Brick-and-mortar retail should leverage the advantages of their last mile operations: Bijou Kurien

Starting day two of In-Store Asia 2016 with his topic "New role of the store in new age retailing”, Bijou Kurien, Member Strategy Board, L Capital Asia, Chairman Managing Committee, In-Store Asia 2016 emphasised that offline retailers should know how to leverage the disadvantages of online and advantage of last mile operation of brick-and-mortar retail.

During his session, Kurien presented the demographics of the Indian market in light of the growth of retail industry and summed up a comparative study of online and offline retail. "Today, the country's mobile technology is rampant and accelerating amidst steady GDP growth of 7-7.5% every year, where brick-and-mortar retail is bound to grow, if we are able to redefine the experience," Kurein added.

Few of his suggestions during the session were to embrace and adopt technology while focusing on value and convenience and leverage on exclusive advantages of store experiences like proximity, inspiration, instant gratification, trial, entertainment in shopping etc. "One must understand that the essence of why people buy has not changed, but how and where they are buying has definitely changed. So, we must address that,” concluded Kurien.