While many are astonished about the pace of expansion that Reliance Digital is heading with, it seems very natural and expected with a person like Brian Bade heading the segment. As a CEO of the Reliance Digital Limited (RDL), he has embarked on the idea of scaling up when others are rolling back their activities. The last 2 years have been action packed for this CEO who has been spearheading the activities of around 712 stores, right from the nascent stage to their advancement stage.
With hands on experience in the retail and the electronics division (Circuit City, America ‘s retail store catering to electronic and durables )for around 15 years, he had the acumen and the expertise to map out strategies for Reliance Digital when it broke fresh ground in the country. When he was appointed as a CEO of RDL In 2010, he took up the challenge to work in a new country and comprehend with the consumer behavior over there. It would not have seemed wise for someone to leave a firm (Circuit City) that was the second largest in the USA after Best Buy over there then. However, Brain Bade has been successfully mentoring RDL and engineering it to be the country’s largest electronic retail chain. The growth that these stores have witnessed is immense and is potential of being a profitable division for RIL in the forthcoming years. Mukesh Ambani in his Annual General Meeting this year stated that he aims to create a revenue of Rs.40,000 crore revenue in a period of 4 years from the retail segment.
Besides having a successful stint in the Circuit City, he has also worked for a year with Big Lots that is the largest Broadline closeout retailer. After honing his talent and skill all these year, he was well equipped to deal with the overall activities of a company right from recruiting people to intensifying its sales. Brain is known as a man who is always on the go. He intends to make RDL the ace player in the country by the end of this financial year. With stiff competition from Croma (Tata Group), Next Digital (Videocon), Digiworld along with strong regional players like Vivek in the southern zone and Vijay Sales in the western zone, the task may seem a bit daunting though.
Reliance Digital witnessed a sea change in its operations when its store count increased from 27 to 85 during the previous year. The present year already has 16 new stores added to the division with the launch of a few stores in the pipeline. In fact, RDL propels to attain the landmark achievement of having 100 stores across the country in some time.
Brian Bade also wishes to infuse new services and practices that will change the face of the retail industry. He supervises the activities and gets the feel of all the stores across the country by personally travelling to these stores.