Big Bazaar is currently running their much awaited ‘The Great Exchange Offer’. Every year since 2009, they have run this offer during this time of Feb-March. In essence they offer tempting rates for your junk (Old news papers for 30 Rs/Kg for example) that are too good to resist, you get exchange coupons for your old items and the same can be redeemed against the new purchases.

Following are the rates being promised for some of the items:

Test your retail quotient with the following of our quizzes:

FDI Policy in India: Are you well aware of the latest FDI norms? local sourcing, maximum cap, minimum investment requirement, biggest & not so big contributing segments to organized retailing.. check that all!

FMCG retailing:  Unilever, ITC, P&G like companies, their brands & brand ambadassors. Check your understanding of the Indian FMCG landscape.

Retail CRM: Test your CRM concepts

These are the snippets from the Economic Survey 2012-13, that talked about the Indian retail environment:

“The government has also taken a number of steps to revive investment and growth. These comprise …. Permitting FDI in a number of areas including multibrand retail, power exchanges, and civil aviation; increasing investment in irrigation, storage and cold storage networks; and undertaking programmes to improve the production of protein foods”

“Another critical issue is supply-chain management in agricultural marketing in India. It is necessary to evolve mechanisms for linking wholesale processing, logistics, and retailing with farm-production activities so as to generate enhanced efficiency, better farm prices, etc. Recently the government allowed FDI in retail, which can pave the way for investment in new technology and marketing of agricultural produce in India.”

“Another critical issue is supply chain management in agricultural marketing in India. Farmers' access to markets is hampered by poor roads, rudimentary market infrastructure, and excessive regulation. Many agricultural crops are perishable in nature and post-harvest handling issues and marketing problems affect the farm incomes. It is necessary that we evolve mechanisms for linking wholesale processing, logistics and retailing with farm-production activities so as to generate enhanced efficiency, better farm prices, etc. The private sector should be allowed to operate in developing these market linkages for which suitable reforms will help. Recently the government allowed foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, which has been supported by many farmer organizations as well, and it can pave the way for investment in new technology and marketing of agricultural produce in India.”“An efficient supply chain that firmly establishes the linkage between retail demand and the farmer will be important.”

As per the current AT Kearney Global Retail Development Index (GRDI 2012) rating, India remains an attractive market for (modern) retail business for global retailers.

The rankings are dominated by Latin American countries like Brazil(has been on top of this list for 2 consecutive years now), Chile(2^nd), Urugway(4^th) & Peru(10^th). This can be largely attributed to better political stability and a steady economic growth the region is experiencing.

GRDI ranking 2012

After the big bang reform of allowing up to 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, a lot of action was expected in the retail sector. Surprisingly, we have seen just interest & no concrete action on part of major global retailers; Wal-Mart & TESCOs of the world are in no hurry to enter in to the bylanes of Indian marketplace.

The economy is sluggish with projections of GDP growth slowing down to ~5% levels. In such scenario, sentiment in the retail sector is bound to be low and a lot of expectations were built around the budget.

In this backdrop let us analyze the union budget 2013-14 and what does it mean for the Indian retail sector:

The Positives first:

It's a world of cut throat competition and more of often than not it results in a very narrow view of the world for most of the companies. As the objective is focused on beating the competitors, benchmarking studies starts replacing consumer studies. The situation worsen if your view of competition is limited to only company X or Y. 

Talking about retail, why can't the retail biggies learn something from the Kirana format? In fact the stores that have learnt a few things(like Big Bazaar) are a lot more successful than the copy-paste versions of western formats.

Shrinkage levels in india at 3%, seriously? Perhaps yes, but the culprit is not the average consumer. For one the art of shoplifting has not achieved the status and maturity of western world, moreover in most of the stores, systems are designed by assuming that the customer is there to steal something (like checking the bags, bag deposits, frisking etc).  But if we take the data as given, what are the ways to stop this menace?

Do you know the link between baby formula, Levi’s jeans and Gillette razors?

Globally, these three are the most popular targets of retail theft :)

Such retail thefts are part of Shrinkage. Shrinkage in retail context is basically the difference between book stock and actual stock. It can also be defined as :

hello.me being a normal middle class college going student is seriously a victim of this grand brand paradox.the question is what is this GRAND BRAND PARADOX?

Compare the exuberance that existed in the retail sector one year ago to the extreme cautiousness of the present date.