TiE Retail Summit

How small will become bigger: Milagrow-TIE Workshop

Venue: New Delhi 

 "Small needs to evolve and improvise to tap into the endless opportunities presented by Indian retail market". This is the message which the experts provided during the  workshop conducted successfully by Milagrow Business and Knowledge Solutions for small and medium retailers at the recently concluded TiE Retail Summit 2008 on 1st August 2008. Milagrow was associated with the event as "mentoring partner for small retailers".
The workshop conducted by Mr Rajeev Karwal(Founder and CEO, Milagrow), Mr Ashish Kapur (MD, Yo China) and Mr Sanjay Sahani (Director, Ritu Wears) who deliberated in great detail about the various aspects of retail strategy and execution for small and medium retailers. 

The pertinent topics discussed at length included Conceptualization of idea, the brand strategy, organisation capacity building, design and layout for the store. Mr Ashish Kapur and Mr Sanjay Sahani provided glimpses of their own experiences and shared practical advice on strategy development.
Ashish Kapur talked about the challenges he faced during scaling up the restaurant from one to the current size of 41 restaurants. He touched upon the importance of creating the right culture in the organisation, putting in place the systems and processes for efficient functioning of the chain and developing & empowering the manpower. Sanjay Sahani enriched the discussion by providing insights into the operational problems for a small retailer, the efforts to be put in for category management and developing the store brand. 

Rajeev Karwal, who was coordinating the discussion, shared his own insights developed over years of experience in industry. In response to the questions by the audience during the interaction, he emphasized on the fact that online stores are not a magical solution for a small retailer, keeping the store design flexible is of paramount importance and the store should have a USP which should uniquely position it in the minds of the customer.
The event marked the launch of white paper by Milagrow titled " How small retailers are facing onslaught internationally". The white paper throws light on how small retailers  are facing competition from the bigger retail players from the organized sector internationally. It identifies the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by smaller players as compared to the big organized chains, the strategies adopted by smaller players and their road ahead for them. Commenting on the white paper, Rajeev Karwal said " It will provide a baseline for the small and regional retailers to develop their own unique strategies for tackling competition".

Rajeev Karwal summed up the workshop by providing a ten point mantra, developed by Milagrow, which will enable the small to become big successfully.

   1. Focus on Store as a brand
   2. Make Shopping an Experience
   3. Don't let up on Consumer Service
   4. Keep Distinctive Merchandise
   5. Fulfill an Unmet Need
   6. Embrace New Technology
   7. Try a Kiosk
   8. Choose Locations Carefully
   9. Form Cooperatives
  10. Internet is not a magical solution

The workshop was followed by mentoring sessions organized by Milagrow where Rajeev Karwal had a one on one interaction with current and aspiring retailers, advising them on developing the concepts and the way ahead for them.

Milagrow, which works actively with the MSMEs and small retailers, strongly believes that the small and medium retailers can not only survive but also thrive in the current scenario if they start developing their comparative advantages into sustainable competitive advantages.