As I suddenly find myself bidding adieu to RETAIL, I feel like dedicating a few lines to this one word which completely enveloped my life in the last two and half years. I come from a small town where people are very fashion forward but retail is mostly unorganised. It was only five years back when I looked at this word seriously. I saw this Notification from NIFT and then read some articles on "Retail Boom" in the Economic Times(can't believe that I used to read that paper word by word....now I can't even risk reading one article). Fashion Week was a big hit and India all of a sudden emerged as Retail hotspot for all kinds of Brands. I too managed my way into NIFT where the daily doses on Retail further strengthened our believe in a career in retail. "India's organised retail was only 3%"....this was the start and end to all discussions on Campus it seemed. All sorts of subjects were introduced- Buying amd Merchandising, Customer Relationship Management and Visual Merchandising to name a few. Initially the names were bouncers for a Commerce Graduate who only new his Accounts and Economics. Infact, these are still bouncers for all of us as we struggle to master these on a daily basis and yet find that the TARGET is mostly beyond us even if it is by Re.1.
After two years at NIFT, I found myself in Big Bazaar as a Management Trainee along with other 41 poor souls. We started our training and suddenly Sundays were no longer holidays. I had to choose Monday as an off. First day's duty was at the Customer Service Desk where you try to convince people with all kinds of funda and return back home with lots of leg pain, a bit of headache and a few new "words" that you learnt from some customer. Gradually, we were taken through all the functions and the departments for "Parikrama". Next monster was the Store Opening and Closing. For openings I had to be there by 6 O'Clock in the morning and follow all the protocols of the process which was exhaustive. The Closing bit was tougher for a bachelor living away from home....No Dinner, Autowallahs charging for flight tickets and dogs awaiting in the Galli. But then I mastered this process and the "Chowkidar" in Pantaloons would endorse that. I settled in and then was unsettled with the dual responsibility of an MT and as well as a VM. From that day onwards "Night Out" meant working all through the night locked from outside and without AC, if I may add. Till that day, "Night Out" would be something on the lines of that popular show being aired on NDTV 24x7 at 11.30 P.M. There was an ocassion when I did night-out as a VM and then continued the next day only to find myself doing Stock-take as an MT. Was too tired to go home and sleep. I just walked into the nearest theatre and slept for 3 hours. Came back to the store...this time as a VM. One fine day, I had a sudden change in profile and found myself in an Office setup. That was the best time that I had in that organisation. But, the honeymoon period was cut short as all the MTs had their final confirmation reviews scheduled after the Exchange Offer. With the end of the Campaign, most of the MTs were unfortunately(or fortunately for them....don't know) were shown the door. MTs are Most Tortured any ways and so no hard feelings. But we had the best reality check possible coming out fresh from College. We learnt a lot more than what was there in the Induction Manual.
Anyways, I was confirmed and asked to join Pantaloons as VM. They knew that any body passing out from NIFT could be either a designer or a visual merchandiser. Spent almost an year there. I was "at home" in Pantaloons, atleast I spent the maximum time there so what if I was not in Pyjamas. Two of my hobbies as a child were photography and travelling and my job as a VM allowed me to do plenty of that but not exactly the way I intended it to be. I was not clicking pics of scenic places nor was I clicking pics of beautiful models... I was capturing in the frame "clothes sans the models". Nevertheless had a nice time with a few of my colleagues and that was what kept me going. By nature, I hate being indoors and I was feeling claustophobic.
A call from Levi's came to my rescue and the opportunity to manage multiple stores without spending nights like a prostitute was a fantastic opportunity. The Brand name and exposure ofcourse were there. I joined the Levi's team as a VM for AP thinking that Change would do good to me and allow me to start thinking again. I must say I enjoyed my time at Levi's irrespective of a few negatives (life otherwise would be so mundane) in terms of execution goof-ups, communication gaps, differing ideas and lack of elbow-room. This was so because of the healthy vibes within the team which was a big motivating factor. Oh I must mention here that my love for travelling was tested to the core here. Would have liked to travel a bit more comfortably but what the heck...seeing new places itself is very refreshing.
However, the journey was cut short and I am done with my stint in Retail. Good and Bad moments, positive and negative environment, achievements and failures, opportunities to learn and opportunities to share, easy and tough customers, a few nice people to work with....that was my tale of Retail.
Before I signoff, I would like to put down 5 general observations that stood out from my experience in Retail. Those would be:
1> The best thing to happen due to Retail Boom is that toilets are available every 5 steps and hence there is a marked decrease in the "wet walls"!!!!
2> Cheap Labour is easily available and Donkeys take home peanuts.
3> If you don't achieve targets, you don't get incentives. If you achieve, you get incentives first and then get punished later on as often the targets are not based on the micro and macro environment but whatever is there in that excel file.
4> VM has gained importance but only decorative importance. Things will improve as soon as people stop fiddling with it. Too many cooks spoils the broth.
5> Customers can't be taken for a ride any longer. "*Conditions Apply" won't apply after a point. There are too many options at the Customer's disposal. "Innovative products that solve problems" and "Benefits with no Riders" are going to be the key drivers. Afterall, Quality and Service are taken for granted now.
Do share your take on Retail based on your experience...Bye!!!
