‘The best is yet to come'

At a time when people and businesses are grappling with the question of ‘what next?’ it is reassuring to hear voices of positive conviction. Huzefa Merchant, Founder, INSYNC Shop Fittings (SAFE ENTERPRISES), motivational speaker, author and recipient of many accolades including that of ‘One of the Top 100 influential retail minds in India’ for three consecutive years and winner of the Young Achiever’s title at the Golden Globe Tigers in 2018, strongly believes that the best things happen to those who never give up. As someone who has steered INSYNC into a well established position in the retail solutions space, Huzefa is a standing example of his conviction that it takes vision to run and sustain a business. He recently launched the Engage Fit N Light System that encompasses the many benefits of a phygital solution for the retail space. In an exclusive chat with VM&RD, Huzefa talks about the new solution, about how a truly phygital solution gives the business enabling edge to retail, his vision for Indian retail, and more…

- N. Jayalakshmi

It’s important to be relevant to the times and to the customers, understand their needs and help them overcome their challenges. Some of the best retailers and brands who are doing very well now are those who demonstrate empathy.

To begin with can you tell us more about your new solution Engage Fit N Light System and the problems that it seeks to solve?

The crux of any new solution are the challenges that it seeks to address. One of the biggest challenges that retailers face today is that of retaining their sales staff; this despite the fact that 37% of Indian consumers and 40% of global consumers consider product info and store attendants who provide relevant information as very high markers for in-store experience. The second challenge has to do with how traditional retail environment works, especially when it comes to aspects like lighting. The other challenges are to do with customer queues and self checkouts. And then, there is the need to raise a brand’s experiential value.

So we’ve created a phygital solution that takes into account all of these factors. The solution, while offering an efficient lighting solution, also acts as a Smart Assistant that relays the right product information to the customer at the moment of purchase. In terms of the experiential factor, we’ve also created aroma dispensers which can be plugged into the merchandise rack and which can be in sync with the merchandise collections.

What kind of research went into developing these solutions?