A Career in Retail
There are different types of retailers depending upon the sales model they use and the different consumer types they cater to. They each provide different experiences—sometimes offering direct purchasing from a manufacturer, or providing a wide range of merchandise.
- Grocery Stores
- These retailers sell all types of food and beverage products.
- Supermarkets
- The supermarkets sell home products and consumer electronics as well.
- Department Stores
- Department stores sell a wide range of merchandise that is arranged by category into different sections in the physical retail space. For example, some categories in a ladies’ department store are clothing, beauty products, jewelry, handbags, shoes and more.
- Warehouse Retailers
- Warehouse-type facilities such as Hypermart, stock a large variety of products packaged in large quantities and sold at prices lower than retail. They generally sell in bulk or in quantities not otherwise available in other retail outlets.
- Specialty/Outlet Retailers
- These specialize in a specific category and brand-name products. Lenskart and Bata are examples of specialty retailers, generally selling only merchandise that carries their brand name.
- Discount Retailer
- Discounters sell a wide variety of products that are often privately labeled or generic brands at belowretail prices.
- Internet/Mobile Retailer
- Internet shopping websites ship the purchases directly to customers at their homes or workplaces. They usually sell merchandise for a lower-than-retail price, using warehouses for storage and developing relationships with warehouses, vendors, and sometimes manufacturers to provide goods at reduced prices.
- Luxury Retail
- Luxury retail is about building up an “exclusive” image for the brand being marketed by putting forth different facets of the product whether that’s heritage, craftmanship, quality, aesthetics, rarity, extraordinariness or the way it makes the customer feel.
Retail industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. Its growth is being driven by healthy economic progress, changing demographic profile, increasing disposable income and changing consumer taste and preferences. The total size of Indian retail industry is forecast to reach US$ 1,200 billion by 2021 and US$ 1,750 billion by 2026.
This makes it one of the largest sectors in the economy which contributes 10% to GDP and 8% to employment.
As the sector is flourishing, a career in retail is promising high growth for the aspirational youngsters. The enormous expansion in the retail sector during the past few years has created a huge demand for skilled retail professionals in the field. It is an industry looking for people at all levels, from the school pass out with basic skills, to the well qualified supply chain and retail management professionals. With rapidly expanding departmental stores and huge shopping malls, plenty of job opportunities are opening up all over India at all levels from the entry level retail sales associate to senior managers.
To break into the industry, an aspiring candidate can start off in classes XI and XII by taking up a skill subject in Retail which will enable him or her to perform the role of a retail sales associate. Thereafter the aspirant can go up the education pathway and build up higher level skills that will enable him or her to take up senior level roles in retail sales.
(Sources: Retail Industry Report, India Brand Equity Foundation; Consumer Leads Report by FICCI and Deloitte)
The responsibilities of a Sales Associate are to:
- Welcome customers to the store and answer their queries.
- Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction through excellent sales service.
- Assess customer’s needs and provide assistance and information on product features.
- Follow and achieve department’s sales goals on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis.
- Actively seek out customers in store.
- Remain knowledgeable on products offered and discuss available options.
- Process POS (point of sale) purchases
- Handle returns of merchandise.
- Team up with co-workers to ensure proper customer service.
- Build productive trust relationships with customers.
- Comply with inventory control procedures.
- Suggest ways to improve sales (e.g., planning marketing activities, changing the store’s design).
| Education Pathway | ||
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | Post-Graduate | Some Colleges |
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B.Voc. Retail Management B.Voc. Retail Management & IT B. Voc. Retail and Logistics Management BBA Retail Management BBA Entrepreneurship BBA General B.Des. Fashion Mgmt./ Fashion Communication/ Retail |
MBA Retail Management MBA MBA (Sales/ Marketing/ HR/ IB/ Logistics) Masters in Fashion Mgmt./ Brand Mgmt. |
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