The Future of Retail in the Post-Pandemic World

An interview with Rajender Singh Beniwal, General Manager, North America, EcoEnergy Insights.

The one common trait I have seen in successful and profitable retailers is their willingness to use technology and experiment with the bleeding edge of IoT, AI and social media trends. Many retailers are now using analytics and technology, not only on customer-facing data, but also on backend operations. Most of our retail customers, including a large discount retailer, are looking at utility cost reduction and sustainability as a big focus area. This helps them reduce cost, be more profitable and support the more socially-active customer who wants their retailer to be sensitive to the planet’s needs.

⇨Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have been with EcoEnergy Insights since we first launched in the United States in 2011. Before the acquisition by Carrier in March 2017, the business was part of Wipro Technologies, an IT services and consulting company. I led marketing and communication for the consulting business, and I was in the process of starting a new consulting practice around marketing advisory services. My supervisor started the EcoEnergy Insights busineQAAss and needed help in marketing it to C-level executives in North America. With no formal education or experience in the energy or building controls space, I was more interested in developing my consulting practice. But before I knew it, I was EcoEnergy Insights’ sole sales representative in North America. I moved to the Wipro Technologies offices in East Brunswick, New Jersey, to officially launch the EcoEnergy Insights business in June 2011.

Now in 2021, I am the General Manager for North America at EcoEnergy Insights, where I lead our go-to-market strategy and drive innovative partnerships and marketing campaigns for the business. After a decade of helping multi-site retailers drive energy savings with IoT-powered solutions, I’m excited to head into the new year with a continued focus on putting sustainability at the core of everything we do for our customers.

⇨Are you working on any new exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

At EcoEnergy Insights, we are working to make facility operations simpler and digitalized. We offer an AI-powered platform with the purpose to “talk to equipment and do right by it.” We approach this in much the same way as we do human interaction, where we talk to people, understand their needs, and to the extent possible, support those needs; we want to be able to talk to a piece of equipment, understand what that equipment is doing and what it needs, and then perform as expected.

We have been successfully doing this work for 10 years and are constantly improving our ability to “talk to the equipment.” The equipment I am referring to is HVAC, refrigeration, lighting, controls, diesel generators, battery storage devices, UPS and more. By doing right by equipment we deliver operational efficiencies around maintenance and energy cost reduction for our customers.

Our customers, on average, have saved anywhere between 4–18% on their energy bills. As utilities are in the top three cost items for retailers (after labor and rent), this reduction can improve profitability pretty significantly and allow retailers to reinvest in a different part of the business. One of our customers has reduced its electricity spend by over $200 million cumulatively over the 2013 baseline — an 18% reduction in addition to savings that came from capital projects like installing LEDs.

I can fortunately say that the business I am in is helping the planet by reducing carbon emissions, making the country more energy-secure, and reducing customers’ cost of electricity by optimizing HVAC, lighting, refrigeration and other energy-consuming assets’ usage.

⇨Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

I think it is very important to find balance between work and family. I would suggest spending quality time with your spouse, kids and even your pets. By making dedicated time for family, you will see a much faster recoup. It is also very important to find time for yourself — focus on health to the extent of sounding selfish around your family and work. You know you are doing it for them as well.

Also, one tip I can share to avoid burnout or a stress buster — pick up the phone and try talking to your high school or college friends. Nostalgia is a very powerful tool. Personally for me, such conversations have the power to transport you into a different world… a 30-minute conversation can have the same effect as a week-long vacation.

⇨How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

At this time, I support my father in his initiative to skill the youth of rural India and provide them some vocational training and skills. His initiative is primarily focused on defense, police, and paramilitary forces jobs and familiarizing candidates with the skill requirements and selection process. My contribution for now is to teach a few classes for these kids.

Additionally, at EcoEnergy Insights, we’re proud to help our customers contribute to the reduction of CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, doubling down on our goal to fuel a more sustainable future.

⇨Ok super. Now let’s jump to the main questions of our interview. The Pandemic has changed many aspects of all of our lives. One of them is the fact that so many of us have gotten used to shopping almost exclusively online. Can you share a few examples of different ideas that large retail outlets are implementing to adapt to the new realities created by the Pandemic?

We are at a point in retail where the overall experience of scouting, selecting, buying and enjoying the experience is completely integrated, and any part of it can make the retailer less likely to be the retailer of choice. Other than online ordering, the biggest change that retailers (and any building to that extent) focused on was indoor air quality (IAQ). Many retailers went beyond the CDC guidelines around air quality in their stores and are now ensuring IAQ remains an important item in their long-term strategy.

Most retailers worked on advanced strategies and used their HVAC equipment to ensure there was no stale air in the stores. Building IoT platforms like ours help retailers deploy these air exchange strategies across their large chains by utilizing IoT and AI technologies in the backend.

By engaging with IoT-based energy management solutions to make their buildings healthier, retailers can effectively improve occupant comfort, satisfaction and even retention in their stores.

⇨In your opinion, will retail stores or malls continue to exist? How would you articulate the role of physical retail spaces at a time when online commerce platforms like Amazon Prime or Instacart can deliver the same day or the next day?

Same-day delivery is undoubtedly the most common stated need of customers, and platforms like Amazon Prime and Instacart are making it a reality. I think same-day delivery is going to necessitate physical retail as the store becomes an integral part of the supply chain to serve the same-day delivery objective. Unlike the few large distribution centers and warehouses that retailers were able to manage in the past, same-day delivery requires fulfillment centers that are closer to the customer, and to that extent, in much larger numbers. Existing retail stores are going to become hybrid facilities and serve as fulfillment centers with part of the space being retail and another part more like a warehouse. Also, the peaks and troughs in customer footfall allows for a more optimal labor usage toward not just helping the customer, but also picking and packing for the customers who have ordered online.

The so-called “Retail Apocalypse” has been going on for about a decade. While many retailers are struggling, some retailers, like Lululemon, Kroger, and Costco are quite profitable. Can you share a few lessons that other retailers can learn from the success of profitable retailers?

I would like to argue that we are beyond the term Retail Apocalypse. I think retail is changing from being store-sales focused to being about the overall experience and has become truly omnichannel. The physical store is going to assume a bigger role in the supply chain. The overall retail experience from actual shopping will also include fulfillment of online orders — a means to provide after-sales support as well as a differentiation tool, both by local presence as well as in store sensory experience.

The one common trait I have seen in successful and profitable retailers is their willingness to use technology and experiment with the bleeding edge of IoT, AI and social media trends. Many retailers are now using analytics and technology, not only on customer-facing data, but also on backend operations. Most of our retail customers, including a large discount retailer, are looking at utility cost reduction and sustainability as a big focus area. This helps them reduce cost, be more profitable and support the more socially-active customer who wants their retailer to be sensitive to the planet’s needs.

Read on Authority Magzine