Ex. MD Technopak, visits IIM Lucknow for Retail Consulting talk

The Industry Interaction Cell of IIM Lucknow invites industry experts to deliver domain specific talks in the campus under the “Colloquy” talk series.

Mr. Harminder Sahni, MD, Wazir Advisors, Ex MD Technopak visited IIM Lucknow on August 5^th and conducted an interactive session with the students. Mr. Harminder has extensive industry experience in Retail sector business including  launch of new brands, implementation of new projects for clients and for brand licensee and supply partnerships between Indian and international firms. He has consulted for clients in India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Hong Kong, Europe, North America and South America , including manufacturers, marketers and retailers.

The theme of the session was “Retail Consulting in India – Challenges and Best Practices”.

Mr. Harminder talked about organized and unorganized retail formats and shared his insights on how the micro segmentation of the consumer base  is taking place in Modern retail stores. The absence of talent gunning to enter the industry -- one of the biggest challenges facing the industry -- was also delved upon.

Students were curious to know about the key strategies behind private labels and the same was reflected in the number of questions they posed to the speaker. Current issues in Retail such as failure of Subhiksha and the debt restructuring at Vishal Retail was also discussed.

Overall the session provided an excellent insight into the ground realities of Retail in India. The session made for an excellent learning opportunity for students interested in pursuing a career in retail marketing management.