I have been transferred back to Operations and now shall be heading the Mall Operations of Phoenix Market City Pune. Is it exciting? Yes!

Now, as I meet retailers and am abl to suss out their true leanings in terms of their spread in Pune Retail, their understanding of the city sociography, the catchments that they would like to deal with, their mindsets and their store physicalities, I find disorder.

The challenge is to convert this disorder into order. We need to capture their mindspace, get them to make great stores, perform out of their skins in the oncoming months for attaining great sales during operations.

Does this remind me of Hotel Operations? Yes and No. Yes, because Malls do need the order that Hotel Operations have to attain the Facility upkeep, Financial and Community building goals. No, because it is a lot more inclusive with B2B and B2C affairs taking place simultaneously. Sometimes, we may have to overlook the partners for the end consumers or the vice versa.

But, interesting times ahead!

Small town boom town...

Have you seen a tournament called T10 Cricket Tournament being telecast on DD Sports?

I saw a match, being played in Sirsa, amidst a bad winter, with players from all around the country and names like Daman Gullies, Latur Gullies, Ludhiana Gullies, etc.

I was tickled. There is hardly any viewership but the teams have sponsors - GO Airlines and some others like SAIL. The teams are nicely attired, have coaches, physios and managers to boot!

The tournament even has experts like Charu Sharma doing some commentary. LOL!

But, I am trying to tell you something else. Is this the dawn of the hinterland in our consumer psyche. Early last year, we saw the invasion of small town India on the telly. By this year, practically all channels have shifted to small town stories.

Now, Cricket has taken that road. Give it a year or two and then watch it blossom and garner ratings similar to some bigger tournaments just like Aajtak and IndiaTV!!

I am looking forward to the same thing to happen to Indian Retail. It has happened in a very small but forthright manner already but there is more to come. I look forward to more of the Lilliputs, Sreeleathers, Liverpools and Ritu Wears to be developed right in our backyards as they move on from just being manufacturers to full blown fashion retailers from small and significant geographies pushing the boundaries of retail beyond what we know as the 5 city bang!