For next-gen retailers, the shopfloor is also a place to test new ideas and their management skills, honed in foreign B-schools.
Promoters are ready to give greater roles to their heirs in conceiving and running new retail formats. The ones making an impact include Future Group founder Kishore Biyani’s daughters Ashni and Avni, RPG group’s Shashwat Goenka, Videocon’s Sourabh Dhoot, and V2 Retail promoter Ram Chandra Agarwal’s son, Akash.
The young scions are roughing it out in the marketplace, bringing a fresh perspective and energy to their families’ businesses.
Varied Ventures
Ashni Biyani, elder daughter of the Future Group CEO, takes care of Future Ideas, a vertical undertaking consumer research and offering consultancy services. Avni has plunged into Foodhall, a specialty food retail vertical.
Future Group watchers say that Ashni Biyani was also closely involved in developing the group’s new direct selling platform, Big Bazaar Direct. Her other retail venture, Holii, sells handbags and accessories through a joint venture with Hidesign.
Foodhall, the gourmet store, was conceptualised by the New York University-educated Avni Biyani. The company has already opened four stores and two more are coming up. She is also a part of the group’s food strategy council, which discusses consumer goods and private brands to be sold in Foodhall and Food bazaar stores.
Videocon Group co-promoter Pradeep Dhoot’s son Sourabh Dhoot heads the group’s consumer electronics retailing business, Next Retail, while Akash Agarwal is involved in procurement and vendor management as well as opening new stores in untapped territories, such as east India, for V2 Retail.
Food for thought
Shashwat Goenka, son of R.P. Sanjiv Goenka group Vice-Chairman Sanjiv Goenka, is repositioning Spencer’s Retail as a ‘food-first’ retailer. The 23-year-old is the brain behind Epicuisine hub, a gourmet and live kitchen inside Spencer’s hypermarkets.
“We wanted to see how we could differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Consumers are aware of new products and want to try it out. Epicuisine hub is experiential in design and will offer prepared and packaged food,” says Goenka. Epicuisine will be rolled out in revamped stores and retailed along with apparel and home improvement products.
Says Kavil Ramachandran, Professor of Family Business and Wealth Management, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad: “The next-gen wants to try out new stuff. Families are more than happy to provide that synergy and groom them. If the venture succeeds, it is an advantage. If it folds, it provides a learning curve.”