MBA in Retail Management: Growth Opportunities for Management Graduates
MBA in Retail Management - As India is among the 30 developing nations, a career in retail management looks promising. MBA in Retail Management involves everything related to acquiring products from the manufacturer to making it reach to the customers. A specialised programme in Retail Management is aimed to create a new generation of smart retail professionals who are equipped with the best retail management policies practiced across the globe. MBA in Retail Management covers from services to marketing and accounting to business analysis. The sector stores a huge potential and promises enough opportunities. In this article, get to know all about MBA in Retail Management programme, its curriculum, the Retail industry and more. Read about the specialisation in detail below.Â
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What is Retail Management?
The Retail Management involves everything related to acquiring products from the manufacturer to making it reach to customers. Thus, it involves product acquisition, transportation, logistics, marketing, selling and customer servicing, among other related areas. In simple words, retail management helps customers shop without any difficulty. It allows customers to save time and ensures that customers can easily locate whatever they are looking for.
There are Post-Graduate Diploma and MBA in Retail Management available in various colleges and universities. BIMTECH, WeSchool, Jaipuria Institute of Management are some of the popular names offering this specialisation. Understanding the changing trends of shopping in urban areas, the programme primarily focuses on the adoption of innovative managerial practices in the industry including supply chain, sales promotion, customer service, merchandise development, marketing communications.
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MBA in Retail Management - Course Curriculum
The course curriculum includes general management subjects such:
Marketing Management
Services Marketing
Financial & Managerial Accounting
Statistics for Business Analysis
Corporate Finance
Supply along with Retail specific subjects such as Retail Concepts, Buying & Merchandising Management, Retail Store Management, Mall Management, Visual Merchandising, among others.
MBA in Retail Management – Industry Figures
Though organised, retail forms a very small part (8%) of overall retail industry in India. The increasing size of the organised retail along with a growing number of online players backing their online offering with brick-and-mortar stores offer sizeable opportunities for MBAs specialised in Retail management. After liberalisation, both Indian and International brands have started growing in this space and spreading wings.
The expansion in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities along with the potential of untapped rural market makes a career in this specialisation looks promising. This is evident in the fact that the number of supermarkets has increased from 500 in the year 2006 to 8500 in 2016, which shows that there was a ten-fold increase in numbers in a decade.
According to a 2016 UN World Cities report, India’s urban population grew from 340 million in 2006 to 430 million in 2016. Also, while the offline stores are growing with rapid urbanisation, internet penetration is making retail players in e-commerce space to spruce up demand and thus the growth.
The National Skill Development Corporation estimates that about 1.7 crore more people will be required to handle different roles in growing retail industry in India by 2022.
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Quick Facts
Government of India has allowed 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in online retail of goods and services through the automatic route.
Size of modern retail industry in India is expected to double to Rs. 1,71,800 cr from Rs. 87,100 cr by 2019.
As per a joint report by India Direct Selling Association (IDSA) and PHD, direct selling industry of India is expected to reach Rs. 23,654 cr by FY 2019-20.
Between 2000-2016, Indian retail trading has received FDI equity inflows totalling Rs 6225.244 cr (according to Department Of Industrial Policies and Promotion).
There is also a huge rise in the investments in the sector with rising need for consumer goods in different sectors.
Dr. H Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH A wide range of exciting career positions  Careers360: What is the focus of ‘Retail Management’ programme that you offer? Dr Chaturvedi: Focus of our retail management programmes remains on developing an understanding of different domains in the practice of retail management to enhance critical thinking, reasoning skills, intellectual skills, particularly with regard to retail industry knowledge and practices. The course curriculum facilitates students in developing a holistic understanding of the retail industry thereby giving them an edge over General Management students. It enables them to enter a range of exciting career positions within retail and allied sectors.  Careers360: What is the seat capacity and complete fee structure for the ‘Retail Management’ Programme? Dr Chaturvedi: Our seat capacity is 60. The programme tuition fee is Rs. 8. 5 lakhs for merit-based students and Rs. 15 lakhs for corporate sponsored/NRI/NRI sponsored/international students.  Careers360: What is the Unique Selling Proposition of the specialisation that you offer? Dr Chaturvedi: Some of the USPs include Industrial visits to different retail formats, warehouses, factories, which helps the students to understand both front-end and back-end operations of the industry. Short-term projects give the student an industry exposure and hone their analytical and professional skills. On-The-Job Training enables students to obtain the first-hand experience and understand the industry. |
INTERVIEW
Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research Digitalization has created a scope for careers in the retail sector  Careers360: How is ‘Retail Market’ shaping in India? Dr. Salunkhe: Online shopping continues to introduce new trends in the retail market across India. The customer offerings on retail shelves have matured with more customers frequently visiting super-markets, hypermarkets, and so on. A digital disruption has created a scope for careers in the retail sector. A specialization in retail refines the individual knowledge and understanding about retail business in India.  Careers360: What is the focus of your PGDM Retail Management program? Dr. Salunkhe: Our programme is designed to nurture students into a global competent future manager with leadership abilities and an innovative mindset. The program equips students to understand the contemporary retail environment and examine core retail aspects like Buying and Merchandising, Supply Chain Management, Franchising, to name a few.  Careers360: How is industry’s need changing in ‘Retail Management’? Dr. Salunkhe: Changes in sectors such as banking and FMCG have increased connect with customers offline and online. The growth of retail and the need for professionals who have an understanding of this field has increased. Apart from retailers, e-commerce, logistics, banking, FMCG and other sectors that interface with retail also recruit retail students. |
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