Different types of retail formats-

 

Different Types Of Retail Formats-

Offline and Online Retail Business Of Few Organized Retailers Like Zara, Lifestyle, & Fabindia From Online Market Research Reports.

Introduction to Retail-

Retailing consists of selling merchandise from a permanent location in small quantities directly to the consumers. These consumers may be individual buyers or corporate. In the world of Trade and Commerce, a retailer purchases goods or merchandise in bulk from manufacturers directly and then sells in small quantities are known as Retail stores or shops. Shops may be located in residential areas, colony streets, community centers or in modern shopping arcades/ malls. In fact, any organization selling merchandise to final consumers whether a producer, wholesaler or a retailer -is doing retail business.

According to Philip Kotler, Retail includes all the activities involved in selling goods and services to the final consumer for personal and non-business use.

 

Types of Retail Format in India

 

Mom and Pop Stores:

These are small family-owned businesses, which sell a small collection of goods to the customers. They are individually run and cater to small sections of the society. These stores are known for their high standards of customer service.

 Department stores:

Department stores are general merchandisers. They offer to the customers mid- to high-quality products. Though they sell general goods, some department stores sell only a select line of products.

 Killers:

Specialty stores are called category killers. Category killers are specialized in their fields and offer one category of products. Most popular examples of category killers include electronic stores like Best Buy and sports accessories stores like Sports Authority.

 Malls:

One of the most popular and most visited retail formats in India is the mall. These are the largest retail format in India. Malls provide everything that a person wants to buy, all under one roof. From clothes and accessories to food or cinemas, malls provide all of this, and more. Examples include Spencer’s Plaza in Chennai, India, or the Forum Mall in Bangalore.

 Discount Stores:

Discount stores are those that offer their products at a discount, that is, at a lesser rate than the maximum retail price. This is mainly done when there is additional stock left over towards the end of any season. Discount stores sell their goods at a reduced rate with an aim of drawing bargain shoppers.

 Supermarkets:

One of the other popular retail formats in India is the supermarkets. A supermarket is a grocery store that sells food and household goods. They are large, most often self-service and offer a huge variety of products. People head to supermarkets when they need to stock up on groceries and other items. They provide products for reasonable prices, and of mid to high quality.

 Street vendors:

Street vendors, or hawkers who sell goods on the streets, are quite popular in India. Through shouting out their wares, they draw the attention of customers. Street vendors are found in almost every city in India, and the business capital of Mumbai has a number of shopping areas comprised solely of street vendors. These hawkers sell not just clothes and accessories, but also local food.

 Hypermarkets:

Similar to supermarkets, hypermarkets in India are a combination of supermarket and department store. These are large retailers that provide all kinds of groceries and general goods. Saravana Stores in Chennai, Big Bazaar and Reliance Fresh are hypermarkets that draw enormous crowds.

 Kiosks:

Kiosks are box-like shops, which sell small and inexpensive items like cigarettes, toffees, newspapers and magazines, water packets and sometimes, tea and coffee. These are most commonly found on every street in a city, and cater primarily to local residents.

Online or off-line Zara maintains price parity. Zara came in India in 2010 and 2017 the launch their official website zara.com as according to the economic Times Zara does not provide extra sale on any of the two platforms Full range of articles of Zara are offered at the same price and the same commercial policies. Zara wants to be different. The world largest fashion brand by sales which operates 22 physical stores in India is already the biggest international apparel brand in the country which sales of about Rs.1023 crore in the fiscal year 2017. And e-commerce foray has helped Zara to reach customer across the country. In 2017 it was 1023 crore in 2018 the revenue had grown 19% to 1127 crore and in 2019 the revenue has grown 17% to 1438 crore in the fiscal year 2019 which is the indication that the online store has helped Zara in gaining more customers.

Lifestyle brand has been in the market in the off-line retail Business from 1999 and came into online retail in 2017.The company noticed the growth of about 12% in the year March 2019 to Rs.8467 crore. According to sources lifestyle international is almost the most profitable retail chain in the country within the April and lifestyle industry with a 12 month net profit of Rs.426 crore. It has expanded to 80 different stores and over 300 outlets of Max in mid-price fashion chain.

Fab India is one of the oldest Indian chain-store of retailing garments furnishing, fabrics and ethnic products. It came into existence in 1976 in India. The online and off-line retail store of Fabindia has been quite significantly well and has a major part of the company’s growth. Fabindia sale expanded 7% in the fiscal year 2019 while net profit nearly doubled after the retailer of ethnic product focus on premium merchandise across categories. In every increasing year though growth margin of fab India has increased in majority of which came from off-line retails. But now fab India has also been quite significantly doing well in online retail they have their own official website and also selling on different other e-commerce platform such as Myntra, Amazon. Which in turn increasing its market channel density and also helping to cut the middlemen and directly sell to the customers which in turn result in more profitable margins.