TRRAIN is a public charitable trust formed in 2011 to empower people in the retail sector. In an interview with Paulami Chatterjee, CEO Ameesha Prabhu highlights the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the retail sector, and the various initiatives TRRAIN is undertaking to uplift lives of frontline retail associates who have been affected.
How big is the impact of covid-19 on the Indian retail sector? What are the immediate challenges?
The retail sector has been one of the most impacted sectors. Both essential and non-essential retail has experienced unique effects on business. As per the rules and regulations set by the government of the state, city and locality of the retailer, they've had to take measures to ensure safety.
Based on the feedback received from surveys by the Retailers Association of India (RAI), non-essential retail has only been able to achieve 5-10 per cent of last year's business on an average. Through the surveys, we get to understand that there has been degrowth of 20-70 per cent across sectors in the month of June. The hardest hit sectors are QSR (quick service restaurants) & restaurants, beauty, wellness and personal care. Even sectors like food and grocery retail have seen a drop in growth in June as compared to last year. Stores in malls are witnessing minimal business; however, stores in high street have started to see some footfalls. Overall, retail across sectors and geographies is witnessing a severe crisis, and the hope is that the Diwali season will provide some momentum to this year's sales.
There has been a rise in the number of cases of domestic violence, mental health, etc. Is TRRAIN taking any steps to track and counsel such workers, specially males? And continue this initiative on a regular basis?
As soon as the lockdown happened and the stores had to be closed, we understood the impact this would create on the lives of retail associates-both male and female. To help retailers and retail associates, we opened our TRRAIN Circle app to every retailer and retail employee till June 2020. It was free for retailers to communicate with employees and upskill them as well as for employees to share feedback and speak to certified counsellors using the app.
We believe that mental health is as important to well-being as physical health and hence have made it a point to provide free counselling service to everyone who is selected in our programme. Through counselling, on the TRRAIN Circle app, these people get access to expert counsellors from TISS, who are available to them six days a week, 10 hours a day in 14 languages.
Work at the shop floor has also been affected because of the norms of social distancing. What steps are being taken to train shop floor personnel for this?
There is a drastic change in standard operating procedures due to covid-19. Retailers are embracing the need to create social distancing at stores. Store staff are being trained to maintain social distancing, and a high level of sanitisation and hygiene at stores. The staff are being trained in additional standard operating procedures like making sure customers get their temperatures checked and hands sanitised, etc. By using virtual online tools, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC's) Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council of India (B&WSSC) has also created a certification called 'Certification of Health Safety & Hygiene Norms (COVID-19)' for the beauty and wellness sector. I see more and more sectors following this trend.
How many frontline workers-including shop floor personnel-have been laid off or affected till now?
We may not get an official number of personnel who have been laid off or affected till now. However, the RAI did a survey among its member retailers which led to a figure of close to 80,000+ job losses.
Which are the worst hit towns and cities? Also, the worst hit retail categories?
The pandemic has impacted towns, cities and countries alike. Each town/ city is seeing its own level of impact, especially if you look at states which have extended the lockdown keeping in mind the rising number of cases. Non-essential retail has taken a big hit as they have not been allowed to open during the period of lockdown, which turned out to be extremely strenuous for them. They will be further impacted if they are not able to liquidate their spring and summer inventories. In particular, discretionary and high-end products will be greatly affected. This trend is likely to continue until a vaccine is found and the number of positive cases drops. In my opinion, the impact will be most severe in the middle and lower class working in non-essential retail as they are likely to exhaust a lot of their savings in order to survive through these times, and will be facing difficulties for the next 2-3 years till they recover.
How many women have got employment through the TRRAINHer Ascent initiative? Which places of India did this cover?
We have been able to impact the lives of more than 2,500 women over the last two years in our TRRAINHer Ascent journey. The geographies that we primarily cover are cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. I personally feel there is a huge opportunity to create employment for women in the retail sector and we have just reached the tip of the iceberg.
With people restricting outside travel, ecommerce is gaining more popularity post-covid. How big is it a competition to brick and mortar retail stores?
Ecommerce in India is still a very small part of the retail pie. We will definitely see a growth in ecommerce due to covid-19. However, brands with strong brick and mortar presence have started to capitalise on ecommerce as well as online retail. In the coming years, omni-channel retail will definitely be a big part of strategy for any brand rather than a competition.
Could you give us more details about the ?1.2 crore programme that is going to support 3,000 women all over India? Is this money going to be loaned to them or there is a recovery model in place? What kind of critical support you are talking about?
Through the money that we have raised from the covid-19 relief fund, we will be doing direct bank transfers of ?4,000 over three months to women who have been affected. A woman will get ?2,000 in the first month, and ?1,000 in each of the following two months. We are not giving out loans but have tried to provide them with income bridge support. We are also providing them with access to relevant retail specific curriculum to upskill themselves as well as access to counselling by counsellors from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) using our TRRAIN Circle app.
How is the Haqdarshak technology platform going to work out?
Haqdarshak is helping us connect these women who have lost their jobs due to covid-19 to various Central as well as state government schemes which can benefit them. Right from checking the eligibility of these women for government schemes to enrolling them happens completely online supported by a Haqdarshak employee for schemes where there is a mandatory need for physical documents.
How are shopping experiences going to get altered now that the brick and mortar stores are slowly reopening? How can retailers adapt to the new situation and maintain steady inflow of customers?
It is still early to say as to what will be a definitive change but some things like usage of trial rooms has been stopped in many stores. Retailers are adapting to this change by looking at technology to support them in self-checkout counters, and by deploying real-time analytics to enable real-time tracking to create an omni-channel experience, where one can order online and pick up from store or have it delivered.
Will there be a trend going forward for big offline retailers shifting to online retail?
Online retail can no longer be ignored, moving forward it will be an integral part of the retail strategy for any retail brand. The idea to give the customer an omni-channel experience will be at the top of the mind of every retailer. The pros to embracing online retail are way higher than the cons and hence it is a must for every retail brand out there.
How many people have been identified till now through your partners who need help? Which are the towns and cities being targeted through this programme?
We are looking at Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru as the first cities to help women affected by covid-19. We have already got applications from over 500 women for income bridge support and have already disbursed funds to over 200 of them. By the end of August, we will be able to cover 3,000 women from these cities.
By when are you expecting the revival process to commence in India?
We are looking at revival of some product lines and sectors in certain geographies. To be honest, nobody can predict when we will have full recovery.
This article was first published in the August 2020 edition of the print magazine.
Published on: 26/08/2020
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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