Corridor Conversations

Retailing has finally arrived in its true sense in India. Today every nook and corner of most metros seem beaming with outlets, with neon signage and well dressed up windows screaming for attention. Boutiques, discount stores, mom and pop corner stores, mall’s, supermarkets, shopping complexes they have all arrived in a big way. We are slowly moving away from the typical counter stores, which have existed over the years. Today’s retailer has to ensure that he provides the same goods at the same price with additional value-added services, which would ultimately act as a differentiators for the customer to choose which store to buy from. One of the mediums to offer this difference is by having trained and skilled manpower in field of sales, store management and merchandising. Sales force makes a lot of difference in marketing high value consumer durables and high value service products. Adequate product knowledge in such situations is of outmost importance. Training has to be provided on both sales and product front. Many management institutes are now offering an elective in retailing in the second year of the M.B.A (Marketing) program. Also a lot of retailers have developed their own in house training program to suite their own store needs. Some of Jobs titles with their job profile and skill set required are listed below.