Welcome to the State of Retail
The State of Retail is a knowledge hub for senior marketers and business leaders seeking to understand the evolving dynamics of retail and commerce in emerging markets. Founded by two industry-leading professors, this platform offers expert perspectives grounded in both academic rigor and real-world insight. Here, you’ll find trend analyses, thought leadership articles, and—coming soon—specialized courses designed to help you stay ahead in a rapidly changing global marketplace.
Meet the Team
Srikant gokhale
Srikant Gokhale is a marketing faculty at BerkeleyHaas, Northwestern Medill, and IIM Udaipur, specializing in global retail and emerging markets. With over 30 years of experience across China, India, and the Middle East, he is the former Group CEO-Retail of Landmark Group, the largest retailer in the Middle East, and the founding mentor of TheCrossMentors.com. He co-founded EMRI- Emerging Markets and Retail Institute. Drawing on decades of hands-on leadership, research, and teaching, he provides actionable insights to help businesses succeed in complex, fast-growing global markets.
VIJAY VISWANATHAN
Vijay Viswanathan studies customer experience and marketing effectiveness in B2C and B2B using surveys, text analytics and machine learning. His current work is on online communities, virtual influencers, loyalty programs and governance. He has given numerous talks to industry on customer centricity, embedding AI in analytics and enabling a data culture.
Vijay is a Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor and Associate Dean of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.