India's Store Wars

Beschreibung

As India's middle class grows and disposable incomes rise, "modern"retail is becoming the next hot sector of the Indian economy.Hundreds of millions of new consumers will join this retailrevolution, venturing into supermarkets, department stores andair-conditioned shopping malls for the first time. But instead ofjust window shopping, many of them will be serious buyers withmoney to spend. To cater for their needs, established players inthe modern retail sector such as Biyani, Raheja and Goenka arebeing joined by the big names of Indian business - Reliance, Birla,Bharti, Tata etc - who plan to spend billions over the next fewyears rolling out supermarkets, big-box outlets and specialtystores. At the same time, property developers are getting on withthe "malling" of India, and looking for high profile anchor tenantsto lure customers. On the sidelines of this Indian retail revolution are bigoverseas players such as Wal-Mart, which already has a tie-up withBharti to provide much-needed "back office" support.But what Wal-Mart really wants is the right to set up its ownstores in India. The same goes for Tesco, Carrefour, Metro andother international players. While the macro outlook appears bright, the problems areastronomical for India retail industry. There is no reliable coldchain, transport logistics are appalling, there is a huge lack ofmanagerial talent, there is no consistency for quality and quantityof supply, there is political opposition from groups such as marketmiddlemen, the mom and pop "kirana" corner stores have to becatered for, as do the farmers who grow the produce that isintegral to a successful retail revolution. How well will thesedisparate players cope with the various pressures of a dynamic andfast-moving industry?

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Geoff Hiscock

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