Retailers Association of India (RAI) is the lead trade association representing retailers. It is a not for profit organization which works to facilitate the growth of the modern retail industry in India. One of their initiatives has been instituting the annual Retail Leadership Summit (RLS). RLS is “the only pan-retail event for global retail CEOs to meet, network and share best-practice with their peers.”
RLS 2015 is going to be held on the 10th and 11th of February 2015 at the Renaissance Convention Centre, Powai, Mumbai. Registrations are currently open and the ticket prices before taxes are: Rs 15, 000 for a RAI member and Rs 20, 000 for a non-member. As it is a two-day event, if you also wanted to stay at the hotel on the 10th, the charge is: Rs 9500.
Since its inception in 2013, RLS has gone from strength to strength and has emerged as one of the foremost platforms for retail thought leadership. Past speakers include Ajit Joshi of Infinity Retail, Chris Biggs of The Boston Consulting Group, Patrik Antoni from IKEA India, Natasha Tuli from Soulflower, Rakesh Biyani, from Future Retail Limited, etc. Essentially, anyone who’s anyone in retail will be there and there will be plenty of opportunities to learn, discuss and network within the industry.
Planning for RLS 2015 started as soon as RLS 2014 came to its successful close, though preparations began in earnest around 6 months ago. The entire RAI team with its partners geared up for RLS 2015, which they have conceived as being the curial year that will lay the base for the year 2020, when retail in India is slated to touch $1.3 trillion. To achieve mission retail 2020, sessions have been planned around the concepts of: Retrospect, Reinvent and Rewrite.
The events will be arranged in two main tracks with respective keynote speakers and audience interactions. Sessions planned are:
A third track will be an initiative called Game Changers with 6 sessions which will feature presentations and interactive sessions of those who have innovated within retail like actor Salman Khan’s Mandhana Industries Limited with their commercially successful philanthropic business Being Human, Vero Moda with their well-crafted 24-hour sale that generated so much interest, etc.
A dedicated android app RAI Connect has been unveiled, which is now available on the play store. You can network with leaders, provide your opinions, vote for a speaker, download research papers, exchange contact details through QR codes, find the venue, etc. all through the app.
RLS’s knowledge partners like BCG, TCS, JLL, Knight Frank, PWC and GoFrugal will disseminate various knowledge reports that have been put-together with meticulous first-hand research and are vital to garner in-depth retail knowledge. These reports will be available in hard copy format as well as soft copy format on the RLS website and the RAI Connect app.
The Free Press Journal and Uber Content Team will be attending the Retail Leadership Summit (RLS) 2015 and we hope to see you there.
