32 | TV VEOPAR JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 10 | adi-media.com | An ADI Media Publication

Under our brand Reliance ResQ, we deal with issues of after-sales service, maintenance, demonstrations, instal-lation, and extended warranties. Our company has also launched our web-site www.reliancedigital.in, this year to provide details about the stores.

On brands retailed

We deal in all of the major brands available in the market like Sony, Samsung, LG, Philips, Panasonic, Nokia, Whirlpool, Godrej, Onida, Mo-torola, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Apple.

On fast selling products

The fast selling goods this year have been LCDs, laptops, mobile phones (especially business phones), digital cameras, and ACs. We call them the Star Categories, and they are wit-nessing growth at a very fast pace.

Details on private labels

We have a number of private labels of our own. However, the customer is given a fair chance to choose be-tween our private label and the brands available at our store. Our own label caters mostly to the acces-sories section, and a number of other smaller products.

On issues that need to be addressed

There are a number of issues which need to be addressed in the modern retail sector. The access and avail-ability of good quality retail real estate at the right price is required. The management of logistics, infra-structure, and delivery are all also very important.The quality of mall management, positioning, and mall marketing have room for improvement. A lot of retailers need to have train-ing of retail associates, because these are the people who constantly interact with the customers. Their training should not only be in terms of soft skills and retail skills, but

Reliance Retail Ltd.

also in terms of knowledge about the digital products and updated technology. They should be one step ahead of the customers.

On prospects for 2011

The growth rate for this trade is extremely high. There is a huge la-tent market that needs to be tapped through geographic expansion into new cities. The geographic penetra-tion will increase, especially in metro and tier 2 cities. Tier 2 cities will have areas of major growth because of the novelty factor of modern retail stores, and the new found excitement of previously unfamiliar customers. In the case of products, LCDs will take the place of normal TVs and the penetration of ACs will be extremely high. The mobile segment will witness rapid growth with people upgrading their phones every few months.Also, online and digital retailing will become very popular. People will go online to buy products; and blogs and social networking sites will also become huge influencing factors for the Indian market scene. We at Reli-ance Digital also have launched our website www.Reliancedigital.in.

Peshwa Acharya VP & Head - Marketing & Consumer

Experience

On sales trends in 2010

We have witnessed a healthy double digit growth this year,

and there also has been a rapid in-crease in the number of stores across the nation. Talking about the market in general, customers are becoming increasingly digital savvy. Information is readily available, and a customer now con-ducts a pre-search before actually buying a product. This is also fuelled by an increasing presence of a large number of global and international brands in India. In the case of mobile phones, the cus-tomers are quite savvy, and upgrade or change products at a faster rate. There are continuous launches of new models in the country, often in synchronization with international markets. There is also an inclination toward high-end phones and smart phones in the market. Accessorizing is also capturing the interest of the customers, especially in the case of the IT segment. For example, people not only buy lap-tops, but they also buy accessories like hard drives, pen drives, wireless routers, printers, and scanners. The customer experience, ambience, and the ability to experience a large merchandise range are important to purchase decision making; and this is fuelling the growth of large format stores like Reliance Digital in the future.

On price trends

In the case of digital products, the price trend is usually on the down-side. However, for appliances, prices tend to rise when there is fluctuation in the prices of material costs.

On products retailed

Reliance Digital as a brand, deals in five SBUs. These include consumer electronics, home appliances, infor-mation technology, telecom, and Re-liance ResQ.

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