Kinjal Shah, with over 13 years of book retailing experience, has an in-depth understanding of both Indian as well as International retailing environment. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of Crossword Bookstores Limited since May 2014. He is instrumental to not just grow this business in difficult times but steer the company towards innovation by introducing new Categories, launching its own innovative publishing program, launching its own Private brand “YELLO”, to name a few.
Having served as the Chief Operating Officer before being elevated to the position, Kinjal is responsible for developing the business, ensuring world class service, building in new strategies and driving innovation in a very challenging business. Recently Mr. Kinjal Shah has been awarded the Most Talented Retail professional retailer of the Year 2015 by Asia Retail Congress. During his tenure over the last 13 years, Crossword Bookstores has grown from strength to strength under his leadership. Under his guidance, Crossword has won numerous awards and accolades, the most recent being ‘Best Book Retailer’ Winner of the prestigious – Indian Retail Awards 2014 and National Award for Marketing Excellence in Retail Sector on 24th July 2015
Kinjal’s entrepreneurial approach to business, credits his passion to whatever he has achieved till now. He believes that Book Retail, being a content-driven business, cannot be managed like a commodity business, and it is important to have a realistic view of the business and not work on the basis of superficial data of target audience, market size and their implied business potential. He also believes that relationships with partners are crucial for the long term success of an organization. Customer is really the King/Queen as he knows everything about the product. Thus, it follows, that the Staff at the store must be the forefront of any company strategy.
Crossword is India’s leading bookstore chain, which has pioneered the lifestyle bookstore concept in India. With 92 stores across the country, it is India’s fastest growing chain of bookstores”
