Recent Trends of Retail Management
Recent Trends of Retail Management
Management
opportunities for Indian youth. Due to huge amounts of new investments and
decreasing charm for kirana stores, the retail sector is expected to grow. Bank
branches, bill counters, saloons, internet cafe have opened in the malls. The cash
and carry activities are expected to grab majority of attention.
2. Internet age, increased computer awareness and shrinking usage charges have
made people enabled buy things online resulting in growth of non-store retailing.
Retailers are informing about new arrivals/fresh stock through e-mails, television,
SMS and telephones to which anyone can respond to through toll-free 16 digit
numbers.
3. Specialty stores like Reliance Digital, Music World Metal Junctions, Nokia World
and Pantaloons have their presence in most of the malls in the country.
Departmental stores have given way to malls, having a mixture of large and small
retailers offering varied brands for each and every section of the society.
4. Sales promotion channels are increasingly becoming professional and targeting
differently to different lifestyle groups. Newer and newer promotional techniques are
emerging. Event managers are hired and visual merchandising professionals are
consulted.
5. Use of Plastic Money:Use of credit and debit cards for buying merchandise is relatively a new phenomenon but
is gaining popularity immensely. Credit and debit cards are commonly known as plastic money. Today,
especially in metros, retail spending is mainly done by plastic cards, accounting for over 45 percent and is
likely to touch 65 percent over the next five years.
6. Distance No bar:
Thanks to increased public transportation, better roads, highways and an overall improvement in the
transportation infrastructure that has enabled customers to visit from one place to another smoothly than ever
before. Now for want of quality goods, a customer can travel several kilometers to reach a particular store.
7. Partnerships and tie-ups among retailers, metro stations, real estate developers, brands, franchisees, and
financers have become the fashion of the day to spread risk related to huge investments and uncertainty. For
ex :- Now a days mostly of the brands and specilliaty stores are opening up their retail stores on lease in metro
stations
8. Retailing in India is still evolving and the sector is witnessing a series of experiments across the country with
new formats being tested out. Ex. , sub-urban discount stores, Cash and carry etc, interest free emi options ,
free home delivery of products,
providing heavy discounts on first purchase , providing coupons.
9. ONLINE RETAILING:
The single most important evolution that took place along with the retailing revolution was the rise and fall of
the dotcom companies. A sudden concept of `non-store' shopping emerged, which help the retails stores to
sell their product online by registering on online portals like amazon ,flipkart.
10.
10. Today retail organizations are not only targeting big cities but are considering tier II
and tier III cities like Jaipur, Pune, Shimla, Karnal, Panipat, Coimbatore, Baroda,
Chandigarh etc also.
11. ERP System : Various ERP vendors have developed retail-specific systems which
help in integrating all the functions from warehousing to distribution, front and back
office store systems and merchandising. An integrated supply chain helps the retailer
in maintaining his stocks, getting his supplies on time, preventing stock-outs and thus
reducing his costs, while servicing the customer better.
12. CRM Systems : The rise of loyalty programs, mail order and the Internet has provided
retailers with real access to consumer data. Data warehousing & mining technologies
offers retailers the tools they need to make sense of their consumer data and apply it
to business. This, along with the various available CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) Systems, allows the retailers to study the purchase behavior of
consumers in detail and grow the value of individual consumers to their businesses.