Adeeb Ahmad of Lulu Group International shares his views on India as a retail market.
Ritu Marya, Editor-in-Chief, Franchise India Media, started the discussion by asking Adeeb Ahamed about his views on India as a retail market to which the UAE-based retail major head stated, “We are a strong supporter of brick-and-mortar. However, we also believe that the ecommerce segment has taken a leap forward. And the reason for that is lack of proper infrastructure and we missed out the mall culture in India. But now, with a lot of organised mall developers coming back into the market and with the likes of The Blackstone Group taking the lead in acquiring and developing malls in India, the mall story has taken a huge step forward, which has resulted in lot more brands again focusing on opening actual brick-and-mortar stores across India.”
Marya further maintained that Dubai being the retail Mecca for Indians, there are many things that local retailers and businesses can learn from the Middle East and the South East Asia. To which Ahamed agreed and said, “There are a few mistakes that the Indian retail segment had made in its initial phase. First of all during the initial stage of shopping malls in India, a large number of real estate developers used to make beautiful malls and then break it into small pieces, selling them to investors. What happens in such a scenario is that there is no accountability on the common area about how it will be managed and what will be the activities to attract more footfalls in the mall. These became the initial drawbacks in the initial shopping mall era in India. The second big mistake made by mall developers in India was lack of ample car parking space. You need to have a parking facility that makes a consumer’s entry and exit very smooth.”
Creating a Harmony
Talking about the food and beverage (F&B) and fashion segments going forward in India, Ahamed asserted that both the segments play an important part in Lulu’s portfolio and its business development. However, when it comes to the Indian retail sector, F&B has a huge opportunity that still needs to be explored and tapped. “While franchising any international brand, there are a few points that have to be always set right. First, there is a need to manage expectations between the franchisee and the franchisor. Most of the international brands have unrealistic expectations from India, which is totally unreasonable. Also, both the franchisee and the franchisor need to work in equal pace in order to scale business,” he added.
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