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Meet Karan Bakshi, the Founder and CEO of Vision Group, a prominent multinational conglomerate of technology firms dedicated to digital transformation in the retail sector. Vision Group serves over 200 clients, including many globally recognized brands and some of the most distinguished retailers worldwide. The company stands out due to its ability to unify all aspects of digital transformation for retail within a single framework, ranging from space planning and retail execution to connected assets and seamless retail experiences.
Karan has built all the companies within the Vision Group on three fundamental pillars: People, Process, and Technology. His focus has been on harmonizing and enhancing each of these elements. Karan firmly believes the key to the success of his enterprises lies in their commitment to corporate values, including Customers First, Honesty and Integrity, Accountability, Growing Together, and Pioneering New Ideas.
Beginning toward Retail Transformation
Karan began his professional journey addressing practical challenges with technology. He noticed physical retail had not evolved, relying on manual audits, paper-based planograms, and isolated tools. In 2014, Karan established Vision Group to digitize retail. Vision Group developed a technological framework integrating AI, image recognition, and retail execution to connect products, shelves, and assets to the cloud. Despite initial skepticism, Vision Group stayed committed. Now they serve over 200 clients in 75 countries.
Karan says they help retailers operate intelligently, efficiently, and with reduced waste. He reflects on a journey of persistence and alignment, noting that tech alone doesn’t change industries—clarity of purpose and the right people do.
Balancing Technical and Customer-Centric Execution
Karan highlights Vision Group’s approach to balancing technical and customer-centric execution. Engineers participate in client calls, sales provide instant feedback, and Karan switches between internal brainstorming sessions and customer demonstrations. Vision Group conducts cross functional sprints involving product, success, and design teams, all collaborating to solve real problems, influencing the roadmap. It is a mindset where innovation’s value is being actionable for customers. Vision Group measures success by what the customers can implement, not just what the company can produce.
Enhancing Client Capabilities
Karan asserts that for Vision Group, success is about partnership, not just customer satisfaction. High retention rates and expansion rates are key indicators. Some initial clients grew from 10 stores to global-level operations. This indicates Vision Group is not merely addressing a problem; it is boosting clients’ capabilities.
A Steadfast Leader
Karan leads with focus and trust. He establishes the vision and asks what hinders the team, what they need, and how he can enable others to lead. Yes, Karan remains highly engaged: visiting client stores, reviewing product mockups, and joining onboarding calls. This keeps him grounded and shows the team he cares. What’s changed? Karan speaks less, asks more, delegates more, and finds a strong beat and strict control.
Market Disruption
Emerging markets, including Southeast Asia, India, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, offer huge opportunities for disruption through Vision Group’s technology. In Southeast Asia, rapid urbanization and technologically adept populations are boosting retail, making it an ideal environment for AI-powered execution solutions. India’s extensive and fragmented unstructured retail sector needs image recognition to tackle the visibility challenge at scale.
In Africa, the mobile-first and infrastructure-light landscape creates an optimal setting for streamlined deployments that do not depend on conventional connectivity. In Latin America, despite possessing a relatively developed retail sector, there are still challenges with inconsistent execution, which presents opportunities for digital tools to enhance in store performance.
The Middle East’s supportive governments, smart city projects, and booming retail create demand for advanced, automated retail tech. Vision Group is not entering this market; it is customizing its solutions to fit its needs.
The Legacy
Karan wants his legacy to be more than just business success. He wants people to say, “He played a pivotal role in transforming retail through AI and made lives better.”
“My objective is for Vision Group to be recognized not merely as the worldwide leader in AI-driven retail technology, but also as an organization that has infused humanity into innovation, one that consistently elevates its workforce, empowers its clients, and creates significant impact,” states Karan.
He believes that the real legacy is if the people he worked with carry the spirit of building companies, teams, and technologies rooted in purpose and empathy. “Revenue comes and goes, but culture, impact, and the lives touched are what truly endure,” says Karan. He is building toward a smarter retail world, where employees, customers, and communities lead happier lives.
The Future Roadmap
Karan sees Vision Group as the premier name in retail AI. “We aim to be more than mere technology providers; we aspire to be the definers of the category,” says Karan.
Vision Group plans to expand in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where it is outpacing old systems. From a technological standpoint, Vision Group will transition from detection to prediction—the platforms will identify issues, simulate outcomes, predict demand, and optimize layouts. Culturally, Karan wants Vision Group to maintain its startup essence—bold, swift, and values-driven—even as it grows in personnel, reach, and impact.
