Retailscape Is Now All Set To Cash In On The Growing Retail Boom In India

PROFESSIONALS infected with the entrepreneurial bug and deciding to take the plunge is by now the most oft heard news. But what’s different about Manish Shukla, founder of Mumbaibased Retailscape, was his decision to set up a retail strategy, design and merchandising outfit to enable brands to work closely with the general trade — millions of shopkeepers and outlets dotting the Indian retail landscape. The initiative may look a tad surprising, given that today, modern trade is the flavour of the day and everyone seems to be predicting the demise of the corner shop. But Shukla after having invested nearly a decade in building his outfit knows that brands will need to work even more closely and help them upgrade. And here’s where he believes Retailscape fits in.Armed with an MBA degree, Shukla’s career followed the usual trajectory. Working with JWT, Gillette, Bausch & Lomb and Coca-Cola India, Shukla learnt the ropes of brand marketing. However, it was his stint at Coke as head of merchandising which exposed Shukla to the kind of work done on retail and merchandising globally. On a study tour to Mexico in 1995 to understand why the country has the highest per capita consumption of soft drink in the world, Shukla noticed that even people living on the street were consuming Coca-Cola. “I did a retail study on how Coke was an essential part of their daily life and similarly developed a programme for India. However, people here were not ready for it,” says Mr Shukla. Having seen how retail and merchandising could increase offtake, he began looking for a someone who could offer the same expertise in India. What he found was that there was no one. There was a vacuum and Shukla decided to fill it by starting his own outfit in 1996. Initially, it was consulting MNCs like HLL and Pepsi on retail plans for brands like Kwality Walls and Pepsi. On Kwality Wall, Shukla recollects that he recommended the use of tricycles and push carts to sell an impulse purchase item like ice cream. “This we did ten years ago and today nearly 75% of Kwality Walls sales now comes from tricycles and push carts,” he states. His success with HLL and Pepsi meant that word soon spread and brands like Bharat Shell, Bacardi, Parker Pens, Heineken and Evian to name a few wanted to avail of Retailscape’s services. Shukla says one of the challenges he faced initially was hiring people as work was pouring in. “No one in the industry had expertise, so I had to pick up people from backgrounds like sales, FMCG and event management and train them.” From a one-man operation, Retailscape today has a total headcount of nearly 80 employees across India.From pure strategy, Retailscape ventured into design and execution as well. Shukla say that through out the focus has been helping brands upgrade their value proposition towards the general trade. “We have done work for the modern trade, but while organised retailing is growing, the largest chunk of business still comes from general trade. So, even if modern trade becomes 15% of the total trade in the years to come, 85% still comprises of the general trade,” he says. So the work involves enabling companies understand how to leverage the general trade by raising their benchmark. Initiatives like Super Value Stores and Unicare programme conducted for HLL involved upgrading the grocer outlets and chemist stores through signages, planogramming and proper layouts. Retailscape, from a single office in Mumbai, has today ramped up to branches across the major metros in India. And using a hub-and-spoke model, it has created a network where it can reach nearly 30 cities across the country. “And all this has been done because the clients want to take our services across India,” he says. Shukla states while there is a need to acquire new clients, the focus more importantly is to retain clients like LG, Motorola and HLL by continuously offering them more and more services. “From strategy to doing retail audits to design and execution, the entire business model is geared towards meeting the clients’ requirement. From a turnover of few lakhs in the beginning, Retailscape today has a turnover of Rs 5 crore and is expected to grow almost 100% in the coming time.While Retailscape is on a fast growth track, Shukla has another ace up his sleeve. A retail academy which will be the one stop retail resource centre for independent and small retailers. For this, Shukla is sewing up an alliance comprising of knowledge inputs from IIM-A, technology from IIT Powai, various retail associations across the country and companies. “The idea is to develop relevant content and infrastructure which will enable the small retailers stand the onslaught of modern trade and the resultant changes it’s bringing to the marketplace,” he states.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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