Mr. Veneet Mohan presented to my Retail Management class on 28 May, 2019. As a trade marketing and merchandising expert with 20 years in various MENA-based roles at Unilever, Mr. Mohan shared his insights on, and best practice in, merchandise management, an essential concept in retail management and a cornerstone of retail management planning.
In addition to introducing trade marketing and, more specifically, merchandising management, concepts, we ran an exercise in class developed in collaboration with Mr. Mohan prior to his visit. The exercise was designed to allow students to step into the shoes of a brand manager and apply the concepts introduced to the students in the first half of the class across different retail formats, as a real FMCG brand manager would do. Students had 40 minutes to answer the brief provided in groups. Each group subsequently presented their work to both me and Mr. Mohan for feedback. The students were given a rubric as they were evaluated on their performance which will count towards their final grade. The exercise will also feed into a larger project they are required to complete by the end of the semester.
The talk added immense value to the course as students were able to learn about key retail management concepts from a real world expert.
Students seemed very engaged in the presentation which Mr. Mohan delivered in a highly interactive way. The majority of the students asked multiple questions throughout the entire 2.5 hour session and showed enthusiasm as they worked through the exercise.