Localization has turned out to be the most viable approach for companies to tether with the audiences and succeed. Rob Cisell, the British CEO of the value retail format of Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) speaks in faltering Hindi (but Hindi) and mentions that it is necessary to be a part of the community you live in and is not sensible to live like a foreigner. His keenness to learn Hindi from his driver and opting for modest vegetarian eateries stands as a testament to the fact that he is no more a foreigner. He has previously had a successful stint as a chief operating officer in Walmart China where he headed a team along with Shawn Gray that churned out revenues accounting for $7.5 billion in 2010. Gray is presently the COO of Reliance Retail Ltd.
Since September 2011, when he has been heading the retail sector, he has mapped out varied strategies withdrawing from the previous ones paving way for a lucrative business. His focus has been to strengthen the supply chain in order to provide impetus to its ‘farm to fork’ approach and enhance the shopping environment across the stores. He introduced these stores to air conditioning, lighting, and creating increased shelf life for the smaller ones. This enables him to have personal purposeful discussions with consumers, which is his prime interest and objective. He is still in touch with one of his elderly consumer whom he met in one of the Reliance Retail Pune stores through emails. Cissell was so delighted with his feedback and opinions on freshness and quality that he took the discussion forward by pulling him to Turf Club. His analysis and study about the Indian market has made him comprehend that the local owners have an upper hand over huge multinational companies. Cissell mentioned that local owners who have global knowledge and local understanding have been more successful than multinational ones, owing to the localized nature of the business (retail). He also stated that the opportunity to work for an Indian player dragged him here.
Mukesh Ambani in his 38th Annual General Meeting of RIL (Reliance Industries Limited) mentioned that he expects the retail business to grow five to six times of its present size in the next three to four years that will increase its revenues to Rs 40,000-50,000 crore. More than two- third of the retail segment constitutes of Food and Grocery with stores like Reliance Fresh, Reliance Super, and Reliance Mart. It also includes formats like Reliance Delight that caters to non – vegetarians and Autozone. Cissell has devised a simple and effective strategy to bring to fruition the dream of Mukesh Ambani- aggressive expansion both with respect to size and formats, developing a sound supply chain, and bear in mind the profitability of the business.
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