Abhijat Hukoo is a driven and results-oriented professional with over 29 years of experience in design and construction management. His diverse portfolio encompasses urban and town planning, as well as projects spanning residential, commercial, healthcare, hospitality, educational, and institutional sectors. Beyond design and detailing, Abhijat excels in budgeting and cost control, aiding clients in balancing design objectives with business goals. As MBH expanded into the South Asian markets, Abhijat’s leadership has been instrumental in guiding his team to deliver quality work under tight time constraints, while also instilling the essence of the MBH brand and culture in the India offices. Abhijat holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Gurugram, Haryana.
With 30+ years in the creative industry, Adam founded The One Off in 2003, now in London, Derbyshire, and Mumbai. Additionally, he is the driving force behind two other ventures: the London-based research firm Unturned Stone and RetailSafari.com.
He has worked on global strategies with leading brands Nike, Walmart, Skoda, Samsung, Sky and Frasers Group.
Adam has worked and presented at events with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on trade missions to Asia and is a guest lecturer at Nottingham Trent University on Brand Communication and Retail.
Akash Kumar is an award-winning designer and seasoned retail leader with 20 years of experience in visual merchandising, buying, and retail design. As the Head of Visual Merchandising and Marketing Services for Lifestyle, he was instrumental in making it the most admired large-format fashion retailer. His innovative approach earned him the "Designer Dozen" award and recognition as a retail revolutionary at the 2019 IRDC in Boston.
An alumnus of both NIFT and IIM Kozhikode, Akash is now embarking on a new chapter as the founder of his own design studio, DFL (Design for Life). This experience design firm is dedicated to creating and enhancing the next generation of commercial and retail spaces.
She currently leads the Visual Merchandising function for Aldo and Aldo Accessories at Apparel Group India Private Limited for the India market, bringing with her around 15 years of experience in retail and visual merchandising. Over the years, she has worked with leading organizations such as Skechers, Lifestyle International, Reliance, Amazon, and Future Lifestyle.
Ankush Bhasin is a seasoned business leader with 18+ years of experience across retail and healthcare, specializing in driving P&L growth, scaling multi-location operations, and leading large-format expansion across COCO and franchise models. He has a strong track record in turning around underperforming regions, building high-performance teams, and delivering sustainable revenue growth. His expertise spans SOP-led execution, merchandising strategy, and performance management, enabling operational excellence and business transformation.
Arpit Raizada is a seasoned retail and consumer experience professional, currently leading Consumer Experience at Blackberrys. He drives national visual merchandising strategy and retail experience transformation, crafting scalable environments that seamlessly connect design with business outcomes—enhancing sell-through, conversion, and overall store productivity.
With over 18 years of experience across organizations such as Blackberrys, Cheil Worldwide, Arvind ltd, Aditya Birla & Reliance Retail, Arpit has consistently built impactful retail ecosystems by aligning consumer insight, spatial storytelling, and operational efficiency. His work reflects a strong focus on translating brand vision into tangible, high-performance retail experiences.
Beyond his professional role, Arpit actively contributes to academia as a guest faculty and is a frequent speaker on retail design and consumer experience. Outside of work, he is an avid backpacker and motorcycle enthusiast, with a deep interest in astronomy—spending time observing and tracking stars and planets. He is also committed to giving back, supporting educational initiatives for underprivileged communities.
A retail entrepreneur and design strategist with experience across India and the Middle East, passionate about creating customer-focused retail spaces and meaningful brand experiences through creativity, culture, and human connection.
“Retail design is no longer about filling space. It’s about earning presence.”
With over 23 years of experience across beauty, luxury, jewellery, fashion and lifestyle, sportswear, and footwear, Deeksha Rastogi has consistently believed that the most powerful thing a store can do is make a consumer feel seen.
At Reliance Beauty, she leads the journey from idea to execution—overseeing creative direction, store formats, brand storytelling, and the systems that ensure consistency at scale. As the consumer evolves and tools become more advanced, her focus remains on bridging the critical last mile between a beautifully designed store and one that genuinely feels personal.
At the core of the business, she and her team are dedicated to creating meaningful retail experiences—because a brand that truly understands its consumer will always build a store worth returning to.
Dileep leads brand and integrated marketing at Frido, where he is focusing on the company’s expansion into a significant Omni channel presence. He oversees the design of Frido’s store formats and shop-in-shop systems, while building the in-house creative team that handles the brand’s visual and experiential identity.
Having started his career as a photographer and cinematographer, he remains driven by the intersection of stories and physical spaces. Before moving to the brand side, he spent several years at BBDO, Ogilvy, and McCann, developing campaigns for Mercedes-Benz, WhatsApp, and Coca-Cola. His work has been recognised at Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, Dubai Lynx, and Kyoorius.
Ed leads and mentors a team of skilled graphic designers, steering creative direction and helping his clients make meaningful and memorable connections with their audiences. Ed has spent the last 30 years working across the fields of branding, print, moving image, digital, retail and experiential design, delivering measurable and award-winning results for international clients across a wide range of sectors and categories.
Ed’s clients include Volkswagen, Adidas, Tira, Amore Pacific, Guinness Storehouse, and EE.
Ekta Choksi brings over two decades of expertise in luxury retail, visual merchandising, and brand experience to Instore Asia 2026.
Currently leading brand experience for Zoya, Titan Company's luxury jewellery label, she is responsible for shaping the immersive, story-driven environments that define the brand's retail identity across India.
Her career spans some of the most prestigious names in global retail. As Director of Visual Merchandising at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, a role she held for 20 years, Ekta was instrumental in crafting the iconic visual language of one of America's most storied luxury department stores. She subsequently led production and operations at Atelier Ashiesh Shah, Mumbai, collaborating on high-concept design projects that bridged art, architecture, and spatial experience.
Recognised for her ability to translate deep consumer insight into commercially impactful retail spaces, Ekta's work consistently sits at the intersection of storytelling, aesthetics, and brand strategy.
Experienced Project & Visual Merchandising professional with 14 years of expertise in retail design, store rollouts, and operations. Successfully led the launch of 550+ exclusive stores and managed key accounts across multiple channels. Skilled in translating global design concepts into impactful retail experiences that drive sales and customer engagement.
Proven track record in end-to-end project delivery, budget optimization, and operations management, including achieving 25% cost savings through strategic initiatives. Adept at leading cross-functional teams, managing international markets, and executing global trade events. Recognized with the VMRD Award for best façade design.
Harshendra is a Design graduate from NIFT and an alumnus of IIM Kozhikode, with over 25 years of extensive experience across the fashion and apparel industry. His diverse career spans wedding trousseau design, costume design for films and television, and leadership roles with leading brands such as Peter England (Madura Garments) and Reliance Retail.
He has led design teams, managed buying and category functions, and played a pivotal role in launching new store identities, campaigns, and product lines. In his current role, he is responsible for driving design and retail initiatives across 550+ Max India stores, delivering impactful and scalable retail experiences.
A seasoned Visual Merchandising leader with over 18 years of experience, Jatin hasconsistently redefined retail storytelling through immersive, high-impact brandexperiences. His journey spans leading brands such as Titan, Myntra, Puma,Forevermark, and currently Shoppers Stop, where he heads Visual Merchandisingand in-store experience, driving creative excellence alongside strong commercialoutcomes.
With a sharp eye for aesthetics and a strategic mindset, he specializes in translatingbrand identity into compelling retail environments that engage customers andinfluence purchase behavior. His approach seamlessly blends editorial storytellingwith commercial clarity, ensuring every execution is both aspirational and effective.
Extending his influence beyond the corporate space, he has also established himselfas a content creator and influencer, seamlessly fusing industry expertise withpersonal passion to craft engaging narratives across lifestyle, fashion, and fitness fora modern, evolving audience.
Jaydeep Shetty is a strategy consultant specialising in Retail and Fashion Ecommerce. He has held founding team management positions at Shoppers Stop, Inox and Future Group, and also had an entrepreneurial stint owning a National women's wear brand Mineral.
A retail design and visual merchandising professional, Jyoti Kumari leads TechnoSport’s Visual Merchandising and Store Experience function. She has played a defining role in shaping the brand’s physical retail identity, building a consistent in-store experience across its growing Exclusive Brand Outlet network while balancing brand storytelling with commercial performance.
At TechnoSport, Jyoti leads retail concept development across store layouts, customer journey mapping, visual merchandising guidelines, in-store branding, launch execution, and store design standardisation. Since joining the company, she has built the brand’s offline retail ecosystem from the ground up, establishing the store identity, VM framework, and customer journey across its growing EBO network.
One of Jyoti’s key contributions at TechnoSport has been leading the brand’s 0-50 store expansion journey. She has played an important role in ensuring consistency across geographies, store formats, and markets while maintaining speed, quality, and profitability. Through her work, the brand has been able to create a strong and uniform retail experience that supports higher footfall, stronger conversions, and improved store performance.
Khushali is a retail experience designer shaping the next generation of brand led environments. She builds immersive retail ecosystems that translate insight into spatial strategy and commercial impact, redefining how brands show up in the physical world.
With over 12 years of experience in Retail and Experience design, she has led projects from early concept development to on ground execution, ensuring that brand storytelling, interior design, operational clarity, and business growth remain tightly connected. Her work spans store strategy, retail format innovation, branded environments, wayfinding systems, and point of sale experiences.
At Landor, she has contributed to retail and experience projects for brands including Tata.ev, Tata CLiQ Palette, Khaadi, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Essilor, Shoppers Stop, Naseej, and MAX Fashion, creating scalable retail systems that balance distinct brand storytelling with measurable performance.
She approaches retail as both system and emotion, ensuring each intervention complements its context while pushing brands toward future ready experiences. With a strong sense of ownership and conviction, Khushali represents a new generation of designers redefining what impactful retail can be.
An Experience Designer with a passion for crafting immersive, multidisciplinary brand experiences that seamlessly connect strategy, consumer insight, and design. With over 15 years of experience, and expertise spanning fashion, hospitality, F&B, automotive, FMCG, and corporate brand environments, she has shaped signature customer experiences for some of the most recognized names in the industry from concept to execution.
Her work has helped define commercial spaces for brands like Tata.ev, Shoppers Stop Beauty, Tata Cliq Palette, Dunkin’, Gillette, Reliance Jio, and PizzaExpress, while also influencing experience-driven strategies for global giants such as Tata, Mahindra Group, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance, The Coca-Cola Company, and P&G. These projects have earned national recognition, with multiple awards and media features spotlighting her contributions.
Beyond designing spaces, Mriga thrives on the intersection of culture and creativity. Having collaborated across regions on global accounts like Dell, M&M, and The Coca Cola Company, she strongly believes in the power of cultural diversity to spark unexpected ideas and push the boundaries of design.
At her core, she is driven by the belief that great experiences don’t just capture attention, they create lasting emotional connections, turning brands into destinations and moments into memories.
With 30 years of global experience across three continents, Nuno Rosa is a creative powerhouse in visual merchandising design and leadership. He specializes in transforming retail environments through innovative window concepts and store designs that elevate brand identity and captivate customers.
Specialist in Retail Interior Architecture,Commercial Interiors, Hospitality, FnB,Lighting Design, Environmental Graphics,Signage and way-finding,Branding.
Has been leading the In-house Design team at The Phoenix Mills for more than 20 years.Together woth the team and the Promoter direction ,has delivered landmark Retail destinations like Mall of Asia,Mall of the Millenium,Phoenix Palladium,Phoenix Marketcity Kurla, Phoenix Marketcity Pune,Lucknow collectively designing more than 1million sqft.The Design Endeavor is always to create experiential Retail environments with innovative concepts , Scientific lighting design and creative narratives .
Pawan is an Award-Winning Visual Merchandising & Experience Design Leader in India, known for creating impactful retail experiences across fashion and lifestyle. He brings deep expertise in visual merchandising, trend analysis, styling for campaigns & e-commerce, and store design across apparel, footwear, lingerie, and denim.
With a proven track record of working with leading international brands and premium department stores, he excels at blending brand storytelling with strong commercial outcomes.
Raghav Nair is a technology entrepreneur and AI strategist with over a decade of experience in emerging technologies, enterprise transformation, and scalable intelligent systems. As the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkNeural.ai, he leads the company’s vision of building practical AI and machine learning solutions that address complex real-world business challenges.
Under his leadership, ThinkNeural.ai develops intelligent systems that drive measurable business impact across industries including retail, banking, manufacturing, and enterprise operations. The company focuses on transforming advanced AI capabilities into scalable, business-ready products that enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and unlock new growth opportunities for organizations.
Prior to founding ThinkNeural.ai, Raghav spent more than five years at Cisco as a Technical Consultant, where he worked closely with global enterprises to architect, deploy, and optimize advanced networking, cloud, and security infrastructures. His professional journey also includes key roles at Ericsson and Aditya Birla Group, where he gained extensive experience in enterprise technology transformation and large-scale systems delivery.
With a strong passion for innovation and applied technology, Raghav continues to focus on building future-ready intelligent solutions that bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and practical business outcomes. His vision is centered on creating products that not only solve present-day challenges but also shape the future of intelligent enterprises.
Richa is a storyteller at heart, bringing narratives to life through retail experiences. With over 15 years in the industry, she has developed a deep understanding of how meaningful customer connections are built through tactile and immersive environments.
Her long-standing association with Puma has enabled her to grow across functions—from execution to design, and now to leading Visual Merchandising. In her current role, she focuses on creating cohesive brand stories across formats, driving consistency, enhancing customer engagement, and elevating in-store experiences.
Starting with a small engineer-led team, he learnt the industry from scratch by visiting stores as customers, understanding how people actually buy rings and building early connections within the Surat diamond ecosystem. Everywhere he looked, he saw the same issues repeating: customers receiving little clarity about what they were buying, personalisation reduced to preset options, constant pressure to adjust their design or expectations, and almost no technology or psychology-led support to guide decisions. Rohit chose to rebuild the experience instead of accepting these gaps, blending technology, psychology and deep industry learning to solve what traditional jewellery often overlooks — the customer’s voice. His thinking shaped RINGS & I, a designer ring studio where every ring is personalised with intelligence, empathy and comfort, and where the ring adjusts to the customer, not the other way around. Even the name reflects this philosophy: RINGS & I — Rings (variety) and I (India, Individual, Intelligence, Information), reinforcing the brand’s commitment to clarity, authenticity and personal meaning.
A seasoned retail leader, Rohit Kulkarni steers TechnoSport’s physical retail strategy, driving the brand’s expansion with a focus on scalability and operational excellence. As General Manager and Head of Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBO), he is recognized for combining strategic foresight with sharp execution to build resilient retail ecosystems that balance aggressive growth with long-term profitability.
At TechnoSport, Rohit holds end-to-end P&L ownership of the EBO business, spearheading its development from inception to a high-growth retail network. His role encompasses the entire value chain, from business development and project execution to retail operations and team building. By establishing a robust foundation for the EBO network, he ensures that the brand’s physical presence is characterized by operational efficiency and a consistent, premium customer experience.
Rohit’s expertise is grounded in nearly two decades of experience in navigating complex retail landscapes. Prior to joining TechnoSport, he led business development for another prominent activewear brand, playing a pivotal role in its market entry and expansion. He previously also headed business development and operations for a network of over 200 retail stores across Western India. These experiences have shaped his ability to build businesses from the ground up while managing multi-geographic complexity with precision.
Rutu Khirani is a Brand Experience and Retail Designer with a decade of experience creating immersive retail spaces for Indian and global brands. She currently leads spatial strategy and design for Zoya - Titan's luxury jewellery brand - leading store design, galleries, and flagship activations across India. Previously, she spent six years at Landor & Fitch designing retail experiences. Guided by her belief in building structures with a soul, she creates spaces that feel meaningful, connected, and deeply human.
A postgraduate from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi with over 18 years of professional and academic experience in brand experience design, retail and workplace design as well as design strategy and planning. He brings a holistic approach to design, enabling clients to achieve cohesive and impactful outcomes. Driven by a passion for developing innovative retail strategies and enhancing user and customer experiences, he consistently works toward creating solutions that are both meaningful and inspiring.
Shailja Pant Singh, a seasoned professional with over 17 years of experience in luxury retail experience design, hails from the picturesque city of Nainital, Uttarakhand. Beginning her creative journey at NIFT Bangalore, she graduated in 2008 as a distinguished gold medallist with a particular interest in product design.
With an innate inclination for creating captivating and unforgettable encounters, she specialised in visual experience design, focusing primarily on luxury retail experience design. Throughout her illustrious career, Shailja has had the honour of collaborating with prestigious companies such as Tanishq, Zoya, Nirav Modi, Her Story now Aneka , Unsaid , Suuraj Popley , Renu Oberoi and many others.
Maintaining an unwavering belief in design's capacity to evoke emotions, tell stories, and build lasting relationships, she approaches each project as a blank canvas, ready to be adorned with a blend of elegance, aesthetics and creativity. Infusing every venture with the key qualities of luxury, authenticity and elegance, Shailja excels in crafting unique retail experiences that mirror a brand's essence and leave an indelible mark.
Shantanu brings over 23 years of experience across the advertising and retail industry. He has worked with leading organizations including JWT, Resonance Brand Communication, Future Group, Levi’s & Fossil (Vietnam), Bestseller India, Lifestyle India, and currently Baazar Retail Pvt. Ltd.
A seasoned design professional with over 20 years of experience in retail and architecture, specializing in store design, concept development, and end-to-end project execution for luxury retail environments.
Simon Ong oversees the strategic direction, development, and creative standards, of Kingsmen, a leading and award-winning communication design and production group with 18 offices across the Asia Pacific region and North America.
He serves the creative industry in various advisory roles, including honorary advisor to the Society of Interior Designers Singapore (SIDA) and a member of Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council. A former board member of SHOP!, a leading Association of Retail Environments in USA, he was inducted into the Hall of Famein 2019. Most recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from SIDA for his substantial contributions to the design industry. He is also an Ambassador of the Red Dot Design Award.
An ardent advocate of education, Simon serves as a board director of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, has previously served on advisory boards for the National University of Singapore and Temasek Polytechnic, and is a member of the Design Education Review Committee, Singapore.
Somya Dubey is an architect and project management expert with over 13 years of experience in commercial, retail, and design coordination projects. She has a diverse background in managing high-end developments, including the prestigious Jio World Plaza and Convention Centre projects.
Currently serving as Architecture Project Manager (Pan India) at Swarovski India Pvt Ltd, she has successfully led multiple projects during the brand’s rapid expansion phase, including the flagship store at Ambience Mall Gurugram.
Sreyoshi Maitra is an Executive Vice President at Kantar and leads the Shopper domain for South Asia, with responsibility for shaping how shopper intelligence drives growth across markets, categories, and channels, and brings nearly 25 years of experience in understanding and influencing shopper behaviour.
With deep expertise in Indian shopper behaviour across traditional trade, modern trade, and omnichannel retail, Sreyoshi works at the intersection of shopper insight, behavioural science, and instore execution—helping brands translate purposeled product strategies into compelling, experiencedriven selling at the point of choice. She is a regular contributor to industry thought leadership, authoring insightled articles and perspectives that challenge prevailing myths about the Indian shopper and reframe the role of physical retail in an increasingly digitalfirst world.
A seasoned Project Head with over 18 years of experience in the retail industry, Mr. Sriram specializes in leading large-scale retail project execution across EBO, distribution, and Large Format Stores (LFS). He has successfully collaborated with leading brands including Landmark and House of Anita Dongre, delivering high-impact retail environments through strategic planning and operational excellence.
Known for his solution-oriented approach and strong leadership capabilities, he excels at managing complex projects, driving team performance, and aligning execution with business objectives. His expertise also extends to vendor management and long-term partner relationships, ensuring seamless collaboration and successful project delivery across diverse retail formats.
Suhana Abdul Salam is a Senior Project Leader at TRG India and a member of the Retail Design Institute (RDI), with over 12 years of experience in retail design across global markets.
Recognized as part of the VMSD Designer Dozen (2023), she has delivered projects across Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, Kuwait, India, the USA, and Australia, bringing a strong cross-cultural perspective to retail environments.
Her portfolio spans a diverse range of formats - lifestyle fashion brands, beauty brands, home décor to large-scale department stores and highway commercial retail developments.
She has worked with international premium brands such as Ralph Lauren, Swarovski, Tag Heuer, Tumi, Baccarat, and Level Kids, as well as fast fashion and high-street brands including Uniqlo and Marks & Spencer. Has led the conceptualization anddevelopment of overall store and brand expression for Indian homegrown brand created by Reliance Retail – ‘Swadesh’ – a world class platform to celebrate India’s rich artistic heritage and craftsmanship, and recently leading store renewal programs for major department store chains such as Myer in Australia.
Her approach focuses on translating evolving consumer behaviour into retail environments that are both experientially engaging and commercially effective.
With over 16 years of experience in Fashion and Specialty Retail, I am a seasoned expert in Visual Merchandising and Project Management. My career has spanned iconic brands such as USPA, Flying Machine, Snitch, Azorte, Zivame, Mom & Me, and currently Pepe Jeans India Ltd.
I have successfully evolved from hands-on VM execution to concept building, and I am now using my skills in Store Design and Development. My expertise lies in bridging the gap between creative storytelling and structural execution to drive brand growth and enhance the customer experience.
Tarandeep Singh Sekhon is the Chief Business Officer at KidZania India, where he leads Strategic Partnerships, Sales, and Marketing.
With over two decades of experience across entertainment, retail, and experiential marketing, he has built a strong track record in driving growth, building brands, and creating high-impact consumer experiences. His expertise lies at the intersection of marketing, partnerships, and business strategy, with a strong focus on experiential formats and consumer journeys.
Over the years, Tarandeep has played a key role in scaling businesses and driving footfalls for leading brands such as KidZania, EsselWorld, Water Kingdom, Fame Cinemas, and Bounce Inc. At KidZania, he has been instrumental in shaping strategic alliances and delivering immersive, purpose-led experiences for children and families.
He holds an MBA in Retail Management & Marketing, where he was awarded the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. He further strengthened his foundation with a postgraduate certification in Digital Marketing & Communication from MICA.
Tarandeep also serves as the Vice Chairman – Awards Committee at the Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI).
Outside of work, Tarandeep is a passionate motorcycling enthusiast and a cricketer at heart, with a deep love for fantasy, sci-fi cinema and travelling the world.
Tejaswini Beura is a retail experience design leader with over two decades of experience shaping customer-centric environments across India’s evolving retail landscape. Known for blending strategy, storytelling, and spatial design, she believes the future of retail lies in creating meaningful, immersive human experiences.
Visual Merchandising Professional | 25 Years of Experience
From hand-drawn displays to AI-powered experiences, his 26-year journey in visual merchandising has mirrored the evolution of the Indian retail landscape. He has worked with some of the country’s top brands Shoppers’ Stop, Titan, Aditya Birla, House of Anita Dongre and Reliance retail, bringing their stories to life through strategic VM and window displays that align deeply with brand identity. He is a graduate in Fashion Design from National Institute of Fashion Technology
Experienced in retail experience and exhibit design, I craft engaging environments that elevate customer experience and drive results.
As technology and sustainability reshape the industry, I’m proud to be at the intersection of innovation, design, and purpose. Here’s to the next chapter of visual storytelling—intelligent, impactful, and responsible.
14+ years of experience in Visual Merchandising across D2C fashion retail, women’s lingerie, outdoor & athleisure, building materials, and F&B. Expertise in VM strategy, business transformation, and enhancing the consumer journey.
Currently with Licious, leading the transition from aesthetic-led retail to performance-driven environments, while building and scaling offline retail design and customer experience in optimized formats.
In prior roles, led cross-functional strategy and execution across retail marketing, brand experience, and merchandising. Drove large-scale growth—expanding POS from 800 to 1100 in 2 years and managing 45,000+ retailers across India. Delivered impactful initiatives including product launches, Omni channel engagement, a unified loyalty program, and large-format exhibition experiences.
Dynamic project lead with 15+ years of experience in the retail and infrastructure sectors, specializing in global retail store expansion and commercial interior fit-out turnkey projects. Successfully delivered over 2.5 million sq. ft. of retail space for national and multinational brands across diverse markets. Proven expertise in project management, execution strategy, stakeholder management and leading high-performing teams. Certified in Executive General Management from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, with a strong blend of operational excellence and business leadership.