CII – BCG Report: "Winning with Uncertainty" released at CII National Retail and FMCG Summit
The Indian consumer demands "more, better, now" and is increasingly "trading up". Adding another dimension to this complexity is the diverse profile of the shoppers across the country. There is a strong need for retailers to provide a seamless, converged consumer experience across channels and leverage a multi channel proposition to drive profitable growth. A seamless consumer experience requires retailers to follow a coordinated approach across formats and functions. Marketing needs to develop skills on social media, track consumer conversations seamlessly across channels and handle the complexity of maximizing RoMI (Return on Marketing Investment) across multiple consumer touch points. In-store and digital formats need to complement each other such that demand originating on one channel can be served seamlessly on the other. Companies need to revamp the supply chain to handle higher complexity and merchandising teams need to dynamically optimize pricing and promotions across channels. Robust IT, strong data analytics and an organizational commitment are fundamental to success. But as hard as the journey maybe rewards are ample. Internationally companies that have provided seamless convergence across retail channels have yielded a 3X shareholder return vs. those who haven’t. Indian companies can leapfrog a generation by integrating this concept into their business models from the very beginning.
Businesses are capital constrained (due to a global slowdown), facing volatile commodity prices and seeing a cautious consumer sentiment. The Indian consumer however, is still willing to spend and trade up for the right value proposition, differentiation and innovation. Aspiration is still driving her to choose the best for her family and herself, while she balances her monthly basket. Hence consumer businesses in India, need to constantly walk the tight rope balancing growth and efficiency stated Mr Bhaskar Bhat, Chairman, CII National Committee on Retail 2012-13 & Managing Director, Titan Industries Ltd.
The CII Retail Summit 2013 and the CII FMCG Summit 2013 had the joint inaugural at the Hyatt Regency, Mumbai. The Inaugural speakers included Ravi Dhariwal, Chief Executive Officer, Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd; Mohan Jashanmal, Jashanmal Group, UAE; Abheek Singhi, Partner & Director, The Boston Consulting Group; Bhaskar Bhat, Chairman, CII National Committee on Retail 2012-13 & Managing Director, Titan Industries Ltd and Sanjiv Puri, Member
CII National Committee on FMCG &Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Ltd.
CII -BCG Report on WINNING WITH UNCERTAINTY was released at the Summit. This report explores how FMCG companies and retailers can leverage uncertainty to their advantage. Along with global best practices culled out from BCG's vast international experience, it also showcases the perspective of Indian industry leaders. The report details how FMCG companies must develop flexibility across the value chain while retailers must build agility within their DNA – to win in this uncertain business environment.
In line with this macro theme, the CII National Retail Summit 2013 chaired by Bhaskar Bhat, Chairman, CII National Committee on Retail 2012-13 & Managing Director, Titan Industries Ltd. focused on “Winning the consumer in a multichannel world.”
Mr Ravi Dhairwal, Chief Executive Officer, Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd reflected on how brands that help build sustainability for businesses are always available, affordable and adapting to consumer needs.
Delighting and understanding the pulse of the consumer was the underlying fundamental driving the Jashanmal Group’s the growth across the middle east markets since the early 1900’s, said Mr Mohan Jashanmal.
Addressing and participating in the sessions at the Retail Summit on Managing multiple formats, Convergence-myth or reality, Big data-powering retailers were Amitabh Mall, Partner & Director, The Boston Consulting Group, Chetan Sangoi, Owner, Sarvodaya Super Market, Avani Davda, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Starbucks Ltd, C K Venkataraman, CEO-Jewellery, Titan Industries Ltd, Vishak Kumar, CEO- Supermarkets, Aditya Birla Retail Ltd, Jamshed Daboo, Chief Executive Officer, Trent Hypermarket Ltd, Arvind Subramanian, Partner and Director, The Boston Consulting Group , Abhijit Mitra, Chief Executive Officer, Ebony Homes Pvt Ltd, Lalit Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, V Mart Retail Ltd, Deepa Thomas, eCommerce Evangelist, eBay India, Simeran Bhasin, Marketing Head- Fastrack & New Brands, Titan Industries Ltd, Justin Sargent, Managing Director-India, Nielsen, Nagarajan Karuppiah, Architect - BI Innovation & Consulting, TCS , Jayaraman Krishnamurthy, Industry Director - Consumer Products & Retail, SAP India Pvt Ltd, Sridhar Hari, Smarter Commerce Leader, India/SA , IBM India, Sandeep Dhar, Chief Executive Officer, Tesco Hindustan Service Centre.
The CII National FMCG Summit 2013 chaired by Kurush Grant Chairman, CII National Committee on FMCG 2012-13 & Executive Director- FMCG Businesses, ITC Ltd focused on 'Winning in volatile times". The objective for the summit was to highlight the importance for FMCG companies to develop an operating model which can deliver to consumer at the right cost and sustaining growth, especially during the times of uncertainty.
Addressing and participating in the sessions at the FMCG Summit on Capturing the $10 trillion prize: India consumption opportunity, streamlining the supply chain, tailoring your value proposition to changing consumer needs were Abheek Singhi, Partner & Director, The Boston Consulting Group, Shiv Visvanathan, Professor, OP Jindal Global University, Chandramouli Venkatesan, RCT Lead, Chocolate Category-Asia Pacific, Cadbury India, Jayant Singh, Executive Vice President – Marketing,GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd, Asha Gupta, Managing Director and Area Vice President – Asia Pacific, Tupperware India Pvt Ltd, Dinesh Dayal, Chief Operating Officer, Loreal India, Shireesh Joshi, COO, Strategic Marketing Group, Godrej Group, Ankur Bisen, Head & Vice President Retail & Consumer Products, Technopak Advisors Ltd, Anshuman Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. , Ajay Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, Jubilant Foodworks Limited , Debashish Mukherjee, Consumer Industries and Retail Practice, Asia Lead- Food, A.T. Kearney Ltd, Shailendra Tyagi, Vice President &Head - Supply Chain and Logistics, ITC Ltd, Jasjit Sethi, Chief Executive Officer, TCI Supply Chain Solutions , Nimisha Jain, Principal, The Boston Consulting Group, Anil Chugh, Senior Vice President- Wipro Consumer Care, Wipro Enterprise Ltd, Geetu Verma, Executive Director- Foods, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Prakash Iyer, Managing Director, Kimberly Clark, S. Nagarajan, Managing Director, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd.
The session concluded with the Power Session – FMCG & Retail moderated by Sunil Alagh, Founder and Chairman, SKA Advisors & Former Managing Director, Britannia Industries Ltd, Prakash Nedungadi, Group Head-Consumer Insights and Brand Development, Aditya Birla Group, Mini Menon, Executive Editor, Bloomberg TV India , Shiv Visvanathan, Professor, OP Jindal Global University, Abheek Singhi, Partner & Director, The Boston Consulting Group, Rakesh Biyani, Joint Managing Director, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, Vineet Agarwal, Joint Managing Director, Transport Corporation of India, Kainaz Gazder,Marketing Director, Procter and Gamble India, Chandramouli Venkatesan, RCT Lead, Chocolate Category-Asia Pacific, Cadbury India, Bhaskar Bhat, Chairman, CII National Committee on Retail 2012-13 &, Managing Director, Titan Industries Ltd and Sanjiv Puri, Member, CII National Committee on FMCG & Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Ltd.