Indian retail’s next growth battle is relevance, convenience and experience
At ETRetail ShopFWD in Bengaluru, retail leaders pointed to personalised journeys, smarter inventory, store technology and experiential destinations as key to winning omnichannel consumers. Shoppers Stop said personal shoppers, just 3% of staff, contribute 26% of its business.
What happened
ETRetail ShopFWD Summit · Indian retail leaders said omnichannel consumers now demand personalised, frictionless and experiential shopping. Discussions covered
Key facts
- 4th ETRetail ShopFWD Summit 2026
- Personal shoppers are about 3% of Shoppers Stop employees but contribute 26% of its business
- Forum Malls' biophilic designs raise construction costs by around 15% in some projects
- Levi's identified a three-to-five-year growth opportunity
Why this matters
Look for capabilities in customer data, clienteling tools, inventory orchestration and in-store experience that can accelerate differentiated omnichannel relevance.
What to watch
- Shoppers Stop or peers disclose further revenue contribution, repeat rates or basket-size uplift from personal shoppers and assisted selling.
- Retailers report RFID rollout, inventory-accuracy gains, ship-from-store penetration or lower order-cancellation rates.
- Growth in appointment bookings, event attendance, loyalty-member frequency and store-assisted online conversion.
- Changes in associate compensation plans that explicitly reward omnichannel customer lifetime value.
- Rising return volumes or delivery-cost pressure that accelerates investment in stores as service and reverse-logistics nodes.
- Adoption of customer-data platforms, AI recommendations and consent-management tools by major Indian department stores, fashion chains and beauty retailers.
- Deploy associate-facing clienteling apps that surface consented customer preferences, past purchases, sizes, wish lists and recommended next actions.
- Create a store-attribution model covering assisted digital sales, endless-aisle orders, ship-from-store fulfillment, returns and loyalty-led repeat purchases.
- Prioritize real-time inventory accuracy in high-consideration and high-return categories before expanding same-day delivery promises.
- Redesign store incentives so associates receive credit for digitally completed sales they initiate or influence.
- Use appointments, workshops, beauty/fashion consultations and loyalty events to make flagship stores repeat-visit destinations.
- Segment the store network into experience, service, pickup/returns and fulfillment roles rather than applying one format and KPI set everywhere.