Indian Retail Industry - Opportunities, Challenges, and Development Strategies: A global scenario

Indian Retail Industry - Opportunities, Challenges, and Development Strategies: A global scenario

1.0 Introduction

Retailing is still in its infancy in India. In the name of retailing, the unorganized retailing has dominated the Indian landscape so far. According to an estimate the unorganized retail sector has 97% presence whereas the organized accounts for merely 3% . Industry has already predicted a trillion dollar market in retail sector in India by 2010. However, the retail industry in India is undergoing a major shake-up as the country is witnessing a retail revolution. The old traditional formats are slowly changing into more complex and bigger formats. Malls and mega malls are coming up in almost all the places be it – metros or the smaller cities, across the length and breadth of the country.

McKinsey report on India (2004) says organized retailing would increase the efficiency and productivity of entire gamut of economic activities, and would help in achieving higher GDP growth. At 6%, the share of employment of retail in India is low, even when compared to Brazil (14%), and Poland (12%).Govt of India's plan of changing the FDI guidelines in this sector speaks of the importance attached to retailing. Recently moves by big corporate houses like Reliance Industries has further fuelled the major investments in retail sector. A strategic alliance, land acquisitions in prime areas give the essence of the mood in this sector.

Both MNCs and Indian firms want to get their share of this burgeoning pie. Notable in Indian firms are Pantaloons Retail & Big Bazaar, Trent's Westside, Shopper's stop, Reliance and Subhiskha, Wills Lifestyle stores, Café Coffee Day, which are present in India in different retail formats. Wal-Mart stores have just started operations in India. Some leading retail coffee chains of the world like Starbucks, Barnies are planning to expand in a major way in India.

2.0 THE INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR

India is the country having the most unorganized retail market. Traditionally it was a family's livelihood, with their shop in the front and house at the back, while they run the retail business. More than 99% retailer's function in less than 500 square feet of shopping space. Global retail consultants KSA Technopak have estimated that organized retailing in India is expected to touch Rs 35,000 crore in the year 2005-06. The Indian retail sector is estimated at around Rs 900,000 crore, of which the organized sector accounts for a mere 2 per cent indicating a huge potential market opportunity that is lying in the waiting for the consumer-savvy organized retailer. Purchasing power of Indian urban consumer is growing and branded merchandise in categories like Apparels, Cosmetics, Shoes, Watches, Beverages, Food and even Jewellery, are slowly becoming lifestyle products that are widely accepted by the urban Indian consumer. Indian retailers need to advantage of this growth and aiming to grow, diversify and introduce new formats have to pay more attention to the brand building process. The emphasis here is on retail as a brand rather than retailers selling brands. The focus should be on branding the retail business itself. There is no doubt that the Indian retail scene is booming. A number of large corporate houses —Tata's, Raheja's, Piramals's, Goenka's — have already made their foray into this arena, with beauty and health stores, supermarkets, self-service music stores, new age book stores, every-day-low-price stores, computers and peripherals stores, office equipment stores and home/building construction stores. Today the organized players have attacked every retail category.

The Indian retail scene has witnessed too many players in too short a time, crowding several categories without looking at their core competencies or having a well thought out branding strategy. The growth rate of super market sales has been significant in recent years because greater numbers of higher income Indians prefer to shop at super markets due to higher standards of hygiene and attractive ambience. With growth in income levels, Indians have started spending more on health and beauty products. Here also small, single-outlet retailers dominate the market. In recent years, a few retail chains specialised products have come into the market. Although these retail chains account for only a small share of the total market, their business is expected to grow significantly in the future due to the growing quality consciousness of buyers for these products .Numerous clothing and footwear shops in shopping centres and markets operate all over India. Traditional outlets stock a limited range of cheap and popular items; in contrast, modern clothing and footwear stores have modern products and attractive displays to lure customers. With rapid urbanization, and changing patterns of consumer tastes and preferences, it is unlikely that the traditional outlets will survive the test of time.  Despite the large size of this market, very few large and modern retailers have established specialized stores for products.

 There seems to be a considerable potential for the entry or expansion of specialized retail chains in the country. The Indian durable goods sector has seen the entry of a large number of foreign companies during the post liberalization period. A greater variety of consumer electronic items and household appliances became available to the Indian customer. Intense competition among companies to sell their brands provided a strong impetus to the growth for retailers doing business in this sector. Increasing household incomes due to better economic opportunities have encouraged consumer expenditure on leisure and personal goods in the country. There are specialized retailers for each category of products (books, music products, etc.) in this sector. Another prominent feature of this sector is popularity of franchising agreements between established manufacturers and retailers. A strong impetus to the growth of retail industry is witnessed by economic boom and driver of key trends in urban as well as rural India.

2.1 Opportunities in various segments:

These are different segments concerned with food, beverage, grocery, fashion & life style etc. it can be discussed separately:

Food Retailing Segment:

The Food World (FW) supermarket chain has been one of the pioneers in organized food retailing in India.  Before FW entered the food retailing market, it carried out an extensive survey in consumer attitude towards retailing.  An important finding of the survey was that in terms of overall satisfaction, traditional Indian grocery stores scored 5 – 6 on a 10-point scale.  FW believed that this was largely due to the absence of organized retailing and low brand proliferation.  The company thus decided to offer people a pleasant shopping experience and work towards making grocery shopping less cumbersome.  The main challenge for FW was to alter the existing mindset of Indians with respect to price and value and add excitement to grocery shopping.

On the basis of the above information, FW defined its objective as: "To offer the Indian housewife the freedom to choose from a wide range of products at a convenient location in a clean, bright, and functional ambience without a price penalty."

Initially, the target markets were identified as neighborhoods that had at least 4,000 households with an average monthly income of more than Rs. 4,000.  For this kind of customer base, FW needed to start operations in a metropolitan city.  Considering the fact that the cost of real estate was low in Southern India, FW chose Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore as initial locations for setting up FW stores.

FW adopted a self – service format for its stores, which typically had around 4500 sq ft of selling space.  The designing of the stores was given special attention and a uniform look was adopted for all the stores.  The colors red and yellow (as used in the FW logo) were used liberally while designing the stores.  To give the outlets an up market look, the interiors were kept completely visible to the public by using huge glass panes for the frontage.  The interiors were kept brightly lit and emphasis was given to creating a clean, pleasant ambience.  All the outlets were air – conditioned and played popular music continuously.  All this was done with the objective of providing an enjoyable and refreshing shopping experience to customers.

The merchandise primarily comprised groceries, personal care products, kitchenware and tableware.  Over the years, this list was expanded to include music, magazines and a few other product categories to cater to a wider customer base.  Every item in the store was marked individually with both price and bar codes.  Separate payment counters were set up for people planning to pay through credit/debit cards and for people buying only 3 – 5 items.

FW also entered into alliances with the fast food major, Pizzas Corner and the satellite radio broadcasting company, World Space.  While Pizza Corner sold pizzas from FW outlets.  World space displayed and sold its services and products at the stores.  Such tie – ups and promotional exercise have become a routine feature for FW.

Retailing of Lifestyle Products segment:

Shopper's Stop Limited (SSL) is the pioneer in India's organized retail revolution.  SSL redefined the concept of 'shopping' by making efforts to provide the Indian consumers with an international shopping experience.  In 1991, SSL set up its first outlet in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with a floor space of around 4,000 sq ft.  Since then, SSL has established its stores in all major cities in India with store space ranging from 18,000 sq ft to 60,000 sq ft.

SSL stores provide a complete and in – depth range of fashion and lifestyle products and accessories to meet the lifestyle pattern of every shopper.  Around 85% of SSL's merchandise is branded and it stocks more than 150 national and international brands.

Within a short period, SSL emerged as the largest single retailer for Levis, Pepe, Lee, Arrow, Zodiac, Reebok, Nike, Parker, Ray Ban, Swatch, Chambor, Revlon, Lego, Mattel and many other leading brands.  The company closely monitored the movement of all brands, and if any brand failed to meet customer expectations, it was phased out.  SSL also launched a range of private labels like Life, Kashish and Karrot in the premium classic, value classic and value fashion segments.  A team of designers were recruited from India's premier fashion design institutes to develop private labels.

Earlier, Indian customers were used to shopping for their apparel and accessories at various shops (as no shops offered all the products at one place), which paid little or no attention to the ambience or the comfort of their customers.  SSL, apart from offering a complete range of garments and accessories, included central air – conditioning, impeccably maintained trial rooms, beautiful rest rooms, play area for children, large car parking, in – store café, and other services such as alterations, goods exchanged without any questions and gift wrapping.

As a part of differentiating its product offerings from that of other major lifestyle stores such as Life Style and Globus, SSL also began conducting many events and promotion campaigns to combine entertainment with shopping.  These included the 101 – day Seven Wonders of the World Festival, Surprise Sale, Salon Streets, and Men in Vogue, Great Store Robbery, Campus Stoppers and Valentine Promotion.  One of the major events offered by SSL, which attracts hoards of customers, is Parikrama a crafts fare aimed at showcasing he diverse ethnic arts and traditions in India.

Coffee Parlors

Barista and Café Coffee Day:

Being a traditional tea consuming country, the average coffee consumption in India was quite low at 10 cups per person annually.  However, in the late 1990s, a silent coffee revolution was sweeping urban India.  Coffee drinking was increasingly becoming a statement of the young and upwardly mobile Indians.  Coffee bars, an unheard concept till the mid 1990s had become big business.

There was a transition from the conventional and outdated coffee house to more sophisticated and trendy coffee bar chains like Barista, Café Coffee Day, Qwiky's and Café Nescafe.  By the turn of 20th century, nontraditional coffee retailing outlets like coffee bar chains, coffee vending machines and specialty coffee powder shops succeeded in making coffee one of the most desirable beverages in urban India.  The coffee parlors were an instant hit across all major metros and cities in India, as they offered an entirely new experience to customers.

Barista entered the Indian coffee retailing market in 2000 and decided to position itself as a lifestyle brand.  The company targeted the premium segment youth, as it realized that it wasn't only coffee that its target segment was looking form, but also for a place to hang around comfortably, where they could be themselves and do whatever they wanted, such as reading a book, writing a letter, or simply chilling out.  Hence, it recreated the ambience and experience of the typical Italian neighborhood espresso bars in India, with bright, trendy and comfortable interiors.  It promoted a social and interactive environment, where one can play games like chess and scrabble, read books, listen to music, enjoy arts, surf the Net and sip an Espresso Italiano, or Iced Café Mocha.  Fun posters, message boards and TV screens with music videos, all set the right mood.  An open kitchen behind the bar enables one to watch the coffee actually being made.

To ensure superior quality of its product offerings, Barista used only top grade Arabica beans to make coffee and also invited brew masters from Italy to create new blends.  The employee orientation program at Barista specially focused on enabling the team to understand and avoid the attitudes and behaviors in traditional restaurants that restrain customer from being himself/herself.

Since 2002, as a part of differentiating its services, Barista began offering Italian food at its outlets and also entered into tie – ups with Planet M, Crossword and Ebony to set up Espresso Corners at these places.  During this period, to expand the reach of its services, the company also opened outlets in banks (ABN – Amro), movie theaters (PVR in Delhi), offices (HSBC and GE), airports and in hotels.

Vending Machines

Nescafe, Cadbury E-Cuba and Tata Tea:

Nestle popularized the coffee kiosk concept in India, where it offered coffee through its vending machines. Nestle installed hundreds of Nescafe kiosks at places such as shopping malls, cinema halls, food centers and office buildings. Its vending machines came in different sizes and styles to match the needs of consumers at different locations. For instance Nestlé's high capacity multitask vending machines provided snacks, drinks and confectionery items. The kiosk model enabled consumers to have hot coffee instantly, whether they were shopping or at office, just by the click of buttons. Most offices buy the Nescafe vending machines to provide their employees with free coffee.

Cadbury India, with the help of telecommunications companies – BPL Mobile and E-Cuba India, launched chocolate vending machine operated by mobile handsets in select corporate and congregation points in Mumbai.

Since 2002 the concept of vending machines to retail has picked up momentum in India. The Tata were the first in India to establish vending machines for tea, followed by HLL 'Taj Mahal' and Lipton vending machines and coca-cola international tea brand 'Georgia'vending machines. These vending machines were placed at many strategic places such as airports, railways stations, shopping malls and complexes, restaurants and food outlets.

Beauty and Healthcare retailing segment:

The Shahnaz Hussian group founded and led by Shahnaz Hussian has been one of the pioneers of organized beauty care retailing in India. The group offers exclusive salon treatment geared to individual needs as well as a number of commercial formulations for the treatment of specific problems like acne, pimples, pigmentation, dehydration, apopecia etc., it employs about 4200 people in 650 salons spread across 104 countries with a strong presence in Asia, US and the Middle east.

The group formulates and markets over 400 products for all age groups and for a variety of beauty and health problems or needs. The group sophisticated R&D units develop the products and put them through stringent quality control tests. These products are environment friendly and no testing is done on animals. All the products offered by the group are entirely natural and carry the guarantee of purity and safety.

2.2 Key Trends in Urban India:

*   Retailing in India is witnessing a huge revamping exercise.

*  Estimated to be US$ 200 billion, of which organized retailing (i.e. modern trade) makes up 3 percent or US$ 6.4 billion.

*   Ranked second in a Global Retail Development Index of 30 developing countries drawn up by AT Kearney.

*  India is rated the fifth most attractive emerging retail market: a potential   goldmine

*  Food and apparel retailing key drivers of growth.

*  Organized retailing in India has been largely an urban phenomenon with affluent classes and growing number of double-income households.

2.3 Key Trends in Rural India:

*  Rural markets emerging as a huge opportunity for retailers reflected in the share of the rural market across most categories of consumption

*  ITC is experimenting with retailing through its e-Choupal and Choupal Sagar – rural hypermarkets.

3.0 The Hidden Challenges

Modern retailing is all about directly having "first hand experience" with customers, giving them such a satiable experience that they would like to enjoy again and again. Providing great experience to customers can easily be said than done. Thus challenges like retail differentiation, merchandising mix, supply chain management and competition from supplier's brands are the talk of the day. In India, as we are moving to the next phase of retail development, each endeavor to offer experiential shopping.  One of the key observations by customers is that it is very difficult to find the uniqueness of retail stores. The problem: retail differentiation.

The next problem in setting up organized retail operations is that of supply chain logistics. India lacks a strong supply chain when compared to Europe or the USA. The existing supply chain has too many intermediaries: Typical supply chain looks like:- Manufacturer - National distributor - Regional distributor - Local wholesaler - Retailer - Consumer. This implies that global retail chains will have to build a supply chain network from scratch. This might run foul with the existing supply chain operators. In addition to fragmented supply chain, the trucking and transportation system is antiquated. The concept of container trucks, automated warehousing is yet to take root in India. The result: significant losses/damages during shipping.

Merchandising planning is one of the biggest challenges that any multi store retailer faces. Getting the right mix of product, which is store specific across organization, is a combination of customer insight, allocation and assortment techniques.

The private label will continue to compete with brand leaders. So supplier's brand wiil take their own way because they have a established brand image from last decades and the reasons can be attributed to better customer experience, value vs. price, aspiration, innovation, accessibility of supplier's brand.

3.1The following factor can be considered as Pros and Cons of Retailing.

Employment opportunities

Urban Employment :-  Employment opportunities for youth, According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) it is said that retailing will create additional eight million jobs though retailing In India and  will benefit population by employing local (Urban) youth and others directly or indirectly. But it is feared that our friendly neighborhood kirana shops where, one can make purchases in small quantities and return the goods if not found good and many more friendly services, will be on the verge of disappearance there by creating a vacuum which cannot be filled by the big organized one.

Rural Employment: - Contract Farming is the new mantra of organized retailing in India. There is no doubt that the farmers are in some way benefited by contract faming where in, the latest technology and equipment and scientific farming is done by farmers with the help of retailers there by increasing the productivity in agriculture, and uniform payment for their produce through out the crop irrespective of  fluctuations in market price. But one should also focus on the freedom of farmers to sell their produce at will.  It is evident in India that rich farmers who possess vast lands are the beneficiary but farmers who have little land and dependent on other trades are marginally benefited by this kind of business.

Ashok Rajgopal director (retail industry) for Ernst & Young said, " By targeting the youth population in India, retailers will be investing for the future as they will be able to influence and create loyalty from the start."

What small retailers and customers say?

"I've lost half my business," says Rajiv Das, who has been selling fruit and vegetables for 18 years and now has to contend with a new Reliance store a three-minute walk away. "I'm not able to fight, but I would if I could."

Similarly, Selva Kumar, who runs a kirana 100 meters from a Reliance outlet in Chennai, says, "We have lost 40 percent of our business, and that's the future. We're not closing, but there'll be no growth."

"It's good value here, better than other supermarkets, but there are difficulties with the quality, especially apples and papayas," says Rama Tibrewal, a middle-aged Reliance shopper in Hyderabad.

Competition

The organized retailers are financially sound in investing in Big Business promotion, aesthetic looks, technology and Supply chain management etc. Its business principle "The bigger the better". The Bigger retailers the better it can counter competition from small retailers and sustain business. But the unorganized retailer cannot compete and are trying fight hard against organized retailers however they cannot afford to invest heavy on technology and other inputs.

Due to tough competition, Customer have lot many opportunities and choices  to go for, unless local retailers offer them best prices they wont be interested to come back,  unorganized retailers stores are finally waking up to become competitive and try to attract  more consumers.

Competitive trend

"Small pharmacy stores have teamed up to implement steps to fight back the competition from large chains. The All-India Chemist and Druggist Association (AIODC) are conducting talks with several companies such as Dr Lal Path Labs, Dr Reddy's Labs and Thyrocare Pathology to offer diagnostic facilities".

"Metro Cash & Carry will be starting a training school for kirana stores, in an effort to strengthen them and their business practices to take on the competition from organized retailers". Geraro Monzillo, the deputy managing director.

Government's Contribution

Government of India permitted up to 51% foreign direct investment in single-brand retailing in the country. This rule, to some extent saved the existence of unorganized retailers but in the long run there is a possibility that Indian Government may allow 100% FDI there by permitting to setup multinational retail operators which may wipe out the existence of unorganized sector.

Government's ignorance towards the needs of the unrecognized retailers and in one way discouraging them by not giving enough support in the form of financial, infrastructural, distribution, storage, transport, trade centers and other facilities makes it an awful situations for unorganized retailers and this may lead to catastrophe.

Growing Economic Disparity

In India more than 60% population is engaged in farming, which is major chunk of income generated and it is the equivalent to half of other sectors but  disparities in income levels  in India specifically rural India remain as wide as ever. Nevertheless employment will grow in all sectors and which will be of labor incentive. However, Work force of women in agricultural and services sector will enhance pressure on rural jobs in near future.

"Much of India is still mired in poverty, but just over a decade after the Indian economy began shaking off its statistic shackles and opening to the outside world, it is booming.... The growth of the past decade has put more money in the pockets of an expanding middle class, 250 million to 300 million strong, and more choices in front of them" (Despite Widespread Poverty, a Consumer Class Emerges in India, NYT 10/20/03).

4.0 Strategies

4.1: Right Positioning

The effectiveness of the mall developer's communication of the offering to the target customers determines how well the mall gets positioned in their minds. At this stage, the communication has to be more of relative nature. This implies that the message conveyed to the target customers must be effective enough in differentiating the mall's offering from that of its competitors without even naming them. The message should also clearly convey to the target audience that the mall offers them exactly what they call the complete shopping-cum-entertainment point that meets all their expectations. The core purpose is to inform the target customers about the offering of the mall, persuade them to visit the mall and remind them about the mall. The mall developer can create awareness about the offering among the target customers in a number of ways. Various communication tools available to the mall developer for this purpose may include advertising, buzz marketing (WoM), celebrity endorsement, use of print media, press releases and viral marketing .Once the message is being conveyed through these channels, the mall developer must add a personal touch to his message by carrying  out a door-to-door campaign in order to reinforce the message.

4.2: Effective Visual Communication

Retailer has to give more emphasis on display visual merchandising, lighting, signages and specialized props. The visual communication strategy might be planned and also be brand positioned. Theme or lifestyle displays using stylized mannequins and props, which are based on a season or an event, are used to promote collections and have to change to keep touch with the trend. The merchandise presentation ought to be very creative and displays are often on non-standard fixtures and forms to generate interest and add on attitude to the merchandise.

4.3: Strong Supply Chain

Critical components of supply chain planning applications can help manufacturers meet retailers' service levels and maintain profit margins. Retailer has to develop innovative solution for managing the supply chain problems. Innovative solutions like performance management,    frequent sales operation management, demand planning, inventory planning, production planning, lean systems and staff should help retailers to get advantage over competitors.

Importance of Supply Chain and Logistics Management

One of the most important challenge in organized retail in India is faced by poor supply chain and logistics management. The importance can be understood by the fact that the logistics management cost component in India is as high as 7% -10% against the global average of 4% - 5% of the total retail price. Therefore, the margins in the retail sector can be improved by 3% - 5% by just improving the supply chain and logistics management.

In India, with demand for end-to-end logistics solutions far outstripping supply, the logistics market for organised retail is pegged at $50 million and is growing at 16%. It is expected to reach $120-$130 million by 2010. Organised retail on the other hand is growing at 400% and is expected to reach around $30 billion by 2010.Even supply chain and logistics firms like Hong Kong based Heng Tai Consumables and ABS Procurement Co and ACM China (the greenhouse specialist) is also eying the opportunity for managing the supplies.

The supply chain management is logistics aspect of a value delivery chain. It comprises all of the parties that participate in the retail logistics process: Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Third Party Specialists like Shippers, Order Fulfillment House etc. and the Retailer. Here, logistics is the total process of planning, implementing and coordinating the physical movement of merchandise from manufacturer to retailer to customer in the most timely, effective and cost efficient manner possible. Logistics regards order processing and fulfillment, transportation, warehousing, customer service and inventory management as interdependent functions in the value delivery chain. It oversees inventory management decisions as items travel through a retail supply chain. If a logistics system works well, the retail firm reduces stock outs, hold down inventories and improve customer service – all at the same time.

Logistics and Supply Chain enables an organized retailer to move or store products more effectively. Efficient logistics management not only prevents needless movement of goods, vehicles transferring products back and forth; but also frees up storage space for more productive use.

Retail analysts say on-time order replenishments will become even more critical once the Wal-Mart/ Bharti combine begins operations - the American retailer works almost entirely on cross-docking and is likely to demand higher service levels, including potential levies for delays in shipment.

The efficiency and effectiveness of supply chain and logistics management can also be understood by the fact that modern retail stores maintain lower inventories than traditional retail. In India, generally in the traditional kirana stores, three weeks inventories are kept; while in a modern retail store like Hypercity, it's nine days and it's  under two weeks for Food Bazaar. Now, it is beneficial for both the manufacturer as well as the retailer. If we go through the following food supply chain in India, we find that a lot can be improved by maintaining the supply chain and logistics.

4.4: Changing the Perception

Retailers benefit only if consumers perceive their store brands to have consistent and comparable quality and availability in relation to branded products.  Retailer has to provide more assortments for private level brands to compete with supplier's brand. New product development, aggressive retail mix as well as everyday low pricing strategy can be the strategy to get edge over supplier's brand.

5.0 Conclusion:

In their preparation to face fierce competitive pressure, Indian retailers must come to recognize the value of building their own stores as brands to reinforce their marketing Positioning, to communicate quality as well as value for money. Sustainable competitive advantage will be dependent on translating core values combining products, image and reputation into a coherent retail brand strategy.

With the generous use of Global and Local Experiences, Indian retailers are going to improve their bottom lines with efficient management of Supply Chain and Logistics. At the same time, Indian Retailers like Future Group with retail stores like Big Bazaar, Pantaloons and Reliance Retail are also going to show the world as to how it can be managed in a more innovative and efficient manner.

The retail sector in India is witnessing a huge revamping exercise as traditional markets make a way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Western style malls have begun appearing in metros and second-rung cities which introduced the Indian consumer to a shopping experience like never before. Rated the fifth most attractive emerging retail market, India is being seen as a potential goldmine. It has been ranked 2nd in Global Retail Development Index of 30 developing countries drawn up by A.T.Kearney. Government of India has also opened the door for the retailing giants to enter into the markets. Many foreign investors are also showing keen interest to enter into the Indian market. With the flow of FDI, retail sector will have to see a many changes in the coming years.