The Department of Commerce and Management organised a field trip for the students of SY B.Com and TY B.Com as a part of the learning process in the subjects of New Venture Planning and Retail Management Strategies respectively, on Wednesday, 18th October 2023. The objective of organising this field trip was to provide the students with practical exposure and experience of the process and techniques of retailing in rural markets and to understand how it is different from marketing in urban areas.
The students gathered in the College campus and Dr. Rodney D’Silva, teacher incharge of the activity welcomed the students and gave them details about the itinerary and timings. The bus left at 8.00 a.m. from the College premises. The first destination was Banastari local market. Since, local markets are the essence of Indian economy, the students were given an exposure to the marketing activities in rural areas. They were asked to observe the marketing pattern and techniques keeping in mind pricing strategies, lot size, product quality, etc. The local market was flooded with Goan local products like spices, vegetables, groceries, handmade artifacts, pottery items, handmade jewellery, coconut and coconut products, etc. The students enthusiastically asked questions to the local vendors in order to learn more about the marketing patterns adopted by vendors.
The next destination was Decathlon. It is a French goods retailer with over 2080 stores in 56 countries and regions, it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world. Decathlon has a unique business model – they design, test, manufacture, and retail their own brands. Students got an opportunity to learn that when retail spaces are shrinking and the world is moving online, Decathlon chooses to open outlets that are the size of a warehouse. The store allows the customers to test and use the sport equipment before purchasing.
The third destination for the day was Mall de Goa, Porvorim. The students were taken to the mall to understand the difference between rural and urban marketing. The TY B.Com students were made to observe the retail stores at the mall pertaining to convincing power of the storekeepers towards the customers, pricing patterns, marketing strategies, branding, etc. The students expressed their joy and actively took part in this learning process. The students were accompanied by Dr. Rodney D’Silva, Associate Prof. in Commerce, Mr. Sandesh Gaonkar, Asst. Prof. in Commerce and Ms. Swati Bhat, Asst. Prof. in Commerce. The trip ended with the students expressing positive feedback of the activity. The students returned to the college campus at 2.15 p.m. 54 students participated in the field trip.
