A common challenge faced by all Indian and foreign retail companies, is lack of skilled manpower. With these large Indian and Foreign businesses coming into retail, there will be a huge requirement of people across functions including sales, marketing, IT, HR, finance, etc. The underlying challenge is that none of these professionals have a holistic knowledge and understanding of Retail. According to a report there is an immediate shortage of 18,000 retail professionals in Delhi & Mumbai alone. This is projected to grow to 12 million by year 2011. With 12 million people working in Retail atleast 1.2 million line managers and another 50000 middle managers will be needed.

Chief Executive Officer Chief Operations Officer Franchise Head Head, Merchandising Store Manager Head, Marketing Head, Visual Merchandising Head, Value Chain Category Manager Floor Manager Customer Relationship Manager Regional Head, Visual Merchandising Supply Chain Manager Visual Merchandiser Merchandiser Manager Sales Associate Customer Relationship Associate Supply Chain Executive

The early starters will have an advantage in terms of experience and will be most sought after. This remaining will eventually follow the footsteps and turn to retail. Where will you like to be? A leader or a follower.

TKWs English Point