Retailers play an important economic role of making the goods and services accessible to consumers, and the consumers rely on them for the supply of hundreds of products and services year after year. Retailing in India is an old tradition and is deeprooted in our social fabric. The history of retailing goes back to as early as civilization itself. Retailing has evolved from highly fragmented forms like the kirana stores (the mom and pop stores in India) to highly organized forms like shopping malls.
Retailing is thriving and we can `feel' the development all around us. The `feeling' part is very dominant as it has changed the way people shop. There was a time when a service attribute like home-delivery was very important, but now we have reached a point where telephone ordering is losing its importance. Shopping as an activity is no more mundane, but exciting. Consumers are well aware of the names of various stores, and most of them have a list of favorites, and they buy from shops, websites and catalogs. Retailers are the key link between the consumer's desire and its fulfillment and to provide this link effectively, they need to understand how to read the `consumer', `society', `environment', `culture' and everything that touches the consumers' world and has an impact on the retailer, in order to be successful in this competitive marketplace. |
