ISB Retail Club hosted Mercado, the Retail Club’s flagship event.  The annual event  includes various workshops, speaker sessions, panel discussions and networking events with the industry. Mr. Sathyajit R, COO, International Brands and New Businesses Madura Fashion & Lifestyle; Narresh Mehtta COO, Hidesign; Ankur Singla, CEO and founder Akosha.com; and  Gururaj Rao, Head of Private Labels, Myntra formed the panel of speakers representing the who's who of Indian retail. The retail club left no stones unturned as they had the ISB fraternity lay in wait for weeks building up to the event. The towering credentials of the speakers and the topic of discussion, ‘Customer Centricity’, ensured that the event was a roaring success.

Each speaker brought with him a unique understanding of the retail industry. After the keynote speech by Mr. Sathyajit, in which he talked about the 3 pillars of Madura Garments, began the panel discussion wherein the speakers gave their views on the questions posed by the ISB students. The audience was treated to a one of a kind discussion on Customer Centricity and listened diligently as the speakers voiced their opinion on the topic. The enthusiasm of the audience was tangible and one could see heads nodding in affirmation and hands moving fast to try and keep up with influx of insights in the room.
 

“Dealing with difficult customers”, “importance of customers”, “forecasting” and “sensitization of employees” were just some of the discussion points of this vastly enriching rendezvous organized by the Retail Club. Among other aspects discussed were that consumers today are far removed from the past, where loyalty reigned supreme. Their shopping experience now goes far beyond simply walking into a store or using another channel to buy products. The information era created by the internet has led to highly informed customers through platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter etc. He is constantly on the web comparing products and prices of products and is constantly on the lookout for reviews. What this does is that it creates a Customer who knows what he wants and how much he would pay.

With their appetite whetted, after the panel discussion, the audience geared up for the Retail and Brand quiz sponsored by Van Heusen. The elimination round had a mix of trivia and retail specific questions and the top 5 teams moved to the final round. With verbal and visual cues hurled at the teams, their retail acumen was acutely tested. The audience had a gala time as they bore witness to this fun filled spectacle with some of them even being treated to gift vouchers.

The event had a grand finale with a fashion show with participation from both students and faculty members. To sum it up, this year’s edition of Mercado has left the whole campus buzzing, right from the selfless efforts of the Retail team, to the revolutionary ideas of speakers and the vigour of the audience.