INTRODUCTION

Retail is the final stage of any economic activity. Retailing includes all the activities involved
in selling goods to the final consumers and for non-business use. Organized retailing in India
is of recent one. Many of us experiencing a revolution in the retailing scene in India as large
corporate are entering now. There is an increased affluence and growth in the consumer class
supporting this retailing revolution. Till date, retailing in India was almost in unorganized
formats. Customers find more comfort in shopping at retail outlets like, Trinethra, Food
World, Big Bazaar, Giant, Reliance fresh, Spencer, Shoppers’ Stop, Pantaloon, Westside and
so on. In contrast to the developed nations where, retailing and shopping being an individual
experience, retailing and shopping in India are a social and family phenomenon. So how do
these consumers view the organized retailing formats in the emerging India? How do they
perceive these organized retailing formats? Are we going to experience further revolution in
retail scenario? To answer these questions, the authors made an attempt to highlight these
issues in this paper to find out the consumer perception/attitude towards organized retailing
and what additional value can deliver to the final consumer etc., through this sector was taken
care in this study.

Retail is the final stage of any economic activity which facilitates direct marketing and
elimination of middlemen. By virtue of this fact, retail occupies an important place in the
world economy. In an attempt to understand the scope of the term retail, various definitions
have been examined. According to Philip Kotler, Retailing refers to all activities involved in
selling goods or services to the final consumer of personal, non-business use. The North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS), Specifies that the retail trade sector
comprises establishments primarily engaged in retailing merchandise, generally without
transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise. Retailing thus
may be understood as the final step in the distribution of merchandise, for consumption by
the end users.
GLOBALIZATION AND INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR

The emergence of global marketplace, commoditization, deregulation and rapid

technological advancements are sweeping changes that the retail industry has witnessed in
last few years across the globe. LPG have brought radical changes in Indian retail scenario
and also entry of MNCs, issue of FDI in Indian retail industry, professionalization of
marketing strategies of Indian companies, product proliferation and diversity of consumer
choice, the concept of value, the value for money is picking up. All these are changing forces
and the challenge of changed market environment compels the marketers to reassess their
strategies in delivering value for time and value for journey and delighted shopping
experience. The US dominates the world retail market space and account for 32%, the Europe
generates a further 31%, Asia Pacific 26 % and rest of the world is only 11% (Durga Prasad
& Vijay, 2007). Asia, especially China and India are the emerging marketplaces. Earlier, the
seer size of China and India did not necessarily lead to their impact as a market. But the
technological advancement, transportation and industrial revolution of the past two decades
have changed much of that. On the other hand, increasing urbanization in the both markets
has fast emerged as a significant factor in the rise of these nations as significant emerging
markets. Together, China and India are estimated to see their GDP rise to $6 trillion by the
year 2020. Retaining the consumers is far more difficult today than it was a decade ago.
Consumer lifestyles and spending power is supported by technology making sound sopping
decisions. All these forcing this sector to ensure a very fast growth of organized retail sector
and Consequently India can come to the level of advanced countries in the penetration of
retail sector.

ORGANIZED RETAILING IN INDIA The retail industry in India is divided into organized
and unorganized sectors. Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by
licensed a retailer, that are those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These
include the corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned
large retail businesses. Unorganized retailing, on the other hand, refers to the traditional
formats of low-cost retailing, for example, the local kirana shops, owner managed general
stores, pan shops, hand craft and pavement vendors, etc. A study carried out by Upadhya and
Singh, (2008) found that the consumers perceive better value in transacting with Hyper and
Super markets to that of retail outlets. They concluded that the difference between means of
perceived value of consumers concerning hyper and super markets and retail formats is
statistically significant (z=8.22; P< 0.0001). As per the latest estimates of KMPG (2006)
retailing in India is currently estimated to be US$ 200 billion, of which organized retailing
makes up to 3 percent or US$ 6.4 billion. A projected growth rate in organized sector is 25-
30 percent per annuam and it aims to reach US$ 23 billion by 2010 (KSA Technopak, 2005).
Hypermarkets are going to be one of the most preferred formats for international retailers
entering India. India’s top five retailers, already have aggressive hypermarket strategies in
place. Further, India’s 67 retail destinations can absorb over 1000 hypermarkets by 2010
(Ernst & Young, 2006). Apart from this, there are many organized retail outlets emerged and
space occupied in the major cities like, Mumbai- 47%, Kolkata- 36%, Bangalore – 27%,
Chennai – 22% and Hyderabad with 10% by the end of 2008. Expansion of retail sector in
2008 was not up to the expected growth and new entrants were also very low. However, large
number of malls constructed but failed to attract new customer base and this became major
drawback to this sector. In view of this backwardness of retail space, the Hyderabad being
fifth largest populated (93 lakh ) and out rich Information Technology (IT) hub city has been
chosen for this study. The retail outlets exist in Hyderabad city are include, supermarkets:
Apna Bazar, Food World, Trinethra, Sabka Bazar, Janatha Bazar, etc. Hypermarkets: Big
Bazaar, Giant, etc. Departmental stores: Shoppers’ Stop, Pantaloons, Westside, etc. Discount
store chains: Subhiksha, Spencer, more, etc.
Review of Literature

Lehner & Watson (2001)3 in their research study "From E-commerce to Mcommerce:
Research Directions" concluded that hex model listed by Straub & Watson (2000) may be a
valuable business model or a value chain instrument which helps in understanding and
explaining mobile commerce from various research directions for each shareholder's point of
view; nevertheless this model has certain disadvantages also since it does not cover a wider
field and major information about core industries.

Okazaki (2005)4 in the research study "New Perspectives on M- commerce Research " has
summarized the progress of the future directions of the M-commerce research. The future
research should define clear process characteristics, the types of interactivities, which provide
clear implications to audience regarding specific mobile service. There is a very little
research which has addressed the question of interactivity in mobile devices, although it has
been argued that mobile technology is an alternative way to connect to wireless internet.

Sayan Chakraborty (2006)5 "Mobile Phone usage patterns amongst university students. A
comparative study between India and USA conducted a research on 100 respondents 50 from
India and 50 from USA using Non random convenience sampling to select the respondents
but they do not represent the population. The highest ranked usage in both countries was for
keeping in touch with friends and family, more than 80% of the respondents from both
countries have more than 12 months of usage experience. The most common time of usage of
mobile phones was evening and users from both countries agreed that talking quietly and
discreetly should be allowed in public 64% of Indians use text message as against 12% in US.
Since most of the respondents from India were undergraduate students they choose keeping
in touch with parents the major reason to use mobile phone. This show that undergraduate
students are more dependent on parents, family and friends than graduate students. 32% of
Indian and 10% of users from America use cell phone while driving. Hence, these are
similarities and differences when it comes to usage pattern of both countries.

Girdhar (2007)6 , "Text messaging: An emerging tool", concluded in his research study that
Indian Market place is increasingly opting for mobile marketing techniques to keep in
contract with their potential audience. There are 33 million subscribers in the country,
therefore the concept of mobile marketing is gaining momentum at a very fast pace. The
interactive and prompt nature of SMS based marketing promotions help the companies get
into a direct contact with the consumers. Further, the TRAI India’s Telecom Regulatory
Authority has noticed that in past few months, the number of operations and independent
agencies have started providing value added services to the consumers like hello tunes, quit
votingetc. Lastly, he concluded that “Go Vernacular” is the need of the hour where the users
can customize their SMS which is again an example of innovative value added services.

Mohit (2008)7 "Cost –Effective Marketing Through SMS and Internet" in his study detailed
about marketing through SMS and internet. As both of them are gaining popularity in recent
times because of their far reaching impact and cost effectiveness, they are also commonly
referred to as anywhere and anytime marketing.SMS marketing is also used to target selected
segments. One such segment is that of travelers. The major advantage is cost-effectiveness of
an SMS Marketing is that it is very economic and in reach of majority of consumers.

Sanjay Singh (2008)8 “The diffusion of mobile phones in India Telecommunications Policy"
estimates the growth contributions of telecom services by public and private sectors and
distinguishes it from the information technology services. Results show a a positive impact of
income variables and negative impact of price ; factors of social caste, education level,
occupation, age of household head and family size offer evidence for substitutability of
mobile phones for fixed phones. These results distinguish socio-economic determinants of
telecom demand and their implications for selective design of policies towards determining
promotion of higher demand thus helpful in attainment of higher economic growth in India.

Kumari S and Siraj S (2009)11 “The new feminine appeal in Indian Advertising concluded
in their study that gender roles are undergoing significant changes. With the increased
exposure of Indian women their participation in workforce and accessibility to education has
also seen major shift. The working women of India today are more independent both
financial and socially since their dependency on their husbands/families has considerably
lowered which is in turn has helped in reducing the “commodity” status of women. Being
independent the Indian women are culturally more mobile than their mothers and
grandmothers which helps them to opt and explore their way of life, peer bondings and so on
therefore women nowadays are valued as an asset to the family. This entire change has
strengthened the face of women in the world of advertising also.

Dhopeshwar (2009)12 in his research study “Managing Global Brands” mentioned with the
advent of multilateral trade agreements happening in the market environment, the marketing
strategies pursued by various corporations is also gaining a wider spectrum. Corporates strive
to achieve global platforms for their brands so that they can survive the competition and
ensure the investments they have made give them their desired results. The result of
globalization is witnessed by both established and emerging markets. The success of a brand
depends heavily on how the brand has been positioned in minds of consciousness and how
consistently they are being managed on global platforms.

Need of the study

Indian retail took 10 years for the first 2,500 organized retail stores to emerge; the next 2,500
could easily get added in the next 5 years (Business Today, 2005). For the last few years
there has been a surge of reports in Indian press on the growth prospects of retailing industry.
If we see that the same sector now struggling for not only existence but also seriously facing
impact of global recession leading to slowdown of business including non-availability of
investments. How to sustain the sector is looking for? At the same time the impact was on
urban and metropolitan cities where the organized retail malls were exist. Rural market is still
dominating by unorganized retailing is less or no effected to this crisis. What is that has
actually been driving retail growth? The answer to these questions will bring several
interesting facts to light. In view of this the present study is taken up to know the pulse of the
city consumers with regard to organized retail sector. On the other hand all those previous
studies were made an attempt to examine the impact of corporate retailing on unorganized
retail shops, role of FDI in retailing, etc led to identify the research gap for this study to
analyze the attitude and aptitude of city consumers towards organized retail outlets and their
emergence in India.

Scope of the Study

The scope of the study is confined to the city of Greater Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh which
is becoming the targets of corporate entities. At present, apart from the retail outlets
(Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Departmental chains and Discount store chains) offering
convenience products like, kirana / household provisions, durable products like, electrical and
electronic products, Readymade Garments, etc. Select cases of retail outlets of Summer
Internship Society Volume III Issue-1 February 2012 69 Trinethra from supermarkets, Big
Bazaar from hypermarkets, Pantaloons from departmental chain and Reliance fresh from
discount rate chain were taken for this study. There are many players in the market like,
Reliance fresh and Aditya Birla Group. Other big names are on the verge of entering.
Hypotheses

The present study is based on the following null hypotheses were tested to find out the
association between the variables, the chi-square test has been used. · There is no significant
association between the demographic variables and attitude of consumers towards of
organized retail outlets offering convenience products/household provisions, etc. · There is
no significant association between the demographic variables and attitude of consumers
towards of organized retail outlets offering durable shopping products like, electrical and
electronic products, Readymade Garments, etc

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 To understand the importance of rural retailing.

 To understand the changes in rural consumption pattern.
 To understand the challenges & opportunities in rural retailing and rural markets.
 To study the initiatives taken by corporate houses for rural retail development.
 To suggest some recommendations if any.
 The main objectives of the study are as follows: ·
 To understand the role of globalization of Indian retail sector in economic growth of
the country.
 To study the influence of various demographic variables on the attitude of consumers
towards the marketing of convenience/ household provisions and readymade garments
by organized retailing;
 To find out the attitude of consumers towards the organized retailing with special
reference to city consumers.
METHODOLOGY

The present study is based on both primary and secondary sources of data. This is an
exploratory kind of research study. The data has been collected by canvassing a structured
questionnaire among 200 sample respondents of four select cases. Representative sample of
50 each from Trinethra, Big Bazaar, Pantaloon and Reliance fresh retail outlets from Greater
Hyderabad City during JulyAugust, 2011 based on convenience sampling method. The chi-
square test has been used to find out the relationship between two variables. This is perhaps
the most commonly used test in dealing with social behavioral data, is used to evaluate
whether or not frequencies which have been empirically observed differ significantly from
those which would be expected under a certain set of theoretical assumptions. The hypotheses
that one factor is significant association of each other or not can be proved by Chi-square test.

Primary data has been collected from 148 respondents (125 customers from organized retail
and unorganized retail outlets, 3 organized and 20 unorganized retailers.

These 148 respondents were selected by convenience sampling technique of Probability

random sampling.

The present study is based on primary data as well as secondary data.

The secondary data is collected from various books, journals, articles, newspapers etc.
Consumers at organized retail outlets and unorganized retail outlets are interviewed to collect
the primary data. Their answers were further looked into, in some detail to add value to this
research. the study was conducted in the organized retail outlets (Big bazaar at JLB road,
Loyal world at Jayalakshmipuram, Easy day at Jayalakshmipuram) and unorganized retail
outlets by dividing bases on area and income group during the months of March and April
2015 at Mysore Data collected through survey and interview will be analyzed and presented
in master table and required sub tables will be prepared. For analyzing the data statistical
tools like percentage method is used.
LIMITATIONS

Present study is suffers from the following limitations. · The sample respondents of 20 years
and above were taken into account to bring validity of findings which may be a limitation for
the study. · This study is limited to marketing of household provisions and readymade
garments from organized retail outlets only. · The study of rural demographic variables may
not be generalized with perception of city consumers (Hyderabad) and it may be another
limitation of the study. · The study was conducted only in the area of Greater Hyderabad City
and the sample size was limited to 200 and the results cannot be generalized and cent percent
accuracy. · Accuracy of primary data depends upon the authenticity of the information
provided by the respondents.