Yogesh Samat, Natasha Tuli to speak on retail store of the future at In-Store Asia 2015 Conference

Rapidly changing customer behaviour and increasing use of new technologies in retail business are mandating retail players to create a whole new store experience for customers. Yogesh Samat, Managing Director, Foresight Opticals, and Natasha Tuli, Co-Founder & CEO, Soulflower will talk about this vital aspect of business while addressing the'Grand Finale session on'The Retail Store of the Future' on February 6 at the In-Store Asia 2015 conference being organised at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai.

Yogesh Samat has over two decades of work experience. His early experiences were in consumer goods sales and marketing across categories as diverse as air conditioners, food products and cosmetics and toiletries.

In his recent years of experience, Samat helped new business ventures in the retailing and shopping centre space. At a leadership position, he spearheaded the foray for Hindustan Unilever into the beauty services business by starting the Lakme Beauty Salon chain in 1999 which now has over 160 locations across the country.

In late 2001 he joined Barista Coffee Company as the Chief Operating Officer. He later went on to become its Chief Executive Officer.

In 2004, he moved to take the Chief Executive position of Inorbit Malls India Pvt. Ltd. Inorbit's first mall at Malad is one of India's leading retail destinations having won several awards. He also worked on the complete design development of 4 new properties covering six locations in India including Vashi, Hyderabad and Pune. Of these, Vashi and Hyderabad are commissioned malls.

Samat then moved in 2007 to set up Foresight Opticals, India's premier fashion opticians. Foresight Opticals operates from 14 stores nationally including a strong online presence. He also operates as a management consultant providing expertise to multiple retail and shopping centre developers on account of his extensive experience in this space.

Natasha Tuli started her career as an architect and worked on large scale landscape projects like Leela Hotel, Bangalore; Sun N Sand Hotel; Reliance, Jamnagar and German Remedies. In April 2004, she founded N Square Architects which specialised in landscape interiors and turnkey projects. She was awarded a scholarship for a specialised study of supply chain management at Indian School of Business (ISB) by Goldman Sachs '10000 Women Programme' for Women entrepreneur, where she was endowed with the Best Business Plan Award for Soulflower.

Tuli employed this knowledge at Soulflower, which was later nominated for Best Supply Chain Management Awards by the Economic Times Retail Awards.