Retail management is a challenging career in an economically precarious industry. Getting started is simple, but remaining in demand and getting consistent opportunities for advancement may be tricky. The rising boom in the retail industry has led many academic institutions in India to offer Retail Management course. Retail Management is a professional programme which prepares graduates to enter the field of retailing. There is a huge demand for retail management professionals for processing of all merchandise shipments, achieving store sales and profitability, communication with the clients to gain their satisfaction and administration of stores.
Retail is all about distribution of the product from the manufacturer to the consumers through short and convenient channels.
A retail management course from reputed career institutes may fetch a dream job. With the spurt of shopping malls and departmental stores, huge employment opportunities are opening up in India and abroad. By the year 2016, people are expecting that in India, the retail industry will be worth $ 175- 200 billion.
The easiest way to get started in retail management is to work your way up. Start as a cashier or stocker, impress your supervisor with your customer service skills, good attitude and dependability, and over the course of a few years you could find yourself promoted to shift supervisor and eventually assistant manager. When the time is right, you may also apply for manager positions and get a promotion into retail management. This is a time-consuming process, but many retail managers find this is how they got started.
Retail Management Skills: Retail management is a balancing act that requires a mix of human resources management, marketing, communications and sales experience. Other skills include the art of turning a customer’s shopping experience into a positive outing, using a greeting to make a great first impression, understanding the steps of a sale in progress, and learning how to heighten employee efficiency when dealing with customers. Loss prevention is another skill that must be honed when working in retail management.
The PGDM Retail Management course is a blend of general management, marketing and specialised retail subjects. The learning process involves advanced training in theory and applications in the retailing business. This programme aims to provide students the skills, creativity and knowledge to understand retailing as a business management discipline. Retailing is changing today, and the business environment demands professionals with an ability to learn new skill sets, adapt and think out of the box. This comprehensive training programme provides the student with advanced theoretical inputs and also the applications in the business.
At the end of the first year of PGDM students are apprised of concepts in retail business, marketing, logistics and supply chain management, finances and Information and Technology. The second year incorporates specialised courses like store operations and design, visual merchandising, category management, mall management, customer loyalty programmes among others. The sprouting of chains like Sabka Bazaar, Subhiksha, and Reliance Fresh has today led to employment generation at the lower end, but it has also created openings in the management cadre. This has led to a demand for trained MBAs with knowledge in this domain, and management institutes have been quick to fill the gap by starting courses catering to the sector.
Two-year full time Post Graduate Diploma in Management: Retail Management, combines disciplines of business management and super specializes in retail management. It provides a unique blend of academic prowess of practical rigor of the industry. The learning process involves advanced training in theory and applications in retailing business. This programme has been designed with feedback from leading professionals in the retail industry. The course aims to provide students the skills, creativity and knowledge to understand retailing as a business management discipline. It provides quality professional education in the new and emerging area of Retail Management.
As a career, retail management is a dynamic field that offers affluent employment opportunities for talented youth. It offers around 2 million job opportunities worldwide. Basic educational qualifications, as well as personal skills like good communication and analytical mind is needed to outshine in this profession. Even though related with selling, not all the job opportunities in this field is in the stores/outlets themselves.
In this career, one will get openings in sales and marketing, operation, concept and design, buying and merchandising and also in administration. The economic boom and the enormous expansion in the retail sector make this career most sought after. As the competition in this field is very tough, nowadays the shopping malls are doubling up as leisure and entertainment centers, to attract customers. Those who wish to be in this field must be creative and should have new ideas to promote their business.
Retailing process involves a direct interface with the customer and the coordination of business activities from the design stage of a product to its delivery and post-delivery service. Generally, retail business can be classified into several types depending on their size, shape, product lines, amount of service they offer and price they charge etc. Some among them are specialty stores, supermarket/ malls, factory outlets, franchises, chain stores, discount stores, lifestyle & personal products, furnishing & house hold appliances etc. Retail Industry, one of the fastest changing and vibrant industries in the world, has contributed to the economic growth of many countries.
The term ‘retail’ is derived from the French word retailer which means ‘to cut a piece off’ or ‘to break bulk’. Retailing is a vital part of the business industry that involves selling products and services to consumers for their individual or family use. Retailing can also be defined as the timely delivery of goods demanded by consumers at an affordable and competitive price. It is a vertical and people-oriented business industry. Retail business in India boomed in the 80’s and within a short span of time, Indian retail industry has been rated as the fifth most attractive, emerging retail market in the world. Indian retail industry which account for over 10 percent of the country’s GDP (gross domestic product) and around eight percent of employment, is expected to grow at a compounded rate of 30 per cent over the next five years.
Many multinational companies have come forward in the retailing business. Reliance Group, ITC Retail, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Groups Trent & Westside, Subhiksha, Shoppers Stop, Future Groups Big Bazaar & Pantaloons, Apparel Chains, Raymond’s, Arvind Brands, Lifestyle International, Spencers etc. are some of the top companies.