Damodar Mall

Damodar Mall is an Indian retail professional. He is the President & CEO of Grocery Retail Business (JioMart, SMART Superstore) at Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries.
He was formerly the Director, Integrated Food Strategy at Future Group and part of Kishore Biyani's core leadership team. Mall has published two books, SupermarketWala & Be A SupermarketWala, on consumer behavior and modernizing retail in India. He also writes an invitation blog for Forbes India. He is married to Sangeeta Mall, who is a novelist.
Early life
Mall is a business graduate from IIM, Bangalore and an engineer from IIT Bombay. He won a marketing gold, at his business school.
His earlier career was at Hindustan Unilever, in the brand management function.
Retail journey
Mall promoted a supermarket venture with R K Damani in 1999-2000, as Apna Bazaar stores. With learnings from this incubation venture, R K Damani went on to build powerful retail chain D Mart. Mall went on to lead national retail businesses with Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail supermarkets and also JioMart grocery eCommerce.
Mall was involved in shaping Big Bazaar and has led the creation of Foodhall and Reliance Smart.
Publications
With a foreword from Mukesh Ambani and preface by Kishore Biyani, Mall's first book, SuperMarketWala - Secrets to Winning Consumer India, was launched in 2015 with Penguin Random House publishers. A collectivization of Mall's blog at Forbes India, the book has become the focal point of the launch of the retail know-how brand, SuperMarketWala.
Excerpt:
"If you leave a space measuring more than your forearm - from the tip of your finger to your elbow - between you and the person just ahead of you in a queue, in India, such a gap is not feasible to sustain. It shall get bridged or occupied within five minutes." - The Elbow Push Factor, SuperMarketWala
Shopkeeper-in-Law: This term is introduced by Mall which represents the scenario for a newly married woman when she visits a nearby grocery shop from where her in-laws used to buy their goods. The shopkeeper is having a good relations with her family and he is aware of all the products as well as their brands which her family uses. If the daughter-in-law asks for a new band which her family haven't tried before than the shopkeeper will start judging her and will indirectly become a shopkeeper-in-law.
Working with TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India), Mall wrote a handbook for small supermarkets, to help modernize mom-n-pop kirana stores. This handbook, '<nowiki/>Be A SupermarketWala was published in 4 languages in 2018. Since then TRRAIN Trust has converted this book into a series of simple video lessons too.
During 2020-21, Mall hosted a consumer education series called Trolley Par Charcha. And was interviewed on leadership podcasts.
Mall continues to write an invitation blog "SupermarketWala" for Forbes India. He has written columns for the Economic Times, DNA, and the Times of India. He was profiled by Mint, a business daily.
Mall was a member of Coca-Cola Retail Research Committee of Asia from 2006 to 2009. He is the recipient of the Golden Spoon Award for the most admired Food & Grocery retail professional of the year, in 2011 and 2017. He was also awarded the Retail Icons of India in 2019.

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