Faculty

Area of Interest and Research

• Retail Technology, Customer Engagement, Customer Experience, Ecommerce, QCommerce, AI in Visual Merchandising

Teaching Courses and New Courses Developed

• Research Methodology, Statistics, Marketing Management, Essentials of Management, Digital Marketing, Visual Merchandising, IT Applications in Retail , and Retail Management

Academic Positions and Assignments

Chief Faculty with FDDI since 1st Oct 2024. Senior Faculty-I with FDDI (Footwear Design & Development Institute), Noida, from 22nd April 2024 to 30th Sep 2024.

• Assigned the role of Head of School since April 2022.
• Faculty for Research Methodology, Statistics, Marketing Management, Essentials of Management, Digital Marketing, IT Applications, and Retail Management.
• Setting up the syllabus for BBA and MBA.
• Functional head of all departments of the concerned school across campuses to uphold the academic and ethical standards of the school and foster professionalism, collegiality, and ethical conduct in the faculty.
• Responsible for coordinating all academic-oriented works and developing research and development opportunities for all the concerned schools' faculties and students.
• Optimize the Physical learning environment and technology in all instructional areas.
• Guide in organising the workshops, seminars, webinars, and conferences for faculty development.
• Industry and alumni interface, bringing value to the students, the institutions, and the industry and promoting international and domestic academic collaboration.
• To keep the management informed on all school matters through reports and immediate communication following major school events or happenings.
• Supervise the selection/update/modification of curricula, class schedules, assessments, graduation requirements, and all aspects of the school's academic program in coordination with all.

Senior Consultant – Retail with FDDI (Footwear Design & Development Institute), Noida since Jan ‘16

Promoted to HOD -retail (Jan 2020 – April 2024)

• Faculty for Research Methodology, Statistics, Marketing Management, Essentials of Management, Digital Marketing, IT Applications (MS-Office) , and Retail Management.
• Course Coordinator for MBA(Retail)
• Responsible for setting up of Center of Excellence for Retail.
• Setting up the syllabus for BBA and MBA.

Consultant – Retail with FDDI, Noida since Sep ’08 – Dec ‘16

• Course Coordinator for MBA batch , PGDVM& CD course
• Responsible for Academics Administration
• Faculty for Visual Merchandising, Store Designing, Marketing Management, Essentials of Management

IMS-AFJD, Now DIA Noida as Course Coordinator Jul’05 – Mar’07

• Organising the Fashion Show with other team members
• Functioning as Course Coordinator for Fashion Department.
• Arranging Visiting Faculties for the department and preparing Course Guides for FD Department
• Monitoring the smooth execution of classes
• Setting up:
  1. Syllabus for International alliances.
  2. The Resource Centre and design labs.

Faculty with International Polytechnic for Women of South Delhi

• Teaching and training on subjects like Pattern Making, Garment Construction, Textile Science, and Fashion Forecasting & Range Development.

Professional Association and Board Participation

Pantaloons as Cluster Leader (VM) - Headed 3 stores , Location: Noida & Delhi

• Ensuring brand identity through merchandise display & communication for in-house brands in Pantaloons store
• Planning & implementing the visual communication of stores in cluster.
• Designing props & fixtures for the stores.
• Coordinating with the:
• Projects team & the brands for all the brand requirements.
• HO Team for the standardization of display themes.
• Business Manager at the time of and after store launch.
• Ensuring on the strict implementation of Planogram & VM principles.
• Planning & executing Events, Activation Programs & Budgeting for the displays.
• Space planning to get desired return from brands.
• Communicating the brand presence and ticketing.
• Participating in various planning discussions with the Functional Manager.
• Imparting training to store operations team on merchandise visual presentation & space productivity of store.

Future Group as designation – worked on independent projects

• Developing creative & innovative visual merchandising solutions.
• Studying the competitors before finalizing the Design Solutions within budget.
• Performing extensive research on 5 senses (Customer/User experience)
• Coordinating with Department Manager & collecting sales tracking figures.
• Imparting training on the customer care association for Visual Presentation
• Standardizing the Merchandise Presentation and performing Retail Space designing with planning
• Efficiently handling on fast & slow moving items
• Arranging the merchandise as per color blocking
• Following Merchandise Presentation Manual (SOP)

IT-Retailing with Aptech Limited at Regional Office- South Extension as Training Executive; Location: New Delhi Aug ‘1995 – Nov’01

• Coordinating for B. Tech (OUBC Canada), BCA (MAHE) Courses and with Marketing Team for promotion
• Conducting trainings for Franchise Centres and attending customers’ complaints.
• Maintaining the marketing related ISO documents and conducting exams in the Region
• Providing support to Franchise Centres and corresponding with Business Partners & Head Office.

Research Papers and Working Papers

• Kaur, J., Saini, S., Behl, A., & Poonia, A. (2024). Impact of Digital Storytelling on Improving Brand Image Among Consumers. Journal of Promotion Management, 30(8), 1348–1376. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2024.2403760
• Saini. S, Bansal. S, Verma .P, Revolutionizing visual merchandising: A study on the acceptance of digital signage in Indian fashion apparel stores, Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, Vol 26, 5, 1265-1278, https://doi.org/10.47974/JSMS-1181 , https://www.tarupublications.com/doi/10.47974/JSMS-1181
• Saini.S, Bansal. S, Associating Designed Information and Novelty with Purchase Intentions for Product Displays in Fashion Apparel Stores, 2023, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol 53, 12, 8-26, https://indianjournalofmarketing.com/index.php/ijom/issue/current
• Saini. S, Bansal. S, Verma .P, Use me or use me not? A communication tool - digital signages for fashion apparel stores, 2022, Journal of Content, Community & Communication, Vol. 15 Year 8, June-2022 ,ISSN: 2395-7514, DOI: 10.31620/JCCC.06.22/04, https://www.amity.edu/gwalior/jccc/pdf/june-2022-04.pdf

Research in Progress

• Plant Based Meat, Q Commerce, QR code for restaurants, AI in Visual Merchandising

Case Repository and Publications

• S. Routray, R. Nargundkar, S.Saini and R.Saxena, (2014),“ Information System Strategy at Neelkanth Drugs”, registered with Richard Ivey Publishing. Case id : 9B14E014 - Richard ivey case is available in all ivey league institute like Harvard ,Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, U Penn, Princeton and Yale.
• S. Routray, R. Nargundkar, S.Saini and R.Saxena, (2014), “Teaching Notes: Information System Strategy at Neelkanth Drugs”, registered with Richard Ivey Publishing. TN id: 8B14014.

Books, Chapters and Technical Reports

• R.Saxena, M. Sil, N. Sinha and, S. Saini , “BG0017- Challenges in Indian Retailing”, published in book Resource Book on Case Studies in Business Management, 2013, 159-169.

Editorial Positions and Reviews

• Reviewed 6 research papers for Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Conference, Seminar Paper and Presentations

• Research Paper presentation on “Acceptance of digital signages for fashion apparel stores- the new emerging tool for Visual Merchandising in India” at Global Leadership Research Conference (GLRC 2023), Amity University, 13th - 15th March 2023.
• Research Paper presentation on “Consumer Responses to Aesthetic Appeal for Digital Screens (A study of apparel stores in Delhi NCR)” at 8th AIM AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium and Conference 2020, BIMTECH, 3rd – 6th Jan 2020
• Research Poster Paper presentation on “Doctoral Track – Investigating how epistemic value and aesthetic appeal affect purchase intentions for product displays in apparel stores”” at 7th PAN IIM World Management Conference IIM, Rohtak, 12th - 14thDec 2019.
• Research Paper presentation on “Consumer responses to design information and novelty for product displays ( a study of apparel stores in Delhi NCR)” at NASMEI 2019 IIM, Indore, 26th -28th July 2019
• Research Paper presentation on “Exploring the antecedents of Intentions to use Digital Screens – A study on apparel stores in Delhi NCR” at EMCB 2019 IMT, Ghaziabad, 6th -8th Jan 2019
• Presented Case Study on “Dhruv Medicos Private Ltd. Right Antidote – Follow aggressive growth or sell the retail business?” at Global Leadership Research Conference 2018 , 14th – 15th March 2018 at Amity University , Noida
• Research Paper presentation on “Antecedents of purchase intentions for sustainable apparel: an empirical study in Delhi NCR”; published in the proceedings of national conference on sustainable to innovative fashion and textile: road to success; excellent publishing house; Pg No: 40-43; ISBN No: 978-93-86238-19-1

MDP Sessions, Workshops and Technical Lectures

• Participated in two day workshop on Business Intelligence using Power BI, Skill Nation, 21st – 22nd Jan 2023.
• Participated in Executive Development Program on “Data Visualization and Interactive Dashboards with Tableau” conducted by FAIIB, on 17th Dec 2022.
• Participated in five days online workshop on PLS-Sem 4, Numerical Analytics Instrument Pvt Ltd., 7th Nov – 11th Nov 2022
• Participated in four days workshop on R programming, Intellectual Manch 14th Oct – 17th Oct 2022.
• Participated in one week workshop on Mixed-Method Research Design Using Qualitative and Quantitative Methods , Koach Scholar, 15th Sept- 20th Sept, 2022.
• FDP on “Academic writing & publication, Koach Scholar, 15th – 16th July 2022
• Attended a one-month workshop on Structural Equation Modelling and Artificial Neural Network” Organized by Lal Bahadur Shastri Research Centre for Public Policy and Social Change (LBSRC) – A research wing of LBSIM, Delhi, 21st May - 19th June, 2022
• Attended, APA and academic writing, MyInnerLog, Jan 15th – 16th 2022
• Participated in one week workshop on Data analysis, Blueforskning, 14th – 21st Oct 2021
• Attended 5 days online e-workshop on “Nuts & Bolts of Thesis Writing ”, Research Smith, 11th May – 15th May 2021
• Attended weekend course on “Art of Doing Effective Literature Review” Koach Scholar, 20th Feb – 20th March 2021.
• Attended online faculty development programme on “ Contemporary Topics in Marketing Management” IIM, Indore, 1st March – 12th March 2021
• Participated in CMEE, workshop, Jan 30th & 31st 2021 , IIM, Noida
• Attended online faculty development programme on “ How to teach online” IIM, Indore, 6th July – 11th July 2020
• Attended 5 days online faculty development programme on “ The art and science of research publications”, IMI, 18th June – 22nd June 2020
• Attended online faculty development programme on “ Contemporary research practices in social science”, Amity institute of travel and tourism, 30th May – 05th June 2020
• Attended sessions on “ Training program on manuscript drafting and publishing” TORMP-2020, Eudoxia , 16th May – 17th May 2020
• Workshop on Research Methodology and Structural Equation Modeling at Amity Business School, AUUP, 21st Dec 2019.
• Executive Development Program on “ Ethical Road to Publication” at Amity Business School, Amity University, Noida , 25th Jan 2019.
• Management Development Program (MDP) on “Service Improvement, Innovations and Marketing” at IMS , Ghaziabad May 19, 2018
• India UK Design Education Workshop – Future of Design Education by Design Council AND British Council , 29th – 31st January 2018 at IHC, New Delhi
• National Conference on Marketing contemporary practices in modern marketing: a roadmap for 2020 on 9th Sep 2017
• Faculty Development Program on Advance Research Methodology at FDDI, Noida 25th May – 27th May 2016.
• National Conference on Fashion Apparel and Textiles (NCFAT ’17) on 29th March 2017
• Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on “ Structural Equation Modelling” 19th March – 23rd March 2016 – Five Day at Birla institute of technology, Ranchi(Noida Campus)
• Management Development Programme (MDP) on “Digital Marketing” at IIM , Noida Nov 25-28, 2015
• International Conference on Advances in Management & Decision Sciences, Gautam Buddha University, 12thJuly 2015.
• Faculty Development Program on Advances in Research Methods & Data Analytical Tools, AIMA, 9-11th July 2015
• Attended Seminar on “The Future of Marketing” by Dr. Philip Kotler, Mar 14, 2014
• Attended a Case Study Development Course conducted by ISB-Ivey at ISB Mohali , May 4-6 , 2013
• Attended workshop on “Innovating Business Models” with BMI Consulting Services, Nov26, 2011.
• Attended workshop on “Calligraphic Writing” at NID, New Delhi , May 23-27, 2011
• Attended workshop on “Designing for Persuasion: Creating Dynamic, Multi-sensory Experiences for Customer Delight” at NID, Ahmedabad , Aug 22 - 24, 2007
• Attended workshop on “Lighting Design and Choreographing Light ” at NID, New Delhi , April 23 – 27, 2007

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Noida Management Association

Doctoral Dissertations and Awards

• Investigating the acceptance levels for changing scenario of visual merchandising – A study of apparel stores of Delhi NCR.