Retailing in India - Entry of Wal Mart

Indian Telecom giant Bharti and World’s retail gaint Wal Mart are eyeing the $400Bn Indian retail sector. Only 5% of the sector is with the organized players. Whopping 95% is still unorganized.

So, they are eyeing a market of 380 billion dollars. They have appointed Technopak Consultancy as their advisors.

But there is a catch here. Already a lot of problem are being faced by the already existing players. The margins have really shrunk for them. Some of them are on the verge of extinction. Subhiksha, a well established player, is in dire financial situation.

Following are the challenges before the new joint venture between the 2 players.

1. Vastness of the Supply sources. – Food grains from Punjab and Spices from south India covering a distance of 3000 kms. Remember just 10 years back India was importing some 20 percent of its wheat requirements not because it produced less but because it found it cheap to import the same from Australia than moving it from Punjab and Haryana.

2. Resistance (Mentally ) to a foreign Player. :- Just remember what happened the KFC in south India when the launched their chain there. There was a lot of ill word and hatred spread against it in both the print and electronic media.

3. ROI- well the biggest question yet to be answered in the big projects are those related to the ROI. How they will be able to justify the ROI among such a tough competition from already established players. Location is very important in this business and its very important to have locations of high footfalls, which are unfortunately already occupied. Also it’s very uneconomical to have crowding of a particular place.
4. Competition from the unorganized sector: - People from unorganized sector is bound to be there. Currently they are operating on very high profit margins. But with increased competition they are bound to reduce their margins and put up a great with new players.


Now what should be their strategy.

India specific strategy.
1. Focus on select few markets and select few products instead of putting up a broad front of products.
2. Dynamic Supply Chain :- India is a dynamic and growing economy and hence rigid supply chains will falter soon. See how fast Pune has grown as a manufacturing hub and gugaon as service hub.
3. Recruitment :- Focus on training more than giving perks.
4. Buy / Produce decision :- Very critical and depends on location to location.