A decade after it began, Pune’s Ishanya Mall was relaunched this year as a one-stop destination for furniture, furnishing and décor products. Today, it houses over 52,000 home décor ideas across 2 lakh square feet of space, with F&B and entertainment options thrown in.

Mahesh M, CEO of Creaticity believes in using research and data as a tool to better understand customer behaviour, before introducing personalised and targeted services for them. So, on observing that 40% of Creaticity’s customers comprised couples with young children, it extended its kids’ area to almost 15000 square feet and added elements like a trampoline park and storyteller to keep the young ones engaged while their parents shopped.

Originally a part of Future Group, Praxis Home Retail was born as a brand in January 2018 with its own board and governance. Its retail entity, Home Town, currently has over 46 stores. Since it started out as a tech-enabled company, Praxis Home Retail had the requisite infrastructure in place.

Its CTO, Arun Gupta, reveals that his team had to build on this foundation to keep pace with rapidly changing technology. This meant making careful choices to optimize costs and ensure better RoI.