IIM-A sets ups retail tech consortium for consumer research, Flipkart joins as partner

The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has formed a retail tech consortium for consumer research, and industry best practices. E-commerce major Flipkart has joined in as its principal partner in the first year.

The consortium will act as a strategic bridge linking retail brands, technology partners, and academia and bring forth consumer research and innovations in retail sector, IIM-A said on March 23.

“The consortium will work towards sharing deep knowledge, research, and setting up industry best practices for better collaboration among retail tech players in the country,” it said.

Some of its activities would include nationwide consumer surveys, development of case studies, conducting field experiments and carrying out research studies. These interventions will help create open data sources to enable learning across consumer cohorts with respect to their habits, usage, triggers, and barriers, according to the elite B-School.

Flipkart will bring in its industry knowledge and experience and consumer insights in the internet ecosystem to contribute to this effort, according to the institute.

Jeyandran Venugopal, chief product and technology officer at Flipkart, said the modern retail ecosystem in India has accelerated at an unprecedented speed and is driven by rapid digital adoption.

“With fast-changing consumer preferences and needs, the only way for brands to thrive in this dynamic market is to capitalise on the power of technology. Through our collaboration with IIMA and insights gathered from the consumer survey, we intend to identify opportunities and create forums for knowledge sharing, research and training that will help transform the retail ecosystem to drive greater value for Kiranas, retailers and customers,” Venugopal said.

Pankaj Setia, chairperson of the Centre for Digital Transformation at IIM-A said the institute targets research on issues the retail sector is facing, gather insights and facilitate knowledge sharing to help retailers across the industry come up to speed with the current demands.

“We identify this as an urgent need as retailers need to quickly react to the constantly changing preferences of customers and the advent of new technological innovations. Managing inventory, labour shortages, supply chain logistics, and adhering to sustainable practices are a few other challenges that most online sellers are facing. The Centre for Digital Transformation will create and share insights gathered through research that can enable the development of solutions by partners across the board,” Setia added.

In the past two years of the pandemic, the retail sector has undergone massive adaptation. Digitalisation of retail has happened at a fast pace and has impacted both online and traditional retailers. This consortium will largely bring to the fore unbiased voices of customers on the digitalisation of retail in the country which will help retailers understand their consumers better, IIM-A said.