Charting a career in retail

Why a career in retail

The Indian retail market, which is the fifth largest retail destination globally, according to industry estimates is estimated to grow to US$ 427 billion by 2010 and US$ 637 billion by 2015. Simultaneously, modern retail is likely to increase its share in the total retail market to 22 per cent by 2010.

The retail industry in India has come forth as one of the most dynamic and rapid-paced industries with abundant players entering the market. Cashing in on the growth prospects, many retail schools are coming up to equalise the demand for professionals with adequate supply. Also more and more students are taking on retail as a career option.

Institutes’ tie-ups

Campus recruitment is the main criteria among students while choosing a retail institute. It is with the knowledge of these that a student can know where he would finally land up. Now all retail education-providing institutes have tied up with various retailers for holding campus recruitments. This initiative has come as an advantage for the students, who do not have to apply at various places with the convenience of retailers too that come to institutes for recruitments.

Job profile

When students understand completely what is being taught to them, then there are is a certain level of expectation from a job that he/she would want to do.

Sanjeeb Kumar, Manager-Retail, Northern Region, Eastern Region and North eastern Region, Siyaram Silk Mills Limited, says, "A job which can give me learning to the fullest, where I can formulate business strategies, where everyday is a new challenge, where one faces problems and finds solutions too is an ideal one.”

Neha Anil Mirashi, PGDBM Batch, Retail 2007-09, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, says, "The job profile should be challenging, the timings and location is not a constraint."

Rajeev Damani, PGDRMM, BA, Retail ISU, Birla, says, "My expectation is that initially, the job should be a great learning ground with enough scope to grow and shape career."

Initial hiccups

Though retailing is a promising career, but to begin with, many students have some resentment regarding the work they would be required to do. There is a notion among them that they would be required to work in a store, which they are not too happy about. “We have not spent four years at a retail school to work in a store,” they argue often.

Kumar says, "I strongly disagree with this. When I was in a college, I used to think on similar lines, but I want to ask following things to those who say this: Do they know what retailing is? Do they know their batchmates well? In retailing, how can you know your customer well if you do not meet them? Do they know what all a retailer does to run the store? A retail showroom is like a classroom only, surrounded by three walls. Classroom has one teacher with so many different students. Similarly, a retail store has a store manager and much merchandise with various categories."

Sharing similar views, Neha says, "I would not agree with the notion, as working at the store level only gives you all the valuable insights, information and facts required to reach the top. I worked at the store level for my summer internship with a well-known retailer in Mumbai and the knowledge I acquired there could not have been learnt in the classroom or the office."

Janvi Parekh, PGDBM Batch, Retail 2007-09, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, does not agree.

“I think that to understand the customers of your products, it is very important to be at the front end and interact with them. In the initial years of a career in retail, I would not want to continue and move to the corporate level," she adds.

On the other hand, Abhishek Kumar, PGDM (RM), 2nd year student (07-09 batch), Birla Institute of Management Technology, says, "To some extent, I agree because being in the same store with the same people from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. is not comfortable. There should be rotation in job depending upon the store format. It is true that an MBA would not like to work in a supermarket as a store manager."

Giving a mid-way solution, Rajeev says, "It is very correct that students don't deserve to work at the store level, but to learn, we need to have a clear knowledge of the front-end, as the moment of truth occurs there. So, I will suggest after training for a quarter, their favoured profile must be offered to them."

Relying on retail institutes

Retail institutes provide a number of courses on retail pertaining to different areas of retailing. These programmes need to be complete in the sense that they should provide the students with all the knowledge to equip him well.

Prof Swapna Pradhan, Associate Professor, Retail, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, says, "A standard curriculum helps students get a complete overview of various sectors in retail. We run three programmes in retail. One is a company-specific programme, which helps the company fill in its requirements in terms of people. The other programmes are broad-based and help a student develop a comprehensive orientation of the retail sector."

Prof Amit Goyal, Training Director, The Knowledge Walkers, says, "Retail industry today is suffering from a severe manpower crisis. With a million jobs and over a million job-seekers, there is an employability gap caused by the shortage of skilled manpower. From the entry level itself, the vacancies exist for front line as well as back office positions."

Hari Menon, Vice-President of Professional and Skills Education, Manipal Education Group, says, "More that 2,00,000 jobs are available across the country for a fresh graduate from retail school. This will only increase in future as major foreign players are entering the country. This is spread across various formats like hypermarkets, supermarkets, standalone stores etc."

Retailers' viewpoint

Retailers need to appoint the best people, as it is these people who interact with the customers and enhance the shopping experience. B. Venkataprasad, Head, HR, Indus-League Clothing, "For employees who work in our retail showrooms as fashion associates, the minimum qualification is 10+2 or a graduate with good communication skills. For those who would like to be incharge of the showrooms, the minimum qualification is a graduate degree with three years of experience. For functions other than retail operations, the qualification depends upon the job profile. For specialised functions such as product merchandising, design, manufacturing etc, we look for candidates with technical qualifications in merchandising, apparel design, textile engineering. For other functions, it is graduation or post-graduation (MBAs)."

Balvinder Singh Ahluwalia, president,, Koutons Retail India Ltd, tells, “We look for basic management degree and the basic qualities that are expected from any human being.”

Besides this, the concept of on-job training is gaining a lot of significance. Here graduates are hired and trained and then given positions in the company.

Venkataprasad says, "The talent pool is not large enough for retailers to wait for candidates to get trained with other retailers and then hire them. Every retailer has their own training methods on-and-off the job to train their new recruits. A standard training pattern is essential to ensure basic levels of competence across all levels of employees. Any value addition or additional training programmes will only enhance the competence of employees, if they meet the basic standards within the industry."

In agreement, Ahluwalia says, “We hire graduates as trainees and then train them for a period of six months to one year and then induct them into the mainstream with an executive position.”

International education

The retail sector has emerged as a promising contender for jobs and setting up training patterns. Sears, Roebuck and Co. for example, has created the "Retail Executive Development Training Programme" to recruit promising new professionals.

Considered a retail milestone by many, the programme targets 60 undergraduate campuses. After an eight to 10 month training programme, executive trainees handle up to $3 million in profit/loss responsibility. Some trainees have as many as 30 people reporting to them. Retailers such as Sears, Neiman Marcus, Federated and Meryvn's offer candidates a good deal with noteworthy supervision responsibility in a relatively short amount of time.

Some larger retailers have established training programmes. Gap recently hired college graduates for its Retail Management Programme, based in San Francisco for over a seven-month period. New hires gain experience in merchandising, planning and production. After successfully completing the programme, the graduates have an opportunity to work fulltime in any of their brand like Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap Baby etc, in which they are trained and placed, based on Gap's needs, as well as each graduate's skills and interests.

So, what we can conclude is that the opportunities are immense in the retail sector. Students who wish to be a part of this sector should gear up to work hard and tap these potential for their benefit.