CHANGES IN RETAILING

11. Conclusion

For a start, these retailers need to invest much more in capturing more specific market.

Intelligence as well as almost real-time customer purchase behavior information. The retailers also need to make substantial investment in understanding/acquiring some advanced expertise in developing more accurate and scientific demand forecasting models. Re-engineering of product sourcing philosophies-aligned more towards collaborative planning and replenishment should then be next on their agenda. The message, therefore for the existing small and medium independent retailers is to closely examine what changes are taking place in their immediate vicinity, and analyze Whether

their current market offers a potential redevelopment of the area into a more modern multi-option destination. If it does, and most commercial areas in India do have this potential, it would be very useful to form a consortium of other such small retailers in that vicinity and take a pro-active approach to pool in resources and improve the overall infrastructure. The next effort should be to encourage retailers to make some investments in improving the interiors of their respective establishments to make shopping an enjoyable experience for the customer.

As the retail marketplace changes shape and competition increases, the potential for improving retail productivity and cutting costs is likely to decrease. Therefore, it will become important for retailers to secure a distinctive position in the marketplace based on value, relationships or experience.

R ~ Rain check

E ~ Establishment

T ~ Trade

A ~ Affiliated Chains

I ~ Investment Oppt

L ~ Low Price Guaranty

Finally, it is important to note that these strategies are not strictly independent of each other; value is function of not just price, quality and service but can also be enhanced by Personalization and offering a memorable experience. In fact, building relationships with customers can by itself increase the quality of overall customer experience and thus the perceived value. But most importantly for winning in this intensely competitive marketplace, it is critical to understand the target customer's definition of value and make an offer, which not only delights the customers but also is also difficult for

competitors to replicate.

Survey

A customer normally prefers malls, supermarkets, department stores as against kirana stores for variety of reasons. To get a clear idea on why do customers favor shopping in supermarkets in opposition to Kiranas, a survey has been conducted with this objective. By this survey, it became easy to compare Traditional Retail vs. Modern Retail with the view of customers. A questionnaire was prepared and reviews of consumers have been noted down and it is presented in the form of following analysis:

1. Which is the most appropriate time when you would like to go out for shopping?

Observation

Most of them didn’t visited super markets while going to office or returning from office. Very few consumers have opted for this option. But most of them visited on Sundays and holidays with their friends family or many of them

Option

No of consumers

while going to office 8

while returning from office 15 while dropping kids to home 24 while dropping kids to school 10

on Sundays/ holidays 43

visited alone also. The strongest point to note here is that a major chunk of our sample population never visits supermarkets while going to or returning from office nor do they visit while leaving kids to school or taking them back from school. The major reason behind this is that these activities generally take place early morning or during afternoon which is the time not preferred by consumer for shopping.

2. On the basis of following parameters, indicate your preference to visit supermarket?

Factor No of consumers

Range of products 28

Ease of purchase 18

Store timings 15

Behavior of sales

personnel 18

Discounts 21

Observation

More number of consumer visit super market because of range of product. All other factor is equal. By observing, it can be seen that consumer go for super market because of convenience and also discounts offered by super market.

3. According to you, which retailing format provides best services in terms of discounts, offers or free home delivery?

Retailers No of consumers

Supermarkets 76

Kirana Stores 18

Others 6

Observation

Comparing the overall features of supermarkets and Kirana stores in terms of discounts, free home delivery, offers etc, people prefer supermarkets over Kirana stores by a large margin. The reason being, that kirana stores have a limited turn over and generally cannot indulge into providing offers and hence looses out on the bargain.

Conclusion

Kiranas and organised retail will co-exist. After analyzing the retail Industry, it can conclude that the organized retail has opportunities to grow in India in spite of the kirana stores because these kirana shops will also get benefit

of the growing economy. The argument that the kirana shops will be affected by these malls is only myth. The organized retail is attracting more and more Indian as well as foreign players of the Retail Industry.

The Boundaries between the offerings by malls and one-shop vendors are gradually breaking. Single shop-owners are becoming increasingly aware of customers needs, hygiene factors and varied requirements. At the same time, Retail Chains are opening stores in residential areas and focusing on customer relationship management, with a hub and spoke model where one large store supports various smaller stores in the nearby residential areas. However, the key to success for Organised Retailers will always be their large size, variety and ambience on offer, and thus, the scale.

As the study shows that a major portion of the Organized Retail will be developed in small cities and towns, this opportunity has not been enchased by Kirana stores and they are unable to meet the requirements of the customers.

Therefore both the Malls and Kirana stores can play simultaneously in India so no need get afraid due to the malls.

Here even I would like to add my view point from whatever I have learnt from the experience gained while making this project. Most of the kirana stores have survived. But growth has been very slow for them and no new kirana stores are opening up in neighborhoods where Big Retailers have opened shop. And secondly, Big Retail will have to wait a long time before they can ‘invade’ small towns in India.

Towns with less than a million-half a million population will have to wait.

And no big retailers will venture there until they’ve gained some useful insights from the big cities. And the countryside will be largely left untouched which will be served by local Kirana Stores. “Big Retail Chains won’t kill small shops”

“Small is beautiful. Malls are all very good for one-day shopping, but the Kirana store is for the odd quantities in life. Like when you need one-fourth of a packet of rice.”

Bibliography

Books:

 Retailing – K. Suresh

 Retail Management – Gibson C. Vedamani

 Marketing Management – Philip Kotler

 Retail Marketing Management – David Gilbert

Newspapers:

 The Economic Times

 DNA

Websites:

 www.hindubusinessline.com

 www.atkearney.com

 www.businessworldindia.com

 www.wikipedia.com

 www.economictimes.com

 www.dnaindia.com