Back Lifestyle to launch courses in fashion retail management
Sravanthi Challapalli
| Open only to candidates from economically weak families |
The course fee of about Rs 75,000 would be borne by Lifestyle and students would have to sign an undertaking to work with the company as customer service representatives for a minimum of two years.
Chennai , June 22
Retail chain Lifestyle is launching three-month courses in fashion retail management in collaboration with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. The course is open only to candidates from economically weak families and is part of the company's corporate social responsibility scheme, said Mr Louis Anthony, Vice-President (Human Resources), Lifestyle International.
Speaking to Business Line, Mr Anthony said the course fee of about Rs 75,000 would be borne by Lifestyle and students would have to sign an undertaking to work with the company as customer service representatives for a minimum of two years.
Seats may go up
The course now offers 30 seats in each batch (about three per year) in each city, which would also fulfil the company's staffing requirements.
The number of seats would be increased as the retail industry grew, Mr Anthony said.
The NIFT has dedicated some staff to this course. Lifestyle's staff will come in as part-time faculty and there will be guest lectures by those in the fashion industry.
The course will teach planning and strategy in retail marketing, store organisation, retail buying and pricing, visual merchandising, customer service, financial management and product appreciation.
Opportunities Galore
The course is tailored to Lifestyle's needs. It is the first course of its kind, claimed Mr Anthony, adding that he is not aware of any other such courses, except some crash courses conducted solely to make a quick buck.
"With India being an emerging retail market, this industry has many opportunities for fresh talent. We believe in making specialised education more accessible to this talent pool," he said.
A student entering this job market can expect to make Rs 4,000 in basic salary as a customer service representative, but more if he or she has extra qualifications, such as a diploma in leather technology, Mr Anthony said, quoting from Lifestyle's experience.
Such qualifications would earn them a job higher up in the hierarchy after the probation period, following which they can even go on to occupy managerial posts in about four years with a big jump in salary, he added.
Lifestyle has two or three cases of people joining as service representatives and going on to become senior staff earning more than Rs 1 lakh a month.
Addressing future need
The course will help make retail a good career choice and be a blessing in disguise for the competition too, considering that the NIFT was the partner, Mr Anthony quipped.
Once foreign direct investment in local retail is allowed in a full-fledged manner, there will be large-scale attrition in the industry and a severe shortage of trained manpower, so this course will go a certain distance in addressing that need, he pointed out.
The course will also make a big difference to the quality of customer service and relationships, he added .
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line