MUMBAI: The fifth KSA Retail Summit, organised by KSA-Technopak, India's leading management consulting firm specialising in the fashion and retail industries, was inaugurated in Mumbai's Hotel Renaissance.
 

Retail industry leaders from India conducted a series of workshops on topics ranging from franchising; effective mall management; and private label programme to retail performance metrics; information technology for retail business; customer loyalty programs; and merchandise planning and management.

The KSA Retail Summit is being attended by senior executives and functional heads of leading Indian companies and MNCs such as L'Oreal, Pepsi, Hewlett Packard, HLL, Infosys, Reliance, BPCL, Mahindra & Mahindra and Raymond Synthetics, among others.

The annual KSA Retail Summit, one of the most well attended events in the industry, unveiled a comprehensive view of the growth of the retail sector through operational excellence and improved profitability, under the theme 'Delivering Value- Profitably' and the workshops held set the tone for this theme.

The workshops were jointly held by senior representatives from KSA Technopak and retail industry stalwarts including Shoppers' Stop CE BS Nagesh; RPG Enterprises CE Raghu Pillai; McDonalds India MD-North India Vikram Bakshi; Piramyd Retail & Merchandising president and CEO Krish Iyer; Titan Industries COO Jacob Kurian; and Lifestyle International MD H Ramanathan.

"The KSA Retail Summit aims to facilitate and promote sharing of knowledge and through these workshops, we will see the participants gaining significantly as they interface with these industry leaders and tackle real issues that the players in the Indian retail industry face," KSA Technopak chairman Arvind Singhal said while inaugurating the sessions.

"With this aim, among other innovations, we are also introducing the 'Power Partners Program' at the KSA Retail Summit this year, which will be aimed at companies in sectors like FMCG, consumer durables, fashion, and consumer brands. Through this program, we will see companies sharing organised retail knowledge and best practices with their channel partners and team members from across the country," Singhal added.

Day two and three of the KSA Retail Summit saw international experts such as Foodlands Australia MD Trevor M Coates; UK's Oxford Institute of Retail Management fellow Elizabeth Howard; Switzerland IMD professor of marketing Dr Nirmalya Kumar; Pricesmart China's president Hansen Tian; and French INSEAD senior affialate professor of marketing Dr Charles Waldman, Senior Affiliate Professor of Marketing sharing a global view of delivering consumer value in the retail business.

Indian retail heads addressed the participants on the path to profit for Indian organised retailing.