India’s Retail Outlook

The word ‘retail’ finds its origins in the French-Italian word ‘retailer’ which stands for someone who cuts off or shreds a small piece of an object. The term ‘retailing’ encompasses all activities of marketing and selling products or services to the end consumer for their respective personal or household use. The word ‘retailer’ refers to the person or agent or company or organization who is engaged in getting the goods or services to the end user.

There are predominantly two forms of retail in any country; one which is unorganized and the other being organized. Traditional or unorganized retail encompasses street markets, counter stores such as kirana shops, various kiosks, etc where the ownership and management rests predominantly with one person only. This sector accounts for more than two thirds of the Indian retail pie and requires low skilled labour. These outlets being family owned usually don’t have many overhead costs such as rentals, taxes and other such overheads.

Organized retailing on the other hand encompasses modern retailing destinations such as shopping malls, commercial complexes, etc that offer a wide variety of products of good quality that are also value for money as the retailer is buying in bulk and economies of scale kick in. 

Even though the retail sector is predominantly organized the only advantage is that consumer familiarity that passes from one generation to the next. The sector started transforming towards the late 1990’s with the emergence of the first malls such as Crossroads in Mumbai and Ansal Plaza in New Delhi which also gave rise to multi-brand outlets such as Shopper’s Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons, etc. The retail sector contributes over 11% to the country’s GDP out of which only about 3% comes from the organized sector. Even though many international players have entered and exited the space in the past two decades, they face stiff competition from the unorganized sector.

As the sector is witnessing rapid change and transformation apart from newer retail models such as kiosks and franchising along with the emergence of new product categories, the end consumer has started accepting the concept of modern retail. Moreover, malls have also started stepping away from tier I cities to tier II cities and tier III towns where the masses live as the consumer is more excited to see a shopping experience where both food and entertainment are under the same roof.

Induction at NILA: An intuitive affair

Every student wants his first day at the college to be special, and so NILA did!

A three day long induction program was scheduled for students to basically equip and introduce them to their courses, curriculum and faculties. The process was to provide all the students with valuable knowledge on a range of different areas, such as, institute committees, vision and culture of NILA.

New College Nottingham International Lifestyles Academy (NILA) being a unique enterprise underlining the growing need for global collaboration called upon some of the most dynamic and successful people from diverse backgrounds to conduct interactive sessions.

Tanieya Khanuja, an intentionally acclaimed fashion designer, who has participated with her coveted design in many fashions shows around the world interacted with students and shared her insights about the fashion industry and the professionalism needed in this stream. She shared her valuable comprehensions about the designing industry.  She has assisted  many bollywood celebrities and clad them in her scintillating designs for magazine cover shoots and events.

Another speaker of prominence Mr. Santanu Choudhury, Manager, India Global Corporate Security McGraw Hill Financial  briefed students about Health and Safety issues. He shared his valuable observations in his field and how students can excel and find opportunities by overcoming all the short comings in academics.

Being one of the pristine institute of Hospitality management, the college also invited Mr.Vivek Shukla- General Manager, The Lalit Hotel. Mr Vivek addressed students and introduced them to the potential of the hospitality industry, the short comings and quality manpower required in this field.He extended his support to  NILA’s hospitality course, which is  designed to address to provide qualified candidates to the industry. 

Our another valued guest,Ms. Jyoti Joshi,Sr. Vice President of Training & Development, Franchise India shared her experience with our students and provided guidelines on Retail and Hospitality Indutsry. 

The faculty members led an emphasis on helping each other on day to day basis in general course-related queries to make their academic experience  better and resilient.

  
About Nila: Nila provides courses in Hospitality Management, Business, Interactive Media, Retail Management and Fashion Management emphasise on the current industry trends, to help our students bridge the Skills gap, in terms of the required expertise and professionalism. Our academic partner, New College Nottingham (ncn,) is one of the largest Further and Higher Education Colleges in the UK with a wide range of full and part-time study programs. It operates across five campuses and has a wide presence in numerous communities and businesses across UK.

You don't need marks, to make a mark in Life

June 29^th: A landmark date for many aspiring students who are on the threshold of making a great future for themselves. This day saw the light of the experienced counselor, Pervin Malhotra, sharing her thoughts and counseling students on higher studies and the future. 

A career planning and counseling session was conducted at the India International Centre, New Delhi  on the theme “You don’t need marks, to make a mark in life’by the eminent career counselor and Director, Career Guide,  Pervin Malhotra.. The session was attended by college aspirants and their parents, who were anxious due to the extremely high cut-offs announced by Delhi University. Students from different streams of study, like, Sciences, Commerce, Humanities, Management, Animation & Design  who had just finished Class XII  attended the program.

The panel of speakers present had set the tone by giving insights into the right career options as per the interest and ability of the students. They elaborated on the new career options which have arisen according to the demands and requirement of the industry. They laid stress on the need for picking courses which would lead directly to employability, not just theoretical knowledge imparted through academic courses which encourage rote learning. Highlighting the shortage in the skills area and the job opportunities present were also discussed. 

With a jam-packed hall, the event was begun by Mrs. Sujata Dewan, Principal,  New College Nottingham International Lifestyles Academy, 44 Sector Gurgaon, who encouraged the students , telling them that they are lucky they have a variety of career options to choose from, as against earlier times when most students opted for engineering or medicine as their first choice, if they had sciences, or  a few limited choices for Commerce or Humanities students. She assured them that marks are not the do all and end all of a career. Courses  in Fashion, Hospitality. Animation, Retail and Business Management in  private Colleges, where marks are not so important are also available. 

Handing over the mike to Pervin Malhotra, Director Career Guide,  who went ahead and talked about the importance of developing skills through which youngsters could not only  have a lucrative career, but also be able to move up the ladder of success . Academics are now getting directly linked with employers as is done in Britain and other countries in the West. She even mentioned career options in Photography, Animation, Web technology, Beauty , Textiles  and courses in Physiotherapy, Nursing etc.and clarified the doubts of the students on the basis of queries raised by them. 

Next, in line was Ms.  Becca Walker- Head of Curriculum Delivery New College Nottingham, UK , who shared information on the impact of UK education. She stressed the fact that the world is shrinking and students who have completed an HND in India could go on to complete their degree at UK or anywhere else in the world. They would then be globally employable and a whole new pathway would open before them.  

Mr.  Vikas Jain, Regional BDM Pearson shared information on the certification from Edexcel , again assuring  the students and their parents that the Pearson validation is globally recognized and a student could go and study internationally with this qualification which lays emphasis on career building through practical experience. 

Commenting on NILA’s punch line, “Enhancing employability, building careers,” Ms. Mahima Batra, Director, Batra Group elaborated, “We believe in engaging employers to assist students to have a seamless transition into the workplace, armed with the skills and knowledge required to excel.”

Studying at NILA is going to be a unique experience for students on account of the exemplary curriculum, multiple learning mechanism, super career development prospects and the option of a top up degree, in India or virtually anywhere in the world.

NILA- Creating New Benchmarks in Education

NILA or New College Nottingham International Lifestyles Academy focuses on choice of study programs on the basis of a student’s potential. This exclusive enterprise endeavors the increasing need for global association between educational organizations. The study programs with NILA offers courses like Interactive Media, Fashion, Retail Management, and Hospitality management. The courses are designed to meet the present industrial scenario.

Batra World Institute- The educational initiative:

Batra World Institute Educon Ventures Pvt. Ltd. is a plan taken by the Batra Group which aims at providing an educational ambience in a diverse cultural environment to the faculty and students. Here we encourage students to present their queries so that they can enhance their confidence of entrepreneurial excellence. This can be done by analyzing things critically.

The Batra Group believes that a student’s interest is the only push behind the magic of discovery. Following this philosophy the group looks forward to promote a research related education and a skill based environment. This allows a student to increase placement options in their respective fields.

BTEC Higher Diploma in Hospitality Management:

The course has been framed to cater to the needs of global hospitality industries. This degree enables students to go for mixology or bar management, departments related to front office operations, Cabin crew in airlines, and culinary arts.

BTEC Higher National Diploma in Fashion:

The course aims at creative thoughts owing to the current trends and designs of fashion environment. Students will learn about fabric manipulation and garment designing following designer catwalk album and current trends. This 2 year academic program will open the doors of employment in the fields of Fashion editor, product developer, fashion designer, entrepreneur etc.

BTEC Higher National Diploma in Retail Management:

The course fosters on understanding the theoretical concepts of retail management. With this course students can establish their practical skills. The teaching staffs come from retail industries and hence they are experiencing in this field. Students who complete this course can build career  in various roles like Supply chain manager, merchandiser, store manager, marketing manager and many more.

BTEC HND Diploma in Interactive Media:

The insufficiency of trained workforce and the increasing demand in the Indian media industry owes to the need of efficient workers. In this context NILA encourages its students to bridge the gap. The study program includes 3D animation, photography, cinematography, interactive media graphics, VFX and Web related technologies.

Admissions to all of the above courses for the July-2013 batch are open. You can download the application form here, http://www.nila.org.in/uploads/pdf/application%20form%20recorrected.pdf