Replenishing retail: The journey from evolution to revolution

Hello, and welcome to our monthly edition of the new and improved Replenish Newsletter that will be exclusively published on LinkedIn – the main reason being we can directly interact with you and get more user-generated content. After all, what’s a newsletter without your thoughts?!

What a month it has been for the industry! We just concluded the 16th edition of the Retail Leadership Summit last week, and we can’t thank you (retailers and retail service providers) for the support you’ve shown us. If you missed out on RLS, you can watch the video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inzBssXZyT4

RLS has always been an insight-filled event, and this edition was no different. We got insights from several industry leaders, who shared their thoughts on the retail landscape in India. Our very own Kulin Lalbhai shared his thoughts on discounting, and how retailers should reduce their dependence on discounts. He said discounts should never be a value proposition, as it is the inefficiency of the business model. You can watch his video here -https://www.instagram.com/p/CownuVXgxSQ/

It's not just Mr. Lalbhai who has cautioned retailers about going overboard with discounts. Several panellists who addressed a jam-packed audience, also stressed on the need to do away with promoting discounts.

Tech, tech and more tech

Everyone is talking tech and retail. Chat GPT and other AI tools have disrupted how we communicate, but can an artificial intelligence system that is designed to write content provide the same personal touch as a human writing personalised copy? Right now, it’s a challenge, but over time, as tech evolves, so will messaging.

Having said that, human interaction is critical as our Chairman, Bijou Kurien , pointed out. He suggested that small retailers – particularly the local kiranawalas – have a better customer connect than the larger ones, mainly because of the proximity to the customer. The soon-to-be-launched College Disha Pvt. Ltd. will only enable these retailers to be savvier when it comes to using tech. You can watch that video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb0IAWTAQDA

Retail startup winners

We’d like to congratulate the winners of the Retail Startup Awards - The Yellow Dwelling , Shobitam, Inc , and The Woman's Company , for disrupting the retail industry with their innovations, and out-of-the-box ideas. Congratulations to all! And for the other five participants, who didn’t end up in the top three, don’t fret: as our team said, you guys are winners in your own right. So, celebrate your achievements!

Companies to watch out for

? WickedGüd : Founded in 2021, WickedGud aims to disrupt the $20 billion health food segment in India through healthy pastas that are found online and in retail stores.

myPAPERCLIP : myPAPERCLIP aims to create high-quality, minimal and aspirational stationery products. The brand is available in 9 countries and across 400+ retail stores in India.

Beauty & Beyond International : Beauty&Beyond provides a solution-based approach with robotic kiosks, to help customers find the right products with a unique concept to discover their inner and outer beauty

Ed-a-Mamma :?Founded by Alia Bhatt, Ed-a-Mamma is a conscious clothing brand that cares about children and the earth. These are clothes for children to play in.

Something's Brewing : Something's Brewing empowers and inspires coffee lovers everywhere to brew the perfect cup of coffee by building India’s largest home brewer community

We hope that this edition of Replenish gave you some interesting insights. If you want to contribute, do share your thoughts in the comment box or reach out to us on [email protected]