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What’s in-store
for 2019?
Another year has rolled in
and going by the pace of it,
it looks like another furiously
galloping year that is likely
to leave us breathless by the
year-end wondering “how did
the year go by so fast?”

Visual Merchandising & Retail Design

Volume 14

Issue 4 January 2019

EDITOR & PUBLISHER
SR. ASSOCIATE EDITOR
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
SR. REPORTER
DESIGNER

I don’t know about you, but
for us at VM&RD it is certainly
going to be a relentlessly hectic first quarter, what with the
12th edition of the much awaited In-Store Asia 2019 event
coming up in March in Mumbai during 14th-16th.

Vasant Jante
N. Jayalakshmi
Satarupa Chakraborty
Smita Sinha
Vinod Kumar. V

CIRCULATION / EDITORIAL OFFICE
#1019/2, 1st Cross, Geetanjali Layout, New Thippasandra, Bangalore-560 075.
Tel : 91-80-40522777 / 25294933
Email: www.vjmediaworks.com
Mumbai Office
201, 2nd Floor, Krishna Commercial Centre, 6 Udyog Nagar,
Nr. Kamat Club S.V.Road, Goregaon (W), Mumbai - 400 062.
Tel: 022-40234446

Regular visitors to ISA know that we always manage to
serve a versatile fare of business-driving Expo, thought
provoking Convention and talent recognizing Awards.
And this year also we have a very interesting line-up of
speakers who will be sharing their insights and experiences
related to various aspects of retail design and in-store
communication. Do check out our special article to know
about our speaker line-up for ISA 2019.
ISA is also a platform for the industry and their clientele (the

brands and the retailers) to come together and discuss the
way forward – whether it is about relooking the whole eco
system, initiating a new design thought process or working
out a way to beat the challenges facing the industry today.

Delhi Office
E-24,2nd floor, Naraina Vihar, New Delhi-110 028, India.
Tel: 011-4241 5179
Business Head
Nimisha Shah 99671 11587

Speaking of challenges, in this issue of VM&RD, we have
focused on two very key issues that we observed in the
industry today. One is about the business opportunities
or rather the lack of them for retail design consultants
and what’s hampering their growth. The other is about
the future direction of retail fixture exporters in India. As
it happens in most cases, these are issues that stem from
multiple factors and therefore need a multi-pronged
approach to address them.

Marketing Executive - West & South
Neha Jante 98450 11541
Sales Executive - South
Binayak Biswas 8870312069
Sales Executive - North & West
Sudarshan Sakhare 86690 68831
Subcription:
VM-RD Visual Merchandising & Retail Design is a monthly Owned, published and
edited by Vasant Jante, printed by B S Suresh Pai, published from 1019/2, 1st Main,

1st Cross, Geetanjali Layout, New Thippasandara, Bangalore-560 075 and printed at
Sri Sudhindra Offset Process, #97-98, D.T. Street, 8th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore
- 560 003.
The opinions expressed by authors and contributors to VM-RD are not necessarily
those of the editor’s or publishers. VM-RD may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without permission of the publisher.
Print Copy
Subscription for one year Rs: 1,200/For Nepal Rs 5,000/For overseas US $ 190

Do read them and let us know your thoughts. And of
course don’t miss our cover story on how Reliance Brands
has crafted a premium retail offering in a tier 2 city like
Ahmedabad or the other Indian design features that we
have for you.
I leave you now to read and mull over all that we have. I
hope these stories, along with ISA 2019, will give us an idea
of what’s in store for the retail industry in the coming days
of the year.

Vasant Jante
Editor & Publisher

Digital Copy
Subscription for one year Rs: 400/All subscriptions are to be pre-paid. The claims and statements made in the
advertisements in VM-RD are those of the Advertisers and are in no way endorsed or
verified by VM-RD

3

January 2019

Contents
6

COVER STORY
The White Crow : Giving wings to aspirations

14

INDUSTRY FOCUS
What’s derailing retail design consultants’
growth journey?

18

FIXTURES
Are Indian retail fixture manufacturers on the
crossroads?

22

PHYGITAL
‘Phygital requires the whole eco
system to evolve’ - Vishal Kapoor

26
32
38

INDIAN DESIGN
Taneira
Sri Sai Kanchi Shubham
Titan Eyeplus

42

IN-STORE ASIA 2019
You have a Store, but do you have a story?
Visit ISA 2019 to decode all the conundrums

50

COLUMN
Elke Moebius, Global Head of Retail / Retail
Technology Director EuroShop and EuroCIS

52

ADVERTORIAL
Nancy Advertising – Galloping towards
excellence

53

IN-STORE ASIA 2019 EXHIBITOR LIST

60

RETAIL SOLUTION PROVIDERS

January 2019

4


Abstract MANNEQUINS Pvt. Ltd
Mannequins | Dress Forms | Garment Steamers | Luxury Hangers | VM Props | Bust Forms | Store Fixtures
298, Prakash Mohalla, East of Kailash, New Delhi-110 065 M : +91-9999898307
www.abstractmannequins.com


Cover Story

6


The White Crow :
Giving wings to aspirations
Reliance Brands Ltd.’s new retail initiative, The White Crow, spread across 8,000 sq ft at Sindhu Bhavan Road in
Ahmedabad, is the first ever concept store bringing together all the premium brands under one roof. The idea is to
give a multi-sensory experience to customers looking for a premium offering. In an exclusive interview with VM&RD,
Darshan Mehta, President & CEO - Reliance Brands Limited (RBL), takes us through the journey of The White Crow
(TWC) and shares some insights on how every step in the retail design journey was driven by a close understanding of
how the consumer thinks and behaves.

L

ocated on the high street of Ahmedabad,
The White Crow store is RBL’s first ever

concept store. Spread across 8,000 sq
ft, the store is designed to bring Indian and
global premium brands together under one
roof. With brands like Superdry, Salvatore
Ferragamo, Scotch & Soda, Adidas Originals,
Brooks Brothers, Onitsuka Tiger, G-Star Raw,
Steve Madden, Armani Exchange, Coach,
Diesel, Replay, Dune, DC Shoes, Canali and
Kate Spade, among others, offered within
a single door, TWC addresses the needs
of the fashion conscious and aspirational
consumers of luxury in the city of Ahmedabad.
But more interestingly, the store is an
example of a contemporary retail format
built from a close understanding of what
the consumer prefers and how he or she
behaves – right from the store design
to the brand selection and the shopper
experience.

Format driven
customer shops

by

how

Darshan Mehta, President & CEO - Reliance Brands Limited

a

One of the most interesting aspects of TWC
is the concept of mixed merchandising,
as against the usual shop-in-shop format
and the categorisation based on products
rather than brands. The store thus presents
a uniquely curated fashion collection from
over 44 premium brands. The products
themselves are divided under 8 fashion and
lifestyle categories – casual wear, formal
wear, customisation section, fragrance
library, handbags & shoes, collectibles,
luggage and tableware.
Speaking about the store format,Darshan
Mehta, President & CEO - Reliance Brands
Limited (RBL) said “This unique format
is intuitive to how a customer shops. A
customer doesn’t use the same brand for
all her dressing needs. The chances are
that a woman will wear a Zara top with a
Diesel denim and accessorize with a Jimmy
Choo shoe and Gucci handbag. At TWC a
customer will find products from multiple

premium brands at the same place. For
instance, a Superdry hoodie can be seen
next to a GAS denim and an Armani
Exchange shoe.”

Brothers shirt or an Armani Exchange shoe,

it is an effective cue to the customer’s
mind about a possible fashion trend and
combination,” he added.

“The mixed merchandising also helps in
suggestive selling. So if a customer sees a
Replay Hyperflex denim next to a Brooks

According to Mehta, while shop-inshop is a 20-year old concept, the mixed
merchandising format is more customer-

7

January 2019


friendly, helping shoppers pick from
a plethora of choices across all the
categories offered in the store.
Also, TWC plans to add new brands every
month to keep up with the customer’s
preference. This is unlike the practice
followed for the metro cities. “We are
constantly changing/ adding/ rotating
brands every month to give the customer
an added reason to come and check
out the store more frequently. And
this doesn’t happen in metro cities like
Bombay or Delhi,” Mehta said.

Brand positioning – a onepoint destination for the
fashion lovers
With TWC, RBL is essentially aiming at
creating a fashion destination and in
the process creating access to multiple
premium brands and the corresponding
environment for shopping. Here again,
the choice of brands is driven by what
today’s customer seeks. As Mehta said,
“I don’t differentiate between Indian
and global brands. I think that’s an
obsolete concept. To me Raghavendra
Rathore and Brooks Brothers are both
premium brands. A Raghavendra Rathore
bandhgala can be paired beautifully with
a Diesel denim and you will find both the
brands together in our store. Similarly, a
woman would as much fancy a nice Anita
Dongre dress as a Jimmy Choo shoe and
possibly wear them together.”
January 2019

Catering to contemporary
needs & sensibility
The store look again is a reflection of
contemporary India with a space that is
designed to evoke a fresh and premium
feel, which is in sync with the aspirational
needs of the customers.

“We wanted to make sure the store
environment is not intimidating and, at
the same time, aspirational. We wanted
to create a store that you have never seen
before. The space lends a warm feeling; it
is hospitable and it is unique. In terms of
design, we have virtually scored a 95 /100,”
Mehta explained.

The glass and wooden shelving system is
an integral part of the store, and the fitouts are given an orange hue. The store has
a light neutral colour scheme that envelops
the entire design.

It took 12 months to complete the
store design process and the space was
designed by an award winning interior
design agency, ST Design. The retail
exerience concept is done by brand and

8



retail innovation company, Few Steps
Ahead, while the branding has been done
by an internal designer at RBL.
Interestingly, the entire store design
journey is also an example in creative
freedom and in finely blending aesthetics

with the reigning cultural ethos. As Mehta
explained, “I firmly believe that if your
design head feels very strongly about
something then you should give him or
her the leeway because he or she is the
expert. For example, initially I had some
reservations about using orange in the
store, but my designer convinced me
that India is known and loved around the
world as a vibrant and colourful country
and orange goes with that image. He
turned out to be right. For when I walked
into the store and saw the fit-out stand, I
knew it was a contemporary version of
the traditional image of India. So trust
between the designer and the client is very
important in the whole design process.”

Crafting the right customer
experience
In the context of customer experience in
retail, phygital has become a buzz word
today but Mehta believes that Indians
are not yet ready for phygital. “Phygital is
overdone in the western countries where
manpower is scarce. But Indians still love
the human touch, they love people over
digital services. When a customer goes to a
store, they like to have human interaction
January 2019

before buying a product or while browsing
the product range. They don’t want to go
and stand in front of a kiosk. They would
rather have human assistance while
making a purchase,” he pointed out.
This belief and understanding of the Indian
psyche is reflected in TWC. For example, the
store has a Brother sewing machine right in
the middle of the store for craftsmanship
and customisation. If a customer wants a
customised denim or an alteration s/he can
get it done right at the store.
“Interestingly, the Brother sewing machine
has actually been appreciated by a lot
by our customers. They said it felt good
because it gave a sense of being in a
clothing store. Thus, it also helped in
connecting with the customer by giving
a sense of familiar comfort without being
overtly loud,” Mehta highlighted.
As part of enhancing the customer
experience, the store also houses the Santé
Spa Café, which serves a range of vegan
and gluten free food. So while the store is
spread across 5,200 sq ft, the café occupies
an additional space of 2,600 sq ft. “Through
this approach we are trying to give a
holistic experience to the customers. This
is something that doesn’t exist in India,”

Mehta said.

A strategic choice of location
TWC is part of RBL’s efforts to take their
premium segment across apparel, footwear
10

and lifestyle categories to mini-metros and
smaller towns, again a result of their close
study of emerging markets and consumer
profiles in the country.
Highlighting the reason behind choosing
a mini-metro city, Mehta said, “The idea is
to launch the concept of a departmental
store in a different and unique way in a
city like Ahmedabad which has a ready
purchasing power. There is no multi-brand
format of international brands in India to
make the customer experience wholesome
and complete in overall lifestyle purchase.”
Also as he added, outside the key metro
cities, there is a high purchasing power in
cities like Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur and
even Guwahati. But it may not be always
feasible to build malls or put up individual
mono brand stores at these places. “Also,
the departmental stores presence in India
is quite mainstream. That prompted us to
open an MBO concept store in a city like
Ahmedabad.”

“Ahmedabad, a city with population of
9 million people, has just one mall in the
town called the Alpha Mall, where we have
2 stores – Hamleys and GAS. The mall is
fully leased out for 9 years and we were
literally waiting with a token in hand for
a place to get vacant to open a Brooks
Brothers store, a Superdry store,a Steve
Madden store, an Armani Exchange store, a
Canali store etc., but we did not get a spot,”
he further added.



to bring Pottery Barn and West Elm in
India. This will also mean a new category
in TWC portfolio - home décor and home
improvement. The company has also
partnered with Replay – an Italian premium
denim and casual wear brand - to open
Replay stores in India. As of now, The White
Crow is all set to give ‘Ahmedabadians’ a
new retail experience to indulge in and a
true taste of premium luxury. l
Smita Sinha
Concept Design
ST Design, Hong Kong.

However, given the existence of ready
purchasing power and wealth in the city,

Ahmedabad was an easy choice for RBL to
open an MBO format in the city. According
to a report by Boston Consulting Group
(BCG), population in tier II- IV will increase
4.5 times by 2025 and also by 2025, tier II
and III towns will account for 45% of India’s
consumption and add 30% of affluent
households, who will be a significant
market for premium luxury products.
“Two indications that Ahmedabad has
high purchasing power – one is the fact
that the city has at least 5-6 high-end
car showrooms. Secondly, the flight
connectivity, between Mumbai and Delhi
- Ahmedabad is very good at 19-20 flights
per day with high seat occupancy. Location
is an important factor in the success of any
Retail format and Ahmedabad was a ready
market for us, given its affluent customer
base and connectivity,” Mehta explained.
RBL is now planning to open TWC stores
January 2019

in other cities like Lucknow, Jaipur and
Guwahati.

Summing up the journey
Talking about the obstacles in the whole
journey towards creating an experiential
store, Mehta said, “The only challenge that

we faced was that there wasn’t a mall or
a beautiful high-street in which we could
set up presence of our premium brands.
But with TWC we have overcome this
challenge. And the kind of response we got
in the first 5 weeks has been mind blowing.
The response was positive in sales,
footfalls, conversions and all the other key
performing indicators that we use to track
success in Retail.”
Going forward RBL is planning to add more
brands every month to the existing 44 brands.
“We have a hot pipeline, we keep adding new
brands every month,” Mehta said.
RBL has also recently announced a
partnership with Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
12

Architect & PMC
Amol Talekar, Pune
Retail Experience Design
Few Steps Ahead, New Delhi
General Contractor
Shilpi Designers, Mumbai
Flooring
Greenheart Floors, New Delhi
Fixtures & Furniture
Elemental Fixtures Pvt Ltd, Bangalore
Lighting
Focus Lighting & Fixtures Ltd, Mumbai &

JN Lighting India LLP, Mumbai,
Speciality Value Lighting& Design,Mumbai
Signage
Ubiquitous Signs Pvt Ltd, Mumbai
Hangers & Mannequins
Abstract Mannequins, New Delhi
VM Props & Window Display
HG Graphics, New Delhi



Industry Focus

What’s derailing
retail design consultants’
growth journey?
Even as retail remains the key element in any brand narrative, the growth story of the Indian retail industry is
hardly reflected in the performance of Indian retail design consultants. Is it because of lack of enough retail
design consultants in the country who can offer end to end solutions? Or is it due to inadequate understanding
of retail design as a holistic experience? Or, is it about not giving retail design its due? It appears that a
combination of factors has affected the growth of retail design consultancy as a segment in its own right, as
VM&RD finds out.

January 2019

14


F

rom disruptive brand deployment
to clutter breaking storytelling,
retail brands are leaving no stone
unturned in sprucing up their brickand-mortar presence. What’s more,
brands from across a range of segments
and categories are today joining the
retail bandwagon in India, focused on
crafting an impactful retail experience.
An industry body study shows that
retail has emerged as one of the most
dynamic industries in the country,
reportedly accounting for over 10% of the
country’s GDP and around 8% of the total
employment. The report also says that
while the overall retail market is expected
to grow at 12 % per annum, modern
trade would grow at 20 % per annum and
traditional trade at 10 %.
Also, the rise in retail projects means better
business for the retail design consultants
in the country. As Mumbai-based retail
designer Shravan Suthar, Principal
D e s i g n e r ,
Shravan Design
C o m p a n y ,
according to
whom his 15-year
old company has
grown 100% over
the last 7 years,

explains, “Retailers
who had stores
spanning not more than 500-1000 sq ft
are now going up to 5000 sq ft with ease.
Therefore, there’s a clear increase in the
number of square feet we are working
with.”
This obviously means higher business
volumes for retail design agencies and
it would seem that all is hunky dory for
the industry, with a robust eco-system of
retail solution/service providers, all equally
poised for growth, right? Wrong. The fact
is that while there are many architectural
agencies who are into retail design, there
are very few consultants specializing in
retail design as a complete solution in
the industry. Also, while many of these
consultants have made their way up the
ladder to become the most sought-after
names, their individual growth seems
rather stunted, certainly not commensurate
with the growth of Indian retail as a whole.

Understanding the crux of retail
experience
It appears that these gaps are a reflection
of larger issues, beginning with a lack of

understanding of retail experience as a

concept in itself. Now interestingly, even
after brick-and-mortar made its glorious
comeback, not many, particularly among
the retailers, seem to have really cracked
the essence of what a retail experience is
all about or have spent enough resources
to understand customer behavior.
Shyam Sunder, Co-founder of Four
Dimensions Retail Design, says in this
regard, “Though
we are talking
about retail
experience being
the paramount
for retail success,
many brands, even
those investing in
retail designers,
have no clear idea
about it. As they scale up their stores, they
also end up constantly changing their
retail designers, to suit their budget. What
happens as a result is that they can’t achieve
uniform ID across all stores. It’s important
for brands to understand the objective of
design so that there is collective benefit.”
As a result of inadequate understanding
of retail experience, the whole eco system
suffers, in particular the retail design
consultancy business, as retailers do not

feel the need to invest in a retail design
consultancy firm for consistency of ID or
design purpose.
Says Sanjay Agarwal, Founder, Future
Retail Design Company (FRDC), in this
regard,
“There’s
an
issue
in
understanding
design in this
country. We look
at design from the
aesthetic or luxury
point of view, but
often forget that
design is ultimately
a tool to solve problems. Therefore, the
research methodology becomes very
important for us even before proposing a
design of a store. Now, in order to invest
sufficient effort to do that, we often need
longer duration and the lost time is never
compensated. This often leads us to incur
losses. I can only infer that there’s a severe
need for understanding design at all levels.”
Dhiren Chheda, Founder of Mumbaibased Dhiren Chheda Associates, agrees,
“Research even before design is the most
crucial and challenging part. In addition

15

to that, as a retail
design firm, if you
give special focus
to timeline, the
volume of your
rollout goes down.
Therefore,
we
cannot do more
than 50 stores a
year. In the latter
case, brands go to several agencies to
duplicate the design and there remains a
chance of the soul of the IDs getting lost.
Now, if the brand’s earnestness towards
restoration of design ID and therefore the
budget is conducive, we can take up fewer
brands but can take care of complete
rollout.”
Thus it’s the retail design consultant who
again suffers, because when the project is
done in piecemeal and not as a complete
roll out, then the returns don’t justify the
efforts and cost involved in it. And in the
end, between tight time lines and lack of
enough bandwidth to match the scale of
store rollout plans, what gets lost is the
core of retail experience – a right blend of

physical design and intangible elements.

Seeking international expertise
So the challenges seem to lie in a vicious
circle – retailers don’t focus on store
design as a consistent long-term plan and
therefore go to retail design firms for last
minute store executions, which is time
and pressure bound and offers no scope
for creating unique design concepts. Since
these projects do not monetarily sustain
the design consultancy firms on a long
term basis, they are constrained and unable
to add more value to what they can offer to
the retail clients. The high end organized
retailers in the country thus end up going
to international design consultants to meet
their retail requirements. A look at any of
these top retail entities shows that their
designs were handled by international
retail agencies – ‘HD retail ID’ for Central
was done by Blocher Blocher, Foodhall at
Chanakya, Delhi by Paris-based Melherbe,
Croma’s small format true blue omni
channel ID by Chute Gardeman, Airtel’s
phygital ID by London-based Eight Inc. The
list goes on.
These are retailers who pay Rs 100 lakh
plus as design consultation fee and in
some cases even go up to Rs 200 lakhs. So

here is the other side to the issue, which is
the perspective of these high-end retailers
according to which, design consultants
January 2019


from the West come with end-to-end
solution comprising graphic design, brand
communication, the whole works, while
India’s top retail design consultants are
more of interior designers. So while Indian
retail design consultancy firms have their
own reasons as to why they are not able to
offer complete design solutions, their top
end retail clients seem to have a different
take.

Need for infrastructural
investment
But as stated above, retail designers need
to be assured of consistent revenues to
be able to build the infrastructure that
can help them cater to their top end
clients. According to industry sources, no
top agency is achieving more than Rs 5
crore annual turnover solely from concept
design. This is unlike the international
scene where many retail agencies sustain
themselves solely on concept design work
and stay away from rollout jobs. Indian

retail agencies on the other hand are forced
to rely on store roll-outs for their business
volumes. As Shyam of Four Dimension says,
“We are doing 600 stores a year across 47
brands. I won’t say that we have not grown.
But let me tell you, our sole concept design
revenue has grown marginally. 55% of our
total turnover is still achieved from rollout,
while the rest comes from concept design.
And, we have been in business for the last
18 years. Ideally we should have grown
equally in both the verticals but pure-play
concept design fees are too meagre to
sustain the business. ”
This again is a reflection of larger issues
such as insufficient focus given to store
design as long term initiative by retail
brands. So the crux of it is that if retailers
can look at design as something that needs
separate investments in terms of expertise
and planning and hire retail design
consultants as partners who can offer
concepts and not just do store rollouts,
then it would lift the whole industry. It
would give the retail design consultancy
firms the assurance of long term revenues
which can help them build infrastructure,
talent and research capability to offer more
to their clients, including concepts and end
to end design solutions.

The way ahead
Of course this is not to say that the design
consultancy firms have to wait for the
retailers to change their approach. In fact
the good news is that a few retail design
January 2019

Need of the hour – A Quick Checklist
Focus on design as a complete solution on the part
Separate budget allotments for design concept development and store roll-out on the
part of retailers
More retail design training programmes, apart from the one offered by NID, with
contemporary course content that can churn out industry-ready design professionals
Dedicated resources for research and infrastructure on the part of retail consultants
Collaborative approach between retailer/brand and the retail designers for a complete
retail solution
Realistic time line for the project completion and compensation for delay from the
retailer side.
consultants are already investing resources
in research and strategy before getting
down to designing the stores. As they
point out, Indian customer demography is
unique, which only Indian retail agencies
can understand and translate into a
workable design solution for retailers. But
the need is for more such research backed
retail design strategies and for retailers to
understand and acknowledge this.
The fact is that a retail unit or a store is

more than just a spectacular space. And
this is something that all stakeholders
need to clearly focus on – both the retail
brands and the retail designers. This also
means requiring the right kind of talent,
because retail design falls somewhere
between pure art and pure science. So the
need is for expertise that understands it
from both these perspectives. But while
retail
designers
are trained and
honed on job,
there is no formal
training imparted
to them and this is
another issue. As
Ashateet Saran
of Chennai-based
Saran Associates,
says ruefully, “There’s no proper course,
nothing even remotely close to a training
program that young retail design aspirants
can opt for and get industry-ready. What’s
more disappointing is that pure-play
architecture is often preferred over design.”
Indeed, a few leading design institutes
have started offering courses in retail
design, but the course content is often
not on par with contemporary and global

trends. So clearly there is a big need for
cutting edge retail design training, among
other factors.
Well, the sooner these industry musthave’s are in place – retailer acceptance of
16

Indian design consultancy as a necessity
for a good store experience and better
profitability for retail design consultancy
firms so that they can invest in research
capability, infrastructure and industryready talent – the better. After all, world
over retail behemoths have re-strategized
their store size, space, merchandising
and the overall design of retailing. And
for Indian retail to keep pace with these
trends would mean a strong retail design
consultancy industry which can sustain
itself on pure play design. This means a
collaborative strategy between both the
retail brand and the retail designer for
delivering a complete design solution –
one that is tuned to customer behaviour
and matches the need of the hour. l

Satarupa Chakraborty



Fixtures

Are Indian retail fixture
manufacturers on the crossroads?
India’s fixture manufacturing industry is fast making its presence on the international retail map, thanks to its
fast-evolved manufacturing processes, value engineering and affordable labour cost. But the fact is that the
success is still confined to a few topline names. Also the export percentage for each has still not crossed the
20% mark. So what can make this number go up? A combination of higher retailer confidence in Indian fitout manufacturers and improved capability on the part of the industry with strategic partnerships can make a
difference, finds out VM&RD.

F

irst the good news. In a survey done
by VM&RD last year among 26 leading
fixture manufacturers in the country,
it was observed that the number of players
with 100,000 sq ft facility had grown
substantially in the last few years, with
the average area fitted by each company
almost doubling in the last two years, from
3.25 lac sq ft to 5.9 lac sq ft per supplier.
The better news is that top line brands
like Apple, Scotch N soda, Superdry, H&M,
etc., which began by importing their line
of fixtures eventually gained confidence in
Indian vendors.

Also, if we gauge the growth of store fitout vendors across all categories, fixture
manufacturers seem to have more to
show compared to their counterparts in
other categories. The above mentioned
VMRD survey also revealed that while

the percentage of exports by the leading
January 2019

vendors has not really increased in last
couple of years, the number of exporting
companies grew from 39% to almost 50%.
Also with India’s organized retail growing
significantly at a CAGR of 20-25%
annually (Source : Anarock Retail Report),
there is huge scope for store fit-out
manufacturers in the country. Besides,
Indian manufacturers have also been able
to gain traction as fit-out experts among
SAARC countries such as Sri Lanka, Dubai
and Africa. Starting relatively earlier
compared to other service providers, the
Indian fixture industry, aided by focus on
R&D and infrastructure development, is
exporting significantly to these countries.
But now comes the sobering part. Despite
these cheering projections, there’s still
a sizeable number of global brands
including Aldo, Charles & keith, Only, Vero
18

Moda, Jack & Jones etc, who even after
a good stint of retail operation in India,
are still importing their store fixtures.
So, even as Indian fixture manufacturers
are proving their competence as global

supplier to top-notch brands, there are
still many brands shying away from
outsourcing their fixture requirements to
Indian manufacturers. Why is this so? Is it
a matter of perception? Or is there more?

What’s the positioning in the
global market?
One reason could be the lack of a clear
communication of USP or positioning. A
look at other exporting countries shows
that every fixture exporter comes with
a distinct USP – China is known for its
competitive and cheap pricing, Italy and
other European countries for the sleekness
of their fixtures, USA, for reliability in terms


of load bearing, compliances, turnaround
time etc. But when it comes to India it
appears that fixtures manufacturers have
not yet carved a distinct positioning in the
International market.
Industry experts feel that is because they
are unclear as to what to expect from
the market and what direction to take,
which involves extensive market research.
Says Huzefa Merchant, Founder & CEO,
Insync Shopfittings / Safe Enterprises,
explaining this, “We have always shied away

from
predictive
research on what’s
next. For example,
we
did
some
extensive research
o n d i ff e r e n t
parts of the
world
including
countries
such
as Dubai, Turkey,
Germany etc.,
before launching our Fit N Lite system,
which is a customized display system
for retail stores. Sporadically designed
products may not work very well in
international markets.”
Nilesh
Rathod,
F o u n d e r ,
E n s e m b l e
Infrastructure
agrees “While
the last few years
have moved
r e t a i l fi x t u r e

manufacturing

to metal usage, we still have to wait
and watch if the demand is for larger
sustainable supply chain. There are still
some of affluent retail brands who are
opting for sizeable import. Therefore,
we guess that there’s a big substitution
market, which is yet to happen. We can
only wait and watch.” What this means is
that with no clear picture on what trends
to expect from international trends, Indian
fixture manufacturers seem unable to
crack the export market in order to grow
further.
PKN Nambiar, CEO, Electrospark, which
clocked a turnover of INR 100 crore in
less than 10 years and whose exports
constitute about 15%, shares a similar
view, “The biggest
roadblock
is
uncertainty. While
I am gearing up
big for export of
other engineering
products, I am not
too sure of retail
fixtures. While in
the Indian market,

we can manage bulk business with the
brands, when it comes to exports, we
have go through buying agencies. Even
after putting in the same kind of effort, we
end up receiving minuscule orders. Also,
there’s a dearth of projection and welldrafted roadmap for the next few years.
It’s not too business-friendly to execute
orders on an immediate basis.”
It is probably due to these reasons that
19

the average turnover of leading Indian
fixture manufacturers in the last two
years has dropped by about 19%, most
probably abetted by fall in prices and
further spread of the pie shared by smaller
and newer players. And while the number
of exporting companies has seen a jump
of about 10% in the same time window,
almost no company has crossed 20% when
it comes to the export size of their overall
produces, as already mentioned.
Due to the obvious challenges many retail
fixture manufacturers possibly don’t see
much returns coming from investing in the
efforts to draw in an international clientele.
As industry players point out, deeper the
pocket, bigger the export size. And even
though there has been a significant surge
in infrastructure development for catering

to domestic market, the prototyping effort
for the global markets, which is largely
price-sensitive, does not commensurate
well with medium and small sized fixture
manufacturers.
However, with the retail business
increasingly going global and India
becoming a hub for global players,
catering to the international market would
be an inevitability.

The way forward
So how can the Indian retail fixture
industry tap the export market in a growth
conducive manner? And what is the next
step for them? The fact is, as pointed
out by industry players, although there’s
January 2019


collective effort towards R&D pertaining to
materials and manufacturing process and
simplifying packaging and logistics, almost
no thought leadership is shown towards
customer-centric design or geographyoriented research from the fixture
manufacturers. So as already mentioned,
market research would probably be the
first important factor.
Also, success in the export market is a longterm process which requires patience and
sustained efforts.

Says Ragesh Bhatia, Director, Renam
Retail, which is planning to double its
exports by the
year end, “We
understand that
maintaining
quality along with
price
sensitivity
require deep
pockets and
sustenance power.
However, if you
can hang in there,
the effort gets justified. Look at Chinese
manufacturers. Contrary to popular notion
about compromised quality, China has
sustained its superpower as exporting
mammoth also on the basis of quality.
And, that has happened over a long period
of time.”
The good news once again is that there has
been a consistent surge in participation
from Indian fixtures companies at global
retail trade shows such as the iconic
Euroshop, especially in the fixture and
lighting categories. Says Murali Balgar,
Director, Disha
Retail Fixtures,
“We have come

a long way, not
only in design and
manufacturing
processes
but
also in packaging,
well- engineered
installation-ready
products
and
logistics. Technology and engineering
have played hand-in-hand roles in this
process. We have recently been appointed
as the global supplier of one of the major
US retailer. It’s true that the export success
is still confined to only the top ones, but
the volume of success is commendable.”
But for the success to spread to more
number of players in the industry would
also mean meaningful tie-ups with
industry names across different countries,
who can pave the way to market Indian
January 2019

Opportunity

Growth

Reality

Checklist

Emergence
of African
countries and
Sri Lanka as
retail hubs.

Some noted
international brands
are appointing Indian
vendors as their global
suppliers.

Even the leading
companies are
exporting only
10-20% of their
overall produce.

Tie-up with
international fixture
leaders to not only
market products but
to understand trend.

Price dropdown
of almost 50%
compared
to global

manufacturers.

More and more
international brands
slowly but surely found
confidence in Indian
manufacturers.

Positioning Indian
fixture produces
collectively in a
“brandmark” way.
What should they
stand for?

Europe and
USA, once
complacent
in their
manufacturing
processes are
now looking at
India to import
their fixtures.

Number of exporting
companies has grown
by about 10% in last
2-3 years.

Prototyping
and approval
process need
deeper pocket
and unjustifiable
timeframe to
achieve sizeable
business.
Logistics cost is
still a concern
among smaller
players.

A handful of top
companies are looking
to double their exports
by next fiscal.
Dearth of
projection on
Last year, 5 Indian
distinct offerings.
retail store vendor
companies
participated in
Euroshop, out of
which 3 were fixture
companies
Improvement
in shipping and
packaging quality

Increasing the
reliability factor
specially pertaining
to timeline/delivery.
Introduction of
standardized line of
fixtures
Consistent research
on global market.
Value engineering
for ease of
installation.
Introduction of
automation in the
manufacturing
process

Time pertaining to
logistics has been
minimized.
Focus towards
standardized and ease
of installation.
vendors. For example, Spanish company
Kider India was taken over by Indian
promoter in 2014. Even with its Spanish
heritage, the company, with its target
to achieve 10% business from exporting
to European countries, is going in for

technical tie-ups with Polish and Spanish
leaders.
Says Manu Sharma, President, Instor
by Kider India Pvt Ltd, explaining this,
“Though we have
been aggressive
in improving our
facility as per
global benchmark,
we realized that
only the respective
market leaders can
pave our way to
success in exports.
20

These tie-ups will help us in specialized
R&D before we win a sizeable scale of
operation, post which we can be on our
own.”
Well, it certainly looks like research, clear
market positioning and strategic tie-ups
with international industry leaders, are
some of the things that the industry needs
to adopt to grow in the export market.
And last but not the least, is that top-end
retailers need to realize that numbers
do not always reflect the story. So even
though Indian fixture manufacturers may
not show big numbers in their export

kitty, it is in no way an indication of their
expertise. On the other hand, it only shows
that there is need for greater confidence
and willingness to explore their capability
on the part of the retailers. l
Satarupa Chakraborty



Phygital

‘Phygital requires the whole eco
system to evolve’
The line dividing the physical and digital worlds is blurring like never before and new age shoppers are
increasingly looking for a digital interface to facilitate a speedy and smart shopping experience. This has driven
retailers across the world to integrate technology in order to reinvigorate their business plans. Keeping pace
with these changes are a few Indian retailers like the Future Group who have already started drawing up a
blended commerce strategy to bring everything to the customer’s doors and finger tips.
VM&RD catches up with Vishal Kapoor, Chief Design Officer, Future Group, to know more about the
company’s approach to phygital and India’s readiness for phygital.

I

n the context of creating a better retail
experience, phygital seems to be the
buzz word now. How will phygital
change the Indian retail scenario? What
difference do you think it will make to
both the retailers and the customers?

When we talk about phygital, there
are two sides to it – one is the frontend consisting of the direct customer
experience and the second is the back-end
which gets integrated into the business,
thereby feeding the front-end. In India,
the so called ‘digital interface’ began
on the front-end, more as a customer
visual attraction. Today many retailers,
including us, are connecting the whole
ecosystem of retail through an integrated
technology platform to know and service
the customer better. This can only happen
if you have an integrated and contextual
technology behind to deliver what the
January 2019

customers have, what they possibly want
and accordingly service their needs.
Currently Phygital retail is I would say at
a nascent stage and we still have to see
complete case studies. But the process
has already begun, and I think in the next
five or six years, we will see quite a bit of
changes on that front where technology
will play a crucial role, both at the customer
interface side and at the back end through
better handling of big data and providing
relevant insights followed by prescriptive
analytics. Essentially we will witness valueadded actions for end-users through
products or services.

Technologies like beacon sensing system,
facial recognition, customised advertising,
cashless shopping etc., will provide the
end to end cycle of observation, insights,
ideation and action in a cyclic pattern.
22

For instance, when the customer visits
a store, the facial recognition technolgy
based on her past visits and accumulation
of data would provide detailed analytics
of the profile helping the retailer to
know here choices of products styles,
brands, size etc. With these insights
the serviceability factor can be greatly
increased. The offers and suggestions can
be highly personalised and a conversation
can be started between the retailer and
customer. With beacons and scanners, the
particular customer can be tracked inside
the store and based on her browsing time
at any shelf area, customized marketing
or offer provisions can be done. This
personalisation can even be followed
into the trial rooms where she can simply
interface on the digital screen her choices
of different sizes or color and she would
be serviced that choice. Choice of final
product can also lead into a cashless
aisle integrated with the payment portal

through scan technologies as basic as QR
codes to RFID. This being connected to
digital wallets makes the entire transaction
speedy and hassle-free.
Such and mutliple other varieties of case
studies can be realistically expected from
more and more retailers in future.
The caveat here is that we don’t get
obsessed by the “technology” and forget
the human factor, which stems from
the cultural and behavioural context.
Technology has to be always chosen as
an enabler and not as the literal solution.
The central idea is that design has to be
in a larger context of integrating creative
ideas for business value-add through
technology.


Do you think Indian retail is ready for
phygital?

phygital as an integrated holistic solution
and not as a single feature.

evolve on one side and massify on the
other thus providing price stability.

Indian retailers might not be able to offer
a complete phygital experience, as their

developed global counterparts do. Only a
few premium stores in our country would
probably be able to include the entire
assortment of phygital. But definitely
we would see parts of it integrated. The
smart choices for retailers would involve
using the right technology, one which
gives them business value add and can be
seamlessly integrated into their evolving
organisation systems, both technologically
and culturally. Sometimes the technology
can almost seem like an alien force in the
internal organization context, losing it
effectiveness and the whole purpose.

Rising service expectancies of consumers,
the opening of markets and the resulting
competition will push for higher
benchmarks, with the online market
infusion further raising expectancies
of convenience and price. The physical
retailers, while being conscious of
these factors, also constantly challenge
themselves
on
better
experience
deliverables.

Apart from price, the challenge would be

to align with the right kind of adoption
and integration to generate maximum
business value. Surface level technology
adoption is just a hardware installation and
its benefits would be limited to generating
some eye balls for some time before it
becomes obsolete . The deeper integration
into the organization working systems and
enterprise resource planning would make
the connect between the customer and
organisation more meaningful.

Physical retail will always work on great
and unique experiences and if technology
can help in converging to that goal
smoother and faster it becomes a strong
enabler.
What do you think are the key factors
that will make phygital work?
One of the key factors is the introduction of

Hence as time and space meanings
get redefined, technology would be an
enabler. The physical will rely on digital
for speed and digital on physical for
experience and human touch.

So, beyond the blinding glow of
technology lies the value adding nuggets
which needs to be picked up at the right

time, in the right place and for the right
reason.

Do you think cost, challenges in finding
the right solution providers, etc., are
perceived as deterrents to the growth
of phygital?

What are the other challenges in
integrating phygital?

Yes, at the introductory stage cost always
is something to think about because
markets are experimenting with the new
technologies but with higher adoption,
technology always has the feature to

Adoption into the existing organization
systems specially for large operating
systems would be a challenge. Phygital
will cause evolution in the management
of enterprise processes like supply

23

January 2019


chain, stock planning, human resources,
marketing methodology etc.

Phygital - Key Takeaways

Technology is always attuned to changes
and evolution and mostly faster than
anticipated. This would challenge the
archaic methodologies and resources and
hence it’s also going to be a challenge in
the cultural context.

- Technologies like beacon sensing
system, facial recognition, customised
advertising, etc., will play key role in
driving business empowering insights
- Technology is not the end but the
means for better business value and
customer experience

Cost, I always believe, is the outcome of
balancing vision with decision, so this
factor sooner or later can be dealt with.

- Need of the hour is for a holistic
solution which can be seamlessly
integrated into the culture and
business

Rajiv Prakash of Next In recently said
that it’s important to think like a startup in order to offer the right phygital
experience? What is your take on that?

What is the kind of ecosystem needed to
make phygital work?
Yes, you have to think like a start-up
because start-ups have the ability to adapt
to new things and are agile. The start-up’s
way of working is very different from a
large organisation, but as you try to adapt
this technology to a large organisation,
then I believe there has to be something
more than just a start-up mindset. Startups don’t always think from the longterm business perspective of profit
generation, as the inclination is more
towards evaluation, customer acquisition
and scaling up. So medium and large
retailers will also have to adopt a large
organisational way of thinking, where
cash flow and net revenues are important
survival aspects.
What do you think can make a retailer
or a brand allot the required budget for
phygital?
First factor is the larger global trend of
transforming retail through phygital, so
to some degree it will have its influence.
Globally, a lot of retailers are going
phygital. For instance, Nike has recently
opened a new store which is based on the
phygital principles.
The Amazon Go stores, Alibaba’s Hema
supermarkets etc, all lead to this direction
and hence become an inspiration to

learn and adopt. Even today we see the
technology investments being much
higher YOY if we do a comparative analysis
of the last decade.
Customers’ value for time and convenience
and their need for memorable experience
would
direct
retailers
to
adopt
technologies integrated with design and
business.
January 2019

- Solution providers should offer
something comprehensive and not
have a transaction based approach
- Need more successful case studies
for retailer to learn and adopt
- Idea is not to replace human touch
but to enable a smooth interface
According to a study, 79 % of users want
human touch over digital customers
service channels in India? This is true
isn’t it? For in India, we do prefer the
human interface. So, given this, how do
you think phygital will be successful in
India?
This is true, in India, majority of the

preference is for physical. The fear of
physical retailers being displaced by online
is baseless. In fact, we have seen globally
online retailers taking over and buying out
physical retailers and also experimenting in
physical formats but based on their design
ethos and philosophy. Digital cannot be
an exclusive value-add and cannot be
a forced wiring between the customer
and the retailer. Human touch will never
lose its value and hence technology will
simply help in reducing negative labour,
cutting time friction and focusing on
the experience strategy to stimulate the
sensory perceptions.
Any particular category where you
think phygital will work better?
Any well thought over strategy based on
deep insights of customer and market
need across the categories of fashion,
food and home would see the value add
of phygital.
Aspects of curation, product information,
personalised marketing, transparency
of sourcing to bring up more customer
24

confidence etc., all lead to areas of physical
supplemented by digital. The idea is to
integrate the whole system in a way where

there is service, information and sensory
inputs all connected together.
Any message you want to share with the
retail solution providers in the context
of phygital?
Retail solution providers should give a
comprehensive solution, and not come
with a mindset of transaction. The OEM
(original
equipment
manufacturer)
mindset has to evolve to ODM (own design
and manufacturer) to OSM (own strategy
manufacturer). Eventually it’s not about
the hardware or the software, but about
integrating it into the organizational
strategies and aligning your service
strategies accordingly, in a holistic
manner.l

Smita Sinha


www.theflagcompany.in

THE FLAGS AND SIGNAGE PVT LTD
(The Flag Company)

Front

Back

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CEILING-WALL-NICHE-SELF STANDING

Print width up to 10 feet Installation across India, backlit and front lit fabrics, Made in India

PIONEERS OF FLAG, BANNER, FABRIC SIGNAGE

Office address:Shop No 7, Andheri Universal Industrial Estate,Opp Andheri Sports Complex, Azad Nagar Metro,Next to A H Wadia
School, J P Road, Andheri West, Mumbai - 400053. India. Phone -022- 2625 1620 - 21 / +91 9820627530 /
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