Dr. Hitesh Bhatt, Director – Marketing and Communication & Editorial Director – STOrai – Retail Magazine By The Industry For The Industry, Retail Association of India, speaks about how India’s retail business transformation happening due to various factors, how technology has become a base for explosive retail growth and challenges faced by Retail businesses and possible solutions. Excerpts…

India is on the threshold of retail revolution. Can you explain the growth factors responsible for such an outlook?

India is indeed on the threshold of retail revolution. Retail has been not just growing at a fast pace in India but has been undergoing tremendous transformation. As per an RAI – Deloitte report, The Indian retail industry is expected to grow to USD 1.1 trillion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 8.79% between 2000 and 2020.

There are various factors that are driving this growth. One of the biggest is the consumer: rising disposable incomes, rise of nuclear families has increased consumption. Moreover, the Indian consumer who has become digitally savvy and exposed to international lifestyles is buying more through all retail channels. The other very important factor is policy environment. There have been considerable positive changes from both central and state governments to facilitate ease of doing business and encourage retail growth. Some of them include: GST, furthering opening up of FDI in retail and several state-level retail trade policies.

The third and important factor is Technology that is at the base of all, it is accelerating the pace of growth and enabling transformation.

Post demonetization and GST, how do you see their impacts on retail businesses?

GST has been one of the most transformative steps by the Government in the recent years towards facilitating the promised ease of business. Retailers tell us that it has made life easier for them.

GST as well as demonetization have played an extremely important role in formalization of the economy.

Retail developments are majorly concentrating in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Your take on this trend.

Tier-II and Tier-III cities are where real changes are happening as this is where aspirational India lives. The metros are all saturated. Tier-II and Tier-III towns are also rapidly adapting digital technology. The new business models such as ecommerce and mobile based e-tailing are increasingly becoming popular in India across tier I, II and III cities. The aspirational segment in the Tier II & III cities has shown a high desirability to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in style and fashionable merchandise. The trend was expected and will accelerate in the coming years.

With global giants fiercely vying for Indian e-commerce space and customers increasingly opting for online shopping, what is your forecast for Physical Retailing by 2023?

Physical retail isn’t going anywhere, though it will not be the same as it is today. Physical retail of 2023 will actually be Phygital retail. Stores will not be places to shop but centres of experience driven by technology such as IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual and Augmented Reality.

According to you, what are the challenges faced by retail businesses? Your suggestions for possible solution.

The biggest challenge for retail is that despite being the second largest contributor to GDP, it has still not received industry recognition. This has lead to challenges like difficulty in access to funds to Indian retailers. While we get foreign retailers to India, we should also focus on making Indian retail brands worthy of going international. That is only possible when they have easy access to funds. Also there should be a level-playing field for players across formats and channels of retail.

- K. Ramanathan, ram@justransact.com

Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head at JLL India, a leading market research analyst, speaks about the growth of Indian retail, logistics and warehousing sectors, investment scenario and impacts of government’s policies on the sectors in 2016. Excerpts…

What are investment options do Retail, warehousing and logistics sector offer to Overseas and PE funds in India?

Apart from the favourite asset classes of office and residential, private equity (PE) has been taking increased interest in warehousing, logistics and retail real estate. PE investors and overseas developers are already looking at opportunities to enter India’s industrial and warehousing sector by investing in various development projects.

Investors from other nations, in general, and Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea, in particular, have shown a lot of interest industrial development projects. A few key announcements that show their increasing interest are:

• ‘Wanda Industrial New City’; Dalian Wanda Group
• Industrial Parks by China Fortune Land Development Company Private (CFLD)
• Development of smart cities by ZTE Corporation
• Neemrana Japanese investment zone
• Mandal Becharaji, Japanese investment zone
• SUPA, Japanese investment zone
• Chinese industrial zone in Vadodara
• Ascendas-Singbridge exploring multiple portfolios of industrial and logistics parks across India.

What will be the impact on logistics and warehousing sectors when GST becomes a reality?

With the implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST), warehousing and logistics’ spaces will start to see a consolidation of assets. Unlike earlier (small assets in various states), developers will focus on the development of large-scale, technologically advanced warehouses. Such assets will attract private equity (PE) investors, since they can deploy a larger amount in fewer assets, making monitoring easier. If they perform well, such assets can even fetch a better valuation when monetising through REITs or other ways.

How do you find the demand for commercial retail assets in 2016?

In the past few months, key leasehold retail assets across the country have come on the PE radar. A few reasons include well-managed Grade-A malls starting to enjoy better occupancy with rent escalation on the cards, after a lull of six to seven years. Such well-managed assets/ entities will attract investor focus.

A few key deals seen in 2016 were:

• GIC bought a 50% stake in Viviana Mall of Sheth Developers in Mumbai
• Blackstone acquired the retail portfolio of Alpha G Corp through an entity level deal
• Blackstone has progressed well in acquiring a stake in the retail assets of L&T in Navi Mumbai
• Blackstone buying 50% stake in Pune’s Westend Mall

What were the impacts of government’s recent regulations on retail sector?

Leasehold retail property usually has a higher probability of success as the developer is actively involved in the key functions of mall management, especially tenant management. Various new regulations like easing foreign investment for single-brand retailers, longer shopping hours and an updated framework for establishing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have attracted the attention of various private equity funds like Blackstone, Xander, GIC, Morgan Stanley, towards the Indian retail real estate sector. Various retail mall developers are also looking to sell their existing retail assets and raise funds for expansion.

Mr Jonas Keng, Sales Director at Godex International, Taiwan, who visited India recently, speaks to JusTransact about growth of Indian retail market, Godex’s expansion plans, revenue target and future products envisaged for Indian industry and retail businesses. Excerpts…

What is your opinion about Indian retail market compared to other South East Asian peers?

Indian retail market is one of the fastest growing among the neighboring markets. Due to unprecedented growth in logistics, ticketing, entertainment and e-commerce sectors, the demand for barcode printers, label printers and other allied products has grown manifold. We envisage a huge demand for such products in India in another five years. We are rightly placed here with our rugged and technologically advanced desktop and industrial barcode/label printers to tap the market along with other products such as scanners which can be integrated with any other input devices to give a complete retail solution for businesses in India.

In China and Korea, thousands of retail businesses including food courts and eateries have automated their operations with POS products. We expect, India, being the largest economy, will also see a wide-scale usage of such products by millions of unorganized business establishments to meet the huge demand for customized and quality services.

What are your expansion plans in India?

We are currently in consolidation mode. We want to reach out to industries with our existing product range as we have started well with desk-top versions in India. We believe that our association with Millennium will help us promote our brand among industries and retail businesses across the country as they have wide presence and market exposure. We will also impart training to dealers and stockiest across India to handle technical and other product-related issues. We will be conducting road shows and retail events in all major cities in the coming days as part of our plans to expand our reach across India.

You are specialized in barcode printers, scanners and mobile printers. What are the other products in the pipeline for India?

We will introduce more hardware products for Indian market after due BIS certification. The current one in the pipeline is DT 4C, a simple and compact printer ideal for printing labels and tags. Once we get the BIS certification, we will start marketing the product. Our strength lies on output devices in the AIDC domain. We are not planning to venture into input devices like touch screen POS terminals. However, all our products can be integrated with other brand’s devices to create a complete POS solution. Along with hardware, we also offer software support where customers can customize their preferences, be it a label or a simple tag.

What is your revenue target for India in the current financial year?

In Taiwan the financial year starts from January and ends in December whereas in India it’s between April-March. We have started late this year. As per our estimate, we should do business not less than half-a-million USD in this current fiscal which will put us comfortably ahead to look for USD one million target for 2017-18.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

Bixolon is the world leader in providing cutting edge technology products to various industries with their application oriented devices. The Korea-based technology giant has created niche for itself in supplying world-class Mobile Printer, Mobile POS devices, POS printers, Label printers, POS peripherals and accessories to leading manufacturers and retailers across the globe. Growing at rapid pace in India, Bixolon has a huge catalogue of products to cater to Indian retailer and non-retailer community.

C Anton Jebadurai, country Manager, Bixolon India speaks about the company’s growth projection, future plan, product line-ups and advantages of mobile printers. Excerpts…

You are one of the world’s leading POS & Mobile Printer brands. What are your plans for India?

We have been developing advanced Receipt, Label and Mobile Printers and maintaining our position as world leader in this segment. We have been chosen as world’s leading mobile printer brand by the leading research analyst Chunichisha for the last three consecutive years. We are extremely proud of this prestigious honor.

In India, we are currently having channel partners with whom we have been working for many years. Recently, BIXOLON has also created a sales office in the region to further provide sales and technical support to the market. We saw the need and demand for mobile printing solutions growing at a rapid rate, especially in the transportation and logistics fields with delivery receipts and issuing invoices. We were able to successfully penetrate this emerging market and we aim to uphold our status as market leader by introducing products with cutting-edge technology that continue to solve industry problems.

Can you brief Bixolon’s product line for Indian retailers?

BIXOLON offers a sophisticated and comprehensive line of mobile, desktop POS and barcode label printers.

Our mobile printers include the sleek and lightweight 2-inch SPP-R200III and 3-inch SPP-R310. Both of our next generation mobile printers come equipped with Easy Bluetooth Paring via embedded NFC tag, ruggedized and water-resistant designs, and long battery lives, suitable for all industries that require portable receipt and label issuing.

BIXOLON’s POS and label range includes the ultra-reliable SRP-380 POS receipt printer, the water and dust resistant front exit SRP-F310II, perfect for restaurant and bars and the durable SLP-TX400 barcode label printer. All of these models can be used with any smart device for issuing a customer receipt, printing a kitchen order or retail shelf and inventory labeling.

Finally, BIXOLON’s complete lineup also solves the problem of connecting multiple POS peripherals with smart device based applications, by introducing the B-gate. Our mPOS hub solution easily connects up to 4 standard peripherals, such as printers, customer displays, cash drawers, scanners and scales, with tablets or smart devices via its powerful Bluetooth or Wi-Fi interface.

All the BIXOLON’s product lines are ready-to-sell in India market with BIS certification.

What are the industries you cover and your specialization?

BIXOLON offers the latest in mobile printing technology for a range of trend sensitive applications. As the mobile application market grows, BIXOLON’s mobile printers have been globally accepted as the mobile printing product of choice and integrated into a wide range of applications. Some of these applications include: delivery notes and invoice printing in logistics, mobile payment and queue busting solutions in retail, table-side ordering and delivery solutions for hospitality, price management for retail inventory, ticket and citation issuing for public workforce, and in-flight sales for aviation, just to name a few. The possibilities are endless as we continue to provide world-class solutions for industry mPOS demands.

Can you elucidate the advantages of using Mobile Printers for retail businesses?

From every aspect of the retail industry, mobile printers can be used to solve a problem. They can assist with customer wait times and overall satisfaction by queue busting and mobile checkouts. They allow retail employees to update price tags and print shelf labels directly from the sales floor, saving time and preventing shrinkage. Finally, mobile printers are used in direct store delivery (DSD) to print invoices and provide proof of delivery on the spot, eliminating the need for bulky, inconvenient and confusing technology.

BIXOLON’s full range of 2, 3 and 4 inch mobile also include various accessory options such as vehicle chargers, quad chargers, shoulder straps and protective cases. All current mobile printers support Apple (with MFI Certification), Android & Windows platforms, via cable, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. BIXOLON’s mobile printers provide simple connectivity to Tablets, Smartphones or any Smart Handheld devices. Our comprehensive line mobile printers and accessories, create the ultimate printing solution, combining convenience, style and innovative technology.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

"With government and private sectors embracing digital identification system for smart cards and other purposes, the RFID Market in India is set to witness a phenomenal growth in 2016-17,” says V.C.Srikanthan, Vice President (East), AIDC Association of India.

The Smart Card industry which in the last year was progressing little has shown prospect of good growth in the coming years with the Finance Ministry sanctioning Rs 1500 Crore for the Rashriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).

The Government is planning to launch Unorganised Worker’s Identification Number (UWIN) Smart Cards to provide social security to all those workers who are not covered under the EPFO or ESIC schemes.

These is also a spurt in the use of Aadhaar Card with the notable being Ration Cards in Haryana to be linked to Aadhaar Card and Aadhaar-Based attendance system to draw salary in Jammu & Kashmir Region. Aadhaar Card is being linked to National Population Register (NPR). Kochi Metro Rail (KMRL) is rolling out open-loop smart cards by this year.

RFID Market in India is set to see a phenomenal growth. The RFID system is also being mooted by the Government to help prevent baby Lifting in Hospitals. The first pilot project is being planned at Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai and if successful , it could lead to this system being used on a PAN-India basis.

The top trends in the RFID area is RAIN RFID (UHF), Low-energy Bluetooth in place of active/wi-fi RFID tags as these are costly compared to Bluetooth. Bluetooth is relied on many within the enterprises by use of smartphones. Hybrid RFID Systems which uses active ABD RAIN RFID. Use of memory space in the RFID tags which can act as flash drive and avoiding uploading to database to retrieve. Preperinted tags as inhouse printing is still costly.

On the Biometric front Allahabad university has set up Biometric attendance system for students. DTC Plans to install e-ticketing machines in buses to plug revenue leakages and cut down on ticketless travelling. Once this is successful there is a plan to introduce Smart Cards.

All these things tell us one thing loud and clear. The AIDC market in India is expected witness a phenomenal growth in 2016-2017.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

LISTECH Services Solution Pvt Ltd is a Mohali-based company for software development and customisation. Launched by Mr Durgesh Sharma, who is the Director of the company, LISTECH has pioneered in providing software support to various retail applications. Having completed his MCA from Pune University, Durgesh has held various positions from system analyst to project manager in various IT firms before launching his own. Durgesh, who has close to 15 years experience in software industry, speaks about Indian POS market, POS software and its importance, security threat to POS devices and more.

How will you differentiate cloud-based software support with the conventional one? Which, according to you is the best for an Omni channel retail environment?

Cloud based software support has a lot of advantages over the conventional one. Some of them are:

• 24/7 Accessibility
• Real time info sharing
• Easy Info Updates
• Easy Problem Fixing

The market is slowly changing from conventional software application dependence to Cloud-based one. Customers are increasingly demanding for the retrieval of available data in real time from every location. So, Cloud-based solution is the best option for retailers to scale-up their business and customer’s shopping experience.

Do POS devices face security threats? What best remedy you can suggest to make them secure from malware attacks?

YES, POS devices do face security threats and in recent years the threats have increased manifold. Since POS devices are connected to internet, security risks are always there. These threats can be minimised by restricting unwanted traffic and access.

Can you elucidate the prospects of POS software market in India for the next five years?

POS market is growing at a great pace in India and also the POS software needs. Since majority of the POS systems need customised POS software support, the market for POS Software is going to be phenomenal. More so, we are going to have Smart Cities and this will further augment the growth of POS hardware and software market. I can see a huge potential in these areas in the coming years.

What are the industries and applications LIS TECH cover. Tell us about expertise and clientele?

LIS Tech Services Solutions is part of the LIS Group and has expertise in developing customised and user-friendly software for Small and Medium businesses. Our company believes in Client Satisfaction and we work on the principle that software can be best utilised in the best possible way only if they are easy to use and understand. By providing technical support by number of means we ensure great customer service. Our Company has a diverse portfolio of software products in the following fields under POS Billing system.

• Retail & Wholesale Business
• Food Society and Depot System
• Hotel / Restaurant Business
• Bore Well System
• Hospital & Clinic Business
• School & College
• Newspaper agencies
• Laundry Business
• Automobiles Sales & Services
• Grocery, Bakery & Sweet Shops
• Timber Industry
• Saloon
• ERP
• Sales & Purchase Order Management
• Barcode Scanning
• Provision for Barcode Billing & Printing
• Item Search on Name, Code, Barcode, Fast Search Code, etc
• Party wise credit/cash provision
• Credit/Debit Note adjustment provision in bill
• Ledger Balance, Overdue, Outstanding Bills, Credit Limit, Last Bill History
• Last Payment Detail, Annual & Monthly Sales and Return
• New scheme, products, etc by sms. (Optional)
• Change discount / rate and store in master on Billing
• Negative Stock Billing if required (Optional)
• Cash receiving facility at the time of billing
• Invoice, Challan, Estimate printing provisions
• Provision to show last deals of Sale/Purchase or Order
• Item/Order wise delivery date, terms & instructions
• Discount module (percent & Amount wise)
• Staff commission calculations
• Cash/Credit sale Module

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

As a regional head for Honeywell's Sensing & Productivity Solutions business, Aseem Joshi has been developing strategies and spearheading sales and marketing teams to grow business. Aseem came to Honeywell from Eaton, where he worked in various roles, including Plant Manager, Marketing Manager and APAC Marketing Strategy Manager for their Hydraulics business. Prior to Eaton, he was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company and later associated with IBM as an Industrial Engineer. He has an MBA from INSEAD, MS from Virginia Tech and a BE from Pune University. Married and having 2 children, Aseem is currently based in Pune.

He speaks about Honeywell's AIDC market in India, notable product launches, and how technology can help retailers meet omni-channel challenges. Excerpts…

What is the current market size and demand for AIDC products in India? What is Honeywell's contribution in terms of meeting the demands?

According to "India Barcode Scanners and Printers Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2017" the revenues of the barcode industry in India are likely to grow at a large Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 30% during the period 2011-2017. This presents many opportunities for companies in the AIDC space, including Honeywell. Going forward, Honeywell AIDC is at the forefront of Internet of Things (IoT) for retail and e-commerce sector. Honeywell has been and continues to working with our channel, our solution partners and with a number of customers across Indian sub-continent to identify and address their business challenges, through automation. One example includes India Post, who we are helping to automate their 130,000 post offices across the country. By integrating scanning technology, Honeywell assisted India Post to leverage our world-class AIDC technology.

How do you envisage Honeywell’s overall growth in the next five years in India?

Honeywell has been in India since almost 100 years, successfully working with our customers in a diverse range of sectors across India, supporting growth through technology and innovation. We have almost 15,000 employees (including 8,000 engineers) in country and physical presence across 50 cities. Our 7 manufacturing locations and 5 global technology & engineering centers will continue to contribute to our commitment and growth along with our customers.

The retail sector is a priority for Honeywell Sensing & Productivity solutions. This is because Indian retailers, 3PLs and transport and delivery businesses here, like their counterparts around the world, have seen rapid growth and increasing operational pressures as a result of the rise of omni-channel. The increasing number of consumer shopping options, including online, in-store and click and collect, as well as the small piece orders, the increased number of delivery destinations that have to be reached in shorter timeframes, pose challenges for local retail businesses. To help address these operational pressures Honeywell will increasingly work with Indian retailers so that they have the right systems and technologies in place to keep pace with the omni-channel. We are in a vantage position to enable brick-and-mortar retailers, be it neighbourhood groceries or hypermarkets, adopt technologies that are most suitable to their needs : bee it around from POS to mobile couponing, queue-busting to cross-selling and from in-store to back-end.

Honeywell Sensing & Productivity Solutions will also in the coming years be concentrating on developing and delivering end-to-end solutions that enable seamless measures, controls and collection of data across all business systems and devices. Business connectivity and data collection allows for optimisation of workflow processes and worker productivity and accuracy.

Honeywell will leverage our heritage of industry leading technology and innovation, and work with our partners to invest in hardware, software, cloud technology and analytics solutions that best support true business connectivity.

What are the latest offerings from Honeywell for Indian POS market?

Being at the forefront of innovations in custom-engineered sensors, switches and controls, and productivity solutions built around high performance data collection hardware for more than 40 years, Honeywell Sensing & Productivity Solutions prides itself on delivering best practice technologies to businesses across India.

Honeywell's acquisitions of Intermec and Datamax-O'Neil highlight our ambition for continuous investments that strengthen the depth of our technology solutions and portfolio. Today, Honeywell offers the most comprehensive range of products in the industry, with over 50,200 products, including controls, global tracking, printers, scanners, mobility, RFID, Voice solutions, sensors, software and electromechanical.

Honeywell Sensing & Productivity Solutions allow businesses to manage their data, assets and workers in order to optimise performance and processes in every corner of their facility.

Our Orbit 7120 presentation scanners and Eclipse 5145 are already brands by themselves! Last year our thermal desktop printer PC42t was also very well accepted by the end-users.

This year, Honeywell is releasing a number of exciting technologies in the retail space, including the Solaris 7980g scanner, which meets the needs of the growing mobile payment trend. The scanner has the ability to read 2D barcodes off mobile phones, as shoppers increasingly want to use their mobile devices in place of credit cards and loyalty cards.

For retailers after an affordable scanner, Honeywell has also released the Voyager 1602g pocket 2D Bluetooth scanner. The ergonomically designed Voyager 1602g scanner can be coupled with tablet-based retail POS systems, mobile POS solutions, inventory management, backroom/stockroom and in-store customer engagement.

Can you tell us how technology can be a game changer for retail sector?

Honeywell solutions are designed to help retailers compete in an increasingly competitive environment by increasing store associate productivity, reducing operating expenses and increasing customer loyalty.

Honeywell's innovative solutions are primed for many key retail applications including store operations, fixed Point of Sale, omni-channel fulfillment, in-store mobile and warehouse.

The retail worker of today is not tied to one station and is instead moving throughout the store. These workers need technologies, such as the Voyager 1602g, which enable mobile productivity and accuracy with ease. A mobile barcode scanner has the power to not only increase productivity and accuracy, but also allow workers to interact with customers and provide a much higher level of service.

Customer service is also being improved with the launch of mobile payment offerings like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. This means customers and retailers benefit from a faster and more seamless check-out experience. With the use of a 2D barcode scanner such as the Solaris 7980g, consumers can now pay for their goods with a simple tap, while simultaneously earning loyalty points, discounts and promotions directly to their device.

Those retailers who invest in 2D barcode technology will be best placed to provide the best in-store shopping experience for their customers as mobile devices become more commonplace for payment.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

Given the importance of the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill for several key industries, its passage in this Budget season assumes greater significance than ever before, says Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, JLL India, a leading market research analyst, who further feels that, the passing of the Bill will not only test the government’s management skills in both houses of the Parliament but also show its keenness in pushing economic reforms.

Over 20 years of experience in multi-disciplinary advisory and transactions ranging from real estate to social development projects, Anuj has expertise in planning, undertaking demand assessment studies and transaction services including marketing strategies based on technical analysis, feasibility studies, program requirement derivation and fund and investor sourcing.

Responsible for the overall direction, strategy and growth of the largest premier market research company in India, Anuj Puri currently oversees a team of over 4800 employees across 11 cities in India with an annual business turnover of over INR 800 crores.

Anuj speaks about the effect of GST on Indian economy, and benefits to manufacturing and logistics sectors. An excerpt...

How does GST help businesses grow particularly in manufacturing and logistics sectors?

GST can give a big push to the manufacturing as well as logistics and warehousing sectors, and has the potential to add 1-2 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after a year of its implementation. Built into the value-added structure which would eliminate the cascading effect of tax-on-tax system, GST, by making compliances easy, will also improve tax collection and reduce the overall taxation levels.

According to a World Bank analysis, India is readying to scale up the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) further from its current 54th rank among 160 nations. Building efficient warehouses and improved transportation network are expected to help India improve its rank. Also, the advancement in technology aims to bring down the cost of logistics and warehousing.

Not only this would increase organized warehousing but also improve transportation lot size, reduce transit time, decrease the cost for logistics and manufacturers which will increases cash flow for them.

Will there be increase in the number of transportation and logistics hubs post GST?

GST will result in emergence of new hubs apart from the existing ones. We already have Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmadabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Kolkata, all offer organized warehousing for manufacturers and logistics partners. Some of the emerging hubs which will bridge the gaps and increase the reach post GST for seamless transportation across India are Coimbatore, Belgaum, Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada, Goa, Jaipur, Kolhapur, Guwahati, Indore, Patna, Ranchi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Vapi, Kanpur and Raipur.

What are the factors that decide the location of distribution centres?

Post GST, if any manufacturer has uniform consumer market/sales distribution and wants to build a single distribution centre (DC) to feed the entire country, the hub would be typically chosen near the country’s geometrical centre of gravity (CG). However, the market size and consumer demand of each product are very complex and different. Larger markets have the tendency to pull the CG toward it. In India, consumer demand is typically skewed more toward the northern, southern and western regions, thus the pull force of demand attraction shift the geometric centre away from eastern and little towards western direction.

What are the prospects of warehousing sector vis-à-vis GST implementation?

With the onset of GST, once the physical state boundaries lose their significance from the taxation point of view, supply chain dynamics would rule supreme for warehouse location selection. GST, once implemented, will look at re-engineering the supply chain architecture with fewer and larger strategically placed DCs along with smaller warehouses for daily milk runs.

Apart from harmonization of warehousing space, companies are also taking this opportunity to give high importance to operational efficiencies and safety standards in the new warehouses with the use of vertical racking, reach trucks, automated conveyor systems, fire sprinklers, hydrant systems, etc.

The emergence of high-tech warehouses has indeed complemented the growth of technology devices such as POS hand held computers, high range barcode scanners, and other supporting hardware and software. Thus, GST is expected not only to optimize the supply chain networks but also to bring in high-quality international standard warehouses in the Indian market and lead to emergence of new hubs.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

An early entrant into the organized retail sector in India, Baskaramoorthy was instrumental in introducing a range of hardware products to the booming sector. As a co-founder of Protocol, he brought the barcode technology and POS machines as a distribution partner of Posiflex and developed the market in India. When Posiflex, a global leading brand in design and manufacture of POS solutions and peripherals, looked to consolidate Indian market in 2009, Protocol was the natural choice and they forged to form an Indian entity – Posiflex India.

Having close to two decades of industry exposure with deep understanding of the Indian retail industry in terms of quality, price points and service requirements, Baskar was instrumental in developing Industrial Automation products to help improve the Workforce Efficiency and Inventory Management using Barcode & RFID technologies in India.

On personal ground, the Bachelor of Engineering graduate from Coimbatore Institute of Technology is an avid reader and a cricketer. He likes to go on a long drive during weekends and also dish out some outstanding mouthwatering delicacies with the most favourite of all being Dum Biriyani' that he prepares at home.

A veteran in POS technology, Baskaramoorthy talks about the growth of POS sector in India and Posiflex's role in digitalizing Indian retail sector. Excerpts.

What is your take on Indian retail sector growth vis-à-vis POS technology?

In the recent years POS technology in Indian retail sector has seen significant improvement mainly due to large scale adaptation of the technology by Tier 2 retailers. It enabled them to stay in competition against organized local and international brands. Compared to supermarket/departmental stores, the usage of POS technology has been very high in hospitality segment due to large scale usage of Touch Screen Technology triggered by Smart Phone revolution.

Can you brief POSIFLEX's presence in India as a POS brand and growth since its entry?

Posiflex has well established itself as a reliable and sustainable POS partner in India with more than 35,000 installed systems across India by various retailers - from small to large formats. Posiflex products have been marketed in India since 2001 and the brand has shown significant growth since then. Our market share is significant in POS sector with touch screen monitors and other supportive POS products taking the lead in retail applications.

What are the advantages of using POS products in retail business environment?

POS enables moment of truth for the retailer in terms of what is happening in their business day-to-day and empowers them with various powerful reports which help them to take critical business decision instead just depending on their employees or trusting their memory power. Due to socio-economic development, most retailers have multiple outlets these days, which need a dependable system to process multiple-data to analysis business transactions in real time.

How far POS technology can do a turnaround in Indian retail sector?

Technology can only be an enabler for any business. So, POS technology alone can't do a turnaround on retail sector unless otherwise there is significant growth in retail sector & improved consumer purchase sentiments.

How do you see POSIFLEX's role in automating businesses in India?

In the past 10 years Posiflex has been working tirelessly to popularize the POS standards and increase technology adoption among various retailers across India. Posiflex has conducted road shows in the name SHOPTECH (Technology for Shopper) in various places to take the technology to retailers and also sensitize among resellers & system integrators about the importance of POS technology. The awareness programs are well received and appreciated by retail community which resulted in wide-spread usage of POS technology by retailers. Such awareness programs help them to automate their business which in turn boosts our growth prospects.

Can you elucidate your product range in India and future plans?

Posiflex is the only company in India that has wide range of POS products catering to small and big box retailers. The company has introduced more than 20 models globally, and in India, we stock and sell around 9 models to suit various parameters of retailers such as business applications, size and affordability to aid faster ROI for them. In line with the Government of India's "Make in India" initiative, we have formulated our future plans to bring in more innovations and affordable POS products that suit Indian customers.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

The evolution of Point of Sale (POS) in India is closely linked to the growth of the retail sector, a major contributor to GDP, during the last two decades. Technology has played a key role in bringing sophistication, ease of use, efficiency and automation into the various business activities related to the retail sector.

The evolution of POS in India can be attributed to a few major need-based factors. In the early 80s, the economy was sluggish, the purchasing power of people was much less and so were the number of retail stores and consumer items they traded. The industrial liberalization which started in the early 90s, opened the flood gates of economic activity and opportunities, and ever since there has been a steady increase in purchasing power among consumers. Store owners needed to stock more new and existing items to cater to the renewed customer needs. This had posed new challenges for them at Point of Sale as they had more customers to handle, more stocks to maintain and of course, more staff to manage.

The need for a more sophisticated and advanced system was felt which could, apart from fast billing, also take care of other in-store back-end activities such as book keeping, sales tracking, customer loyalty program, staff management, multi-store management and many more such business activities at ease.

The predominant Mom and Pop/Kirana stores, which still form a major portion of retail outlets in India, had closed-end accounting system, which had its own disadvantages. The traditional manual cash registers used in those days only gave information to the customers about the items purchased and the bill value. These two factors too forced the retailers to think for alternative and advanced POS system.

Early POS

During the mid 80s to early 90s, the retail industry was introduced to DOS-based POS systems which simplified and reduced the billing time considerably compared to manual billing processes. These systems had a computing software and processor integrated with a receipt (most often a dot-matrix) printer. But still, with rapid growth in customer base and their ever-growing needs, the computer-based manual entry POS system soon became obsolete and inadequate to keep customers satisfied.

The advent of barcode technology has completely changed the retail sector for good and augmented its growth faster than expected. Also, with Windows OS in hand, which is far advanced compared to DOS, new and advanced POS products were being introduced in the market much to the advantage of retailers , who were looking for a system to keep pace with demand and industry growth. Windows seamlessly integrated with all the necessary hardware/peripherals such as scanner and printer with the help of respective ‘drivers’ unlike DOS, where one has to write software for each and every new application introduced. It’s as easy as plug-and-play and as a result PC-based system have taken the forefront in the Indian POS market.

Cloud POS

Cloud POS is the latest innovation among retailers, as more and more of them are leaning towards cloud computing technology for their POS counters. Cloud POS has a lot of advantages and great potential compared to other POS technologies available in the market. The former needs less hardware, less incidental expense, no threat of losing data or shutdown, ease of software updates, secured data handling, etc. With just a tablet in hand and a secured internet connection, business transactions can be carried out anywhere – both inside as well as outside the business area.

Since the applications are on the cloud, it is quite simple to connect additional counters or new stores. It hardly takes a few minutes to integrate new business areas with the existing system. Also, implementation and testing time of new retail outlets are far less compared to normal system.

EPSON supports Digital India Vision

Epson is completely in sync with Digital India Vision, as we believe that it will help connect remote corners of the country. Digitalization of POS sector, in particular, will go a long way in making the retail sector one of the fastest growing among all sectors. With Cloud computing taking the lead, digitalization of POS counters among the huge chunk of retailers will make the Indian retail sector far advanced and one of the most sophisticated in the entire region.

EPSON in India

For Epson, customer satisfaction matters a lot and this has reflected in our steady growth of our customer base in India. We were the pioneer in launching POS printers in India in 1996 and today we can say proudly that we have the largest market share of over 50 per cent. This literally means, every second POS printer in the market is sold by Epson. We shall continue to serve our customer's needs with new, reliable, sustainable and advanced printing technology.

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com

V.C.Srikanthan Chartered Engineer, MIE, Rashtrabhasha Ratna Chief Executive Officer, M/s.ARS Technologies Vice President (East) AIDC Technologies Association of India; Regional Director (East) Institute of AIDC Technology & Science; Visiting Faculty – (Lectures AND seminar ON Barcoding) MSME DI Kolkata; Visiting Faculty – NATIONAL High School (Boys) – H.S Section ; Professor Incharge – ARS Centre FOR Mathematical AND Statistical Computing;

Automatic Identification AND DATA Capture Systems are a NATURAL corollary TO computer era, since they ensure error free DATA entry INTO the system. MIS needed TO control AND track business systems can be significantly improved IN accuracy, detail AND sheer speed of availability. AIDC Comprises of ALL OR combination of Barcode Printers, Scanners, Decoders, tDaa Capturing Units, Radio Frequency Terminals, EAS Systems, ID card Printing, Biometric AND related softwares.

KEY Drivers FOR Barcoding AND anticipated benefits

• Barcoding an international standard Practice FOR the past 30 years AND there IS increasing demand FOR overseas buyers FOR accepting only barcoded supplies
• Product Tack AND traceability enabling product recall
• Just – IN – TIME monitoring of product stock levels
• GLOBAL demand FOR efficient AND automated Supply chains FOR product movement FROM the POINT of manufacture TO POINT of sale /consumption LEADING TO reduction IN prices of goods thru reduction IN supply CHAIN costs
• Requirement FOR accuracy/speed IN facilitating movement of goods thru automatic DATA Capture
• GLOBAL requirement of electronic communication ( thru EDI etc.) REQUIRE automatic DATA capture through Barcoding AS KEY enabler

Applications of Barcoding

• Distribution
• Marketing
• Manufacturing
• Customer Satisfaction
• Exports

USE of Barcoding IN India – Current Scenario

• Automobile Industry – inventory tracking AND production scheduling
• FMCG Industry – inventory tracking & production scheduling
• Retail Industry – Apparel, FMCG, Grocery etc. – inventory tracking , POINT of sale
• Exports (Complaince Labelling)
• Canteen Stores Department (Minsitry of Defence) – POINT of sale AND inventory
• Alcoholic Beverages (State Excise Department) – POINT of sale, Inventory, authentication
• Healthcare (Hospitals, Medical CHAIN retails etc.) – Patient tracking, POINT of sale, testings etc.
• Pharmaceutical Industry FOR avoiding counterfeiting, inventory, desaptch etc.

GS1 India under Ministry of Commerce IS the authority towards Barcode allocation numbers. GS1 IS responsible FOR development AND implementation of OPEN interoperable AND USER driven standards IN Supply CHAIN Management TO ENABLE UNIQUE AND universal identification of Products, Assets, Services, Locations, DATA Capture AND seamless sharing of Supply CHAIN information BETWEEN Trading Partners incuding Retailers, Manufacturers, Suppliers, Logistic Providers AND Consumers.

Commonly Used GS1 Identification KEY

What TO Identify	EXAMPLE	GS1 Identification KEY
Consumer Item/SKU/Product Variant OR TYPE of Retail Sale	Apparel, Toothpaste etc.	GLOBAL Trade Identification Number (GTIN)
Locations, Legal & Functional Entitities	Companies, factories, Warehouses, Stores, Department WITHIN Organisation	GLOBAL Location Number (GLN)
Logistic Units	Pallet Containers, Shipping Containers	SERIAL Shippers Container CODE (SSCC)
Returnable Assets	Pallets, Plastic Crates etc.	GLOBAL Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI)
FIXED Assets	Laptops, Photocopiers etc.	GLOBAL Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI)
Documents	Stamp Papers, Office Documents etc.	GLOBAL Document TYPE Identifier (GDTI)
Freight Consignment	Single consignment FOR Desaptch	GLOBAL Identification number FOR Consignment (GINC)
Grouping of Logistics units that travel under same dispatch notice	Used BY Customs Authorities FOR identifying IMPORT & Export shipping	GLOBAL Shipment Identification Number (GSIN)
People Served BY OR serving under a SPECIFIC services	Patient, members of customer Loyalty Scheme, Employee etc.	GLOBAL Service Relationship Number (GSRN)

Adoption of GS1 Standards IN India

• APEDA has adopted GS1 KEYS (GTINs, GLNs, SSCC) & GS1 traceability STD FOR Grapes, Pomegranates, Groundnuts, Organic food & 103 horticultural products
• IndiaGAP mentions the USAGE of GS1 identification KEYS
• GlobalGAP mentions the USAGE of GLOBAL Location Number (GLN) FOR UNIQUE farm identification
• Several State Excise Depts. have mandated the USE of GS1 stds FOR IMFL
• CSD endorses GS1 stds
• ALL major retailers (Reliance, More, Big Bazaar, Spencer’s etc) endorse GS1 stds

Regulatory Mandates IN India

• Canteen Store Department (CSD) mandates suppliers TO affix GS1 Barcodes ON ALL products supplied TO 33 AREA depots
• Alcoholic Beverages Delhi State ExciseDepartment mandates USE of GS1 FOR enhancing Supply CHAIN efficientcy AND product authentication
• Fresh Produce & Processed Food : APEDA (Agriculture & Processed Food Export Development Authority) uses barcode FOR implementing traceability
• DGFT AND Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India mandates USE of GS1 standards FOR Pharmaceuticals products TO combat counterfeit products

Financial Assistance FOR Adoption of GS1 Standards

• Ministry of Micro, Small & MEDIUM Enterprises (MSME) Govt. of India FOR registered Small Scale Industries (SSIs) registerd WITH MSME
• Spices Board FOR members of Spices Board
• Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India FOR members of Export Promotion Coucil FOR Handicaarafts (EPCH) AND Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC)

- K. Ramanathan   ram@justransact.com