MUMBAI: Clickbait may be sexy, but cash still walks into stores. That was the clear takeaway at the Phygital Retail Convention 2025 (PRC), where industry heavyweights made a persuasive case for why offline retail continues to bag the profits even as online steals the spotlight.
“Online is a matter of discount in India,” quipped Kumar Nitesh, CEO of Ajio Business and Trend Footwear, Reliance Retail, summing up the e-tail paradox, it boosts valuations, sure, but often bleeds the bottom line. While online contributes about 25 per cent to business, Nitesh noted it’s the brick-and-mortar game that ensures retailers aren’t just surfing trends but making money from them.
Earlier in the day, P Senthilkumar, senior partner at Vector Consulting, flagged a deeper inventory dilemma: with fashion trends flying faster than ever, predicting demand has become a retail roulette. “What was sold in the previous session is no longer relevant in the next,” he said, highlighting that the average product lifecycle has shrunk to just four months, a ticking timebomb for inventory planners and merchandisers.
Management thinker Shiv Shivakumar didn’t hold back either, calling out the “buy two, get one free” gimmickry plaguing the apparel space and lamenting the sector’s lack of innovation. Drawing a sharp contrast, he urged retailers to borrow a leaf from the IT playbook where rupee costs meet dollar revenue to de-risk their models and rethink profitability.
Zooming out from fashion to the broader consumer mindset, B S Nagesh, chairman of Shoppers Stop and founder of Trrain, urged traditional grocers to embrace tech-driven scalability, echoing the wider theme of phygital fusion. Meanwhile, Nikhil Bhatia of CBRE India offered a glimpse into the future of retail real estate: where families don’t come for shopping, they come for a showdown of experiences.
Based on insights from 700 voices across metros, Bhatia revealed that entertainment-led retail saw a 150 per cent surge, thanks to rising demand for gourmet food courts, upscale bowling alleys, and family entertainment centres especially in Pune, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. “Entertainment is the new anchor tenant,” he said, painting a vivid picture of malls where dining and dancing might just edge out discount deals.
At PRC 2025, the message rang loud and clear: online may be the poster child, but offline is still the parent paying the bills. And as the retail universe evolves, the future may just lie in a perfect stitch between the two.
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