Recession hit retail industry across many part of the world has witnessed decline in sales and decline in customer confidence. As a result the stocks have piled up in the warehouses. Studies show that about 64 per cent of American population has decided to spend less on the retail stores. The retail industry suffered another blow when the top executives decided to move to retail industry in the developing countries like India.

Expatriate executive’s eyes Indian retail industry

Executives who are worn out due to recession have started to eye on the Indian retail industry as there is a huge opportunity in the Indian retail industry. The retail industry in India is witnessing a huge growth at a growth rate of approximately 12 per cent. The lack of managerial talents in India has led to a situation where the retail companies have started to hire senior expatriates to help them in achieving their growth strategies.

The retail industry in India

The contribution of the retail industry in India to the GDP is 10 per cent, which makes it the largest among the industries in terms of the contribution. The retail industry employees around 8 per cent of the total employed population in India. It is estimated that the Indian retail industry will be worth USD 804.06 billion by 2015.

Indian retail companies hiring expatriate executives

A high profile hiring in the industry took place when Reliance industries hired two executives from Wal-Mart China. The two executives joined the retail division of Reliance, which is the largest Indian Conglomerate. Rob Cissel was appointed as the chief executive ooficer and Shawn Gray was appointed as the chief operating officer, both of them are former executives with Wal-mart China.

Executives from other countries such as South Africa and UK have also joined Indian retail companies. The Indian retail companies hired a former executive from Mark and Spencer, UK which plans to expand to Indian retail market. The RPG group has hired middle level managers from Thailand. According to Senior Vice President, Human Resources, the middle level retail managers from Thailand have the required experience as needed in the Indian context. More over hiring them is cheaper than hiring managers from USA and Europe.

According to Harminder Sahni, managing director of Wazir Advisors, the recession has helped Indian retail companies in hiring executives from countries such as UK, South Africa, and Australia, in addition to the United States.

The reason behind hiring

The key driver behind the increasing demand for managers is the growth of the Indian retail industry and the basic reordering of the sector. It is estimated that the number of people employed in the organized retail sector will reach 1.6 million by 2015, which was 325,000 in 2007. This forecast was made by McKinsey and Co in 2008. According to Business monitor International, the total retail sales will reach USD 804.06 billion in 2015, which is a 11.9 per cent increase from USD 411.28 billion during 2011.

In India the organized retails makes only 5 per cent of the total retail industry. But still retail giants such as Reliance, RPG, Aditya Birla and the future group has spread their outlets across India.

Reliance owns Reliance fresh retail outlets, Aditya Birla owns Planet Fashion Outlets, and Future group owns Big Bazaar and Pantaloon outlets in India. According to the official website of Aditya Birla Retail, they have employed 11,000 across various retail stores in India. Pantaloon Retail has employed 30,000 people across India according to their official website.

High demand for middle level managers

The spokesman from Bharti Walmart says that the Indian retail industry faces shortage with the middle level managers also. This has led to a situation where the company has started to look for experienced managers from other industries such as hospitality and telecommunications as well. He said that Bharti Walmart has partnered with Indian School of Business in Hyderabad to train managers and is also considering other business schools to hire talented managers.

The retail industry offers jobs in operations, sourcing, supply chain, sales and marketing. The retail giants have started to eye on smaller cities as they offer huge business opportunities

The Indian market lacks clarity

According to Sahni, the complex Indian market is difficult to understand due to the lack of proper market research. More over the Indian market has huge regional differences. This makes it important for the managers to understand the consumers and so the learning curve for expats becomes longer.

The companies in the Indian retail industry require managers who have hands on experience in the industry and who can adapt to the Indian business environment. They must have a hunger for growth and should be willing work in unpredictable work environments where they will have to work on irregular working hours.

The industry requires experienced managers

Demand is high for candidates who have experience in the Indian retail industry or in developing markets. The experience the expatriate’s posses are valuable, but it cannot fit completely into the Indian scenario. More over they should consider India as a long term career option rather than a place to halt till their home market improve as the potential for growth in the Indian retail industry is huge. The way business is run in India is different from any other part of the world. So this might make things difficult for a lesser professional who might be technically strong. This makes an expatriate who has been in India for two to three years the most sought after in the Indian retail industry.

According to Vikram Chhachhi, executive vice president of US search firm DHR, in India, the major challenge that expatriate faces is the lack of overall supportive mandate to take decisions. He advices them to settle down in India with their families in India and consider India as their home. The challenge they will face is in terms of lack of infrastructure and support services. So they have to confront the Indian situations to get a better feel of the Indian conditions so that they can settle down as early as possible.