Future Group's plan for Consumer Industry segment

Future group plans to set up 10,000 convenience stores:
The concept is hybrid between kirana store, and large supermarket.
Loyalty driven convenience store.
Member-shoppers will get more discount than those offered by others.
We have build the entire ecosystem such as logistics, partnership with FMCG companies and customer database around the stores.

Data analysts will help us analyze what to store.

Each store will enroll 1500 customers for an annual fee. Those customers will get 10% more discount above any existing one.
These smaller stores will have three badges – Easy day, Heritage Retail and Nilgiri’s.

Since last month, the company has been opening about 15 smaller stores a week. The retailer will also open a warehouse within 100 km radius of the stores to drive efficient logistics. Over the past few weeks, Future group has been piloting a similar program at Easy Day and has managed to enroll one-lakh members so far.

By doing so, Biyani hopes to achieve sales of Rs 40,000 cr thorugh these stores by 2021.
These stores will be like neighborhood stores.

In India, food and grocery accounts for almost 50% of the overall retail basket, although online penetration is still less than 1%, an indication of the growth potential.

Morgan Stanley expects the grocery and food delivery market to reach an online penetration rate of 4% by 2020, touching gross merchandise of $19 billion, making it largest category after electronics and apparel.

Biyani has acquired almost all convenience store format brands in the past fine years, while rivals have been focusing on big-box formats. Also, Future group has its own FMCG and logistic company to support the stores.

Globally small corner stores are doing good. 7-Eleven in Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, Lawson in Japan and Oxxo in Mexico are largest retailer in respective region, reflecting the growing business of small outlets despite the market being opened for retail giants.

Even in India, rival Tata that has partnered British retail giant Tesco, launched a neighborhood convenience store format – Star Daily – modeled after Tesco Express.

The new initiative also dovetails into Biyani’s wider strategy to generate about 70% of its sales from in-house brands in four years, and establish itself as a standalone consumer goods company.

Local neighborhood stores generate about 85% of consumer products industry.

From: Kishore Biyani lines up loyalty-driven convenience stores to beat Amazon, Flipkart in discounts

SBICAPSEC is a Shit for Online Trading

Few months back, I have taken demat and trading account from SBI, India's number one Bank for banking. Its trading account software has given a very bad experience to me. I have taken online trading account so that I can make some money from the opportunity. India started coming out of recession. And I was sure of making some money easily by investing in any good company.

First, SBI has not enabled my banking account for online transaction. I say, when I have taken online Trading account and I already have banking account with SBI, then why they have not enabled online transaction from my banking account. Even they have not provided me any option to use on form, as far as I remember. Is it not ridiculous?

Second, I have enabled online transaction facility on my banking account after coming to know that I need do it separately. After that I come to know that I cannot transfer any amount from my online banking account to other account. They have just enable it to transfer from other account to my SBI banking account. This is another bad surprise. Whats a joke! I have Demat account with the bank and I have requested to allow me do online banking then also I can transfer one way - only from other account to my banking account.

After that, I saw an option for enabling online transaction both ways (not sure) or how to proceed with it. SBI online banking has two passwords system on their online banking. Now, I have visited that site (onlineSBI) to check inside it. I already put password when I have visited there for first time. It was a must to do. Now I forgot that password. For resetting the profile password, I provided the details but they are not accepting the new password. Whatever I am giving, it is telling that it is not in the right format and giving error that password must be minimum 8 chars etc. I have given various combination but no one worked.

I should have thought that for customer care SBI is a shit. I have taken Online Trading facility with SBI thinking it is our national bank. This kind of service create requirements for Private entity sans their pesky marketing calls.

Reason for your dropped calls: Point of Interconnection (PoI) is higher than benchmark

Point of Interconnection (PoI) parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. This parameter also reflects as to how effective is the interconnection between the two networks.

For April-June quarter, which said amongst the private service providers Bharti Airtel has the largest number of PoIs having congestion (56 PoIs as of June) followed by Reliance Communications (22 PoIs), Dishnet Wireless (21 PoIs as of March), Vodafone (19 PoIs of March) and Idea (19 PoIs).

The benchmark notified by TRAI in the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulation of July 2005 for this parameter should be less than 0.5 per cent. This means out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem.

The circles/ states more affected due to PoI congestion are Bihar, Maharastra, Gujarat, Haryana, North Eastern states and Himachal Pradesh.


Airtel, RCOM most congested networks: TRAI - The Financial Express

Mall Mania is Down in Economy Slowdown in India

Malls are quoting lower rentals to woo retailers. With this rising inflations, retailer are watching their steps. In spite of lack of quality space in top eight cities in India, malls are witnessing around 18% vacancy across the 40mn sq ft of operational malls. Rentals are said to have slumped by 25%-30% over the past four months. In Bangalore, rentals are predicted fall by another 30% over the next eight months.

Malls owners are now looking to throw in freebies like complimentary maintenance and complimentary back-up power. Partnering with retailers is also in offer. Malls owners are offering revenue sharing.

A retailer explains three factors we take into account – power, salary and rentals. If the rent is more than Rs 100 per sq ft per month, the retailer needs to generate Rs 20 per sq ft per day.

Retail Biggies and Traditional Indian Retail Market

traditional Indian retails markets used to be run by small traders based on local business. Now by the introduction of the biggies like Relience and Food Bazar, Indian retails industry has changed.
We somehow welcomed this retails biggies thinking we will get good services by this retails business and these biggies will not hit hard to the traditional traders.

I have a Reliance Fresh store very near to my home in Bangalore. There I used to purchase fruits only as I eat outside. From sometime I saw introduction of mobile recharge facility and insurance facility over the Reliance Fresh counter. I thought bad over this facility. Mobile charge takes only few minutes and I can easily recharge from any small shop. They used not to tell anything details about the plan and in Reliance also you will not get any new information about the service providers plan. There you will get rush. But the question is - where all small traders will go and what they will do? With this pace of industrialization in small business, Indian society will also become like owner and slave society. You will be either owner or slave.

Government must induce a plan for small traders who will experience and some capital to get loan from government and create a competitive business structure for them. Just giving loan waiver to dying one is not something countable as good policy decision. Government should try to extend helping hand to those who need help, this way they can recover the money and general man (aam janta) will feel someone helpful is there for them.

Reliance corrected Reliance Fresh plan due to political and social reason

Reliance realized some problem in their plan for Reliance Fresh growth. They understand they are earning less than they are losing brand name (Retail) in India due to Reliance Fresh. They are thought of as anti-people due to politics in vegetable retailing. So they are now shifting their focus in plan. Tata also faced this kind of problem when they promised Rs. 100000 car. They faced problem due to land acquisition for SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in West Bengal. But they cannot shift their factory.

Reliance Fresh will position as a pure super market focusing on nine categories including food, FMCG, home, consumer durables, IT, wellness and auto accessories, with food accounting for the bulk of the business.
“The company underestimated the might of the middlemen and the small vegetable vendors in the current political scenario,’’ said a source. “Also, the strategy to constantly talk about low prices was not such a great idea after all,’’ the source added.

Source: IndiaTimes

Trent, a TATA brand, to bring Sisley brand to India

The reclusive CEO of the Tata group's retail arm Noel Tata finally chose to speak exclusively to NDTV after his company sealed a distribution and retailing tie up with Italy's Benetton group for their fashion brand Sisley.

Trent is planning 20-30 Sisley stores in five years and expects a revenue of Rs 100 crore from Sisley stores. For Benetton the tie up could not have come at a better time, after all India is its fastest growing market.

"India is a huge opportunity and we are expecting $55 million business from here, we are expecting 60 per cent growth in 2007 itself," said Alessandro Benetton, Executive Vice Chairman, Benetton.

When asked if Trent was slow in expansion plans while others are leapfrogging, Noel Tata was candid saying that the high real estate prices will slow down others as well.

"I admit we are slower but that is the way we want grow maintaining our quality, we are looking to triple our stores in next 3 to 5 years. Going forward real estate will be huge issue, I see it going worse in the future with the rentals soaring further," Noel Tata said.

No umbrella brand

But is there a scope for Tatas to bring their various retail operations like Croma and Trent that house Westside, Star bazaar & landmark under one umbrella to capitalise on synergies.

"The group companies have their own growth plans and there is no need for that yet, Croma, Titan, Tanishq and Trent are all growing on different platforms and will remain that way," Noel Tata said.

Noel Tata may be slow with his retail expansion but he clearly has an action plan in place, he knows venturing into fashion and premium segment will bring him better margins than mass retailing and that is exactly why tie ups with Benetton is on his priority list.

City Classification for Retailers

I have found very good classification about the cities in India for retailers. This report will help you know about the people discretionary income and disposable income in Indian cities in classified ways.
Cities where BPO and ITES spread more will normally have more discretionary income. Fifty cities are taken into consideration as these cities have more than 1 million populations. Fifty cities with more than one million people are classified into these five categories: maturing cities, transitional cities, highgrowth cities, emerging cities, and nascent cities.

Here is a look at what these classifications connote for buyers, retailers, and mall developers.

Maturing cities
The two members in this category include, the national capital region of Delhi and Mumbai. Together, these two markets account for 50% of India's organised retailing. By 2008, they are expected to still account for 40% of organised retailing.

According to the JLLM report, growing supply could result in saturation in some pockets of these two markets. Nonetheless, they still offer opportunities to mall developers. One, there is opportunity to develop large one-stop malls that combine retail, entertainment, eating and hotels or service apartments. Two, there are opportunities for developing malls that house only luxury brands.

Most luxury brands today operate out of five-star hotels and are on the lookout for space in malls that offer them the appropriate ambience. Three, there is opportunity for developing malls that house hypermarkets. Four, there are opportunities for developing neighbourhood malls. At present, most of the malls are situated in very distant localities and are not accessible to a lot of people. And finally, there will be opportunities for developing malls in the suburbs, where income levels have gone up because many IT/ITES companies have set up base there.

Transitional cities
These include Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Ahmedabad. While the organised retail segment is much smaller in these cities compared to Delhi and Mumbai, they are firmly on the radar screens of retailers and developers because of their large and growing middle class. By 2008, the six markets are expected to account for one-third of India's organised retailing.

Retailers are attracted to them because of their vibrant corporate sectors, high economic growth rate, and large middle-class population. Moreover, land and construction costs are much lower here than in Delhi and Mumbai.

As with the maturing cities here too the opportunity lies in developing large one-stop malls, speciality malls, neighbourhood malls and hypermarkets.

High-growth cities
This category includes Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Kochi, Surat, and Vadodara. Retailers perceive these cities as the next retail destinations. High income levels and a high level of brand awareness are factors that attract retailers to these destinations.

In this category, Ludhiana in Punjab has emerged as the favourite of both retailers and mall developers. Income in these cities are well above the national average and awareness of international brands is high because of the presence of a sizable NRI population.

Most high-growth cities are located in North India, with the exception of Kochi, which has in recent times emerged as the favored destination of the IT-ITES sector.

Emerging cities
This group consists of 16 cities that are likely to emerge as the growth markets over the next three years. These cities include Amritsar, Indore, Jalandhar, Mangalore , Nasik, Bhubaneshwar, Agra, Vizag, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Kanpur, Goa, Allahabad, Mysore, Jamshedpur, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Rising incomes and hence aspiration levels, scarcity of branded stores and growing corporate activity are some of the factors driving the demand for organised retailing in these cities. In many of these cities, ITITES companies are expanding their workforce and this in turn is providing an incentive to organized retailing.

These cities provide property developers with the most interesting opportunities as demand exceeds supply. Some of the cities in this category such as, Amritsar , Agra and Goa are important tourist destinations.

Another significant characteristic of these smaller cities is that their economic growth rate (on a smaller base) is much higher than that of the bigger cities. On account of low property costs, lower salary levels and high brand acceptance, retailers are able to achieve much better margins in these cities. At present, retail formats in these cities are smaller - ranging from one lakh to 1.5 lakh sq ft, compared to five lakh sq ft in the major metros.

Nascent cities
There are 19 cities in this category: Patna, Bhopal, Meerut, Asanol, Varanasi, Kolhapur, Sonepat, Madurai, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Dhanbad, Vijaywada, Srinagar, Panipat , Aurangabad, Solapur, Ranchi, Jodhpur, and Guwhati. At present, income level as well as corporate activity is low in these cities, as is the level of organised retailing.

Nonetheless, pioneering retailers and mall developers, who want to profit from the first-mover advantage, have put these cities on their watch list. Already, Pantaloon's Big Bazaar store is present in many of these cities, while developers like Prozone have already forayed into cities like Aurangabad and Rajkot.

It is apparent that organized retailing has a long way to go and opportunities are available to mall developers across the country.

Source: Retail boom entering smaller cities

Retail shops will be banned in Uttar Pradesh

Mayawati (UP CM) has ordered ban on big retail shop in UP. Why not Mayawati did ban earlier opening of standalone retail outlets in UP. Who will pay the loss Reliance has to bear due to closing of opened outlets.

India's retail explosion: Good or Bad?

Small traditional players in retails will get difficult fighting new big players. Caste based business in retail (baniya) will be marginalized further. Food grain shops are owned by traditional players I call baniya. general public are just watching these big players thinking what will be the outcome for them.

My view is that farmers will get independence from middleman and customers will get good service and new innovative kind of service these big players are supposed to provide.

The upmarket retail sector seems set for a virtual explosion with the entry of a whole host of domestic players while foreign companies are waiting and watching eagerly on the sidelines. With India being one of the biggest emerging markets, it is no wonder that retail giants like Wal-Mart and Carrefour are eager to make an entry.
For the time being, however, domestic giants like Reliance, Pantaloon, ITC, RPG, Rahejas and the Bharti group have jumped into the fray. These big retail chains seem to be visible at virtually every street corner lately but the question is, what happens to the neighbourhood grocer?

The fact is that big retail chains have a lot to offer both the farmer and the consumer. On the other hand, the vibrant Indian trading community is going to be hard hit. Farmers are keen for big retailers to come in as they help in both marketing and processing of output without their having to go to middlemen in the mandis. Consumers similarly are reaping a bonanza as prices at these shops are at rock bottom rates since big retailers can afford to buy directly from the farmers.

No wonder that there have been reports of farmers protesting in Jharkhand against efforts to stop big retailers from buying tomatoes directly from them. In contrast, there were reports from another city of small retailers protesting in front of a Reliance Fresh showroom saying it was ruining their business.

Politicians, of course, are entering the fray to oppose the entry of large retail chains, but clearly economic forces are now going to play a larger role.

In this context, some of the data on the retail sector in India makes for interesting reading. For instance the CII-AT Kearney retail study shows that retailing is the largest contributing sector to the country's GDP. Besides, the retail sector contributes about 10 percent to the GDP compared to 8 percent in China, 6 percent in Brazil and a matching 10 percent in the US.

India is estimated to have around 15 million retail outlets, making it the country with the highest retail outlet density in the world. It also tops AT Kearney's list of emerging markets for global retailers. Currently the value of the retail market is estimated at around $270 billion with a growth rate of 5.7 percent per annum according to the India Retail Report 2007.

In addition, 96 per cent of the total retail trade in the country is in the unorganised sector. The size of the organised retail market in 2006 was estimated at Rs 485 billion, making up 4.7 per cent of the retail market. As for job potential, the retail industry is the second largest employer after agriculture, employing about 6-7 per cent of the total work force.

Data clearly shows that the retail sector is not only extremely large but provides a huge amount of jobs in this country. The entry of the organised large retail chains may not have an immediate impact on the trading community. But in the long run, it is clear that small traders and retailers will be affected and the government cannot ignore the issue.

While one would ideally like to take the side of the consumers and the farmers on the issue, it is evident that the muscling in of the big retailers may lead to large-scale closures of small trading outlets. And this in turn could affect many families relying on jobs in this sector.

At the same time, the investments made by large food retailers in farm production could lead to tremendous savings as huge amounts of fruit and vegetables that cannot be processed are simply thrown away in India. In areas like Uttarakhand, for instance, farmers are welcoming the entry of retail chains that are putting money into proper processing and packaging facilities.

The government, on its part, insists that small retailers may face competition from the big fish but have definite advantages over them owing to low overheads, local market knowledge and their engaging in services like home delivery and sales on credit.

It also points to the fact that wastage estimated in the Indian food chain is around 40 per cent, valued at over Rs 500 billion ($10 billion) annually. A study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) has also shown that only about 2 per cent of fruits and vegetables are processed in this country. In this backdrop, it is felt that there is no option but to allow big retail chains to make huge investments needed to create an efficient and modern agro processing industry.

Despite these arguments, it is clear the small trading community will have to be given some form of protection in the coming years. Otherwise, not only will the small retailer gradually disappear from the city scene, but even worse, employment for thousands of people could be affected in the long run.

Source:India's retail explosion

Listen to Vishal Retail chairman Ram Chandra Agarwal

Listen to once a common man Ram Chandra Agarwal, who now presides over a chain of more than 50 supermarkets and hypermarkets. In 1986 he was earning Rs. 300. He realized that this job cannot fulfill his dreams, so he quit his job.

Let’s start with your childhood...
I was born in a lower middle class family and brought up in Calcutta. I studied in St Xavier College and during that time I joined a service.
In 1986, after leaving my service, I started a small store of 150 sq. ft ready-made garment store and you can say my retail career started from there.

So you took a job in between. What was the job like?
It was an assistant manager in a metal company and I was paid Rs300 (a month) and it lasted for one year.

Why did you quit?
Because I didn’t see any future in that job...in business I can do more. In that job, I could not fulfil my dreams, so I thought I should start my own business. At that time, people were very crazy about ready-made garments and I started 150 sq. ft store.

In 1986, the prospects for that business were not as great as they are today, but you still went into that business?
Not that great. You can say that was a passion to be a big man. That way, this is the only thing—by doing business, I can be big some day.

So you dreamed of becoming big?
Yes, from the very beginning I dreamed of becoming a big man.

What did you dream? How would you describe a big man?
Everybody knowing me and I becoming a famous man and having your own personality.

So what do you think now? Have you fulfilled your dreams?
Still there is a lot to come and, again, I am working hard to reach that goal.

What is your goal?

You can say that, at that time, I was a Communist person. I worked very hard to change the system of the country. At that time I was Communist-minded. I also dreamed of being a leader who can bring any change in the system of the country.
After doing all these things, I realized that to do such things I need to be a big man and without a name, anything you say—nobody hears you.
That’s why I came into business and I will make my money then the whole country will be knowing me, then I will try bringing any kind of changes in the system of the country.

So what are the changes you would like to bring?
Still the country is not knowing me. There are lot of things as a businessman I shouldn’t be talking about, for example, politics and all those things.

Source: LiveMint

TATA deals for Retail with Woolworths

Tata is trying to expand fast in retail market. TATA group has lots of experience about India consumer. They are already selling Match Box, salt and many other items sold in retail shop.

The Tata group is in talks with Woolworths Ltd, an Australian retail company, to set up supermarkets and hypermarkets in an attempt to widen its own retail business and enter a segment that accounts for 60-65% of India's $350 billion (Rs14 trillion) retail market, according to industry body Retailers Association of India (RAI).

One of the group's company, Infiniti Retail Ltd, recently launched the Croma chain of consumer electronics stores in association with Woolworths, which is a technical partner in the venture. (Woolworth has no equity stake in Infiniti.)

Given the largely unorganized nature of food retailing in India, firms entering the business have either hired foreign retail industry executives or forged alliances with foreign retailers or both. Indian laws do not allow foreign retailers in multi-brand retail, although they are allowed to operate wholesale cash and carry businesses.

The Tata group already has a presence in the supermarket business through Star India Bazaar, which is run by group company Trent Ltd. Trent also owns the Westside and Landmark chains. Tata Chemicals Ltd recently announced a joint venture with European fresh produce firm Total Produce for a food and grocery distribution business.
A mere 1.3% of food and grocery sales in India happen through supermarkets and other outlets that are part of organized retail; business houses such as Reliance Industries Ltd and Aditya Birla Group are hoping to change this as they make big investments in the business. Bharti Enterprises Ltd too has announced a retail foray with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. joining it as a partner for the back-end or supply business.

Woolworths has around 700 supermarkets in Australia, according to its website, and is the country's second largest employer. It announced sales of A$16,849.9 million for the six months ended 31 December 2006, up 9.7% from the year-ago period.

Source: LiveMint

Organised food retailing can increase rural income, cut inflation

At an estimated Rs 12.8 trillion in 2006, India's retailing sector makes up close to forty per cent of the country's GDP. Of this, food and grocery (F&G) items account for a significant 74 per cent of total retail sales across both, the organised and unorganised sectors. Only 1% of the food items retailed in India flow through the organised retail channel.

Organised food retailing can increase rural incomes, reduce inflation and increase rural spending power, which would then boost the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate. A CRISIL Research report on the retail food industry says the total avoidable supply chain costs in the Food & Grocery (F&G) vertical, which accounts for 74 per cent of total retail sales in the Indian organised and unorganised sector, are about Rs 1,00,000 crore. About 57 per cent is due to avoidable wastage and 43 per cent due to avoidable storage and commissions costs.

The F&G vertical comprises fresh fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, fast moving consumer goods and food grains (staples). Within this, staples and unprocessed fruits and vegetables account for 50 per cent of food retail, amounting to Rs 4,70,000 crore, the CRISIL Research paper says. The distribution costs increase due to the presence of several layers in the supply chain and, coupled with the movement of goods across different states or regions, lead to high wastage — caused by inadequate transportation and cold storage facilities.

Gulf firms eyeing booming Indian retail sector

With a retail boom sweeping India, private entities from the Gulf region are making a bee-line to invest in the sector but are wary of some challenges in the huge and diverse market, according to experts here.
"Over the next two years, India is planning to develop a staggering 518 shopping malls across the country. Typically every 100 miles, the food and language changes, which means that your communications has to be key," Srinath Sridharan, head of lifestyle business and strategic alliances at Wadhawan Holding Private Limited in India was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
The size of the country is another factor that could deter retailers from investing in India, said Shubhranshu Pani, president, retail services at Trammell Crow Meghraj Property Consultants.

"By 2015 almost 72 per cent of the population would be under 35-years-old, which I think will contribute to the highest number of consumers in the world."

Retail Sector In India

Some facts about Retail sectors in India

As you know Indian Retail sector is booming.I tried to collect some facts about it, so that you can get good insight about retail sectors in India. I researched and tried to get data very useful for youngsters. If you see nothing great about retail sector in current situation then you should read this before continuing further: Trend in Retail Sector

Jobs in the Retail Sector
By Function
	Level	Salary (Rs lakh/year)
Operations	Asst manager	2.5-7
		Manager	4-10
	General manager	8-15
	Vice-president	15-50
Supply chain	Executive	2.5
		Manager	4.5-9
	Value chain head	12-35
Visual merchandising(VM)	Store VM	1.5
		Area VM	4-6
	Merchandising head	10-20

By Rank
	Qualifications	Salary (Rs lakh/year)
Sales executive	Undergrad or even a dropout, good selling and communication kills	0.7-1.2
Department manager	Graduate with two years of experience as sales executive	1.2-2
Store manager	Graduate, preferably MBA, with 3-4 years of experience, excellent customer relationship management skills, should be able to work long hours	4-11
Area manager	Graduate, preferably MBA, with 7-8 years of experience, or 5-6 years as store manager	12-35
Head of operations	MBA, with minimum 10-12 years experience of the entire gamut of operations	20-50

Source: Rediff

Roles and Expectations, your interest and aptitude for Retail Sector:


Sales

~ Every retail store depends on the sales force to sell its merchandise. If you enjoy interacting with people and love to be a part of the customer's final purchasing process than retail sales is for you.

~ You would be expected to provide a high level of service and expertise. Since you will directly interact with those buying the products, you must know the product well.

~ You must be flexible, levelheaded, and have a knack for problem solving.

You Need: These positions are typically entry points into a career in retail, and a graduate with the right mix of qualities can make a start.

Store manager

~ If you always wanted to run your own business or thrive in an environment that changes rapidly then store management is the perfect career option for you.

~ Store managers are responsible for managing an individual store. Most store managers take on the duty of day-to-day operations of the store.

~ You would be responsible for encouraging and inspiring the staff to do their best.

~ You would have to understand and analyse the business and execute plans to achieve sales and profit targets.

You Need: Graduates in any field with at least two years of experience are given preference.

Retail manager

~ The role of retail manager involves understanding the mindset, habits and lifestyle of the customer.

~ He/she also plans and coordinates the operations of the outlet.

~ This involves determining the layout of merchandise, monitoring the stock levels, placing orders for new stock, managing the supply chain and keeping and analysing records of all financial transactions.

You Need: You should be an MBA with at least a years' experience. You must also be inclined towards a high level of customer service.

Retail design/Visual Merchandising

~ Retail design or visual merchandising plays an important role in this business. Designers or visual merchandisers are the ones who give a face to the brand.

~ Corporates are realizing the importance of brands and their image. It is through good designs that a retailer can enhance the brand image and attract the customers to the store.

~ If you have an eye for detail and a creative mind, retail design can give you the opportunity to go wild with your ideas.


You Need: A course in designing would be a good way to launch into a career in visual merchandising.

Source: Rediff

I tried to get some details of Retail Sectors Jobs available currently in India. So, that you can decide pursuing jobs in Retails Sector:

I searched the few Job sites:
Search Term: Store Manager

Site: ClickJobs - 55 result (India)
Site: Naukri - 80 result (Anywhere)
Site: Jobsahead - 361 result (India)
Stat on April 26

Courses in Retail Sector

This site is dedicated to Retail Sector in India. Here you can find updates in Retail Sectors by newsletters also.
http://www.indiaretailing.com/retail-report.asp

Impact on small shops

What are the consequences of retailing growing as a large industry? It is likely that giant business houses, with their rich organizational infrastructure emerging in the scene, capture the retail market and leave the small shop owners high and dry. The competitive muscles of the minnows may not have adequate financial strength to compete with the rich entrepreneurs who may easily drain out the sources in one go, as in vegetable procurement. Small shops, sometimes known as `Kirana' or `Mom & Pop' outfits do have great cause for alarm.

Several lakhs of people now engaged in small shops and associated activities may get displaced upsetting their livelihood, causing a certain amount of social imbalance, unless appropriate corrective steps are planned and implemented in time. At the policy level, there has to be measures in the regulation of foreign direct investment in this sector, in order to ensure the economic security of the vulnerable segments of the population. From a social point of view, organized retailing should not emerge as a `category killer' - something that has such a great competitive advantage that rival establishments find it almost impossible to operate profitably in that industry.

There is another side to this picture. Those who have studied at least up to the 10 Plus-Two level will have opportunities to enter the large retailing enterprises and gradually rise to attractive positions.Further, there will be demand for managers with specialisation in retailing, since the volume of specialised work and finance involved in the units would be large.

As an instance of retailing emerging in a big way in our country, we may see that Bharti Enterprises have joined hands with the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores for foraying into the retail business. Many other investors are in the queue.

Some may argue that this is not a new phenomenon in India, citing chains such as the Bata that specialises in footwear. But what we discuss here is a different kettle of fish. The new genre of retailing organisations will have a great impact on our commerce.

It is true that retailers such as Pantaloon, Subiksha, FoodWorld, Spencers, Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Big Bazaar, Bharti, and Westside are already in operation. Reliance, Tatas, RPG, and Birlas are said to have giant projects on the anvil. But the incursion of retailers like Wal-Mart, Sears, Tesco, Target, Krogers, Benetton, Nike, Carrefour, and Reebok will have severe social and financial consequences.

It may be seen that whereas 85 per cent of retailing in developed countries is handled by the organised sector, its contribution in India is below five per cent, though it is growing at a rapid rate. Nearly half of the fast-moving retail products in our country belong to food items. More than half of this falls into the unbranded variety. Herein lies the great potential in retailing; brand them and sell them through large organised retailing outlets.

According to one estimate, organised retailing on India would reach $23 billion by 2010. A growth rate of about 20 per cent would involve a leap in the job opportunities for the educated youth. According to one estimate, the emerging jobs may go to 10 million or 15 million. We are speaking about jobs such as salesman, counter assistant, store manager, logistics manager, retail manager, visual merchandiser, and supply chain distributor. It may be remembered that when retailing emerges as big business, there would be tough competition that calls for the dynamic services of active and enthusiastic professionals.

Mass procurement, quality check, scientific distribution of products ensuring purity, good quality, and reliability at reasonable price would form the hallmark of effective retailing.

Mass procurement directly from the producers will eliminate intermediaries and help to bring down the selling price. Though the successful operation of such units would be confined to urban areas, the retail market in India is unusually vast offering great potential to the retail business. If the middle class can be roped in, the business is bound to thrive. Source: The Hindu

Food retail will benefits farmers. They were denied their right for long. Middle men generally benefits from their hard earned crop.
They take risk, they take loan but at last middle men eat all fruits.

Proponents for FDI opined that that foreign investment would help in improving the retail and supply chain infrastructure, and generate large-scale employment in the country. In addition, the Indian retailers could absorb some of the best operational practices of these international retailers and gain in experience. Ultimately, the consumers would benefit due to the availability of more product offerings, lower prices, and efficient service.

Those who opposed FDI argued that the entry of foreign retail giants would be detrimental to the livelihoods of unorganized retailers in India. There were an estimated 12 million shops, which accounted for 97% of the retail market in India. There were concerns that these small retail stores would not be able to compete with the operational efficiencies and financial muscle of foreign players. More

Retail reform
The Government regulations allow 100 per cent FDI in cash and carry through automatic route and 51 per cent in single brand. Besides, the franchise route is available for big operators. Now, the Government also proposes further liberalisation in the retail sector allowing 51 per cent FDI in consumer electronics and sports goods.

The retail road ahead
The Indian retail market is estimated at US$ 350 billion. But organised retail is estimated at only US$ 8 billion. However, the opportunity is huge--by 2010, organised retail is expected to grow to US$ 22 billion. With the growth of organised retailing estimated at 40 per cent (CAGR) over the next few years, Indian retailing is clearly at a tipping point. India is currently the ninth largest retail market in the world. And it is names of small towns like Dehradun, Vijayawada, Lucknow and Nasik that will power India up the rankings soon. (Source - Last Updated: April 9, 2007)

Education & Training:

Retail EducationIn India
Welingkar Institute of Management	Offers a variety ofprogrammes in Retail Management
K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research	Offers a Diploma inRetail Management in conjunction with Pantaloon Retail India Ltd
Mudra Institute of Communications	Post GraduateCertificate Programme In Retail Management
Indian Retail School	Variety of Courses In Retail Management
Pearl Academy of Fashion	Variety of Retail Management Programs
RPG Institute of Retail Management	Variety of Courses In Retail Management
SPJain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai	MBA with specialization in Retail Managementoption
Birla Institute of Management Technology, New Delhi	PostGraduate Diploma in Retailing and Merchandsing Management
Rai University	(GPD(Hons) RetailManagement)
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management & Higher Studies	MBA in RetailManagement
Indian Institute of Jewellery	Retail Jewellery Management
Institute of Technology andManagement	Masters in Retail Management & Marketing
Indian Instituteof Retail, New Delhi	Variety of Courses In Retail Management
Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning (SCDL)	Post Graduate Diploma in Retail Management (PGDRM)
The Retail Academy, Ahmedabad	Variety of Courses In Retail Management
National Institute of Fashion technology(NIFT)	Recentlylaunched fashion Retail Management course

Other Educational Institutions are also providing education in Retail Sector in India. Search and Research well before joining.
Update and more Info on Education Info

Trend in Retail Sector

RAI (Retailers Association of India) seeks state help to start training course in retail sector
Read from World Socialist Web Site::Indian government opens retail sector to foreign corporations

Trends in Retail Business in India

India is seeing big movement in Retail Sectors. Big players are coming in retail sectors like TATA, Reliance, Bharti Enterprises, and so on.

Though it is not new that a big player is involving in retail sectors, but currently it is a great surge in this segment of economy. Earlier Tata has entered in this market as goldsmith. All traditional goldsmiths have protested against “Tanishq”, as I can remember.

I first personally feel this emerging trend where traditional players felt problem in Milk market. No big established players come to this but through large cooperative organizations established with time, traditional milk men felt the heat and they started coming to doors of people for milking cows. Previously people have to go to khatal (English: cow shed).

FICCI seeks retail sops to grow $ 430 billion by 2010. So, Federation Of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has sough industry status and liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI) regime for the sector for it growth. At present the size of the Indian retail industry is estimated to be $ 328 billion.

Both Reliance Retail (Mukesh Ambani) and Bharti Enterprises (Sunil Mittal led) has drafted a similar business model of bringing local kirana store (small retail store) owners into its own networks. They will use small retail store property on lease and sign a no competition pact with them.

India's $300-billion retail industry is gripped by a new concept — discount malls. Top realtors and local retail chains are developing malls in regional boroughs, specifically to sell premium branded goods at prices 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than the maximum retail price (MRP)>>Mushrooming ‘discount malls’ to spur retail biz

Report on Retail for youngster

Read Case Study by Business World

Indian Corporate Confidence

Our Indian Corporate confidence is largely coming from India’s good economic progress in past years with good economic future prospects.

We have a large pool of young and intelligent mind. This is also supporting the growth. This is meaningful as some of the country is aging. With confidence for good economic future, our corporate leaders have started taking risk. They are assured that they can support and sustain the takeover in case their decisions proved little wrong.

Good economic progress is attracting lot of foreign funds also. They are coming for making profits. Indian government should try to emphasize on fundamental pillars of economic growth and directly or indirectly guide foreign firms to invest in these areas. Economic reforms and process change for development has also helping very much.

Indian takeover smells of roses

India becoming a world-class manufacturer: US study

Tata Corus Deal

I am sure with corporate entering into retail market, consumer based economy will get a boost. This will greatly help villages and that in turn create new consumers.

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