Authored by Balakrishna Parankusam
The word retail, when I joined one of the leading Indian retail chain in 2001, meant detail, and it still does but now everyone seems to humming the word retail for different reasons, for some it means investment and business opportunities, for some, raking in the moolah on the bourses, the latest oversubscription of Vishal Retail IPO being an example of this, and for some they just want to be part of the retail discussion . Even the neighbourhood friendly Kirana (the so called mom – pop shops) would like rename his shop from Ram Babu & Sons Rice Merchant to Ramz Retail. Name them and everyone is jumping on to the lucrative or otherwise Retail bandwagon.
12 months back when I started writing for my blog, Retailog, I was speculating what the future has in store for the Indian retailers. Now, a lot of water has flown down the Cauvery, and most of the retailers are slowly but steadily digging their feet deeper into the Indian market. Reliance Retail captured the imagination of the nation and is now living upto its forecasts, Future Retail apart from sponsoring the scarcely crowded and hardly viewed cricket matches in Ireland, is setting its back office in order and is rewriting how retail business should be done in India. Aditya Birla Retail, without much fanfare silently acquired the Fabmall and Trinethra chain of outlets across southern India and is now expanding rapidly in Western India through its “More” brand of outlets. The pioneer of Indian grocery retailing, RPG Retail is silently increasing its foothold across India through its Spencer’s brand of stores. The mega Bharti – Walmart deal could be signed up any day and everyone is waiting with baited breath.
In 2001, I had to explain people what retail was all about, and I found it tougher than my kindergarten maths teacher found teaching me the principle of BODMAS in school. Today, even the auto rickshaw driver, Raju, brandishing his stylish Moto phones, has a word or two to talk on retail, and going by his knowledge he must be one of the keynote speakers in his basti meetings.
The burgeoning middle class incomes, the penetration of plastic money (that reminds me of my overdue credit card bills), the surging job market, the mind-boggling growth in real estate in terms of malls (one gets “mauled” in these places on weekends), availability of easy credit are some of the reasons why Retail is the current buzzword.
But what does all this have for the most sought after object of desire, the customer. Will she have a better bargain for the best quality of products, will these new age retailers redefine customer delight, will customer satisfaction be a priority over business break even. The answers to all these questions would be difficult, as these retailers will try every trick in the book to woo the customers into their stores and also ensure their stickiness to the outlets and also ensure that the footfalls are optimally exploited to achieve a faster then forecasted break-even.
Till all these happen, let me go back to Ram Babu & Sons Rice Merchant or Ramz Retail and check if even he wants to get listed on the stock market.
The word retail, when I joined one of the leading Indian retail chain in 2001, meant detail, and it still does but now everyone seems to humming the word retail for different reasons, for some it means investment and business opportunities, for some, raking in the moolah on the bourses, the latest oversubscription of Vishal Retail IPO being an example of this, and for some they just want to be part of the retail discussion . Even the neighbourhood friendly Kirana (the so called mom – pop shops) would like rename his shop from Ram Babu & Sons Rice Merchant to Ramz Retail. Name them and everyone is jumping on to the lucrative or otherwise Retail bandwagon.
12 months back when I started writing for my blog, Retailog, I was speculating what the future has in store for the Indian retailers. Now, a lot of water has flown down the Cauvery, and most of the retailers are slowly but steadily digging their feet deeper into the Indian market. Reliance Retail captured the imagination of the nation and is now living upto its forecasts, Future Retail apart from sponsoring the scarcely crowded and hardly viewed cricket matches in Ireland, is setting its back office in order and is rewriting how retail business should be done in India. Aditya Birla Retail, without much fanfare silently acquired the Fabmall and Trinethra chain of outlets across southern India and is now expanding rapidly in Western India through its “More” brand of outlets. The pioneer of Indian grocery retailing, RPG Retail is silently increasing its foothold across India through its Spencer’s brand of stores. The mega Bharti – Walmart deal could be signed up any day and everyone is waiting with baited breath.
In 2001, I had to explain people what retail was all about, and I found it tougher than my kindergarten maths teacher found teaching me the principle of BODMAS in school. Today, even the auto rickshaw driver, Raju, brandishing his stylish Moto phones, has a word or two to talk on retail, and going by his knowledge he must be one of the keynote speakers in his basti meetings.
The burgeoning middle class incomes, the penetration of plastic money (that reminds me of my overdue credit card bills), the surging job market, the mind-boggling growth in real estate in terms of malls (one gets “mauled” in these places on weekends), availability of easy credit are some of the reasons why Retail is the current buzzword.
But what does all this have for the most sought after object of desire, the customer. Will she have a better bargain for the best quality of products, will these new age retailers redefine customer delight, will customer satisfaction be a priority over business break even. The answers to all these questions would be difficult, as these retailers will try every trick in the book to woo the customers into their stores and also ensure their stickiness to the outlets and also ensure that the footfalls are optimally exploited to achieve a faster then forecasted break-even.
Till all these happen, let me go back to Ram Babu & Sons Rice Merchant or Ramz Retail and check if even he wants to get listed on the stock market.
2 comments:
Went through the interesting note posted by Bala and since its needless to confirm the well evident retail phenomenon in Inida I can say without a shred of doubt that the ORAGINSED Retail sector will bring immense value for money as well as high quality product selection options to the final consumer. From an ERP prospective the real monetory gain from this growth will be in hands of those organised retailers who use the choosen ERP in the most business suited fashion and get the best and most cost effective ERP implimentation team as a well customised ERP solution works as the back bone of the huge mammaoth called Retail which goes into minute details and operational logistics.
Vikas Bhatnagar
Senior Retail Consultant at Oracle
well said, but one thing im still skeptical abt is, hw do these retailers manage to give things for cheap? cheap in comaprison with the 'mom - pop' stores. whts the buzz word? well i remember reading sometime back tht these retailers can reduce the prices by dealing directly with the producers and no other mediators. but will it provide something real cheap? as compared with the western coutries, these retailers get their products done in the east at a cheaper labor and sell which does work out. but whts the plan for the Indian market? will price be the only driving factor along with the availability of all stuf under one roof? well lots of question do pop up, but im yet to find the answers.
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