Flipkart joins as principal partner for the inaugural year
Consortium will act as a strategic bridge linking retail brands, technology partners, and academia and bring forth cutting edge consumer research and innovations in the area
March 23, 2022: The Centre for Digital Transformation at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), a premier global management institute, has recently set up a Retail Tech Consortium and plans to collaborate with several retail and technology organisations in India. The consortium will work towards sharing deep knowledge, research, and setting up industry best practices for better collaboration amongst retail tech players in the country. Flipkart, India based e-commerce marketplace has joined as a principal partner for the inaugural year of the consortium, bringing its industry knowledge and experience and consumer insights in the internet ecosystem to contribute to this effort.
In the past two years of the pandemic, the retail sector has undergone massive adaptation. Digitalization 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 digitalization of retail in the country which will help retailers understand their consumers better.
Speaking about the need for setting up the consortium, Professor Pankaj Setia, Chairperson of the Centre for Digital Transformation at IIMA said, “Through this collaboration, we aim to initiate cutting edge 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.”
Some of the activities that the consortium will undertake include nationwide consumer surveys, development of case studies, the conduct of field experiments and research studies, retail tech webinars, conferences and more. These interventions will not only allow a healthy cross-pollination of ideas and impartation of knowledge among companies and industries but also help create open data sources to enable learning across consumer cohorts with respect to their habits, usage, triggers, and barriers.
Sharing his thoughts on how this collaboration stands to benefit the sector, Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Flipkart, said, “The modern retail ecosystem in India has accelerated at an unprecedented speed over the past several years 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 capitalize 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.”
The Centre for Digital Transformation at IIMA was inaugurated last year and focuses on activities that enhance an understanding of the digital ecosystem and catalyse leadership, as it leverages its expertise in research and development to provide thought leadership for digital transformation.
About IIM Ahmedabad
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is a premier, global management Institute that is at the forefront of promoting excellence in the field of management education. Over the 60 years of its existence, it has been acknowledged for its exemplary contributions to scholarship, practice and policy through its distinctive teaching, high-quality research, nurturing future leaders, supporting industry, government, social enterprise and creating a progressive impact on society.
IIMA was founded as an innovative initiative by the Government, industry and international academia in 1961. Since then it has been consolidating its global footprint and today it has a network with over 80 top international institutions and a presence in Dubai. Its eminent faculty members and 40,000 alumni, who are at the helm of influential positions in all walks of life also contribute to its global recognition.
Over the years, IIMA’s academically superior, market-driven, and socially impactful programmes, have earned high reputation and acclaim globally. It became the first Indian institution to receive international accreditation from EQUIS. The renowned flagship two-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) is ranked 20th in the FT Master in Management Ranking 2020 and the one-year Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) has been ranked 48th in the FT Global MBA rankings 2021. The institute also is placed first in the Government of India’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), India Rankings 2020. IIMA offers consultancy services and more than 200 curated executive education programmes in customized, blended, and open enrolment formats for a diverse audience comprising of business leaders, policymakers, industry professionals, academicians, government officials, armed forces personnel, agri-business and other niche sector specialists and entrepreneurs. To know more about IIMA, please visit: https://www.iima.ac.in/
About the Flipkart Group
The Flipkart Group is one of India’s leading digital commerce entities and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart Health+ and Cleartrip. The Group is also a majority shareholder in PhonePe, one of the leading Payments Apps in India.
Started in 2007, Flipkart has enabled millions of consumers, sellers, merchants, and small businesses to be a part of India’s digital commerce revolution, with a registered customer base of more than 400 million, offering over 150 million products across 80+ categories. Our efforts to democratize commerce in India, drive access and affordability, delight customers, create lakhs of jobs in the ecosystem, and empower generations of entrepreneurs and MSMEs have inspired us to innovate on many industry firsts. Flipkart is known for pioneering services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI and easy returns – customer-centric innovations have made online shopping more accessible and affordable for millions of Indians. Together with its group companies, Flipkart is committed to transforming commerce in India through technology.
