The 8th Annual In-Store Asia conference kicks off February 21st in Mumbai at the Bombay Exhibition Center. Traditional retail is expected to grow at 5% and reach a size of US$ 650 billion (about 76%), while organized retail is expected to grow at 25% and reach a size of US$ 200 billion by 2020. Collectively India is the fifth most attractive retail market in the world. And now with the government opening up the retail segment to FDI, a huge wave of investments and opportunities are likely to usher in. The three days of the show offer great networking opportunities, new ideas, cutting edge solutions, and much more.

JGA and our collaborative partner, FRDC (Future Research Design Company), will be exhibiting at the Expo, in the Design Pavilion, booths #7 and #8. Stop by and say hello to JGA Chairman, Ken Nisch and FRDC Managing Director, Sanjay Agarwal - or email us today to set an appointment at info@jga.com.

As one of the VM&RD design competition judges, Ken will also take part in the Award Ceremony to be held on Friday, February 22nd at 7:30 pm. For more information, visit the In-Store Asia website here.

Now Open at Connaught
Place, Mumbai: Parx

The Parx House concept for the Parx brand creates a series of stages, segments, and distinctive experiences within the store's footprint. Elements of the strategy are drawn from the residential model; foyer, hallway, den, and lounge. The foyer acts as the first room of the floor plan. It is focused on the latest trends, with new arrivals and collections. Unique signature elements include the curved service station clad in end-ply wood, oxidized steel and detailed with a high gloss Parx logo. Back lit onyx effects create a scenario of playfulness and a nostalgic, yet modern environment. For more, click here.

Now Featured at Parx:
Tweet Mirror

At Parx, the rear of the store is punctuated by a large try-on area, which features a floor-to-ceiling angled wraparound mirror, providing the guest with a 180-degree view from head-to-toe. The fitting room itself is a unique surprise, with its throne-like try-on bench, claret leather padded wall, backlit mirror, and custom chandelier. Pictured here is the Tweet Mirror, which according to Bangalore Today, "offers the brand's tech savvy dynamic young customers a new digital interactive experience while helping them make a stylish apparel choice at the store, in consultation with their friends." For more, click here.

VM&RD Magazine: Ken Nisch on Technology: Transforming the Shopping Process
Images India Shop: Sleep Number, Sleep Better - A Study in Design
VM&RD Magazine: McCormick World of Flavours

This is an excerpt of an editorial being featured in the February 2013 issue of VM&RD Magazine. If you haven't read it yet, be sure to pick up a copy of the magazine at the In-Store Asia Conference next week!

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There are many trends - practical, psychographic, and attitudinal - that are incubating during this retail "reboot" taking place in the U.S. economy. This reboot is affecting all types and sizes of retail, brick-and-mortar and online. The key is putting these trends to work for you!

1. Cheap and Cheerful
Some trends are consumer focused: From lipstick and nail polish (the original "cheap and cheerful" cues in the new economy), to home decor items and candles. Items that are cheap and cheerful will make the consumer happy, pleased that she is taking home something fresh and new.

2. Personal Emancipation
Think of separates in the fashion world, interest in personalization and customization, and even though a willingness to be "cast as the outcast" seems to be all part of this new consumer psychology.

3. Mix-and-Match Merchandising
It can come across in merchandising and assortment, with the willingness AND expectation of the customer to be innovative and low cost at the same time, while juxtaposed against the luxurious and the exclusive.

4. Flash Sales
Stores are beginning to see their retail environments not in terms of decades, or even years; but today in many cases, it is considered in terms of days, or even hours. The flash sale has gotten consumers to think in a much more nimble way.

5. Technology
The ability to find resources that are "big enough to serve you," yet "small enough to know you" is key to executing this new face of retail. While the outcome is casual, the activities, input, and resources it takes to "appear" casual should not be underestimated.

6. Evolving Sales Opportunities
With the freedom of mobile checkouts, sales associate can now do what they do best: Help the consumer. Much of this change is taking place around mobile apps, but other technologies such as tablets and other types of digital interface enhance the efficiency of the shopping experience.

7. Rethinking Environments
The cashwrap has been ubiquitous in retail as both a branding point and as a stop on the consumer's path. But the rapid spread of roaming digital checkouts has created a rethink and is increasingly changing the consumer's view of "experience."

8. Creative "Sticky" Space
Design a "sticky" model that engages consumers to see the retail space as just not a transaction space, but as a "third place" where they stick around longer.

9. Permanent-Temporary Spaces
The brand halo of inviting key influencers within your consumer's world is a way of creating buzz and newness within an existing merchandise range. This approach provides an opportunity for storytelling and ways to connect and identify with the personalities or muse of this internal pop-up.

10. Community Spirit
Make a difference in your community. The place previously occupied by the cashwrap provides an opportunity to create a shared interest between retailer and consumer.

11. Storytelling
The illustration of creativity and self expression can be shaped through storytelling. The tools and the props that are part of this bourgeoning explosion of retail creativity are often ordinary, but their use is exhibited in extraordinary ways.

12. Communication
Effective marketing communication needs to sell things, but first the brand needs to win hearts and to some degree, minds, into a dialogue before the selling begins.

13. Success through Action
Think reboot, unexpected, power to the consumer - be it in understanding, discovering, transacting. Act on trends that address the consumer's need for irony, humor, advocacy, independence.

Remember, there is no success without action!

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Kenneth Nisch is chairman of JGA, a leading U.S. retail design and brand strategy firm. Nisch applies his knowledge and entrepreneurial insight to create concept and prototype development and brand image positioning. JGA's clients include Parx (India), Fantasy World (Kuwait), Cacau Show (Brazil), Godiva Chocolatier, Whole Foods Market, Museum of Arts and Design, McCormick World of Flavors, Destination XL, Sleep Number and Verizon. Ken may be reached at 1.248.355.0890 or info@jga.com. .