MICA students at Crossword on Saturday afternoon. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The retail scene in Calcutta is hotting up with major brands storming the city racks. And the boom is big enough now for a batch of students to troop into town and check things out.

Twenty students of the second batch of the Retail Communications Management programme at Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA) have embarked on a retail yatra across nine Indian cities. And Calcutta, “an emerging hotbed for retailers”, was just up their street.

In a one-of-its-kind learning method, the tour has been designed to help the students get a practical overview of retail communication by visiting major stores and markets across the country.

In Calcutta, the tour was facilitated by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The objective of the tour was to interact with retail professionals, understand perspectives, strategies and business models of retailers and observe consumer behaviour.

“Last year, the response was less. The students got an opportunity to interact with only 15 companies. This year, the number stands at 46,” said Hemant Trivedi, head of retail academic area at MICA.

“Calcutta was not on our itinerary last year. But on my last visit to Calcutta during the CII Summit, I got a chance to look around the city and explore the retail scenario for myself. It was then that I decided to bring my students here and knock off Jaipur from our schedule,” he added.

Coming straight from Delhi on a four-day visit to Calcutta, the students on Thursday assembled for a talk by CII, which had real-estate developer Rahul Saraf, vice-president, brand communications, of Emami Indrani Sen and S. Grover also from the Emami group sharing valuable industry insights with the students.

After the seminar, the students headed for New Market to check out the oldest defined retail space in Calcutta and comprehend the consumer patterns in the zone.

Consumer behaviour is one of the key study areas of this retail rendezvous. “There are differences in consumer behaviour patterns depending on geographical zones. For example, in Calcutta, consumption is mainly driven by need, whereas in Delhi, there is a certain showy aspect to buying trends,” pointed out Rajiv Manghnani, a student pursuing the course.

Meha Acharya, a student who hails from Calcutta, was more than eager to show her batchmates around her city even during the short trip. “I want to show both the extremes that are so finely balanced in the city. While on the one hand there are huge patches of unorganised retail in New Market and Gariahat, organised retail in the form of malls and superstores are also coming up at an unusually fast pace,” she observed.

So was it all work and no play during the four days in Calcutta? “Our schedule is so tight,” lamented Rajiv. “Every single day, we have visits lined up: City Centre, Metropolis Mall at Hiland Park, Arambagh Hatcheries, College Street, Westside and Pantaloons outlets at 22, Camac Street, AC Market, Forum, Crossword, KC Das at Esplanade and Gariahat. But we will surely get to see a lot of the city, and that’s play enough for us,” he grinned.