ABSTRACT
The history of retailing in India India has had one of the oldest traditions in the form of retailing. It is probably the only civilisation, where a caste called ‘Vysyas’ existed, whose principle work was trading or business. This was a separate caste from ‘Brahmin’, the preachers, ‘Kshatriyas’, the warriors and the ‘Shudras’, the scavengers/cleaners. Retailing started with the barter system and eventually took forms of community events in the form of ‘Haats’, wherein there were weekly gatherings of traders from various nearby villages to trade their goods in open spaces or temporary markets. Most of these trades were through barter, which gradually moved towards exchange of gold and currency. The location and the village grounds became more popular and, based on the success, saw permanency in location and eventually became the ‘High Street’ or ‘mandi’ (market place). Over the last 150 years, Indian retailing grew significantly, mainly at local and regional level. This was driven mainly by families, entrenched in retail businesses over generations. Many of them followed either a product and/or category specialisation and created their own unique selling position (USP) and differentiation based on either price, choice, quality, service or some combination of these. Some of the key examples here are the Nallis and Kumarans of Chennai, who specialised in sarees and ethnic ware; Raymonds, the textile brand; and Bombay Dyeing for textile and home furnishing etc. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, multi product, multi brand retailing also evolved in many metro cities, such as Mumbai and Delhi, with key retailers, such as The Heritage Emporium in Delhi, Benzer and Amarsons in Mumbai, emerging as the favourite shopping destinations. One of the key features of the evolution of retailing in India is the huge variation across regions and communities. These local and regional variations in culture and customs have been reflected in the retail propositions. Examples here would be the differences between North and South Indian retailing evolutions. Since the South of India is more traditional and conservative, there are a large number of retailers in the sarees and jewellery sector. The North, which has a rich heritage of artisans, has seen retailers emerge in art, décor and home needs, including wooden furniture and carvings. Colder regions of North India have developed home-based
art and crafts, such as carpet weaving, which have become very large industries, including woollen and silk carpet retailing in Kashmir. Over the years, with the demographics changing, these retailers have spread their wings across the nation, chasing wealth creation in various parts of the country. There is also the Cottage Industries Exposition (CIE), which has spread its wings in the last decade to all parts of the country, selling handicraft made by local and regional artisans, mostly from the northern states of India. They are sponsored and supported by various states and sometimes by the national government. Prior to the 1991 liberalisation in India, most retail formats developed on the high streets or colony markets. There are also a number of shopping facilities, centres and market places that were created by the local Government leading to the growth of retailing at the local, regional and national level. India today has a population of more than 1.2 billion and is one of the world’s largest consumer markets. At present, India’s GDP of US $1.9 trillion is the tenth largest in the world and likely to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030 (World Economic Outlook, 2012). In terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), India is the third largest economy in the world, after the US and China, with a GDP (in PPP terms) of US $4.7 trillion (World Economic Outlook, 2012).
