A Study on an Insight into Indian Retailing Industry- A Holistic Approach

The advent of economic reforms made globalization an indispensible phenomenon across all the countries irrespective of some objection from some part of the world. Globalization in essence means free trade of goods and services, capital, intellectual skill and knowledge among different countries. This in turn offers variety of products & services to the global market. Due to which the market has become highly heterogeneous and complex and also made the competition stiffer among the marketers. The needs, tastes and preferences of the customers are rapidly changing at a much faster rate. In order to sustain this highly ever changing customer’s needs, tastes, demands and preferences, the marketer need to be more organized to withstand & sustain the highly competitive market. Changing customer demand & lifestyle in turn has given rise to organized retailing in India. Retailing is one of the rapidly growing sectors in the service industry. It is one of the active & attractive sectors of the last decade and has become an intrinsic part of everyday lives. This emerging market is witnessing a significance change in its growth and investment plan. There is a stiff competition between the retail giants (organized sector) and unorganized kirana shops. The organized retail formats rapidly emerged in India because of the economic fundamentals, nuclear families, easy financing options, increase in the population of working women, rising disposable income, Dual Income No Kids (DINK). But its impact on unorganized sector is severe. It will take over the profitability and presence of unorganized sector in the years to come. Irrespective of that, organized retailers facing problems such as rigid tax structure, inadequate infrastructural facilities, high cost of real estate, stringent foreign direct investment (FDI) policies etc. Because of the support of government & the buying nature of the Indian consumer, unorganized retail sector is still predominating over organized sector in India, unorganized retail sector constituting 96% of total trade, while organized retailing accounts only for 4%. In the near days to come the entire gamut may get changed due to technological advancements and changing lifestyle of customers. Currently, service sector’s contribution to the Indian GDP is 59% out of which 14-15% is held by retail sector. Predictions revealed that by 2025 India will become the world’s 5th largest consumer market. This paper is an attempt made in this direction in order to have better insights about the retail sector in India. The paper is purely conceptual analysis discusses about the rapid changing phase of retail industry in India. It gives an insight into the impact of organized retailing on unorganized retail sector. This paper provides a holistic view of retail sector, the interlink ages between the categories of retail, consumer & their buying influencing factors. Finally it develops a model for strategizing the marketing for retail industry.