Powering Retail for the Times Ahead
Speed, convenience, seamless transactions, and above all, enhanced user experience are the primary pillars of customer service. As we step into the future of retail,t he phygital world promises unimaginable experiences for the customers and consumers alike. Celebrating the power and the depth of phygital retail in this issue of Images Retail, we spoke to CEO’s and different leaders all across retail and its diverse segments to understand how the concept is spanning out for each different companies/brands/retailers.

While we are set to talk in-depth and discuss the pivots of phygital revolution across retail in India and ‘Bharat’ at PRC 2022, we wanted to give our readers a sneak peek into our esteemed spaaker lin-ups and other glimpses of the event in this specially curated PRC Special issue. When uncovering the phygital story in retail we try to capture the growth story of ‘Bharat’ or the other side of India which is actually pushing the consumer story forward, under the spotlight. This is the India that is rising to shine brighter & brighter to create newer business opportunities. And this is the time to study, analyse and closely look for ways to serve the country to stand strong with the times ahead.

Transit Retail Takes Off in India
As India embarks on a transformative journey of infrastructure development, the potential for transit retail is set to soar. According to a report by Knight Frank India, the enhancement of key transportation hubs—including airports and railway stations—could unlock nearly US$22 billion in retail opportunities by 2030. This growth is not merely a statistic; it represents a significant shift in the perception and potential of travel spaces.

As more travellers seek convenience and quality experiences, brands are recognising the advantages transit hubs offer them and are hence including these hot spots in their expansion plans.

One brand that has been strategically harnessing the power of these spots is McDonald’s, which embarked on its transit retail journey as early as 2001. With a dominant presence across highways, airports, metro stations and around railway stations and bus terminals McDonald’s is the undisputed leader of transit retail in India. Gracing the cover of IMAGES Retail this issue is Saurabh Kalra, the MD of Westlife Foodworld, which operates McDonald’s restaurants in West and South. Kalra shares the company’s Vision 2027, which prominently features the acceleration of its transit retail journey, this time with a focus on South India.

The rise and rise of D2C in India
The D2C phenomenon is nothing short of a revolution for consumerism and creation. Perhaps never before has India seen such energy in entrepreneurship and a bold generation of ideators and creators hoping to transform what and how Indians consume. Although only a recent development — under a decade old — the D2C business model certainly received fuel from challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, but the seeds were sown earlier by digitalisation.

India is already the fastest-growing digital economy in the world, and as we aim for a $1 trillion digital economy target by 2027-28, we can look to our D2C brands as being the lag bearers of this transformation.

Driven by purpose and a deep desire for authenticity and change, D2C founders and inventors are leading the charge towards India’s next-generation avatar as a role model of responsible product creation and ethical business practices. These young dreamers and doers are the leaders of tomorrow’s India, and the pillars of what is expected to become a $61 billion-plus sector by 2027. Riding on the success of our recently-concluded India D2C Summit, we dedicate this issue to the country’s D2C ecosystem.

O2O Crossovers
About 90% of the Indian retail market will remain offline even as it scales to $2.2 trillion in size by 2030, according to a joint report by Accel, Fireside Ventures, and market research firm Redseer.

Offline, thus presents a large opportunity for online-first businesses—and this criticality is not lost on them as they are busy raising funds for their offline expansion.

Lenskart, Mamaearth, and Nykaa are shining examples of an online-to-offline (O2O) strategy done right. Hundreds of such success stories are being written as we speak. As the convergence of online and offline retail channels continues to shape the future of commerce, we dedicate the issue to businesses that have successfully made the transition, emerging as omnichannel players, enriching retail as well as the lives of consumers offering them a shopping experience without barriers.

Ghazal and Varun Alagh of Honasa Consumer Ltd., who grace the cover of IMAGES Retail, exemplify the successful integration of online and offline strategies. Their leadership reflects findings from a recent Harvard Business Review study, which indicates that companies with a unified omnichannel approach experience 30% higher customer retention rates and a 20% increase in revenue. Honasa’s strategic expansion from a robust digital presence to physical retail spaces aligns with this research, highlighting the effectiveness of a cohesive, integrated strategy.

The Value of Value Retail
Indians are value-conscious people. We seek value in anything we purchase,and this has driven the growth of value retail in the country not just in the hinterlands but also in the metros.

Backed by our voracious appetite for value, the country’s value retail market, which is currently valued at US$112 billion, is forecasted to surge to US$170 billion by 2026, at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15%, which far outpaces the broader retail sector’s expected CAGR of 10%, underscoring the sector’s resilience and potential.

The July issue of IMAGES Retail magazine, which is a Value Retail Special, presents a compelling narrative of a format poised for exponential growth. In recent times, Zudio by Trent Ltd. has emerged as the poster boy of the format, achieving unprecedented success and tempting heavyweights like Reliance Retail, Shoppers Stop, and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail to step into the game with their value formats viz. Yousta, InTune and StyleUp respectively. V-Mart and V2 Retail have been leveraging the format for years.

Accelerating Retail @Scale
In a dynamic landscape where retail is undergoing a profound transformation, the Phygital Retail Convention (PRC) emerged as a beacon of innovation, insight, and collaboration. Held on 7 – 8 May at Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, PRC stood as the largest retail business intelligence extravaganza ever witnessed in India. With over 3,000 delegates, 200 partners and exhibitors, and representation from over 1000 organizations, the event served as a nexus for industry leaders, visionaries, and stakeholders to converge, exchange ideas, and chart the course for the future of retail. One of the defining features of this year’s PRC was the stellar lineup of speakers. From international leaders like Paul Warren of Reliance BP Mobility and Indian heavyweights like Venkatesalu P of Trent, Kunal Behl of Snapdeal, Harpreet Singh Tibb, of Tibbs Frankie to new-age entrepreneurs like Aastha Almast of The New Shop, the event brought together luminaries who shared invaluable insights and strategies on growing a retail business.

The Trailblazers of Digital
Transformation in Indian Retail
The digital transformation of Indian retail continues at a rapid pace. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, digital channels are expected to influence 30% of all retail sales in India by 2025, highlighting the significant role of digital transformation in shaping consumer behaviour and market dynamics.

In addition to influencing how customers shop, the digital wave is sweeping all functions of retail including marketing, HR, supply chain, e-commerce and IT. In the realm of marketing, retail companies are leveraging data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms to gain deeper insights into consumer behaviour.
In digital retail, companies are investing heavily in robust online platforms and seamless omnichannel experiences.


Showcasing the Gems of Jewellery
Retail in India
Gold prices have reached a historic high, surging about 17% in the last two months to touch `72,700 per 10 grams. And while this has dampened the demand leading to lacklustre footfall in stores, the industry has grown in value terms in the last year. Credit agency ICRA expects the domestic jewellery retail industry to grow at 10-12% year-onyear in the financial FY2024 on the back of elevated gold prices. This was higher than the earlier estimates of 8-10% growth.

However, jewellery retail in India continues to be dominated by unorganised players with organised players constituting a little more than a third of the market. Having said that, while the organised players are fewer in number in comparison to their organised counterparts, they are making up for in terms of innovations in designs and experience they offer with omnichannel retail, tech-driven features like virtual try-ons and loyalty benefits.

In this issue, we showcase the gems of organised jewellery retail in India—beginning with M P Ahammed of Malabar Gold & Diamonds who embellishes t

A Fresh Look at Fashion
The fashion retail market is likely to increase to over $275.59 billion by calendar year 2032, as per India Business of Fashion Report 2024.

India’s fashion market is one of the fastest growing in the world as per experts, attracting several international brands who are making a beeline to gain a foothold here. British menswear brand Charles Tyrwhitt, French luxury fashion brand Maison Margiela Fragrances, Portuguese accessories brand Parfois, Swedish eyewear brand Chimi, Canadian lingerie retailer La Vie En Rose and Australian innerwear brand Aussiebum are among the scores of brands that have entered the country in the past couple of years. Such is the potential of the market that American casualwear brand has re-entered the market for the third time.

Equipped with the insights from a successful India Fashion Forum 2024, we dedicate this issue to the country’s fashion retail segment that is creating waves globally. Adorning the cover is Abhishek Ganguly, Co-founder of Agilitas Sports and a veteran in the sportswear business, which is a thriving subset of fashion. Through his newlyfounded venture Ganguly aims to play in the big league, creating a Made In India business that will take on established global players in the category.

In typical IMAGES Group style, we’ve put together an issue that is unique—as instead of featuring established incumbents we shine the spotlight on an eclectic mix of brands that are doing things differently. These include century-old fine suitmaker PN Rao,fashion rental company Flyrobe, fast-growing D2C turned omnichannel player Snitch, handcrafted shoe company Banajaran Studio and many more.

Featuring the Doyens of DigitalCommerce
Google’s latest report projects India’s internet economy to reach a staggering $1 trillion by 2030—a sixfold jump from $175 billion in 2022. The outstanding growth is driven by the growing penetration of e-commerce in small towns and cities of Bharat, where even small businesses are now taking their stores online.

The catalyst driving this growth is Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)—an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India—that seeks to revolutionise digital commerce in India by unbundling and democratising it.

In January 2024, the network recorded 5.7 million purchases in a month, up from1281 monthly transactions in January last year, when it went mainstream.

ONDC will do to e-commerce in the country, what UPI did to digital payments. It’s only a matter of time. “We’re creating sparks right now; the explosion is yet to come… it will come when we get the volume,” said ONDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer T Koshy in an exclusive interaction.

Read the cover story of this e-commerce special issue to understand how the digital commerce landscape in the country is about to transform, driven by ONDC, a potential game-changer. The issue features other leading players from the e-retail arena like Tata CLiQ, who are combining technology with innovation to offer differentiated experiences.

Home Truths: India’s Home Improvement Market
Even today, there’s one sector in the country that is largely fragmented and unorganised. A whopping 97% of India’s home improvement market continues to be dominated by unorganised players despite the presence of some prominent brands such as Ikea, Home Centre, Godrej Interio, Urban Ladder, Pepperfry, Durian, Woodenstreet and an army of other D2C and omnichannel brands that are either born in India or have ventured into it.

These brands carry the onus of organising the category, a task that was once borne by three large entrants in the market—Home Centre by Landmark Group, Home Stop by Shoppers Stop and Home Town by Future Group. Of these, only Home Centre continues to do what it started—offering Indians a modern shopping experience for their diverse home needs under one roof.

CEO Sitaram Kumar is bullish on the segment and the brand’s future, despite the increasing competition, feeling secured in the brand’s first mover advantage that has given it an unparalleled understanding of the Indian consumer. The cover story of this issue tells the story of how Home Centre warmed its way into the hearts and homes of millions of Indians and what it plans to do to stay there. Also featured in the section are a host of other companies who are enriching the segment with their offerings. One company that stands out is EsoSoul Home which creates home essentials like dinner sets out of plant materials.

Hot Insights into India’s Sizzling QSR Business
Indians spend about `100-400 at Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) on average as per India Food Report 2024-2025 released recently at the India Food Forum, which brought together the stakeholders of the food industry for a common dialogue on the way forward.

With millennials forming 65% of the population, QSRs, estimated at `336 billion, are undergoing a significant shift. Today, they have evolved into something far more encompassing than just offering affordable and convenient food fast. It’s all about providing a complete experience. The change is driven by a multifaceted approach that extends beyond the speed of service. It’s about crafting an entire dining encounter that resonates with the millennial ethos.

Interestingly, the QSR industry has rapidly expanded in financial year 2023 not just in the metros but also in tier 2 and tier 3 towns of the country. This growth is driven by aspirational demand, digital payment convenience, and the influence of social media. Owing to its vast potential, the segment has attracted several more foreign players such as Tim Hortons and Popeyes among others to the country. Today, there is a healthy mix of homegrown and foreign players offering a wide range of options to consumers.

A Look at India’s Food & Grocery Retail Basket
India is the third-largest food and grocery market in the world. Making up 65 per cent of India’s retail market, the food and grocery segment is a thriving business. Within the food & grocery basket, staples and fresh account for 75-80 per cent of the total food retail spend. Growing at a CAGR of 10.9 per cent, packaged snacks, confectionery, and beverages are also making their mark.

National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency Invest India expects the market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent, driven by rising consumption of processed foods, dairy products and premiumisation trends. The Indian e-grocery market, which experienced a turning point during the pandemic, has seen a CAGR of over 30-35 per cent. It is projected to reach $3 billion to $6 billion by 2025, up from $2 billion to $3 billion in 2020.


Focus on Footwear
Footwear has evolved from being a necessity to serving functional and aesthetic purposes. This change in perception towards the item is what is fuelling the growth of the category.

Today, most people in urban India own more than one pair of footwear—the average annual per capita footwear consumption in India is pegged at 1.9 pairs, which is way behind the global average of 3.2 pairs. Yet, India is ranked the world’s secondlargest consumer of footwear, based on the number of pairs purchased, trailing behind China which consumes an average of 3.3 pairs.

Although India’s annual footwear consumption is expected to reach 2-2.1 pairs by Financial Year (FY) 2024-25, it is still nowhere near the global average. This suggests that there is headroom for growth, especially for the organised segment, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~20-20% from FY22 to FY25 to reach a marketshare of 36%-40%. The next few years hold a lot of promise for the category, which is why we have chosen it as the theme, this issue.

Metro Brands Ltd., represents the category and its potential, perfectly. Having successfully transitioned from being a family-owned family-run business to a professional-run entity, the company boasts strong fundamentals and operational rigour. In the cover story, CEO Nissan Joseph shares the company’s strategies and visions for its next phase of evolution and growth.

Visionary Irfran Razack, Chairman of Prestige Group, adorns the cover of Shopping Centre News section. He speaks about his journey building successful centres and shares his vision for recreating the magic of malls again through new large-scale projects.

Dear Reader,
The month of September is always extra special for the retail ecosystem as it marks the beginning of the festival season. We are ready to usher in the celebratory spirit in full glory.

Retailers and brands are once again ready to welcome the new-age consumers with offers, discounts and enhanced collections. One category that sees an uptake during this season due to the extravaganza of discounts associated with it is Consumer Durables and Information Technology or CDIT.


The September edition of IMAGES Retail shines the spotlight on this ever-green category. The segment which picked up tremendously during the pandemic period is now gaining real momentum. The Indian CDIT market is predicted to nearly double in the next three years to touch `1.48 lakh crore by 2025.

In our cover story, we bring you the remarkable journey of a CDIT player Boat, a company that started selling mobile phone chargers and later evolved as a leader in audibles and wearables boasting a `4,000 annual turnover. In the exclusive interaction, Sameer Mehta, Co-founder of the brand narrates it all. The issue also has interviews with Sangeetha Mobiles and Noise, both of which are leaders of their particular segments.


Dear Reader,
You are holding a much improved, much thicker and a better edition of the first amalgamated version of our three magazines – IMAGES Retail, Shopping Centre News and Phygital. Starting this month, we have decided to bring a single magazine – instead of three -to give you an in-depth and extensive coverage of all three magazines rolled into one.

Through this convergence, we are making an effort to take all the best elements from all three magazines and offer a bigger value proposition to our esteemed readers.

In this first combined magazine, we bring to you a cover story on Shoppers Stop’s quest to reinvent itself again. We analyze the pros and cons of how managing director Venu Nair will be able to chart this new course of the Mumbai company by focusing on its clutch of private brands and on the hot-selling beauty products. The issue also has interviews of industry leaders including Pushpa Bector, Senior Executive Director, DLF Retail and Naresh Ahuja, Founder and CEO, ETP Group where they share insights on changing trends in their respective domains. Another must read is the article on Tata CLiQ, in which the newly appointed CEO Gopal Asthana speaks about the three verticals of the platform and about how Tata CLiQ is using technology to stay relevant by offering a seamless and personalized omnichannel experience.

Retail in the New Phygital Era

Arguably the Indian consumers have come of age - giving an unprecedented acceleration to the transformation process of the retail sector. This further creates new business opportunities in tune with consumer needs and expectations in this era of phygital retail. The change has been visible all through and so was witnessed at the recently concluded Phygital Retail Convention (PRC 2023) at the Jio Convention Center in Mumbai on May 12-13. PRC 2023.

The PRC theme - India: The Retail Megaverse, reflected well in the mood of this historic assemblage that talked of the immense promise of the world’s fifth largest economy and its most exciting retail marketplace.

Both in terms of numbers and reach, it was indeed a remarkable record of 300+ speakers, 1500 + attendees, 1000+ brands and companies and 100+ shopping centres participating and exhibiting - offering unmatched industry stories, insights and innovations in areas including e-commerce, marketing, merchandising, physical shops, supply chain, payments, and more.

PRC 2023: The Retail Megavese is Here …
The ship has arrived, and the time has come. Phygital Retail Convention (PRC 2023) is finally here. We are ready and never been so excited before to host India’s largest retail intelligence event with a new energy and enthusiasm. PRC 2023, returns for its fourth edition on May 11-12, 2023, at the Jio Convention Centre, Mumbai and we can’t wait to welcome the entire retail fraternity at the Jio Convention Centre, Mumbai.

Themed on, ACCELERATING RETAIL @ SCALE for INDIA: THE RETAIL

MEGAVERSE, PRC this year has gone bigger, both in numbers and the reach. With an impressive floor plate of 100,000 sq.ft, PRC 2023 is set to host 300+ speakers, 1000+ brands and companies, 100+ shopping centres participating and exhibiting , 1500 + attendees, offering unmatched industry stories and insights to help you future-proof your company in areas including e-commerce, marketing, merchandising, physical shops, supply chain, payments, and more.

PRC 2023, the Countdown Begins…
April has a buzz of its own. The kick off for a new fiscal cycle is always exciting and target-heavy. And FY 2024 promises to be an especially powerful year — taking off with the largest retail business event India has ever seen. That’s right, Phygital Retail Convention (PRC) returns for its 2023 edition on a massive one lakh sq. ft. floor plate at the magnificent Jio World Convention Centre on May 11th and 12th! Themed on ‘India: The Retail Megaverse’, the mega event will be hosting 300+ speakers, panellists and presenters across five conference tracks, 2000+ attendees and over 1000 brands and companies.

Business Development Heads: Market Expansion Drivers in the Realm of Retail
In the world of retail, it’s said that the three most important decisions are location, location and location. So imagine the responsibility of the person who takes this most critical decision for a retail organisation. The person is mostly designated as Head – Business Development and or Retail Expansion and in some organisations as Retail Real Estate or Property Head.

Real Estate being the most expensive head on Retailers P&L (Profit and Loss), it is imperative that leaders driving the market development strategy are extremely cost conscious.

With retailers wanting fast growth and deeper market penetration on one hand and the pressures of increasing rentals and costs of new store opening on the other; the role of business development heads becomes extremely challenging. Tracking return on investment (ROI) and per sq. ft. return across existing markets and shopping centres, these professionals also always need to be ahead of their competition in identifying opportunities to open stores in emerging locations. And it’s not just stores. These professionals are also responsible for finding locations and properties for offices, warehouses, delivery locations and more. IMAGES Group recognizes the contribution made by these professionals towards building a profitable retail network for their respective organisations and working with shopping centres across India to create memorable shopping destinations for customers.

New Year, New Hopes
There is a lot happening in the retail industry in terms of retail experience, technology and expansions. The industry seems to have overcome the bump in its growth trajectory caused by the pandemic and is back on track to achieve its expected growth of USD 1.5 trillion by 2030. The Indian e-commerce industry, on the other hand, is expected to surpass USD 350 billion by 2030, growing at a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 per cent.
The threat of the pandemic, and global inflationary pressures notwithstanding, the environment appears conducive to the growth of retail.
A pro-consumption budget and more business-friendly policies will give the desired push to help the retail and allied industries in unlocking their latent potential.
In that sense, 2023 will be a crucial year for retail.
We got talking to some of the leading founders and CEOs from retail brands across India to know their vision for growth in 2023 and the strategies and plans they are putting to work. It was heartening to learn about the kind of work that is being put in various areas of retail.

Celebrating the change agents
A 2020 study by CIO.com has uncovered that over 89% of the tech leaders surveyed spend their time as change agents.As many as 67% regularly make business strategy decisions. Since the past few years, there has been a noticeable shift in the roles and responsibilities of a CIO. Increasingly, CIOs are required to move away from day-to-day technology management and become strategic business leaders with a seat and a say in the boardroom.
The shift in the balance of power became more distinct during the pandemic when not only business continuity but, in many cases, also the survival of a business depended on the CIO and his team.

The CIO continues to be in the driver’s seat in the new normal as retail enterprises scramble to crisis proof their business and experiment with newer business models and channels.

From helping reach customers to ensuring an agile tech-enabled supply chain, helping take informed decisions about the right locations for the next launch, to making hybrid working style work, the CIO’s hands are in every piece of the pie.

All Set to Embrace the Big Change

With festivals knocking at our door, it’s time now to brighten up our businesses. The dull days have cleared out and ow is the time to find ways to make god for all that’s lost during the last two and half years. Festivities always mark the onset of a positive market in India. This year it is even more special, as we keep covid behind us and switch to sixth gear, accelerating on the growth way. Reports of mega spending and consumption in Tier II & III cities is yet another and consumer pockets and all eyes are on the growth story in the making.

Thus, keeping these thoughts and growth process in mind, we have planned this issue of the magazine around the ‘festive growth story’. we have spoken to brands and retailers to understand their expectations from the market when it comes to festive sales. More than excitedly getting ready to serve the new customer, the retailers are happy to report many new trends that they are observing now and how they are incorporating new plans and strategies to grow this festive season.

The total retail market in India is estimated to be around $780 billion, which accounts for 10% of the country’s GDP.

However, this is only getting better every single day and in February 2022, the North region of India showed the highest sales growth of 17 percent in the retail industry. In comparison, the South region of India witnessed sales growth of four percent in that year. This is a promising figure and shows a lot of growth all across India and it does present a very positive environment too. What is humbling is that this growth comes after almost 2 years given the pandemic and all the lockdowns.

Retail was significantly not in its best phase during the pandemic, but the push it received post lockdown, turned out to be a big marker to the changes that we were expecting within the retail domain in the time to come. Our recently concluded on-ground events and the full house audience that we got to welcome at Renaissance during the 6th and 7th of April made us hopeful too. After a long hiatus of only working with online events, we finally broke free and got on the ground once again.

The retail market in Andhra and Telangana is very promising and retail contributes to 15.3 % to the state’s GSDP in 2020-21 in Telangana. Today alongside the popular cities Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam, Vijaywada, Nellore, Guntur, Tirupathi, Warangal, Chittoor, the Tier II and III cities are also showing a lot of promise and is fast becoming positive hubs for business. As the consumer is evolving and demanding better brands and products in keeping with his progressing lifestyle, this once untapped region has become a veritable diamond mine for retailers. With so many upcoming malls in the region, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is getting ready to display the new retail culture which will attract more tourists and consumers globally.

These two regions have been on the radar of international retail giants and Indian retail industry, given their exceptional potential to offer a strong business ground. That is why, Walmart India opened a ‘major chunk’ of its 50 stores in AP and Telangana. It was an obvious choice back in 2014, even today the retailers  find these states promising and the popularity is only increasing every passing day. Keeping in mind the powerful retail business scenario of these two states, we have dedicated this issue to ‘Rising Andhra Pradesh & Telangana: The New Retail Destination in South India’.

Before the Union Budget 2022 was presented, there were umpteen rounds of discussion and expectations regarding how it will be helpful for the retail industry, what are SOPs being brought in for the industry and how they can benefit from the same. India’s retail market is expected to become a $1.5 trillion market by 2030, from $0.793 trillion in 2020. So, the industry looking up to the Budget announcements was an obvious. Major players were keen on getting some favourable announcements that look at the whole industry as a whole. They were very keen on getting some roll outs that consider the online-offline retail with similar weightage and the categories of retail with equal weight.

This issue we bring to you varied budget analysis in order to present the reality for the retail industry, straight from the thought leader’s perspective. We have weighed in the pointers put in by leading analysts alongside the retail industry to understand what the 2022 Union Budget has in store for you for each one of us, across sectors and categories. Apart from the budget thoughts we have also exclusively covered some technology-led reports and analysis, which helps us see how the industry can use varied platforms and simple tools to bring in a big difference in retail and the way of doing business.

Ushering in the New Year with lots of positivity, hopes, renewed energy and prospects, we are eyeing retail in a new way. The retail sector in the country is among the largest contributors to India’s GDP, 8-10 percent on average, and the second-largest employer in the country, so this year with the growing buzz across the market facing recovery, expectations are high from this sector. E-commerce channels are also growing at a tremendous rate with more than 19,000 e-commerce businesses in India and more than 800 D2C brands roughly worth $44.6 billion in 2021 projected to reach $100 billion by 2025.

All this is presenting a very promising podium for retail and the D2C ecosystem specially is presenting a very hopeful scenario in front of India, currently. The D2C startups space has raised a whopping $2.04 billion in funds since 2014 with categories like fashion, home decor and consumer electronics leading the charge. More progress is definitely on the cards, so are the expectations from the government to help retail with the National Retail Policy. With the Union Budget knocking at the door, all across sectors in retail the retailers and brands alike are hopeful that this unified policy will bring about a big change, once put to action.

Life has been too unpredictable since the last two years, it still is to a greater extent. But still we are hopeful, doing business and carrying on with our positive spirit. But, I feel happy to say that we are finally closing 2021 with a lot of good things and that overrides the sad, tough days we all lived all this while. 2022 presents a very interesting landscape for retail and makes us hopeful of the good times ahead. Consumer behaviour shift is one of the key noticeable change that we all have witnessed and it’s a work in progress. However, the more consumer demands authenticity, convenience, value, the more we will see retail functions getting agile and very responsive. One thing is very promising to see that and we understood it through the umpteen discussions at PRC that retail is no more about demarcations and divided approaches across online, offline, and Omnichannel. It is all about connected approaches!

PRC 2021 was one of the very first mega offline events in retail for 2021, which saw grand presence of brands, retailers, key e-commerce and D2C players, real estate marquee names, technology solution providers, and everybody connected to the retail ecosystem all across 2 days. We captured the essence of Day 1 of the event in our last issue and as a continuation, in this issue we bring to you more power packed insights and a lot of engaging sessions from Day 2. The cover story talks about how phygital retail is no more a term of the future, it is now and constant.

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Launched in 2003, IMAGES Retail magazine took on the task of analysing the emerging organised retail industry at a time when the industry itself had little data to work on. The magazine covers the gamut of Indian and International movements in retail technology, logistics and supply chain, store formats, store design, retail real estate, franchising and human resource, besides reporting on significant directions within India’s sunrise industry. 

The magazine is widely acknowledged India’s leading retail intelligence publication for decades now, providing news, insights, research & analysis, intelligence and data covering retail operations across all Indian markets.

The mission of the monthly B2B magazine – published exclusively for the retail industry – is to bring industry leaders and brand owners up to date with the latest in retail technology & innovations, provide them with in-depth research, studies and analytical, insightful features which help them grow their businesses in India. The magazine aims to spark ideas and shape agendas for decision makers in India’s competitive retail industry.

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