Over the last couple of years, the brick & mortar operator has quickly learnt that getting to know a customer's behavioural pattern is the key to engaging them in the shopping mall experience, says Kanchana V Gokhale, Senior Manager, Design Development Team, Pioneer Property Zone Services.

India´s burgeoning logistics and warehousing sector is set for an explosive growth trajectory, in the wake of the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Co Pvt. Ltd has been focused on developing global products to suit Indian working conditions. The organisation´s product lineup includes a wide range of excavators: from 2T - 800T Excavators, 35T to 290T Rigid dump trucks, Wheel Loaders, Backhoe Loaders, and Motor Graders etc.

The warehousing sector has seen minimal growth in India during the past decade or so. However, the last four-five years have been eventful for the sector which has witnessed a tremendous surge in business activities and foreign investments.

The Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSC) trains candidates at the entry level for the warehousing sub sector. Training is done on specific job roles such as pickers/ packers/ binning /kitting/labelling and forklift and reach truck operators, and warehouse supervisors i.e., an ´outcome´ based training, which ensures candidates are job ready from day one.

With the total warehousing space requirement in the country´s top seven markets expected to grow from 621 mn sq ft in 2016 to 839 mn sq ft by 2020, the warehousing sector has shown tremendous traction in the past couple of years. Further, investment in warehousing can provide an opportunity of realising returns in the range of 10-24 per cent per annum.

According to me every move has an advantage and a disadvantage. The business success depends on the ability of a company to factor in variables and continue to stand firm.

The GST is a value-added tax that will replace all other indirect taxes in India. One purpose of the GST is to make taxes ´destination´ based rather than origin based, or ´efficiency´ based rather than ´regulation´ based.

Big is definitely better for the warehousing services focusing on serving organised sectors. Economies of scale, cheaper land costs, more automation and higher labour utilisation are some of the key benefits.