Big Bazaar, an organized avatar of mandi, has changed the course of Indian retail scene. Metro, a German retailer with its cash and carry model, is operating in India from quite some time and Wal-mart has just made its entry with its ambitious joint venture with Bharti Airtel Ltd. Other global retailers, namely Tesco and Carrefour are making beeline to enter the hot Indian market. Old cinema halls, offices , shopping complexes, single screen theatres, shopping arcades, old hotels are giving way to swanky shopping malls almost in every urban India. Adding to this, retail is getting organized as Hypermarkets, Supermarkets, Departmental stores, Specialty stores, Convenience stores et al. With broadband making inroads, online retailing is just starting to take off. Café coffee day and Barista have brought coffee culture to India. Pizza hut & Dominos, with a fast pizza delivery service model, are not letting their delivery boys rest even on bad Indian roads. McDonalds & KFCs are keeping Indian youths hooked onto their stores. Landmark & Crosswords have defined new rules to book and music retailing. High street shopping as been a new addition to the retailing space. Indian railways is driving millions to internet to pick their tickets.
Though retailing is Indian is an age old business. In a traditional setup, small mom and pop stores dotted every nook and corner of India. Food retailing was restricted to road side outlets and vendors. Vegetables and fruits are available in local markets or mandis. Brands were literally non-existent.
The journey from a very traditional retail setup to a modern day shopping mall indicates the complete turnaround in the retail sector. The sector which was almost unorganized is cutting a pie for organized retailing. Indian middle class is burgeoning with high disposable incomes. People have started cherishing shopping as entertainment. Plastic money and easy credit is just providing fodder to the hungry customer. Shopping in mall is a wholesome entertainment with ample parking space, food court, multiplex, gamut of brands and regular fanfare events. Mouth watering pizzas are just a phone call away. Online tickets, online books, e-payments, e-shopping and plenty of other online stores are seeing huge online traffic.
So what is India’s retail future outlook? I would say that we are moving in the right direction, yet we need to do some corrections, especially in taking care of Indian conditions and consumers in mind. Indians are still price conscious and conservative when it comes to spending. Online retailers need to keep look and feel psyche of an Indian buyer. With bad infrastructure, unfriendly regulatory framework and high dependency on traditional processes, modern retailer needs to carve out its own path. Efficient use of IT needs to be worked out for smoothening out internal business processes. India needs more of a value shopping with less frills. Malls catering to needs to masses and villages would drive this retail mania. The sector is poised to explode with a thud with an immense potential to grow. Indian retail is all set to contribute significantly to India’s growth story.
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