
Welcome to the age of algorithms. It’s changed how we watch content, socialize, consume. And shop.
Picture this: you scroll Instagram, double tap a post featuring a cozy sweater, and moments later, ads for similar ones flood your feed. Cookies stalk every click, influencers guide wallets, and convenience reigns supreme. In this digital cauldron of enticements, where desires are curated and sold back to us, enters Kishore Biyani — the original maestro of retail psychology.
Long before influencers sold dreams and algorithms tracked desires, Biyani — the ‘Father of modern Indian retail’ — wrote the rulebook on how India shopped. His brainchild, Future Group, once valued at ₹26,000 crore, wasn’t just a retail empire — it was a cultural phenomenon.
Biyani’s genius lay in tapping into the Indian psyche. Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, and Foodhall became household names. He morphed the everyday run to kirana stores into a retail experience — blending the chaos of bazaars with polish of modern malls.
Even as his stores became ubiquitous, the rise of e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart tested his mettle. His ambitious expansions collided with mounting debts, leading to a dramatic corporate restructuring.
And yet, true to his entrepreneurial spirit, Biyani has never been one to fade quietly. In his new avatar, he’s reimagining his place in a retail world now dominated by dopamine-driven algorithms, influencer endorsements, digital shopping carts.
The pride of stretching a rupee has given way to instant gratification, as shoppers today flaunt newfound freedom with a growing disposable income. To capitalize on this, the next gen of Future Group has a plan. Presenting Broadway — a new-age department store, a co-retail space for digital brands, a physical replica of Instagram. How will Biyani crack the market code when social behaviours have been reshaped?
At SYNAPSE 2025, Kishore Biyani will articulate a new market, how technology is changing consumer appetite, and how retailers can stay relevant in this whirlwind of change. Is the future of commerce still human at heart? How to tap the pulse of people’s emotions when consumer psyches have been realigned by algorithms?