Description
Ushering in the New Year with lots of positivity, hopes, renewed energy and prospects, we are eyeing retail in a new way. The retail sector in the country is among the largest contributors to India’s GDP, 8-10 percent on average, and the second-largest employer in the country, so this year with the growing buzz across the market facing recovery, expectations are high from this sector. E-commerce channels are also growing at a tremendous rate with more than 19,000 e-commerce businesses in India and more than 800 D2C brands roughly worth $44.6 billion in 2021 projected to reach $100 billion by 2025.
All this is presenting a very promising podium for retail and the D2C ecosystem specially is presenting a very hopeful scenario in front of India, currently. The D2C startups space has raised a whopping $2.04 billion in funds since 2014 with categories like fashion, home decor and consumer electronics leading the charge. More progress is definitely on the cards, so are the expectations from the government to help retail with the National Retail Policy. With the Union Budget knocking at the door, all across sectors in retail the retailers and brands alike are hopeful that this unified policy will bring about a big change, once put to action.
Counting in all the positives we got talking to some of the leading Founders and CEOs from retail brands all across India. It was amazing to know their vision for growth in 2022 and the strategies and plans they are putting to work. It was lovely getting to know how they have walked their brand to success, acquiring new customer and working towards customer retention during the pandemic. Success stories in retail is always promising and helps all of us learn a thing or two to craft newer ways of advancement in the time to come.
This January issue, we take a fresh look at retail all across sectors and present a host of reports and research to further raise a point regarding the progress of retail in the New Year, the trends to follow, and what are some of the key analysts saying about retail progress in the New Normal. Further, the issue sets the tone for the days to come this year and rightfully establishes the narrative of growth and higher ROI.
We also have some exclusive startup and retail brand success stories, which we have tracked to showcase some pioneering moves, innovation, and technology changes.
PRC 2021 was one of the very first mega offline events in retail for 2021, which saw grand presence of brands, retailers, key e-commerce and D2C players, real estate marquee names, technology solution providers, and everybody connected to the retail ecosystem all across 2 days. We captured the essence of Day 1 of the event in our last issue and as a continuation, in this issue we bring to you more power packed insights and a lot of engaging sessions from Day 2. The cover story talks about how phygital retail is no more a term of the future, it is now and constant.
Retail has grown stronger and more fluid and we are shouldering the power and renewed spirit of retail and want to present a lot of in-depth industry stories and trend reports, next year, like always. This issue brings together insights and coverage from the day 2 of PRC and presents a bigger picture on how consumption of food is changing all across the country and the same is driving a big retail change. Apart from this, we also have interesting interviews talking about innovation in retail, some inspirational stories and tech thoughts. Happy New Year 2022, in advance! Let’s usher in the new 365 with renewed energy to make business more human.
