If the year 2020 has taught us one thing, it is gratitude, especially towards frontline workers - delivery executives, grocery store staff, retail associates, and everyone who provided essentials in a time of need, all while risking their own health! These frontline workers went above and beyond their call of duty to make sure stores are open and customer’s needs are met. There are also individuals like Saraswathi, who kept their stores open during the strongest lockdowns in India, when there were no shops open in the vicinity and an extreme shortage of employees, just to serve her customers during those tough times. She and her employees quarantined themselves from their families for over a period of 3 months and had to wear heavy PPE kits while working in their stores every day. Despite these hardships, she opened her store every day at 6.30 am and achieved 100% of her targets. There are millions of retail employees like Saraswathi who went out of their way to serve the customers during this pandemic. We aim to celebrate the spirit and thank these frontline workers this 12^th December, World Retail Employees' Day, we wish to express our gratitude with a simple gesture of saying Thank You to the true hero of the industry - the retailers & retail employees.

Celebrated in five countries - India, UAE, Turkey, Philippines, and Bangladesh, and by 15 million individuals globally, Retail Employees’ Day has become the largest celebration in retail. In India alone, more than 1000 brands, 100 malls, and 8.5 Lakh small retailers celebrate the day with their employees. The celebrations range from cake cutting in a small store to a cultural extravaganza in large format stores. The frontline workers are made to feel special on this day by creating a red-carpet welcome, asking customers to wish them, and sending out personal messages from CEOs to the employees.

The celebrations also leave a long-lasting impact by uplifting the employee morale and increasing a sense of ownership towards the brand amongst an employee leading to a highly motivated workforce. Let’s together attempt an audacious goal of creating the world’s largest thank you movement for our retail heroes, and bring together customers and all stakeholders to “Say Thank You, Say it big”. Log on to www.red2020.trrain.org to the retail heroes, who fulfilled all your needs during the pandemic.