RDI’s first event in Bangalore sets the context for way forward

The India Chapter of Retail Design Institute, which was launched in Bangalore last year, kicked off its first official meet in the city with interesting knowledge sessions, setting the context for its way forward.  

Beginning with a session by the Brazil chapter of RDI, the event had an eclectic line-up of sessions, delivered by senior professionals from the retail eco-system. There was independent brand consultant Srinivas R sharing his insights on how brands could resonate better with the consumers of today, in his session titled, ‘From Madmen to Meaning Makers’. And then there was Priya Mathilakath Pillai, Head of HR at Titan Company Ltd, in conversation with Beate Steinfeld, about nurturing creative talent, in her session, ‘The Right Brained Riddle’; followed by Gunjan Pai, independent brand strategy consultant, talking about ‘Your Second Mountain- Building a repertoire focused on purpose, legacy and meaningful contribution’.  

Commenting on the event, Sanjay Agarwal, President – RDI India City Centre, tells Retail4Growth,“The forming of RDI India itself wasa community driven initiative,aiming to create a knowledge-based platform for the Indian retail design eco-system and bringing together the whole retail community, including retail designers, architects, visual merchandisers, brands,students of design, and others. The recent Bangaloreevent was to drive that community forward, bringing together RDI members and non-members, including anyone aligned with the retail space.  It was a good gathering of about 50 people from the retail fraternity, across functions. There was very good participation from the corporates too, including Reliance, Levis, Titan, and many others from Bangalore. Bangalore is in fact a hub of innovation when it comes to retail, and this meet showed that.” In fact, as Sanjay shares, the whole idea of setting up a body like the Indian chapter of RDI was born in Bangalore 13-14 years ago, and it is only fitting that the body’s first major event since its inception was held in the city.                     

Explaining further how the sessions reflect RDI’s mission, moving forward, Sanjay adds, “The idea was to curate something for everyone. For example, our Brazil chapter pitched in with their perspectives on how cultural nuances work in retail design in Brazil.And that in fact is our driving factor in India too for the next few years- to demonstrate how cultural dynamics influences retail.We will be bringing in professionals from Latin America, Latin part of Europe, Africa, Asia, and other countries like India that have culturally influenced retail. These are very different from the more clinical aesthetics of the Western countries. Soour idea is to enable access to knowledge from these retail global retail markets. We are also looking at exploring how corporates are thinking about design and how brands aim to resonate with consumer perceptions. Basically, our objective is to create value with thought provoking knowledge sessions for the whole community.” 

Speaking about RDI’s new plans in the pipeline, Sanjay informs that the next RDI event is slated to happen in Delhi, besides there are plans to have knowledge sessions by global retail designers working closely with AI and other tech tools, and also plans to promote and support young talent in design schools. Finally, of course, there are continuous efforts to expand the RDI membership. As Sanjay says, “I urge everyone who is connected with retail one way or the other - as brands, retail designers, architects, VM Heads, solution providers, or any other- to join RDI and gain knowledge. Let’s make it a much larger community and drive the Indian retail fraternity ahead.”