CEO Panel: Retailing in the Digital Era Sadashiv Nayak, CEO, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar & FBB (Future Group) Latif Nathani, VP & MD, eBay India Damodar Mall, CEO, Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail Limited Kenny Shin, Director & CEO, Shop CJ Network Pvt Ltd Sameer Parwani, Founder & CEO, Coupon Dunia Raghunandhan Kadambi, MD, CISCO Moderator B.S.Nagesh, Chairman RAI and Founder TRRAIN

Moderator: B.S.Nagesh, Chairman RAI and Founder TRRAIN  Behaviours are changing because tech is making life simpler, driving factor is the internet of everything. What this means in terms of economic value is, the profit/value at stake.  Those who can adapt to Internet of Things can thrive  1.5 trillion dollars is the value at stake on internet of things  A lot at stake both for the industry and others

Latif Nathani, VP & MD, eBay India  eBay has over 150 million products, 25 million sellers, 206 countries  From a retail perspective everything has changed - suppliers in places like Dharavi and Ambala (remote area) sell it to different countries.  A platform like ebay technology is a big one for integration in a country of entrepreneurs.

 There can be profit in an online business  A lot of people buying online are going for the price perspective.  A big box store like Reliance for example is limited in terms of product  In which case, Digital market becomes a medium for consumers to get they want. Latif Nathani, VP & MD, eBay India

Damodar Mall, CEO, Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail Limited Changes due to digitisation in retail.  People have moved from Television to smart phone.  Backend items of routine life taken care of. Hence energy left for doing smarter things.  New services will come up and people will do smarter things.  We are leading a better life.  Very optimistic about when things are wired. It’ll be a better world.

 I belong to supermarkets. I’m here to cater to needs and of customers; to understand customers.  A change to good a good habit is better than steady slow growth.  How digitisation can help make money? We have regular pop up chat rooms. There is horizontal sharing of info and also helps replicate good ideas. These are real world benefits. Damodar Mall, CEO, Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail Limited

Sadashiv Nayak, CEO, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar & FBB (Future Group)  It’s not about online or offline, but about being connected. And how to stay connected is the biggest challenge for retailers.  Till date it has been from to insights. Now we are moving to data – insights – decisions.  We are using digital largely to grab new customers.

 Cut the tail inventory. Change assortment decisions rom those taken from a manager to those taken by a customer.  Digitisation has just added price discount. Retailers are ready to match that price today if its just about discounts.  Shopping pattern is evolving. If they are focused on a particular brand then online is more feasible for that particular customer. Sadashiv Nayak, CEO, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar & FBB (Future Group)

Kenny Shin, Director & CEO, Shop CJ Network Pvt Ltd  Two things are extremely important in the digital era: Originality & Quality. It is what leads people to buy the product magic mop, which costs around INR 2 K. And we’ve sold millions of them.  50% of our ecommerce is from mobile They buy on mobile and watch on television and on mobile and buy.  Connectivity is really important.  We have been able to reduce carriage fees 20-30%.

Sameer Parwani, Founder & CEO, Coupon Dunia  Couponing is not different from any other promotion strategy.  In the online world, coupons are the best way to attract consumers  Consumers need an advantage for the price they pay  Coupons help connect shoppers and businesses  Offline retailers with us are generally profitable  Discounts might not be the same for online and offline stores  Retailers can inform customers about store offers according to location.