 Thank you so much for Mr. Vinny Jain, COO of Vmart for joining us and we continue our focus on non metros in the series presented by Denik Pascal in association with exchange for media. And the topic today is Bharat festive chair chair continues as we have seen in the last two months. The spends have been back and especially retailers have been aggressive with their spends. So Mr. Jain, thank you so much for taking out time and joining us. My first question to you is that retail was a sector that was heavily impacted due to COVID. I mean not last year, I mean this year I would say because it's a few days away from the next year. However if you see there was a significant uptick during the festive season as you know. Tell me how did festive season play out for you, for Vmart? Sure, well first of all thank you very much for giving us this interaction opportunity. I can say I think during this year 2020 we have seen the unprecedented time, nobody imagine that this can happen in our life ever. Okay and starting if I'm recalling my memory like starting from the march end to April May we have seen the complete lockdown then again moving to the mage on July kind of it's a partial lockdown then some market open, some market close, some timing restrictions. So all kind of the permutation combinations of the of the market we have seen over the past and September, October I think the market was in the different phase altogether and the entire I can say the entire summer season was completely wiped out. Everybody was prepared well during this year March, April but unfortunately this thing happened and initial lockdown I think wiped out the entire summer initiatives and summer range and all but luckily I can say starting from the end of October or the precisely I can say in November month we have seen the very very good response. There's a good customer response in the market. People are like the fear was like it is on the reducing trend I can say and we have seen a lot of customers are coming, they are buying, they are doing shopping so that's a good good trend we have witnessed especially what happened this year the November again since it's a late Diwali we have seen okay and it's good coincide with the winter, winter wear. So it's like again catering the basic need of the customer which is like more of a seasonal of its kind plus the festival need I think combining both the customers are there and they really purchased from us and AJ Vee Maad I can say the good part is that we were actually completely ready to cater the customer winter need. So irrespective of the Diwali season there was good and huge mix of the winter wear also because that was a precisely seasonal need of the customer and they have to purchase it and do somewhere to fulfill their need and demand. Right, right, right. So if you look at the kind of growth that you have seen tell me what kind of products witnessed greater demand and what was the contribution of non-markets in this recovery phase, non-metro markets I mean to say. Okay, see if we are talking first of all I'm coming to which all the products really were performed so good during this particular phase I've already covered the winter wear, winter wear means the winter jackets we pull over sweatshirt etc etc I think there we have seen the very good trend and upswing in the market and number one number two I think the kids wear which like no matter whether it's a lockdown or not kids are growing okay so somewhere I think they have to purchase the new clothes and that was in the very very good trade good trade we have seen the again the new set of trade of the kids wear that's another second third thing I think the lot of work from home the people are actually not moving out from the home so their home their daily wear kind of actually again we have seen the very good trend good trend there so seasonal kids wear and the daily wear these are the three big categories which actually we cater and we rightly predicted and I think we somehow I think fulfill the demand of the customers that's the one part if I'm talking the market what your question was like it's like the major metro versus the tier one tier two and tier three and tier four so I think when you look at the even the covid cases number it is not like look like a bigger story of the cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore so there we have seen the very high numbers of the cases in comparison with them and comparing the tier two tier three and tier four the numbers are pretty low okay but luckily I can say the we marked our our bigger business and the bigger presence is like in the tier two tier three and tier four market I still recall like when I visited in the November 2nd week which was like again the week of the festival okay at that point I'm that point I have seen the in the typically in the in the cities like Basti, Sultanpur these are in the UP actually okay Gauratpur so these cities what I have seen I think there was no fear of the covid actually so people are like I think the markets are quite open the people are moving here and there the same kind of the good budge was there so maybe initially initial phase irrespective of the low number of cases but yes since it was the big hype of the covid and all these things so people were not coming out from the market but I think in the when I have seen the market I think the people were very much there in the market so I think the least impacted market is obviously the tier four then tier tier three and the tier two it's a more story of the problem and the concern is more about the major metro and the bigger malls right right it's just a follow-up question so how would you assess the consumer sentiment in those non metro areas see non metro areas like it's largely a agree driven kind of okay and luckily I think I can say that this this year the agree agree is like really doing well it's good and there is no problem at all there so I think that's a larger dependency number one number two in these cities again the bigger set of consumption is unlike the major metro I'm saying in these these kind of the market the bigger bigger set of consumption is coming during the wedding and the and the and the merry season so that also we have seen like starting from post Diwali till 15th of December we have seen seen the very good trend of the mary's merry season consumption here also right so tell me if we look at the last 10 months there has been a certain kind of behavioral shift as far as consumers are concerned do you think somehow become permanent part of this customer journey especially in the non metro areas so obviously there was a complete different picture was there I think good three four months back but when I'm looking the certain things which will continue in the coming time also maybe more relevant for the tier one I can say or maybe the major metros where they work from home actually increases people learn like irrespective of without meeting the people okay one to one I think you can interact with the good video calls so technology is really helping us I think today also we are not we are interacting digitally not physically right so I think there's a one trend big time emerging in the market the new way of doing business the new way of the interaction the new way of the celebrations I think people are using digital technology much more on the higher side so far the tier two tier three and tier four what I've seen even the during the lockdown even the post lockdown also I've seen the lot of people they actually went to their hometowns so largely when you see the working class people more are from the tier two and tier three and tier four even in the major metros so actually their their consumption trend what I've seen actually increased so when I'm talking with the people like okay so some people they don't want to come back we are very happy at our hometown now so that's a one mindset created what I've seen I don't know whether it will sustain or not but somehow I think the people are very very happy at their hometowns and there they are looking for the new set of the earning avenues okay in those markets so I think that over the time we have seen the lot of urbanization actually happening but I can say it's a it's a reverse urbanization kind of with the COVID. Mr. Jain if you look you know Vmart has a very unique approach it follows the concept of value retailing very very few people do it how has this proposition aided the brand this year in your view so value retail like it's like always I can say always always that's I think somewhere I can say we are catering to the real India actually we are not to the only the one or two percent of the population it's like larger set of customer our TG range is very very large when I'm talking the Vmart per se or the value retail business per se actually and what happened we have seen like the the premium and the and the very I think this class of the brand okay there we have seen the very very high impact but actually value retail is like catering your need so COVID the things which actually worked was your need your basics so these things actually actually work during the COVID and value retail is like right like catering your basic need it's not the whether you have to purchase there's no any choice so for them it's like a sometimes it's like a commodity kind of thing no matter whether you say it's a it's a COVID or not you have to eat okay so it's like value retail is something it's like catering to the basic need of the customer right so if we look at the you know demand curve for the next coming quarter in non-meters how do you see it panning out so like what I've covered like last year what happened during the summer okay we have seen like hardly people any purchased their their needs so what happened I am looking at it from the very big opportunity it's like I myself have not purchased anything for the summer this time but yes for the winter where I purchased some some some stocks during the festival time so I think somewhere the the demand part okay is accumulated is accumulating and now moving to the next next year season so when we will approach the summer season next year so people wardrobe was like a older by two years kind of so they purchased something in the year 2019 they have not purchased anything in the 2020 but yes the 21 it is like two years accumulation happened and I'm sure the the the trade will be like that right number one the bigger the bigger problem what is happening in the market like there's a lot of disruption in the supply chain also right over the time we have seen the payments problem in the market we have seen the lot of manufacturing organization they actually shut down it's very it's like disruption is there in the supply so whoever is the player in the market like who played good game in good game means like somewhere able to either get the stocks on right time I think they will get the better better response so this year actually winter also happened in the same same way so we were like I guess we were better prepared and hence what happened before Diwali itself I think we placed our winter there merchandise on the floor and we got the very good and phenomenal response from the customer and the same idea is there I think the next quarter again what we are trying that how we can cater our customer summer need okay which will anyway I think the demand because I have told like it said two years old wardrobe is there for the customer so the idea is that how early we can we can cater the customer need maybe mid of fall or the end of that we should be ready for the customer and holy holy is the one very big festival especially in our UP and BR so that is also a good very strong plan is there to cater that need and holy this year again the late holy it's like 27th of March end of March so early holy is like coincide with the I can slightly winter season but yeah so customer will buy there they need so that's a hope we have right right right very well said Mr. Jun tell me you know nine months people have brands especially have got a lot of time to rethink realign and tell me how has the how has the market prioritization model changed for Vmart over the last 10 months if I may ask market prioritization means you are talking about the you're talking from geography focus yes geography and maybe product also okay obviously see the when we are talking the geography I think obviously we are prioritizing more of the I think I can I can say it's not only the prioritizing only yeah it's like tier two and tier three and tier four anyway we are planning so earlier the tier four market was on the competitively lower side in terms of the mix of the business but now we are looking for the good tier four opening also so that's the one market prioritization I can say number two I have already covered like the product which are of the basic need okay the daily wear range of the customers I think there we have to provide the good good good amount of stock good new trends new new good festive stocks I think that we will do so that's the that's a prioritization right so in our interaction with market years they've all said that non-meters were largely you know resilient markets and if we look ahead from now on what is the role that non-metro markets would play in the entire recovery process for brands non-metro means you are talking the typical uh like for non-meters non-meters no yeah so what will what will be their role in the recovery process of brands as we move on how much of importance would those markets have as brands try to recover and get over what covid has impacted them with you see what happened see I'm looking modern retail from the two decades point of view so modern retail earlier it was the phenomena of the it's largely phenomena of cities like Delhi Mumbai and major metros then it's moved to the tier one then it's moved to a tier two I think uh with the covid people learned that relying only on the bigger bigger bigger markets is not enough for them somewhere I think they have to enter and penetrate the tier two tier three tier four market so that will anyway I think the emerging emerging trend and I'm sure that will happen I just had the different conference attended for this particular part like how important is the tier two tier three and tier four market because that is a real India that is a larger chunk of India the bigger pie is there only so I will call people like come and see this market there's a huge potential and they still do explore so what we did for the bigger places tier one and the major metro one and a half decade and one one decade back the same thing we have to do for now for the tier two tier tier three and tier four market right so so the vaccine is around but we're still in the recovery phase tell me mr gen what are the broad challenges that you see foresee for Vmart as we navigate this phase of recovery and then look at a phase that might bring back all the you know market the way it was before covid so what are the big challenges in this journey that you face that you're facing you're talking about past or you're talking about the upcoming future now now from from now onwards you know we are in the recovery phase so what are the broad big challenges before you as we navigate this course and get into another side of it as you said march would be big so what are the broad challenges before you write I think I've already covered the one point like this supply supply disruption okay I think over the time what we have seen I think the lot of lot of people actually went down from the market also I'm talking from supply point of view so that is the one challenge yes we have to address that and we are trying to address that so this is the challenge I am looking for somewhere this is the one part another party like that with the with the covid and the people starting working from home not moving out not going out from market it's a part of the habit also of the customer so I don't know how long this habit will be there and third part like the even when we are talking the vaccine so what I heard maybe I am wrong also here but what I heard like the vaccine is not the permanent cure kind of thing even you are taking the vaccine again it is it will work for the for the few months maybe six months kind of again you have to take it for the six months so it's too early to comment on on on that particular part what will happen after vaccine and all but whether the vaccine will be there or not what I have seen in the last one-and-a-half months I think nobody can stop the human human being to come out from their house area at least in the India absolutely absolutely two more questions one is that in your view what will be the big drivers of growth from we mark from here on from a strategy point of view and what are the new markers that you're looking at reaching out now on on are there more markers that you would look to target in the coming time and which are those markets so I think when I'm talking from the market point of view our presence is very strong in the UP and Bihar in Jharkhand right now and yes our presence is there in the eastern part but I think the eastern the bigger penetration is still awaiting so more and more I think with the time the idea is that still the UP market the juice is not extracted fully so there we have I think we have to somewhere the augment the entire entire market entire needs so there we are looking again going the deeper penetration so earlier we were catering like only tier two tier three largely now we are entering the tier four also in these Bihar Jharkhand and UP market but when I'm talking eastern part north eastern part northeast part and Rajasthan Gujarat all these market MP I think they are the market our our presence is not so large so ideas that again in the coming one year two years or three years time how we can make ourselves large in these market also right my final question is a lot of disruption has happened the way consumers are there the way technology is playing its role so what is the future of retail going to be in your view like a little bit of you know future vision into the future how do you see that future of retail from here on overall as an industry so one thing is that till the time woman woman being will be there on the earth I think there is no question on the basic thing like which is like we are calling it's a roti kapda in Makhan okay which is like precisely when we are talking in the retail retail thing it's like the retail language okay parlance it is like food passion and home so that is always required there is no no any doubt in the future is very very bright and it's like obviously we have seen the trend of the unorganized to organize segment and again the last half decade precisely I can say the lot of omni omni channel online trade also entering to and pitch into the our business so I think the future till the time woman being is there I think the need will be there and we are here to serve them there is no doubt very well said Mr. Jain and thank you so much for sharing your insights it's been wonderful talking to you on this series presented by Denik Bhaskar in association with exchange for media thank you again for your time