WHAT IS RETAIL?

The word retail is, in fact, derived from the French word retailer, which means to cut off a piece or to break bulk.A retailer may be defined as a dealer or trader whorepeatedly sells good in small quantities.The sale of goods or commodities in small quantities directly to consumers. Of, relating to, or engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at retail. It also means to sell insmall quantities directly to consumers. RETAIL The sale of goods individually or in small quantities to the public to sell or besold in small quantities to the public. Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise from a fixed location, suchas a department store or kiosk, or by post, in small or individual lots for directconsumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services,such as delivery. The sale of goods directly to the consumer; To sell at retail, or in small quantitiesdirectly to customers; To repeat or circulate (news or rumors) to others; Of, orrelating to the sale of goods directly to the customer; In retail quantities, or atretail prices To sell directly to the consumer, usually in small quantities in comparison with thetotal level of sale. Any product for sale in a store or directly to a consumer. Trade in which a client buys or sells an over-the-counter stock through a broker-dealer. Merchants selling tangible goods in a face-to-face environment who normally useconventional terminals and swipe transactions.

RETAIL In INDIA The retail industry in India is largely unorganized & predominantly consists of small , in dependent, owner-managed shops. Retailing is INDIAs largest industry in terms of contribution to GDP& constitutes 13% of GDP. There are around 5 million retail outlets in India. There are also an uncounted number of low cost kiosks (tea stalls, snacks centre, barber shops, etc) & mobile vendors. Total retail sales area in India was estimated at 328 million sq.mt.in 2001, with an average selling space of 29.4sq.mt. per outlet. In India the per capita retailing space is about 2sq. ft, which is quite low compared to that of developed economies. In 2000, the global management consultancy AT Kearney put retail trade at 400,000 crore , which is expected to increase to Rs.800,000 crore by year 2005 an annual increase of 20%.According to the survey, an overwhelming proportion of the Rs.400,000 crore retail market is unorganized. In fact only a Rs20,000 crore segment of market is organized. There is no integrated supply chain management outlook in Indian traditional retail industry.Food sales constitute a high proportion of the total retail sales. The share was 62.7% in 2001,worth apprx. Rs 7032.2 billion, while non food sales were worth Rs.4189.5 billion. However the non-food retailing sector registered faster year-on-year growth than the food sales sector.

Thetrend to market private labels by specific retail store is catching on in India as it helps toimprove margins. The turnover from private labels by major retail chains was estimated ataround Rs 1200 million in 2001. CURRENT SCENARIO OF INDIAN RETAIL: Unorganized market; Rs. 583,000 crores. Organized market; Rs. 5,000 crores. 5 x growths in organized retailing between 2000-2005. Over 4000 new modern outlets in last 3 years. Over 5,000,000 sq. ft. of mall space under development The top 3 modern retailers control over 750,000 sq.ft of retail space. Over 400,000 shoppers walk through their doors every week.
Growth in organized retailing on par with expectations and projection of the last 5 years: oncourse to touch Rs. 35,000 crore or more by 2005-06. Year Urban Rural Total1978 0.58 1.76 2.351984 0.75 2.02 2.771990 0.94 2.42 3.361996 1.80 3.33 5.13Source:www.indiainfoline.com outlet Composition Grocers 34.7%Cosmetic stores 4.0%Chemist 6.3%Food stores 6.6%General stores 14.4%Tobacco, pan stores 17.0%Others 17.0%Source:www.indiainfoline.com outlet Composition Grocers 55.6%General stores 13.5%Chemists 3.3%Others 27.6%Source:www.indiainfoline.com

Institute Of Business Studies & Research Pune (Satish P.Goyal) Page 7 Retailing in India

Diversities differentiates itself from the standard development of modern retail anywhere inthe world.

Conventionally, retailers focus on homogeneity and continuity in order to derive benefits of scale and efficiency in their system.

Globally, retailers develop two or three major formats which are largely standardized, maynot work in India.

Significantly large, truly pan-Indian, multi-format modern retailing model needs to bedeveloped in India.

The Indian market will provide the footsteps to develop a model for globalizing retailing.

This will be the biggest contribution of Indian retailers to the world. Indian retailers can establish thought leadership is in the field of technology. Unlike in developed countries, Indian retailers do not have legacy systems on which theyhave to build their technology platform.

As retail grows and develops fresh technology-led solutions, India will take a leap and thenext generation retail technology solutions may well come out of India.

Usage of RFID and the next practices in technology-based retail solutions may well emergefrom Indian retailing.

Indian retailers would do well to develop their own systems and benchmarks that are admiredand followed the world over.

-5 years are tough for retail biggies

The retail sector is expected to grow 40% to $427 billion by 2011.

By 2017, organized retail will be 15-20% of the total retail market.

Total retail market $ 800-billion by 2017.

Impact on rural incomes and urban prices will be real and positive