On 15th of October 2022, Retail Management department of JIMS Rohini organized a Retail Conclave on Metaverse : Revolutionising the Retail Sector for PGDM/IB/RM Batch 2022-24 in which the first panel discussed on the topic “Application and challenges in Retail”. This Retail Conclave aimed to provide a platform for the students to exchange ideas and broaden their horizons among Industry representatives, academicians and scholars.
The session began with a keynote address by the chief guest Mr. Sharad Jaiswal, Senior Vice President and Retail Head at CarDekho wherein he introduced Metaverse as a reality which was once a thing of Science fiction and specifically how important it is going to be for the future of retail products and services.
The panel had experienced Industry experts like Mr. Chandrakant Singh, Managing Director at Lantern.AI, Mr. Amit Sinha, Head of Commercial at Ericsson and Mr. Devesh Das, Assistant Vice President Segment Head-Trade at Greenlam Industries. This panel was moderated by Dr. Bupender Kumar Som, Dean of Professional Outreach at JIMS Rohini. This discussion began with how the pandemic had accelerated the shift to digital consumption, which has forever changed customer experiences and expectations. At the same time, it has enhanced the need for human interaction and a sense of community. High emphasis was given on how brands like Gucci with Gucci Town, Nike, Adidas, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple along with many more are trying to capture the first mover advantage by buying Virtual space in metaverse using NFTs AKA non-fungible tokens to get the attention of tech savvy Gen Z and cater to their needs wherein these brands provide an opportunity to the customer to dress up their Avatars (Virtual Self) in chic rocking branded outfits like in real life by bridging the gap between artificial reality and reality.
During the Question and Answer round of discussion they also discussed that Metaverse is the new thing in the market and India is significantly improving with its telecom providing network with the advent of 4G and now 5G but it will take its due time to settle in the market wherein it can cater to the mass segment of the Indian specific consumer. How it is going to be a big leap in the industry for HR representatives and specially its role in strengthening the retailers to evolve to seamlessly carry online experiences into physical spaces and vice versa, a fusion of both realities to become “Phygital”.
It was indeed a very interactive panel discussion which widened the thinking horizon of each and every student on the future possibilities of Metaverse and how to capture the upcoming opportunities in the revolutionizing of the Retail Sector.
The second panel discussion was on the topic “Future of Retail Industry in the Metaverse”. This Retail Conclave aimed to provide a platform for the students to exchange ideas and broaden their horizons among Industry representatives, academicians and scholars.
The panel had our experienced PGDM Retail Management major alumnus like Mr. Shivam Bhatnagar, Data Analyst at Infogain from the batch of 2017-19, Mr. Abhishek Kansal, Principal Consultant at Easy Investment Financial Services Ltd. From the batch of 2015-17 and Mr. Shreyas Srivastava, Retail Specialist-Showroom Operations at Oppo India Pvt. Ltd. from the batch of 2019-21. This panel was moderated by Mr. Raghav Gupta, Partner at Legit Jeans from the batch of 2017-19. This discussion began with the moderator stating some key facts about metaverse to set the tone right like the metaverse market was worth USD 478.7 Billion in 2020 and expected to be worth USD 800 Billion by 2024 with an expected growth rate of 13.1% every year. The panel discussed how Metaverse is completely going to revolutionize the omni-channel way of doing business especially in the retail sector and how, with the advent of pandemic it was a blessing in disguise for many businesses and consumers, from Daler Mehndi doing a virtual concert in his virtual real estate called “Balle Balle Land” to businesses doing conference meetings in the metaverse to provide wholesome experience of both doing business and keeping health in check.
During the Question and Answer round of discussion, they also discussed that Metaverse is the new thing in the market and India is significantly improving with its telecom providing network with the advent of 4G and now 5G but it will take its due time to settle in the market wherein it can cater to the mass segment of the Indian specific consumer. How it is going to be a big leap in the industry for HR representatives and specially its role in strengthening the retailers to evolve to seamlessly carry online experiences into physical spaces and vice versa, a fusion of both realities to become “Phygital”.
It was indeed a very interactive panel discussion which widened the thinking horizon of each and every student on the future possibilities of Metaverse and how to capture the upcoming opportunities in the revolutionizing of the Retail Sector.