Retailing is the Buzzword, which is not here to buzz off and is making places all over. Be it the newspapers, the magazines, the hoardings, the media, the FDI and what not? Everywhere and Everybody are interested in talking about Retail Segment. It’s a preferred segment for all. It’s considered bright in terms of future and it’s happening!!!!So, lets try and find out, what the buzz is all about?

I have been very much interested in Retail from the first day I heard about the term and learned about the flow it has. The phenomena is not only making unorganized – organized, it’s also opening up more choices for a common man. Lets analyze the major stops of the journey called retail. So far, it’s been the following:

1. Shift in the System:

The first and foremost thing, which is noticed due to the emergence of Retail, is the shift – from Unorganized to Organized, from Kirana Stores to Department Stores, from attracting through relationships to attracting through layouts. It was a major shift, in terms of culture; the culture of shopping which Indian consumer was following since ages. People were so used to of buying grocery and vegetables from 2 different places that they almost ignored the vegetable section until sometime after the emergence of this phenomenon called retail.

2. Indian mindset and Reluctance to change:

Continuing to the first step we discussed, mindset and reluctance of the customer was the second challenge for the retailers in India. The customer who has been shopping from the closest to home or most popular in the city wholesale shop was finding it difficult to switch a newer mode of shopping based on the brightness and beauty of shop. As a result, they weren’t even ready to experience the organized mode of retailing. The reason was simple, an average customer was thinking on the lines of showroom concept and hence expensive affair.

3. Horrific Influx of many at the same time:

When it’s a buzz in the market, it’s a hit across nation and it’s forecasting is nothing but perfect and profitable everybody wants to invest. With these two properties of the industry everybody came flattered and ready to invest in retail. The FDI flowed and the retailing was termed as Boom. The next Boom after IT sector as it was no small a change. Lets keep in mind that we started from 2% of Organized Retail and we are going to touch 50% by the end of next financial year. These figures prove a lot about the influx and the rate of growth into this sector.

4. Competition at different levels:

With the influx comes the competition, and retailing being a sector at a larger level and also at the smaller level, it experienced immense competition. And it was both, domestic and international. As a result, the fire started catching up, and there were more and more retail outlets budding everyday.

Retailers faced, cheap competition, which was actually not comparable in terms of pricing but was a hit as it attracted the youth segment for it offered affordability and variety. There were shops like cotton expo, china markets etc which were organized not exclusive and hence made shopping easier and affordable. People started popping in those joints for the convenience and affordability. Hence, it was a youth oriented retail effort and was a hit in metro that are hugely populated with young consumers.

Retailers also faced competition in terms of pricing. With the influx of too many shops at the same time, people started comparing prices to make better choices. With the big grocery stores opening-up everyday (Spencer, Fabmall and now Subhiksha), the consumer started making choices from convenience to prices. The look and feel of the stores was almost similar and so was the availability of products.

5. Differentiation & Consumer Marketing:

Competition entails differentiation and results into aggressive consumer marketing. In the beginning of retail scenario not many were taking it as a challenge as consumer mind-set was considered the biggest hurdle. But with the change in consumer habits, there was an emergence of retail differentiation, in terms of structure and layout. Even the typical Kirana stores had started developing the structure of stores to attract and retain their customers. All this is taking place by the way of differentiation. People like to be different and hence they like to be associated with things that are considered different from the general one. The association with unusual attracts human beings.

Now with the differentiation-taking place all over, retailers started worrying for other means to attract customers. The purpose was to have more footfalls converted into customers. And hence started the consumer marketing, largely by means of consumer promos through, combo offers, co-branding, bulk purchase offers, service excellence etc.

Future Predictions –

Looking at the future predictions on retail sector, it’s estimated to grow at a faster rate then the GDP of our country. The growth and opportunities are no doubt immense but then there are challenges related to the infrastructure, the horrific expansion of foreign players, the discount stores etc and a lot more.

There are trends coming up with every new day in the Indian retail scenario. The age old kirana storekeepers in 2 tier cities are happily agreeing to rent out their establishments for a fixed rent of 35000 –40,000 to giant players like Reliance, Bharti etc innocent about the very fact that they how much profits they will be reaping from the same.

Taxing my brains over the same thought, I find myself with lot more questions like,

A) Who will be the most emerging retail power in India?
B) Will Reliance be able to rule the throne from British players and US?
C) What about the tier 2 & 3 cities?
D) What is Bharti’s and Reliance take on acquisition of several ex-Wal-Mart employees?
E) What will be the consumer insight on rural customer?
F) Will the real estate prices keep growing with retail?
G) Will Indian retail be taken up entirely by the foreign players?
H) Will it give a new direction to consumer marketing?
I) Are the Indian giants planning something to deal with the each day entry of foreign players with their low pricing policies?

All these and many more are the questions that Indian Common man is trying to find out the answers for. Apart from the corporatism, there is someone called the common name, the front-runner in the backstage who is responsible for the major chunk of consumption patterns across country.

Guess have done half the job, may be the mind was thinking on all these issues right now because retailing is so intriguing that every time you ponder on this, one more thought line triggers off. And the cycle continues.

Pool in your comments so that we get a better picture of the latest boom of India.

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