HR Planning Process for Retail Sector

Introduction
Retail sector in India has emerged as one of the most attractive retail
destinations in the world. The retail market (organized & unorganized) in
India was at Rs. 23 lakh crore in 2011-12 and is expected to grow at CAGR of
24% and reach Rs. 47 lakh crore by 2017-18. Also with rapidly growing
internet penetration, online retailing is gaining importance in India.
XYZ is a retail brand that currently operates across three stores in
Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune and Nashik). The goal is to triple the revenues
and double the profits in 5 years.

Strategic Workforce Planning Process

The steps followed by the firm XYZ for the planning process are,
1. Environmental Scan:
An external environmental scan is conducted to understand the labor
market regulations, government policies, competitor analysis. This task
would be outsourced to the research team in order to cut some costs.
An internal scan would also be conducted to understand the business
goals and decide on strategies that align with the business goals.
2. Forecasting:
As the firm is planning to expand its product lines and automate
internal processes, transaction based and process based forecasting is
carried out to understand how the changes affect the demand &
supply.

3. Scenario Planning:
The firm is planning to open up around 10 stores in various states in
the country. This would require to plan the manpower to be recruited at
these stores. Also the firm wants to have an online presence, so the
necessary skills have to be acquired.
4. Workforce Segmentation:
Workforce is segmented on the basis of skills that are critical to the
organizational objectives. In order to achieve the objectives for the 3rd
year and the 5th year, job roles which are crucial to attain the short

term objectives are identified and are recruited or outsourced

accordingly to reduce costs.

Action Plan:
At the end of five years the goal is to expand to states outside Maharashtra
and open around 10 stores in Tier 1 cities across India. The firm also aims to
expand through a successful online presence.
In order to achieve the target, by the end of the third year the firm plans to
open five successful stores after through research and should be ready with
the website in order to launch pilot operations. The in detail plan of action is
as stated below:
First year:
Research to be conducted to identify the best possible locations
for launching the new stores. In order to reduce costs, the
research activity has to be outsourced.
The firm plans to go online at selected cities as a pilot
programme, IT operations for which will be outsourced.
Market research to be conducted to identify location where online
pilot programme would be implemented.
Product diversification is another area the firm is concentrating
on. A research activity has to be outsourced to identify the areas
where product diversification is untapped as of now.
The firm plans to automate many processes, hence vendor
identification to be done.
Third year Goals:
Recruiting staff like store managers, accountants, assistants,
cleaning staff etc. to be conducted for the newly opened stores.
Recruiting from competitors like the e-commerce industry(where
attrition of logistics staff is high)
Identification of suppliers for the online presence. Setting up of
logistics and distribution channels for the pilot online
programme.
Beta version of the automated processes to go live.
Fifth year Goals:
All new stores to be fully functional by the fifth year.
Staff recruitment for all newly opened stores to be done.

Online presence to be extended to all stores.

Processes to be completely automated.
Increasing customer base top priority, marketing division to play
an important role for sales at newly opened locations.
IT support staff to be hired for technical expertise.

Workforce Segmentation:
Critical

Strategic
Core

Non-Critical

Necessary
Misaligned

First Year
Finance, Market
Research
Customer Service,
Logistics, Distribution

Third Year
Finance, Market
Research
Customer Service,
Logistics, Information
Technology, Distribution

Procurement,
Marketing
Information
Technology

Procurement, Marketing

Fif
Fin
Se
Ma
Inf
Tec
Dis
Pro

Ma