Report on Skill requirements and Skill Gap in Organised Retail in India

This report from NSDC talks about the need and requirement of various human resources in organised retail in India. Broadly it has the following organisation

1. Environment Scanning and Competitiveness of Organised Retail

1.2. Industry size and Growth

1.3. Demand Drivers

1.4. Key Success Factors and Risk Factors

2. Human Resource and Skill Requirements in the Organised Retail Industry

2.1. Overview of Employment in Organised Retail

2.2. Skill requirements and skill gaps in Store Operations

2.3. Skill requirements and skill gaps in Merchandising

2.4. Skill requirements and skill gaps in Purchase

2.5. Skill requirements and skill gaps in Logistics

2.6. Skill requirements and skill gaps in Marketing

2.7. Skill requirements unique to different segments and formats in Organised Retail

2.8. Current Training/Education Infrastructure

2.9. Approach towards new Skill building initiatives

2.10. Regions which will drive human resource requirements

2.11. Projected Industry Size and Human Resource Requirement

In short, it is very useful resource for retailers, planners and general industry.

One can download it from here.

Should you do MFM if you are a fashion designer

MFM for Fashion Designers

This is what a reader has written to me:

A friend of mine is a B. Des. from NIFT. She has also cleared MFM exam She is a little confused as to whether to join the NIFT MFM or not. Can you throw some light on what her career path could be if she continues as a designer vs if she does the MFM course. As she already has a bachelor's degree from NIFT, some people have suggested that MFM might be a waste. But we are not sure. Hope you could help ?

The basic question is should you do MFM if you are a fashion designer.

My answer is-yes. Whereas having a degree in Fashion Design prepares you for the product, it is the MFM degree that prepares you to present the product profitably to the market. Just have a look at the subjects of the MFM and you would realize immediately that the course is designed to offer the product in a corporate set up. Thus there are subjects related to general management- Marketing, Finance, Human Resource- that help you to set up and work in an industrial set up with the agreed upon principles. The courses related to product such as Pattern Appreciation, Merchandising, Supply Chain and Fabric knowledge will present the product from the point of view of logistics from the concept to the customer. Then there are specialized courses such as brand management, advertising management, visual merchandising and International marketing which give you an in-depth knowledge of the way companies operate. And finally, courses in retail management, Customer relationship management and MIS will prepare you to operate in an sales environment. The most important of all is the knowledge that you gain from experts and seniors in the field.

In short being an MFM with a fashion designing degree is a double benefit. Often, designers are not very good in number crunching and a degree in MFM prepares you to face the marketing, finance and brand managers fearlessly and with the knowledge of products at the back of your hand, can make you a formidable personal force to reckon with. I have personally seen people with these dual degrees who are way above in the hierarchy than those with only a fashion design degree or with a fashion management (MFM) degree alone.  

Elibility and Entrance Procedure for NIFT MFM

Hello Sir, Presently I m doing graduation and this is my last year so i want to go for NIFT MFM so can you please tell the eligibility and entrance procedure?

This is a question very commonly asked by the students. Here is my way of looking at it:

Eligibility: Any graduate is eligible. For details you can log on to the NIFT website and find the details.

Entrance Procedure: A student needs to clear a written exam called GAT ( General Ability Test) and MAT ( Management Ability Test). Basically it is an objective type test which have standard questions on Quantitative Ability, Reasoning and Verbal Ability along with a section on General Knowledge ( which includes knowledge of fashion). The level of the exam is medium. Thus if you are preparing for CAT, this exam is a cakewalk. After the written is over , you will be called for a Group Discussion,  Psychometric Test and Interview and that’s it. GDs and interviews are standard as in any MBA institute. Psychometric test measures your psychological soundness to complete the course.

How to Prepare: You would do well to prepare for the general MBA examination. Generally the process starts in the month of October/November. The entrance examination is in the month of January and the GD/Interview in the month of May.


You can find more about MFM programme here.

In future posts, I would elaborate on what to read/study for NIFT MFM.

NIFT or Pearl

This is a question asked by one of my readers:

I have cleared NIFT and got 1xx rank for MFM & have also got through Pearl Academy of Fashion for RETAIL MANAGEMENT.

Please guide me what should I do n what chances do i stand for nift centres , I have heard that exposure n placements are better for pearl. In Long term I want to establish my own enterprise. Please advice accordingly.

NIFT or Pearl

This is a question in the minds of the students especially for those who got through the test of both the institutes. Since it is question of people's career therefore it should be handled very carefully. 

An institute is a combination of the efforts and brand name. In fact, brand name gets developed after a lot of effort. 

NIFT was started to impart fashion education at a time when there was no such institute. Over time, it has built a reputation on its own. Its alumni is spread all across the country. Under the aegis of Ministry of Textiles, it commands vast resources which is always good for students. 

Pearl, on the other hand is a private venture which also- thanks to the efforts made by the administration and faculty-has established a formidable reputation. It has the advantage of an inhouse industry which prepares the students to see things in action. Its faculty is well qualified and labs furnished. In that sense also it is as par with NIFT. But it has a constraint of resources which are not as widely available as are in NIFT.

In fact, pearl goes far beyond that. It studies the NIFT curriculum, improves it and presents to its students. It tries to get the same level of faculty as NIFT has. In that way, it is almost reactive to NIFT actions. 

Now what to choose ? given a choice, one may want to opt for NIFT as here the brand name guarantees the career.  Thus if one wants to have a strong career, brand name NIFT always help. It also helps you in getting loans for your industry. The alumni spread all over are an additional asset. 

But maybe I am biased. I would welcome comments giving some other reasons for opting Pearl vis-a-vis NIFT. 

Controlling your Supply Chain through Visibility

While building a supply chain system, it is necessary to have a look at the existing processes and an attempt should be made to reengineer those. If  this is not done there is a risk that any system will only automate the existing inefficiencies.

The best systems are those that blend technologies with the organizational practices.

The best practice is to control velocity and variability in the supply chain by Visibility.

Visibility is the ability of an organization to have an unobstructed view of all the information related to planning and execution.

From a waterfall model ( where high level design leads to strategies and tactics), the present view of supply chain is a component-based aggregation of solution that has an inbound and outbound perspective.

The Four P’s of Visibility of the Supply Chain are:

1.       Product Visibility

It includes item definition, localization, life cycle and quality

2.       Process Visibility

It includes planning operations ( e.g. demand forecast), manufacturing operations, purchasing processes, performance analysis, billing and returns logistics.

3.       Partner Visibility

Supplier portfolios can be created with target margins set for each product, based on demand for product. These targets can be used to negotiate and understand the company’s margins.

4.       Profit Visibility

This basically includes how supply chain operations are impacting the bottom line.

You can read the full article here

Private Firm to Buy Stake in Catmoss

Private Equity Firm SAIF partners may buy around 30% stake in Delhi based kidswear retail chain Catmoss for Rs. 70 crore.

Catmoss runs around 150 exclusive brand oulets.

Established in early 2000, it clocked a net profit of around 7.5 crore with a revenue of Rs. 130 crore.

This is second PE investment after TPG and Bain Capital took 35% stake in Lilliput Kidswear.

The Market for children's apparel is about Rs. 21000 crore.