Next opportunities will come from retail
SHOPPING festivals have become the order of the day whether it's Singapore or Thailand people flock to these events to do bulk purchases, of which clothing takes the lion's share. Shopping lovers from all corners of the world flock to south Asia to empty their wallets, stuff their bags and experience the joy of shopping. Owing to this ever growing demand, the retail industry,especially organised retail, is going to expand on a mammoth scale in the Asian countries especially India. International retailers are viewing India as a potential market due to the rapidly growing customer base and it 's ability to assimilate new brands into it 's market.
The retail industry is going to emerge as a major hirer in the coming years and approximately about eight per cent of the country's workforce may be working in this sector.
Jones Lang La Salle, a leading real estate services and money management firm, has conducted a Survey of Retailer Sentiment in India, Greater China and South East Asia, which states that almost 95 per cent of the Indian retailers are optimistic that there will be good trading in the next one year period and some of them are even expecting the profit margins to shoot up.
Employment opportunities in retail are not confined to malls and factory outlets alone. It is a field intersecting several other industries at various points and thus has multifarious opportunities to offer right from designing to sales, scouting the location for an outlet to running a mall.
For gaining employment in the retail sector one should have a graduate degree (preferably in marketing coupled with specific domain knowledge like apparel manufacturing, shoe and leather goods, designing, product packaging which will be an added advantage) with a good knowledge of operating a computer, accounting and inventory management too. People with academic background of fashion technology, marketing, finance management, supply chain management, HR, customer service and advertising also have promising prospects in this industry.
What makes a job in the retail sector challenging? Constantly changing consumer clothing fads, influx of global fashion trends into the Indian markets, necessity to adapt them to Indian needs, growing demand for innovative textiles (jute & bamboo) and adoption of eco-conscious measures (using natural fibres and vegetable dyes) make the retail jobs very demanding. Every aspect of retailing gives an individual a chance to experiment, an opportunity to grow and to earn profits.
Whether it's direct selling or buying and merchandising, retail industry has numerous jobs to offer; to suit the talent and qualifications of the people of various ages and academic backgrounds.
Retail manager, store manager, visual merchandiser, pay roll administrator, category manager, buying administrator, product manager, commercial officer, key holder or designer are some of the jobs offered by the retail sector.
Retail industry includes various segments like :
Sales forms an important part of the retail segment and the front line positions associated with this category are sales supervisor, store stock associate, cashier, stock receiver and sales associate. All these jobs are usually entry level in nature and require personal attributes like passion for competition, being a team player, ability to work with people from various fields, market analytical skills, and persuasive skills
Some of the store related jobs that are available are - zone/district/regional/area manager, head of store operations
Prevention of loss is also essential for retailing, for risk management issues pertaining to it like ensuring the safety of the customers and employees, preventing thefts from the stores, managing the finance audit are covered by it.
Merchandise category has opportunities like merchandise buyer/planner/ distributor/ analyst /controller. Their duties involve buying and dividing the merchandise into various categories, transferring them to stores,and exercising control.
On line retailing is gaining momentum in India as most of the firms now offer the facility to purchase their products through on line transactions. Many e learning portals are now offering courses in retailing ,both real and virtual.
Unlike the French original meaning of the word 'retail'- "to cut off, shred, paring", the retail industry is knitting the boundaries of global markets dexterously. Grab an opportunity and get into retailing.
SANDHYA. U
faqs@cnkonline.com
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