‘Rural bloom to retail sector’

With the retail segment in the country having grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, the need to encourage and enable new comers to enter the segment, the transformation of retailing from traditional to large format as well as the shift to technology intensive retailing, and the challenges faced by the industry were discussed at the TN Retail Conference 2012 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Friday.

Speaking at the summit, R Dinesh, Chairman,  (CII), Tamil Nadu State Council & Joint Managing Director TVS & Sons said, “Rural chains in India are focusing on hinterlands in a big way as a large portion of the companies’ revenue comes from rural sales.’’

He further stated that the sector is expected to grow to $850 billion by 2020, with traditional retail and organised retail holding 75% and 25% of the share, respectively. 

In his address D Shivkumar, Managing Director of Nokia, spoke about customers using technology to compare prices and shop with the help of shopping applications available on smartphones as well as making payments digitally.

Prakash Iyer, Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark Lever said that consumers are increasingly gaining an insight into the market and are playing an active role in shaping it, which has, as a result, thrown open a world of amazing possibilities and fresh opportunity through technology. This has led to higher demand and has necessitated a need for better supply chain mechanisms.