In-Store Asia 2013 concludes in Mumbai

The three-module event involving exhibition, conference and awards was attended by members of the retail industry, brand marketers and ad agencies.

The eighth edition of In-Store Asia, a conclave for retailers, concluded in Mumbai on February 23. The three-day event saw participation of key delegates from the retail industry with the conference being addressed by 11 key speakers.

The event was inaugurated by Mark Ashman, CEO, Hypercity Retail (India), who was also one of the speakers and Tom Harris, chair, global chapter development, POPAI Global.

The other speakers at this year's conference included Chip Conley, founder of Joie de Vivre, who has 35 award winning hotels to his name; Ramshish Ray, director, Samsung Electronic Retail; Ambrish Arora, founder, Lotus Design Services; Tara Prabhakar, development director, retail & shopper, APAC, TNS; Sunil Taldar, sales and international business director, Mondelez; and Prof Piyush Kumar Sinha, professor in retailing and market chairperson, Centre for Retailing, who spoke on how men shop.

Conley spoke about creating retail transformation at the intersection of business and psychology, while Hypercity's Ashman shared his thoughts on how to successfully capture the new 'value shopper' and retain her. OgilvyAction Asia Pacific president John Goodman spoke on the how CEOs must turn to shopper market - a strategic capability that truly delivers.

Besides interesting conferences, the event also hosted exhibition and awards ceremony in 19 categories. The awards were judged by a panel of 16 jury members, of whom seven were Indians. The Indian jurists included Ashish Deshpande, co-founder and director, Elephant Strategy+Design; Surender Gnanaolivu, executive vice-president, brand experience and store development, Mahindra Retail; Ambrish Arora; Sudhir Soundalgekar, vice-president, lifestyle, specialty & energy projects, Shoppers Stop; Jacob Mathew, director of design firm Idiom; Amit Aurora, partner, DCA Architects and Anil Sinha, principal designer and mentor, Faculty of Communication Design, NID, Ahmedabad.

Considering that the retail industry has opened up to FDI, the sector has been experiencing a lot of new entrants and expansions from existing brands. With all stakeholders seeking to improve their skills and marketing strategies, the annual In-Store Asia event attempts to act as a platform for people from retail industry, ad agencies, design and architecture firms, brand marketers and retail solution providers/POP and signage industry to network and share ideas and solutions to the their problems.