INTRODUCTION

The Organised Retail industry has been the talk of the business world with some of the big players like Reliance Digital, Chroma & Big Bazaar. These stores are looking to maximise market share by attracting consumers on the basis of competitive pricing schemes as well as variety. Presently, single brand showrooms and outlets dominate the lower middle class segment of prospective buyers, these buyers reside mostly in sub-urban areas as well as small cities & towns where there is less infrastructure as compared to metropolitan cities. They provide sales in smaller quantities along with highly personalised relationship.

Nonetheless, only 3% of Indian market is organised retail (Business Today, 2012) which leaves a gigantic gap for organized retailers dealing in electronic goods to fill. A recent Price Waterhouse Coopers study suggests that the size of organised retail in India is only $666million which is likely to grow 30% perannum. However, potential of organised-retail soars high as it is a $300billion industry which has set the stage for organised retailers to gain substantial market-share.

(Economic-Times 2012)

There has been considerable growth amongst middle-class sector in India, increasing the spending power of consumers. (Indian-economic-survey 2012)

"With growth in disposable incomes and improving infrastructure, consumers have a wide choice of stores where they can choose to shop. It is therefore, necessary for retailers to understand shoppers' motivations." (Sinha & Bannerjee, 2004)

Moreover, significant changes in lifestyle with new tastes and preferences have developed amongst consumers (Economic-Times, 2012).

As people gain purchasing power the market is shifting from price-linked to value-linked where more value is given to design, atmospherics and differentiation suggests (Chand, 2008-Economic Times).

Retail Stores are offering a new shopping-experience to all demographics by providing services that offer convenience and
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comfort along with great-value. In the cultural-context there has been transformation and adaptation towards western ways of life which has specifically influenced young and the middle-age groups. Traditionally, joint-family culture persisted at Indian homes however statistics determine a drastic shift towards nuclear families.

Even looking at the Metros like Delhi, the census states the average size of family in Delhi is 5 (http://delhiplanning.nic.in) which has reduced from 10-15 members in one house-hold. Standard of living is increasing because people aspire to live a better life hence, usually both members of family work for higher earnings. This has increased the pace of life and time is of great value. Transformation to this lifestyle demands services that keep-up with the pace and offer convenience & comfort. As a result, the whole idea of all commodities available under the same roof is likely to fit-in the newly formed culture.

What is organized retail?

Organized retail is nothing but a retail place all the items are segregated and brought under one roof, unlike the unorganized retail where there are different things are sold in different shops. It also aims to bring maximum of different brands making the same type of producttogether.

Organised Retail refers to the set-up of any retail chain supported by a well defined Supply Chain. This Supply Chain has less number of middlemen compared to the unorganised sector. Due to a number of factors like cutting down of middlemen, removing of bottlenecks along the supply chain, efficient processes, etc., the end user gets a better product at a cheaper price compared to the unorganized retail sector. As the Consumer base is growing by the minute, the Organised Retail sector has immense growth potential.

Difference Between organized and unorganized retail

Retailing-An Introduction The word "Retail" originates from a French-Italian word "retailer" meaning someone who cuts off or shreds a small piece from something. Retailing includes activities of marketing and selling products or services to end consumers for their own household or personal use. Retailer is a Person or Agent or Company or Organization who is instrumental in reaching the Goods or Merchandise or Services to the End User or Ultimate Consumer. Kinds of Retailing Unorganised Traditional or Unorganized retail outlets are normally street markets, counter stores, kiosks and vendors, where the ownership and management rest with one person only. This sector accounts for two thirds of the market and requires low skilled labor. These are highly competitive outlets, with negligible
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rental costs (unregistered kiosks or traditional property), cheap workers (work is shared by members of family) and low taxes and overheads. Organised Retailing Organized retailing comprises mainly of modern retailing with busy shopping malls, multi storied malls and huge complexes that offer a large variety of products in terms of quality, value for money and makes shopping a memorable experience.

Organised Retailing In India.

The recent years have witnessed rapid transformation and increase in profits in the Indian retail stores across various categories. This can be contemplated as a result of the changing attitude of Indian consumers and their overwhelming acceptance to modern retail formats. Asian markets witness a shift in trend from traditional retailing to organized retailing driven by the liberalizations on Foreign Direct Investments. For example, in China there was a drastic structural development after FDI was permitted in retailing. India has entered a stage of positive economic development which requires liberalization of the retail market to gain a significant enhancement.

Domestic consumption market in India is estimated to grow approximately 7 to 8% with retail accounting for 60% of the overall segment. Of this 60%, organized retail is just 5% which is comparatively lesser than other countries with emerging economies. In developed countries organized retailing is the established way of selling consumer products. Despite the low percentage, Indian textile industry has grown noticeably in

organized retailing of textile products. The negative phase in exports may have compelled the Indian textile retailers to explore the opportunities in the domestic market substantially causing the outstanding growth in the concerned segment. These indications give a positive notion that organized retailing has arrived in the Indian market and is here to stay. It is expected to grow 25-30 per cent annually and would triple in size from Rs 35,000 crore in 2004-05 to Rs109,000 crore ($24 billion) by 2010. India is on the radar screen in the retail world and global retailers and at their wings seeking entry into the Indian retail market. The market is growing at a steady rate of 11-12 percent and accounts for around 10 percent of the country's GDP. The inherent attractiveness of this segment lures retail giants and investments are likely to sky rocket with an estimate of Rs 20-25 billion in the next 2-3 years, and over Rs 200 billion by end of 2010. Indian retail market is considered to be the second largest in the world in terms of growth potential. A vast majority of India's young population favors branded garments. With the influence of visual media, urban consumer trends have spread across the rural areas also. The shopping spree

 Of the young Indians for clothing, favorable income demographics, increasing population of young people joining the workforce with considerably higher disposable income, has unleashed new possibilities for retail growth even in the rural areas. Thus, 85% of the retail boom which was focused only in the metros has started to infiltrate towards smaller cities and towns. Tier-II cities are already receiving focused attention of retailers and the other smaller towns and even villages are likely to join in the coming years. This is a positive trend, and the contribution of these tier-II cities to total organized retailing sales is expected to grow to 20-25%.

Benefits of Organised Retail

Most Indian shopping takes place in open markets or millions of small, independent grocery and retail shops. Shoppers typically stand outside the retail shop, ask for what they want, and cannot pick or examine a product from the shelf. Access to the shelf or product storage area is limited. Once the shopper requests the food staple or household product they are looking for, the shopkeeper goes to the container or shelf or to the back of the store, brings it out and offers it for sale to the shopper. Often the shopkeeper may substitute the product, claiming that it is similar or equivalent to the product the consumer is asking for. The product typically has no price label in these small retail shops; although some products do have a manufactured suggested retail price (MSRP) pre-printed on the packaging. The shopkeeper prices the food staple and household products arbitrarily, and two consumers may pay different prices for the same product on the same day. Price is sometimes negotiated between the shopper and shopkeeper. The shoppers do not have time to examine the product

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label, and do not have a choice to make an informed decision between competitive products. Organized retail helps a consumer overcome these issues which were associated with unorganized retail outlets. India's retail and logistics industry, organized and unorganized in combination, employs about 40 million Indians (3.3% of Indian population). The typical Indian retail shops are very small. Over 14 million outlets operate in the country and only 4% of them being larger than 500 sq ft (46 m2) in size. India has about 11 shop outlets for every 1000 people. Vast majority of the unorganized retail shops in India employ family members, do not have the scale to procure or transport products at high volume wholesale level, have limited to no quality control or fake-versusauthentic product screening technology and have no training on safe and hygienic storage, packaging or logistics. The unorganized retail shops source their products from a chain of middlemen who mark up the product as it moves from farmer or producer to the consumer. The unorganized retail shops typically offer no after-sales support or service. Finally, most transactions at unorganized retail shops are done with cash, with all sales being final. Hoarding measures" before they could open doors. There are taxes for moving goods to states, from states, and even within states in some cases. Farmers and producers had to go through middlemen monopolies. The logistics and infrastructure was very

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poor, with losses exceeding 30 percent. Through the 1990s, India introduced widespread free market reforms, including some related to retail. Between 2000 to 2010, consumers in select Indian cities have gradually begun to experience the quality, choice, convenience and benefits of organized retail industry. Benefits of organised retail Let us examine what organised retail involves. The organised retail system enhances efficiency in the value chain. The farmer gets a better price and grows a better quality of the product; and, more importantly, is not forced to do so, and only gets into such contracts with the corporate because it benefits him. The value chain is truncated as the intermediate layers are pruned and, in the process, an organised infrastructure structure is created. This starts at the purchase level at farm gate and moves across the packing, transportation, warehousing (including cold storage, when required), processing and packaging stages before being delivered at the consumer's end. The consumer buys from these outlets because he gets the right quality at a lower price. Outlets such as Spinach, Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail and Subhiksha have been delivering quality produce at lower prices. Alongside, there are vast investments
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being made, which open up multiple employment opportunities of a different kind. The Government also gains substantially as all the taxes and duties are paid along the way and there are no leakages. Therefore, all the parties concerned stand to gain. However, there is one class that apparently gets affected adversely, which is the trader. Given that retail is generally unorganised, it is but natural that if there is a large retailer, it could replace several small ones. How does one tackle this issue? To begin with it must be stated that the so called 'mom and pop stores', which is the name given to our friendly retail grocer, will always have their own role to play. Home delivery services, the convenience of being next door, availability of small quantities of goods (like sachets and in low denominations), credit facilities, personalised service etc are some of the benefits that retain customer loyalty to these outlets. But, to the extent that there would be some replacement of loyalty, there can be a social problem even though this is not one for Economics to resolve. But, there is a way out. The large retailers cannot be everywhere as the investment involved is considerable. The small retailers will become franchisees of the corporate enterprises and can enjoy a fixed income plus commissions. Trader-corporate link-up Moreover, there is a growing trend of the these shops to get associated with the larger corporate enterprises such as
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Hindustan Unilever, Marico and Dabber, which have set up their own chains with such names as Super Value, Parivar and Mera respectively where the goods are sold to them at the same price as that to large retail chains on certain conditionality like focus on display or walking space for consumers. Alternatively, the smaller vegetable and fruits vendors could become employees of the corporate retail chain, which is also taking place in a gradual manner. Further, the local shop owner, who is the last intermediary in the chain, can actually procure from these corporate retail stores and save on costs and sell them to the consumer. Thus, while the mindset has to change and some adjustment made, it is certainly not going to be anywhere close to large-scale substitution taking place.

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Consumer Buying Behavior in Organized Retail

INTRODUCTION

Consumer is the king and hence it is the consumer who determines what a business is, therefore a sound marketing program was started with a careful analysis of the habits, attitudes, motives and needs of consumers. In particular, a marketer should find answer to the following questions:

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What are the kinds of products the customers buy? Why they buy them? How they buy them? When they buy them? Where they buy them? How often they buy them?

CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

In todays world purchases made by a customer is to satisfy his or her needs. All the behavioral activities carried out by a customer during and after the purchase of a product is termed so as buyer behavior. In this article we will come across the origin of buying ideas, what is buyer behavior, how consumer buy, why consumer buy, types, Decision process and what motives them.

WHAT IS BUYER BEHAVIOUR?

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Our economy gets stronger depending upon the wealth of goods and services produced within the country. A huge number of alternative suppliers are present for almost all the products today: substitute products are available to consumers, who make decision to buy products. Therefore the main objective of the seller is please the consumer at all times. In order to be successful, a seller need to identify the customer, what they buy, when they buy, why they buy and how they buy. A buyer making a purchase of a particular product or a particular brand can be termed as product buying motives and the reason behind the purchase from a particular seller is known as patronage motives When a person gets his pay packet, and if he is educated, along with his wife he prepares a family budget, by appropriating the amount to different needs. It may happen that after a trip to the market, they could have purchased some items, which were not in the budget, and thus there arises a deviation from the budgeted items and expenditure. All these behavioral changes within human beings during the period of purchasing can be termed as buyer behavior. Consumer buys according to his/her needs:

1. Consumer desire is recognized

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The first step the consumer determines that he is not satisfied (i.e., consumers perceived actual condition) and would be keen in improve his/her situation (i.e., consumers perceived desired condition). For instance, internal triggers, such as hunger or thirst, may tell the consumer that food or drink is needed. External factors can also trigger consumers needs. Marketers are particularly good at this through advertising; in-store displays and even the intentional use of scent (e.g., perfume counters).

2. Information to be searched The next step is to undertake a search for information on possible solutions. The sources used to acquire the information may be minimized to the maximum like remembering the information from previous experiences (i.e., memory) or the consumer may extend considerable effort to collect information from outside sources (e.g., Internet, friends, other buyers etc.). How much amount of effort each consumer directs toward searching depends on factors such as: the importance of satisfying the need, similarity with available solutions, and the time available to collect the information.

3. Options are evaluated after use

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Consumers efforts may result in a set of options from which a choice has to be made. It should be noted that there may be two levels to this stage. At level one the consumer may create a set of possible solutions to their needs (i.e., product types) while at level two, the consumer may be evaluating the particular product or service (i.e., brands) within each solution. For example, if a consumer wants to upgrade his existing laptop with a new pr

4. Purchase In most of the cases the solution chosen by the consumer will match with the product. However, this may change at the actual time of purchase. The intended purchase may be altered at the time of purchase for many reasons such as: the product is outof-stock, a competitor offers an incentive at the point-of-purchase (e.g., store salesperson mentions a competitors offer), the customer lacks the necessary funds (e.g., credit card not working), or members of the consumers reference group take a negative view of the purchase (e.g., friend is critical of purchase).

5. Evaluation after-purchase Once the purchase is over an evaluation of the decision is made. If the product performs below the consumers expectation then he/she will re-evaluate the satisfaction with the decision, which at its extreme and it may result in the consumer returning back the product. While in less
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extreme situations the consumer will retain the purchased product but may take a negative view of the product. Such evaluations are more likely to occur in cases of expensive or highly branded products. To help the consumers to ease the concerns with their purchase evaluation, marketers need to be receptive and also take initiative steps to encourage consumer contact. Customer service centers and follow-up market research are useful tools in helping to address the purchasers concerns.

Why Consumers Buy: Purchases are made to satisfy the needs of the consumers. Some of these needs are basic and needed for survival, while other needs are not required for survival and vary depending on the purchasers taste and preferences. It probably makes more sense to classify needs that are not a necessity as wants or desires. In fact, in many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of the populations income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs. For example, in planning for a family vacation the mother may make the hotel reservations but others in the family may have input on the hotel choice. Similarly, a father may purchase snacks at the grocery
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store but his young child may be the one who selected it from the store shelf. So understanding consumer purchase behavior involves not only understanding how decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.

Affect on Traders and Small Farmers: Organised Retail Stores pose great threat to the small farmers as a new supply-demand chain may be formed. Big stores would move towards preferred suppliers, and set private grades and standards which may be very difficult for the local and small farmers to achieve (Humphrey, 2007). He further adds that UK supermarkets selling a lot of fresh-food acquire it in ways that appear to be small-farmerunfriendly. Similar trend may be followed by the Indian supermarkets, consequently, destroying small traders. Various

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supermarkets in India like Reliance-Fresh & Spencer's have already had this impact on the livelyhood of traders (The Economic Times, 2007). Moreover, due to mass protest some supermarkets had to pull out of two major states of India (Uttar-Pradesh and West-Bengal) negatively effecting farmers, traders, supermarkets and employees who lost their jobs. (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com).

Challenges that the Organized Retail Industry faces

Despite the rosy hopes, some facts have to be considered to positively initiate the retail momentum and ensure its sustained growth. The major constraint of the organized retail market in India is the competition from the un-organized sector. Traditional retailing has been deep rooted in India for the past few centuries and enjoys the benefits of low cost structure, mostly owneroperated, therein resulting in less labor costs and little or no taxes to pay. Consumer familiarity with the traditional formats for
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generations is the greatest advantage to the un-organized sector. On the contrary, organized sector have big expenses like higher labor costs, social security to employees, bigger premises, and taxes to meet.

Availability and cost of retail space is one major area where Government intervention is necessary. Liberalizing policy guidelines for FDI needs focus as well. Proper training facilities for meeting the increasing requirements of workers in the sector would need the attention of both Government and the industry. Competition for experienced personnel would lead to belligerence between retailers and higher rates of attrition, especially during the phase of accelerated growth of the retail industry. The process of avoiding middlemen and providing increased income tofarmers through direct procurement by retail chains need the attention of policy makers. Taking care of supply chain management, mass procurement arrangements and inventory management are areas that need the focus of entrepreneurs. India is now on the radar of global retailers. Accelerated development of retailing industry in the country and building brand value of domestic products is essential not only for marketing our consumer products more efficiently, but also for the development of our own retailing industry.

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 AMcKinsey study claims retail productivity in India is very low compared to international peer measures. For example, the labor productivity in Indian retail was just 6% of the labor productivity in United States in 2010. India's labor productivity in food retailing is about 5% compared to Brazil's 14%; while India's labor productivity in non-food retailing is about 8% compared to Poland's 25%.\ Total retail employment in India, both organized and unorganized, account for about 6% of Indian labor work force currently - most of which is unorganized. This about a third of levels in United States and Europe; and about half of levels in other emerging economies. A complete expansion of retail sector to levels and productivity similar to other emerging economies and developed economies such as the United States would create over 50 million jobs in India. Training and development of labor and management for higher retail productivity is expected to be a challenge.

In November 2011, the Indian government announced relaxation of some rules and the opening of retail market to competition.

LITERATURE REVIEW
According to the Rangarajan Committee, Modern Organised Retail will help in containing inflation
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 The subject matter of changing attitudes and cross culture influences has had a considerable impact on the consumers of India. "Cultural meanings include common affective reactions, typical cognitions, and characteristic patterns of behavior" stated in (Olson & Peter, 2005). There have also been common cross cultural changes over the world which can be applied to the Indian market due to considerable cultural transformation. The western market's impact has created similar opportunities for the supermarkets in India. On similar lines (Currah and Wrigley, 2004) suggest that supermarkets are more prevalent across a broad range of developing countries. However, (Sinha & Bannerjee, 2004) argue that high levels of personalised services such as credit and home-delivery offered by 'transformed kirana stores' (corner-shop) are making shoppers reluctant to the supermarket format as a result several successful chains are delaying their expansion.

Reference-Groups: Store-choice decisions are influenced by different attitudes across the society. India is rated relatively high on Hofstede's uncertainty-avoidance dimension showing increasing use of opinion leaders, group-shopping, and reference-groups (Schutte 1999). This certifies high intolerance of uncertainty and slow adaptation towards change which can further be supported by diffusion of innovation, a framework developed by Everett Rogers (Keegan 2005). In the Asian context the importance of response by referrals along with acceptance of an innovation reduces the perceived risk of product/store choice. The Economist (1997) contradicts the above by showing more than 40% of the Indian population is vegetarian and consumers dislike frozen products including beef & pork. Hence, a trend that
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bends away from the supermarket-culture. Reardon et al (2003, 1143) further adds that sales for processed and packaged food at the supermarkets are relatively low as compared to fresh food. This may pose a serious threat to the supermarkets due to the lack of interest in processed food. However, demand for foreign food products is high and continues to grow. About a decade ago people used to bring foreign goods from trips abroad Bullis (1997). Now these products are available in the supermarkets as major attractions for the ever-changing Indian society. Supermarkets prevent these climatic and hygiene problems faced by the consumers, as regular shops don't have suitable temperature control equipment nor are backed up by 24 hour electricity. Trivedi S (2008) has observed that standardization of malls is one of the common phenomenons among malls developers. The look and feel of all malls in general is same and somewhat presents a uniform appearance to the customers. Standardization has its own benefits but uniformity may tend to dull customer's desire. Developers have not thought greatly about the local catchment profile. Shopping Malls have given birth to a new shopping culture 'Shoppertainment'. Nowadays, contrary to the real shopping take place, people are opting shopping more for their entertainment purpose. Author talks about black spots of malls. He says malls attract different level of footfalls and attention from shoppers within its various parts. For example, ground floor attracts more footfalls than any other floor. Shops around the atrium get the maximum number of shoppers. However, there are certain locations in the mall which are overlooked by visitors. They are called black spots of mall. Generally observed black spots are outlets near the entrance, outlets near escalators and elevators and outlets at the
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end of galleries. Shinde D (2008) suggests that Customers are willing to travel to a nearby mall for that shopping experience that he doesn't get in the local kirana store. The most common mistake done by national retailers is Standardization. National retailers have to take care about making the brand relevant to the local consumer in the catchment area of the stores. Gopal P (2007) When people go for shopping, they, especially youth spend their entire day at the mall. They want entertainment also for spending an entire day there at the mall. Strong entertainment needs to be in a mall to encourage loyalty to the mall. Increase in footfalls is not only important but to convert those footfalls into consumption is the key to success. Need of the hour is to create a mall, where people can spend time with their family. Most of the malls are providing the same things for entertainment. Like movie theatres, bowling alleys, arcade games, restaurants. No real differentiation could be seen among the malls , The research stresses on retail as a brand rather than retailers merely selling brands. The focus of this study was on branding the retail business itself. Store differentiation is missing from Indian organized retail. Leading retail stores like Shoppers stop, Lifestyle, Globus, Pyramid etc. offer common brands, similar ambience and a same commitment to improved service. Real differentiation is lacking among them. National and international retailers are finding difficult to understand the psyche of the local Indian customers, their tastes or preferences etc. Localization with Globalization is necessary for malls. Situation of lack of professional suppliers in India is also testing the supply-chain of these organized retail stores as the availability of stock is one of the major factors for building loyalty for a particular store.

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 Modern organised retail will be helpful in containing inflation and allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail leads to development of back-end infrastructure that will benefit farmers, according to C Rangarajan, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Modern retail has been found to offer better prices to consumers than traditional retail, thus helping to contain inflation, he said in his inaugural address at a seminar on Organised Retailing vis-a-vis Farm Economy of India held here on Friday. According to Rangarajan, the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail would give a substantial boost to the retail sector. It would also lead to growth in related infrastructure as 50 per cent of the total investment brought in has to be invested in back-end infrastructure. He said the fear that allowing FDI could result in large-scale replacement of small retailers was misplaced. India is a vast country. There will be place for both large retailers and small farmers, he added. On the flip side, Rangarajan pointed out, kirana, small and marginal traders would be affected once the share of the overall modern retail in food reached 25-30 per cent. However, he said, these kirana stores and street hawkers could become a part of the modern retail change story if they could be assimilated into organised retail or upgraded through infusion of capital and better training. They could also organise themselves through franchises. Speaking to mediapersons, he said the FDI proposals in the retail sector were expected to be received in the next few months. At present, it was not known how much FDI would flow into the retail sector in the country.

FDI will affect small traders unless they adapt: Rangarajan(rangarajan committee said it was a wrong notion
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that FDI in multi-brand retail would replace small retailers on a large scale)

NEED AND SCOPE OF STUDY

The Indian retail industry has been fast growing and consumers have started to shift towards retail stores. The retail chain has been fast multiplying with new outlets opening every day. It has a huge impact on the tradition buyers. To get all the things under one roof and get rid of the tradition bargain system. The consumers have started looking towards the retail stores. The change in the retail system and the effect on the consumers need an in depth study to assess the impact of retail stores on the present retail system.

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The study will look into the different social and demographic reasons of the consumers for their shifting towards Retail Stores. Also the study will extend it wings towards the factors affecting the consumer buying behaviour. There has been a change in the consumer's attitude towards retail buying after the emergence of Retail Stores. The study will try to assess the Impact made by the Stores on consumers and change in the buying behaviour of the consumers.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

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INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR The retail sector in India is witnessing a huge revamping exercise as traditional markets make way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Western-style malls have begun appearing in metros and second-rung cities alike introducing the Indian consumer to a shopping experience like never before. The sector is at an inflexion point where the growth of organised retailing and growth in the consumption by the Indian population is going to take a higher growth trajectory. The Indian population is witnessing a significant change in its demographics. Organised

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retail is on all time high in India. The growth is boosted by various factors such as availability of professional practices, media proliferation, various brands which are gaining value thereby enhancing industry growth, availability of various funding options, regulations like VAT implementation to make processes simple, sea change in demographics of country and international exposure. The Indian retail sector is highly fragmented, consisting predominantly of small, independent, owner-managed shops. The domestic organized retail industry is at a nascent stage. At the macro level factors such as rising disposable income, dominance of the younger population in spending, urbanization, shift of the traditional family structure towards the nuclear family are buttressing the organized retail growth in India. Being considered as a sunrise sector of the economy, several large business houses are entering the retail industry under multiple modern retail formats. On the one hand, the advancement of information technology is improving end-to-end business processing by integrating the entire value chain, backward and forward, for operational efficiencies. On the other hand, rising real estate prices, infrastructure constraints, and expensive technology are making the retail industry capital intensive. The current regulatory environment is not very conducive to the growth of modern retail in India. The Government of India (GOI) prohibits FDI in retail except for single-brand JVs with up to 51 per cent equity share. The recent growth of the retail industry is already impacting the commercial real estate sector. As a result of shortage of land and rising property prices, finding property in commercial markets is becoming difficult. Further, the land conversion process is complex. The licensing process for organized retail is cumbersome requiring as many as 33 licensing protocols. Taxes differ from state to state on the movement of goods: for instance, some states levy entry tax; a few levy exit taxes; in some states, the local municipal government also levies octroi. Presently, there is the central sales tax (CST) of 3 per cent on inter-state sales and value added tax (VAT) of 4-12.5 per cent on different products. Besides, the lobby against modern retail is
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mounting in recent months from traditional retailers. Organised retailing has definitely made headway in the upper class. However, even in this segment, items such as milk, fruits, vegetables and a significant portion of `through-the-month' purchases seem to be done at traditional outlets. The middle income class prefer shopping for processed food and personal care in supermarkets and fall back on traditional outlets for bulk shopping. Organised retail outlets seem to be associated with branded items/special purchases. Organised retailing does not seem to have made an impact on the lower class, except for `curiosity' shopping. There may be initial hiccups for the large players in getting the sourcing and the supply chain to work smoothly but sooner or later, the economies of an efficient supply system will give the modern retailers a distinct edge over the unorganised, small ones. Though there are positive outcomes of modern retail, with the most important one being the better price realization potential for the farmer and the price-inflation dampening effect for the hundreds of millions of lower and middle income consumers. But, organized retailing has its own set of challenges:

Expected impact of FDI in Retail Ernst & Young India Viewpoint The Union Cabinet has approved 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and raised the cap on FDI in single-brand retail from 51% to 100%. Partner & National Leader - Retail and Consumer Products, Pinakiranjan Mishra, and Partner - Tax, Paresh Parekh, share their views on this development.

Growth of the Retail sector in India - Improvement in Retail capability building

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About 5-7 years back, the industry was expected to grow at a much faster rate than what it actually has. Lack of retail experience & capability has been one of the primary reasons for this subdued growth. FDI in retail will make way for inflow of knowledge from international experts which can give boost to the overall growth of the industry. Capability building apart from financial investments is extremely important for the industry.

Push to Infrastructure - Improvement in management of supply chain

FDI in retail will boost investment in infrastructure from the retail players, 3rd party supply chain companies as well as the Government in the back of a sophisticated front end that international players are likely to bring. This will improve the efficiency of the supply chain, which will bring down the wastage, increase efficiency and reduce the overall cost to the consumer

Push to productivity - The Farming Community in India

Our productivity in food & agriculture is one of the lowest in the world and there is a significant opportunity for up-liftment of output with investment in better farming practices. FDI in retail will mean that the farming community will have a new support group with a common interest which is expected to give a great push to productivity.

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The above views are shared by Pinakiranjan Mishra, Partner & National Leader - Retail and Consumer Products, Ernst & Young India. Likely impact if there is relaxation of FDI policy in Retail

Single brand

This is a welcome step. FDI investment in single brand retailing till now has just been 0.03% [Rs 204 cr / usd 44 mn] of total FDI investments from April 2000 to September 2011. This relaxation is likely to result in increase in FDI in retail sector, by way of either new foreign entrants, or buy outs / increase in stake / M&A amongst existing single brand JVs with foreign partners. We could also potentially see present licensing / distributor / franchise arrangements being converted to either JVs with respective foreign retailer / brands, or, foreign retailers completely buying out the Indian licensee / franchisee / distributor.

Multi brand

This is a welcome and historic step. This is likely to result in increase in investments and growth in Indian retail sector, which is ranked amongst the top retail destinations in the world. Besides new entrants / joint ventures, this could also result in combination of existing cash and carry operations of foreign players with retail operations of Indian retailers, or, foreign retailer acquiring stakes in existing Indian retail entity. Also, this could provide further options to existing Indian retail
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chains / groups to raise long term capital for expansion and maybe to attract partnerships with some global players. Also, foreign multi brand retailers, who did not want to enter India through cash and carry operations, may now explore Indian presence by having stake in Indian retail compan

The above views are shared by Paresh Parekh, Partner - Tax, Ernst & Young India. The essay examples we publish have been submitted to us by students. The essays are the students' work and are not examples of our expert essay writers' work.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

QUESTIONNAIRE ( CONSUMER )
College Research ( Jagannath International Management School, Vasant Kunj) Name

Age

Gender

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Occupation Student Service Self Employed Other: Annual Income Below Rs 5,00,000 Between Rs 5,00,000 -15,00,000 Above Rs 15,00,000 Why did you choose this organised retail outlet? Variety Attractive Offers Personalized Service Other: Was this your first time buying a laptop? Yes No Were you sure of the model you wanted to buy? Yes No Did you seek assistance? Yes No Till what extent did you find the assistance helpful? Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 1 Not Helpful
Selec t a value from a range of 1, Not He lpful, to 5,Ve ry Hel pful,.

5 Very Helpful

Were the sales persons well aware of products and its features? 37

Rate on a scale of 1-5 1 Unaware

Selec t a value from a range of 1, Unaware, t o 5,Wel l Awa re,.

5 Well Aware

Did the assistance provided influence your buying decision? Yes No Suggestions for improvements in sales persons to make this experience better?

Submit

QUESTIONNAIRE (SALES PERSONNEL)

College Research(Jagannath International Management School) Name

Gender Male Female Name Of Outlet

Prior Work experience in this field? Yes No Were you trained before joining the outlet?

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Yes No Are you well versed with specifications of the product? Yes No Average number of customers attended to in a day? Below 15 Between 15 - 30 Above 30 On an average how many consumers become buyers after your assistance?

Till what extent do you think you are equipped to solve buyer query? 1 Not Equipped
Selec t a value from a range of 1, Not Eq uippe d, to 5,We ll Eq uipped,.

5 Well Equipped

Do you feel you require further training? Yes No Are you satisfied with the rewards and bonuses received for meeting sales targets? "If Any" 1 Unsatisfied
Selec t a value from a range of 1, Unsat isfied , to 5, Sati sfied,.

5 Satisfied

Suggetions for improvement

39

Submit

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FINDINGS (Consumer survey)

Occupation
Student Service Self Employed Other 12 20% 27 46% 17 29% 3 5%

Annual Income
Below Rs 5,00,000 Between Rs 5,00,000 15,00,000 Above Rs 15,00,000 22 41% 19 35% 13 24%

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Why did you choose this organised retail outlet?

Variety Attractive Offers Personalized Service Other

33 55% 16 27% 10 17% 1 2%

Was this your first time buying a laptop?

Yes No 23 39 37% 63%

Were you sure of the model you wanted to buy?

Yes No 33 28 54% 46%

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Did you seek assistance of the employees at the outlet?

Yes No 44 14 76% 24%

Till what extent did you find the assistance helpful?

1 2 3 4 5 2 9 22 16 7 4% 16% 39% 29% 13%

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Were the sales persons well aware of products and its features?

1 2 3 4 5

1 15 14 19 8

2% 26% 25% 33% 14%

Did the assistance provided influence your buying decision?

Yes 36 60% No 24 40%

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FINDINGS(Sales Personnel Survey)

GENDER
Male Female 22 76% 7 24%

Prior Work experience in this field?

Yes No 20 9 69% 31%

Were you trained before joining the outlet?

Yes No 22 73% 8 27%

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Are you well versed with specifications of the product?

Yes No

26 2

93% 7%

Average number of customers attended to in a day?

Below 15 Between 15 - 30 Above 30 10 36% 14 50% 4 14%

46

Till what extent do you think you are equipped to solve buyer query?
1 2 3 4 5 0 6 6 11 5 0% 21% 21% 39% 18%

Do you feel you require further training?

Yes No 18 9 67% 33%

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INFERENCE
Consumer
People prefer organized retail outlets for the wide variety of products available. More than Two-third of prospective consumers that walk into organized retail outlets seek the assistance of sales personnel It was observed that at least 6 out of 10 were influenced in their buying decision by employee interaction Almost half of prospective consumers were from service sector More than 50% were aware of they were looking for beforehand

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Sales Personnel
More than 60% employees had prior experience in the field of electronic goods. Almost 90% of the sales personnel were well aware of product specifications. As many as 50% of employees attended to a minimum of 15 customers a day. 67% of the sales force feels they need further training to meet the ever changing technology

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Conclusion
Based on the data collected, analysed and interpreted we have reached to the conclusion that employee interaction is the most important factor in converting prospective clients into loyal customers for the organized retail outlet. The tools used to arrive to the following conclusion as mentioned above is a quantitative primary source of data(Questionnaire),as well as a qualitative aspect of the conclusion which was identified by a personal interview of the consumer as well as a senior sales manager.

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Consumer Survey

46% of the consumers are employed in the service sector. This highlights
the fact that service sector employees have the highest demand among people from varied occupations. This analyzed statistic helps the firm in determining their target market.

As mentioned above a majority of purchases of the product (laptop) are

from consumers who earn less than 5,00,00 annually. This goes to show that trained employees in organized retail outlets can overcome the major limitation of said outlet i.e. personalized sales? Due to this a skewed observation is made which is the variety of products as well as the trained sales personnel enable the consumer to decide precisely what kind of laptop is best suited for their needs.

More than half of the consumers prefer organized retail outlets primarily
availability of a wide variety of products. This is because, the core competency and USP of an organized retail outlet is the fact that it offers multi branded products to the consumers as opposed to a traditional store where products of a particular brand are available.

Two-thirds of the consumers had already purchased a laptop in the past,

this is an important detail because though most of the consumers have at some point in time, owned a laptop, but feel the need to make the purchase as a reason of technology getting obsolete, this is one of the reasons why organized retail in electronics has tremendous potential in the current scenario.

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 The research shows that more than 80% of the consumers found the
assistance provided by trained employees to be more than moderately helpful to the consumer to influence consumers buying decision.

The next facet of the enquiry of consumers was to determine whether or

not they thought that the employees were well aware of the product and its features we have concluded that three-fourths of the consumers were more than moderately Satisfied with the personal assistance this clearly indicative that .

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Salesmen Survey

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Suggestions

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