Himanshu Chakrawarti to venture in digital and consumer space?

Himanshu Chakrawarti- the man behind successful retail chain- The Mobile Store; swept the retail industry off its feet by stepping down from the position of Chief Executive Officer of the cellphone retail chain.

In a conversation with Retailer media, he shared his plans of venturing into the digital and consumer space. Besides, he is planning to start something of his own.

The renowned cellphone retail chain-Mobile Store is owned by the Essar Group, which currently operates 700 stores across India and recently strengthened its e-commerce presence by partnering with price comparison websites to offer deals through its online store.

Expressing his views  on the matter, Himanshu Chakrawarti, chief executive officer of the Mobile store , said:'I am looking at various options to start  something of my own. Besides, I am planning to venture into the digital and consumer space."

Moreover, he shared that today is his last working day with The Mobile store, and it has been a great experience working and nurturing the company.

On being asked Chakrawarti said, he decided to step down as he wanted to either start his own venture or join a startup in the consumer space after a month's break.

Besides, Alok Gupta, president, sales and marketing, Essar Steel, will take interim charge of The MobileStore until a replacement is appointed. 

"Having worked with large retailers for almost 15 years, I wanted to plunge into something entrepreneurial which propelled me into exploring prefunded option in the consumer and digital space,"added Chakrawarti.

An alumnus of IIM Bangalore and IIT Kanpur, Chakrawarti earlier worked with the Tata-owned book retailing chain Landmark as its chief operating officer and the group's apparel retailing arm Westside as marketing chief.

Offlate,Chakrawarti had consolidated The MobileStore's operations by shutting around 300 unviable stores, reduced losses, restructured inventory, re-launched online operations and started marketing initiatives such as instalment offers that helped the retail chain to progress.

He took the Mobile store to a different level, the business is now worth Rs 1,500 crore. Brick and mortar cellphone retailers are under pressure due to discounting by e-commerce firms with sales having been hit drastically.