Footwear, Reliance Retail, summing up the e-tail paradox, it boosts valuations, sure, but often bleeds the bottom line. While online contributes about 25 per cent to business, Nitesh noted it’s the brick-and-mortar game that ensures retailers aren’t just surfing trends but making money from them.
Earlier in the day, P Senthilkumar, senior partner at Vector Consulting, flagged a deeper inventory dilemma: with fashion trends flying faster than ever, predicting demand has become a retail roulette. “What was sold in the previous session is no longer relevant in the next,” he said, highlighting that the average product lifecycle has shrunk to just four months, a ticking timebomb for inventory planners and merchandisers.
Management thinker Shiv Shivakumar didn’t hold back either, calling out the “buy two, get one free” gimmickry plaguing the apparel space and lamenting the sector’s lack of innovation. Drawing a sharp contrast, he urged retailers to borrow a leaf from the IT playbook where rupee costs meet dollar revenue to de-risk their models and rethink profitability.
Zooming out from fashion to the broader consumer mindset, B S Nagesh, chairman of Shoppers Stop and founder of Trrain, urged traditional grocers to embrace tech-driven scalability, echoing the wider theme of phygital fusion. Meanwhile, Nikhil Bhatia of CBRE India offered a glimpse into the future of retail real estate: where families don’t come for shopping, they come for a showdown of experiences.
Based on insights from 700 voices across metros, Bhatia revealed that entertainment-led retail saw a 150 per cent surge, thanks to rising demand for gourmet food courts, upscale bowling alleys, and family entertainment centres especially in Pune, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. “Entertainment is the new anchor tenant,” he said, painting a vivid picture of malls where dining and dancing might just edge out discount deals.
At PRC 2025, the message rang loud and clear: online may be the poster child, but offline is still the parent paying the bills. And as the retail universe evolves, the future may just lie in a perfect stitch between the two.
e-commerce
Amazon revives ‘Aur Dikhao’ with new integrated campaign
Targets everyday shopping with IPL, regional and digital-first strategy.
MUMBAI: If India loves asking for more, Amazon is more than happy to show it. Amazon India has rolled out a new chapter of its ‘Aur Dikhao’ platform, partnering with WPP to reposition itself as the go-to destination for everyday shopping, where choice, trend and value collide. The integrated campaign, led by WPP OpenDoor along with WPP Creative and WPP Production, is designed to shift perceptions around affordability while reinforcing the platform’s breadth of selection.
At its core is a simple behavioural truth: shoppers rarely stop at the first option. By turning the phrase ‘Aur Dikhao’ into a cultural and commerce cue, Amazon is attempting to tap into the joy of discovery particularly across high-frequency categories such as fashion, beauty, home and kitchen, and wireless accessories.
But this isn’t just a creative refresh, it’s a full-stack media and commerce play.
The campaign is heavily anchored around IPL 2026, where Amazon has secured prominent visibility across both linear and connected TV, including a co-powered sponsorship on CTV. It also integrates into match narratives through a branded segment, ‘Game Changing Moments Aur Dikhao’, ensuring the brand rides on high-attention moments rather than sitting on the sidelines.
Beyond cricket, the strategy stretches into emerging content formats. A ‘ShopTheScene’ approach embeds products within short-form storytelling, turning entertainment into a shoppable experience. Influencer-led content, timed with the IPL season, is expected to further amplify the idea of “option overload” in culturally relevant ways.
Regional depth is another key lever. The campaign has been localised across six languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Bengali supported by on-ground activations, cinema and out-of-home partnerships in markets such as Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The aim is clear: push relevance beyond metros into Tier 2 and Tier 3 audiences.
For Amazon, the ambition goes beyond awareness. The campaign is structured to create repeated touchpoints across consumer journeys, nudging new and infrequent users to turn to the platform for everyday purchases.
As e-commerce competition intensifies, ‘Aur Dikhao’ signals a strategic shift from being a place people visit occasionally, to one they instinctively return to. Because in the battle for daily habits, sometimes the winning move is simply to show more.
