Myself in brief
I've spent close to two decades in retail. The first three years were on the shop floor.
That order matters. Before I did Oracle retail ERP implementation and designed catalog platforms or e-commerce architecture, I managed store operations for Lifestyle, Benetton and Pantaloons across Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. I counted stock at night, coached sales consultants, and stood in front of customers whose delivery hadn't arrived. You learn something there that no research deck teaches. People never experience your systems. They only experience the consequences of them that reflects in their experience journey.
Everything I've designed or implemented since has been an attempt to ensure the back stage and front stage solutions are balanced in orchestration to offer a consistent and seamless multi-channel customer experience.
Today I'm a Business Architect at Colruyt Group in Belgium, working on how customers discover, decide and buy in one of Europe's largest grocery retailers. And I run USRFLO, where I bring the best of my learnings and mentorship I received, to startup founders and Product teams. Together we can build a better future !
An unusual starting point
My first formal training was in hospitality. Culinary arts, hotel administration, four years of it as part our my Under graduation.
It reads like an odd credential for a product leader until you notice that hospitality is the original human-centered design discipline. Anticipate the need before it's spoken. Remove friction the guest never sees. Make someone feel expected rather than processed. That's the whole brief.
There's a certain symmetry in now working on how a grocery retailer helps people decide what to cook.
I've since studied management at UCLA Anderson, blockchain architecture at Amity, and supply chain and operations at Symbiosis. Yet, the hospitality degree is still the one that shows up most in how I approach human-centered design.
Mentoring
My Career
I mentor in 0to1 startup business modelling, retail operations, human-centered digital customer experience and product management. I have been fortunate to receive advise and guidance from some of the best mentors and educators in the industry, I see this as an opportunity to do the same.
If that's what you are looking for, get in touch.
