The Perception of Customers and Retailers Towards Malls in Jalandhar- A Supply Chain Perspective

THE PERCEPION OF CUSTOMERS AND RETAILERS TOWARDS MALLS IN JALANDHAR-A SUPPLY CHAIN PERSPECTIVE

Dr Gursharan Singh Kainth is Hon Director GAD Institute of Development Studies,
14-Preet Avenue, Majitha Road, PO Naushera, Amritsar-143 008

Mr. Divakar Joshi is Lecturer in Management, St Soldier Management and Technical
Institute, Jalandhar-144 001

Inflation and price rise have long been the causes of worry among the Indian consumers. Various states and national Government seems to have gone in deep slumber about this burning issue. In such a scenario, the very thought of setting up retail chain could help control prices comes like a cool breeze in sweltering summer. Presently, there are 200 retail stores in the country with promoters and organizers who are optimistic and positive that the retail sales depot may help in containing the soaring prices. Retail sector of Indian economy is undergoing a paradigm shift. This sector has grown substantially and rapidly during the past few years and liberalized policies indicate its even faster growth. India, known as Nation of Shopkeepers, has the highest shop density in the world- one retail outlet for around 90 persons. Retail industry, which is US$300 billion in 2006, is likely to reach 427 billion US dollars by 2010 and to 637 billion US dollars by 2015. Merely 3 per cent of retail in India is organized. Visible retail revolution is on and within a short span of two years; retailing has exploded on the Indian firmament as a humungous business opportunity. Increased urbanization and growth of small towns throughout the country coupled with increased income level, diversified food habits, growth of working women outside home, willingness and capacity to pay for better quality and need for convenience drive demand for processed, ready to cook or ready to eat, convenience foods, packaged and, preferably branded. The rapid expansion of super markets in India started from mega cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, the southern part of the country. Nevertheless, in recent years, new retail stores/supermarkets are being opened at a frenetic pace in different small cities and towns throughout the country. The country is quickly readying to face profound changes in the retail landscape. It is only the beginning and the best is yet to come. The special characteristics of retail business and the emergence of major retailers in the market have led to specific forms of channel services. Prior to consumption, the retail product has to be both available and accessible. This requires a supply chain distributor system, that is, the channel used to bring items to the place of sale, or the means by which a retail supplier gains access to the potential buyers of the product. More recently the efficiencies of supply chain management have made major differences to the effectiveness of retailers and their overall profitability. With the ever growing size and dispersal of retail operations, controlling merchandise as part of store operations has been of paramount importance. This goes beyond an administration system, modern supply chain management can achieve competitive advantage through shorter times for restoring, reduced inventory size and costs, improved management information and greater overall controls. Supply chain management requires a holistic view of such activities and an innovative approach to the organization in order to meet customer needs with the greatest efficiency. The present research work is an attempt to examine in depth the customers and retailers satisfaction towards malls of Jalandhar in Punjab.
II: RETAILS FORMATS: CONTEMPORARY SCENARIO
Retailing is the final gate in the distribution process from manufacturer to consumer. Retailer as an intermediary collects and assortment of goods and services from various sources and offers them to the customers. Retailing occupies a pre-eminent position in the economies of all modern societies. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on country estimated that the retail market in India would grow from $394 billion in 2005 to $ 608.9 billion in 2009. In fact the share of organized retail in India which is close to 3 per cent is expected to grow to 10 per cent by 2010. Over 65 per cent of the planned retail investment in the next five years is from Indian corporate. In fact retail sector in India is expected to grow at a higher rate than GDP driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favorable demographic patterns. According to EIU, India currently has more than five million retail outlets, out of which 96 per cent are smaller than 500sq ft. But this scenario is changing fast. The structure of retailing is changing rapidly with malls becoming increasingly common in large cities with development plans for 150 new shopping malls by 2008. According to the KPMG report the annual growth of departmental stores has been estimated at 24 per cent, which is faster than overall retail, and super markets have taken an increased share of the general food and grocery trade over the last two decades. Specialized retailers are developing rapidly in segments such as consumer durable and white goods, books, music, lifestyle goods, household furnishing, health care and beauty care. Organized retail will require over 220 million sq. ft. space against 40 million square feet of now. One should not be surprised why the retail boom is about to happen in India with about 11 retail shops for every 1,000 persons. India has the highest shop density in the world. That’s one shop for every 20-25 families. American arguably the biggest spender in the world has to do with just 4 shops per 1000 persons. Singapore, the shopper’s paradise has similar density. England (rather, UK), once scathingly referred to as a nation of shopkeepers by Napoleon is only marginally better- nearly 5 shops for very 1,000 persons. The high number of shops in India is because most of them are in the unorganized sector, e.g., paan wala, kirana stores, subji wala, fruit wala and so on.
No doubt, India has many shops but the small entry of big retail would consolidate the sector into fewer but bigger shops. The only constraint in retailing is change and with the pace of development retailing appears to be accelerating. The traditional forms of independent owned small business and cooperatives have lost significant market share. In developing economics, the retail sector is now characterized by large scale multiple chairs run by powerful and sophisticated organizations like Super Bazars and Kendriya Bhandar in New Delhi, Sarkari Bhandar in Mumbai, Spencer Plaza, and Niligiries etc. The first half of the 20th century saw the arrival and growth of large retail giants. The new group of discounts stores redefined value and varieties with low price and wide inventories. Though the arrival of super markets in India was a bit late but they are fast becoming a rage amongst enthusiasts. In a short span of two years, retailing has exploded on the Indian firmament as a humungous business opportunity. The rapid expansion of super markets in India started from mega cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, the southern part of the county. Nevertheless, in recent years, new retail stores/supermarkets are being opened at a frenetic pace in different small cities and towns throughout the country. The major players in the Indian Retail Sector are Pantaloon Retail (India), Shopper’s Stop, Lifestyle, Reliance Retail, Aditya Birla Retail, Bharti Retail, RPG Group, Tata’s Trent, Vishal Mart, Discount chain Subhiksha, Ebony Retail. Many mores are also eyeing at retail operations business by establishing retail chain across India with massive investments in the year to come.
Currently, heated debate is on whether or not; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retailing is desirable. FDI is not allowed in retailing. It is permissible in a single brand and in franchising and commission agent services. Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on a case by case basis approves the FDI proposal in the wholesale trade services. The government allows foreign investment in retail segments where small domestic players do not operate. FDI in retail is set to get a leg up and govenment has marketed out sports goods, electronic and building equipment as some of the sectors that may be opened up with a 51 per cent cap on FDI. The government is likely to allow FDI at both the front and back ends. The government is also considering permit multi-brand retail in such areas. However, the question, whether the government allow FDI in these segments through the automatic route or through the FIPB is yet to be decided. FDI in retailing will expedite the process of development of modern format India, bring in technical know-how, reduce inefficiency in the supply chain, increase productivity, help achieve international quality standards and improve the quality of employment and services offered to the consumers. Many reputed foreign retailers with deep pockets and deeper market knowledge are waiting in the wings to enter the country. Restriction on FDI may constrain the growth of organized retailing. Restriction of FDI in food retailing is due to the apprehension that entry of multinationals will displace millions of workers in the unorganized retailing, which needs thorough examination.
Mall Management has emerged as the single most differentiating factor in today’s scenario. The need of malls to differentiate themselves is a sure way of emerging as a winner. Right from the tenant mix, ensuring of creation of right ambience, cleanliness that creates customer satisfaction, managing various income stream for developer, the role of mall-management is complex and dynamic. Shopping malls around the country have been experiencing difficulty in recent years. People are spending less time in malls due to changing preferences and new shopping alternatives. Some of the weaknesses of the malls are market opportunities for downtowns and community business districts. Consumers are finding it more difficult to shop at the regional shopping mall, instead, shoppers want to run out at lunch or make a quick shop on their way from work. Convenience was the most important reason why they choose to shop at a certain store. Consumers are growing interested in new, more convenient and less time-consuming ways of shopping. Home shopping and electronic shopping address the time constraint problem facing the consumers. Safety has become a concern to shoppers and owners. With the advent of information and communication technology (ICTs), the Indian consumer is now more aware of what the market place, both national and international, has to offer. India has steadily transitioned from a state managed economy to a market economy. Economic growth and liberalization have increased the amount of disposable income. The growth of the urban middle class, which demands value for money, has led to lot of changes on the retail front. The past few years have also seen a large increase in the number of youth to earn early. Roughly, there has been 20 per cent increase in the number of people between 15 to 19years age group who started earning, largely due to the expansion in opportunities for the urban youth in the business process outsourcing industry and the software sector. The expenditure of Indian households on health services, education, domestic appliances and food has undergone a substantial change. The share of food in the total private consumption expenditure has fallen from 51.3 per cent in 1993 -94 to 41 per cent in 2005-06. The Increase in the number of working women, especially in urban India, has fuelled the growth of retail format like supermarkets, convenience shops and products like ready to eat meals. While the spending power has increased, the demand is now for quality merchandise and a certain level of service. Increase in disposable income, changes in consumption pattern, coupled with knowledge of market has enabled the retail market in India to expand to both vertically and horizontally. Dependency ratio a proportion of non-working population, is set to decline in the coming few years, and about 60 million people will be joining the ranks of the “the consuming age class” of 15-64. To help the retail sector, there is also the ascent of urbanization (from 27.8 in 1998 to 31.8 in 2008). Furthermore; companies continue to invest more in direct mail, like catalogs, which also siphon off business from traditional malls.
According to Stan Eichelbaum of Marketing Development Inc. in Cincinnati, some of the mall’s vulnerabilities are also the strengths of downtowns. According to Eichelbaum, malls are aesthetically boring, do not offer street front exposure, are limited in terms of events they can host, do not offer parking that is convenient to the shopkeepers destination and have retail –mix problems due to the rise of category killers. Downtowns have a distinct advantage in each of these areas. Eichelbaum recommends that downtowns take advantage of their competitive strength in these areas by providing specialty retail, parking, safety, cleanliness, Street level activity, management, marketing and a blend of worker and residential population. Majority of upcoming mall developments remain fragmented and sub-optimally planned. Many developers also encountered financial problems due to carrying too much debt. As these centers aged, many lenders turned down their requests for financing mall refurbishment, leaving the mall in an even more vulnerable position. In near future there is likelihood of a shakeout within shopping mall business. Emergence of few large, dominant and relatively more professionally managed national/regional and a host of specialty/ niche local players likely. With globalization of the real estate sector, shopping malls of International scale and quality would soon emerge. At present the general practice with all the mall developers is that they have a service division within their group which manages their entire properties residential, commercial or retail. Each mall has a mall manager with a team of assistants handling different aspects of the job. Big Developers like DLF and MGF are bringing up 40 to 50 malls across the country. At same time, it is expected that professional integrated mall-management companies will be hired by the developers to manage many of their properties. As an indicator of the performance of professional mall management, the footfalls and revenue in professionally managed mall in South Africa is at least 12 per cent greater than that in owned managed malls.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Jalandhar, known for its sports goods and hand tools business world wide and hub of Non-residential Indians (NRI’s) is fast emerging place for rich and prosperous persons due to their high education level and commitment they show in whatever they do to earn their livelihood. This Doaba Region of Punjab State has witnessed manifold development in every stream: Medical, Educational Institutions, Sports goods, Hotels or Hand tools Industries etc. There are many places for people to shop and relax during whole day such as Rainak Bazaar, Sheikha Bazaar, Model Town Market, Attari Bazaar etc. All these are traditional markets and have remained part and parcel of every Jalandhari. Recently, many Malls are coming up in and around Jalandhar like, Ansal Plaza, Sarab multiplex, Star city, D.L.F group, Centrum Jyoti Mall, Monopolies of M.B.D. group, Axis, Manbro, Sports King, The Top Store and Amikiz etc. But there are mainly two malls, namely, Vishal Mart and V Mart which can be called as complete malls or which fulfills the criteria for shopping malls.
Surveys are best suited for Descriptive Research. Surveys are undertaken to learn about people’s knowledge, beliefs, preferences, satisfaction and so on. The locale of the present study was The Malls in Jalandhar region of Punjab. Jalandhar region was selected because many Malls have come up in and around Jalandhar. The sampling method used is non-probability convenience sampling. A sample of 200 customers’ and 50 retailers was selected through convenience random sampling. A separate structured questionnaire was used for collecting the data from the consumers as well as the retailers. The questionnaire was based on Likert scale which was pre tested. The data has been analyzed using simple statistical techniques such as tabulation, weighted mean scores, frequency distribution and percentage

III: RSEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The most important thing is to forecast where customers are moving and to be in front of it. Gone are the days when enterprise believed strongly rather wrongly that if they manufacture a product, customer would time up automatically for it. This view worked well in past, but today customer satisfaction is viewed as an integral part of total quality. Consumer behaviour refers to “the behaviour that consumer display in searching for purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that satisfy their needs” and the study of consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals make decisions to spend available resources. The challenge to the market is to determine the relative influence of the various factors and to adopt and apply skillfully so called information to a proper marketing mix.
CONSUMERS’PERCEPTIONS:
Little more than one half of (52.5 per cent) respondent-consumers visited Malls/Stores once a month, 28 per cent twice a month and 12.5 per cent visited the Mall/Store thrice a month. Only 7 per cent visited more often. Newspapers (37.5 per cent) were the major source of information about Shopping at Mall/Store. 32 per cent of consumers came to know about Malls/Store through Television. Remaining 22 per cent consumers rely mainly on their friends and relatives. Consumers Bazaar was the favourite place for the shopping with 43 per cent consumers. 21.5 per cent favored Multiplex/malls, 12.5 per cent consumers’ preferred wholesale market. 18 per cent consumers were in favour of shopping complex/center, 5 per cent consumer were inclined towards local market. One fourth of consumers purchase clothes at Malls, and Men’s wear each, 19 per cent grocery items. 15 per cent consumers were in favour of buying Ladies wears, 5 per cent favour of Kids Wear & Toy, 16 per cent consumers were in favour of buying daily use items and only 2.5 per cent consumers purchased cosmetics.
Nearly one-third consumers on an average spent Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 on shopping at Malls; 22.5per cent consumers spent less than Rs. 5,000; 21per cent consumers spent between Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000; 16 per cent consumers spent between Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000; 5.5 per cent consumers spend on an average between Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 50,000 and merely 3per cent consumers spent Rs. 50,000 & above. Furthermore 55 per cent consumers were satisfied with the prices of products & services at the malls. 29 percent consumers were not satisfied with the prices at the malls. 16per cent consumers were not able to express themselves about the product and prices at the shopping malls. 93per cent consumers agreed that professional Mall Management & Wide range of cheaper products have persuaded them to spend more time and money at Mall. 82.5per cent consumers were aware about the promotional schemes and offers organized at the malls. 17.5per cent consumers were not aware about the promotional scheme and offers organized at the malls. 68per cent consumers agree that lucky draw schemes and promotional offers or discounts make them to visit mall frequently. 25% consumers did not agree that the lucky draw schemes & Promotional offers or discounts make them to visit mall frequently. On the other hand, 7per cent consumers remained silent. 31.5per cent consumers were inclined towards Professional Services as far as Shopping experience is concerned compared to traditional shopping. 28per cent consumers were in favour of full value to money. 16per cent consumers were in favour of Excellent Ambience. 8per cent preferred fixed prices. 6per cent were giving weightage to Proper display of products. 5.5per cent consumers were in favour of International brands. 3per cent consumers preferred more fun & excitement and 2per cent gave weightage to less hassle.62.5per cent consumers were highly satisfied with the quality of products they purchased at Mall/Stores. 29 per cent consumers were satisfied with the quality of the products they purchased at Malls. 8.5per cent consumers were partially satisfied with the quality of products, which they had purchased at the Malls/Store.
FACTOR RATING
Consumers were asked to assign rating to importance of different factors they consider while taking the purchase decision at various malls. Factors considered are like quality, wide range of products, fixed prices, International Brands, Discount, Packaging, and Advertisement, Proper display of products, Ambience & value for money. Likert Scale was used to assign different weights which are 5 for the most important, 4 for important, 3 for neither important nor unimportant, 2 for unimportant and 1 for most unimportant. Weighted average score was computed.
Discount with 31.2 as weighted average score (WAS) is a most important factor according to perception of consumers. 78 rated discount as most important and 12 rated the discount as important. 10 were indifferent. International brands is another important factor with WAS of 30.86. 68 respondents rate it as the most important factor in purchase, 27 respondents say that it is important. 5 respondents say that it is neither important nor unimportant. The Value of money is the third important factor with WAS of25.86.66 rated value for money as most important, and 24 rated the value for money as important. 10 were indifferent towards value for money while shopping at malls. Quality with 29 as WAS is the fourth important factor.55respondent feel that quality is very important factor. 30 respondents feel that the quality is an important factor. 10 respondents are indifferent to it. 5 respondents consider it unimportant. Next in importance is Proper display of products with 27.06 as WAS. Majority of the respondents, that is, 55, consider proper display of products as most important, 22 respondents were indifferent and 20 respondents had considered it important. 10 respondents revealed it as unimportant.
Apparently, consumers are rapidly accepting the modern form of shopping with unique advantages of good atmosphere, wide range of products, multi-sections of products and professional management. Increased consumer’s purchasing power demands more personal attention and professional services while shopping at the malls. Consumers are expecting more of International Brands at competitive prices. Globalize and westerner foreign goods are becoming part and parcel of every Indian consumer. The owners of the malls have understood that the tastes and preferences of the consumers have been changing day by day, requiring prompt service and replacing the old stock of goods with new one to face today’s cut throat competition. But the consumers were not satisfied with parking facilities provided at the malls as they have to park their vehicles on the road and too at their own risk. It may lead to incidences of mishappening like theft and damage to their valuables that were lying in their vehicles. Consumers were also not happy with the luggage and personal property being taken off at the main entrance of the mall. The mall owners have to look for a remedy to avoid any inconvenience while shopping at the mall. Quality was the main concern as today’s consumer is very well aware about the different quality products and wants full value for his money at any cost. Consumers feel that prices charged at Mall/Stores are very high as compared to traditional means of shopping. Newspapers and television was the only source of information about the Malls. Majority of consumers prefer to do more shopping at Bazaar and Local Market only. Shopping complex or Malls/Multiplexes are newly emerging places for shopping for young or middle age persons.
Men’s wear and clothes are the main items of shopping at mall. Consumers were highly satisfied with quality of products, which they have purchased at Malls/Store. Consumers preferred professional mall management and wide range of cheaper products which persuaded them to spend more time and money at Malls/Store. They were aware about the promotional schemes and offers organized at the Malls which make them to visit the Mall/Store frequently. This was supplemented by professional services and full value of money they got at Mall/Stores. Monthly and annual sales turnover at Malls are quite encouraging and satisfactory. With the emergence of more malls cum shopping complexes, the Mall owners are coming up with more innovative and modern promotional ideas such as discounts, free gifts, better quality and debit/credit cards facilities etc. Mall owners, however, were not satisfied with the low margin as well as untimely replacement of damaged goods by the company; apart from mishandling of goods by the customers was a matter of great concern.
RETAILER PERCEPTIONS:
Retailer is one who sells to consumer a wide variety of goods which are assembled at the premises as per needs of final users. The survey of retailers is done with the help of structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. One half of the respondent retailers had kept all the product range like grocery items & clothes, electronic items, cosmetics, daily use items etc. Furthermore, 30per cent retailers kept only Grocery items and Clothes and 20per cent kept electronic items, cosmetics and daily use items. 50per cent retailers have their average monthly sales turnover between Rs. 10 to Rs. 25, lakh. 30percent retailers have average monthly sales turnover above Rs.25laks. One-tenth of retailers have average monthly sales turnover between less than Rs. 5 to Rs. 10lakh. Furthermore, one half of retailers revealed that 150 and above customers visit their Malls/Store daily. Other40 per cent retailers were visited by 100 to 150 customers. Rests of retailers revealed that merely 50 to 100 visit their Store/mall daily. Garments with 40per cent share are clearly most visited section at Mall/Store. Daily use items with 30per cent share come second. Grocery, beauty product and imported goods with 10per cent each share are the rest of sections which are visited by the customers at Malls/Stores. 60per cent of consumers had excellent perception towards the international brands at Malls/Store. 30per cent consumer considered International Brand as very good, 10per cent perceived International Brands as good only. 40per cent of customers who visited Malls/Store belongs to upper middle class. 30per cent each was from Elite class & Middle class who had visited their Mall and Store. 80per cent retailers are using promotional methods for promoting their products. Retailers gave highest ranking to Newspapers Advertisement (42 ranks) as most preferred sales advertising done by mall. Bill Boards comes next with 37 points, followed by posters with 28 points and TV Commercial with 14 points. Stands as preferred point of Sale advertising mean got fifth ranking with 23 points. Cash Discount with 43 points is the most effective incentive scheme for sale promotion; Free Gifts with 32 points is ranked Second and replacement guarantee as third with 28 points. Discount coupon with 22 points and lucky draw with 20 point was conceived by retailers as the fourth and fifth preferred incentive scheme for sale promotion. Customer preferred quality with 42 points and ranked first amongst various important attribute they consider while shopping at Mall/Store. The other in sequence are discount/offers with 33 points, Price range with 29 points , Wide range of products with 18 points as 4th rank and lastly all the attribute collectively with 12 points ranked fifth.
Apparently, retailers prefer keeping wide range of product, mainly Grocery, Clothes, Electronic Items, Cosmetics and Daily use items. Average Monthly Sales Turnover is above Rs. 25 lakh. More than 150 customers visit their store daily. Garments and Daily use products are most visited sections. International brands are the most preferred item. Upper middle and lower middle class is mostly visited at the malls. The quality is the most preferred attribute of customer while shopping at mall. Modern Professional advertisements both the print and electronic are the popular methods for promoting their products. Replacement guarantee, cash discount and free gift are most effective incentive schemes which they are using for attracting the customers to their mall.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In the light of above discussion, following recommendations are made separately for the companies as well as for the retailers. Companies should keep the prices reasonable and competitive so that low level income groups can also become a regular customer of malls. Companies should adopt market penetration policy to capture the market. The pricing objectives of the company should be retaining back customers and capturing more share of market. In these days business can only survive if companies share good share in market and if they keep their customers satisfied. Advertising is assuming much importance now. Companies should maximize their advertisement especially in interiors of cities and main G.T. Road, like Bill Boards, Posters etc, and T.V. as an Advertisement media is also very effective and companies should focus their attention on it. Companies can achieve success with active sales promotion and awareness amongst the local residents of city. The sales people of the companies should regularly visit their respective retailers of Malls/Stores in order to get their feedback and Market Information. Companies should give adequate advertising support to the retailers. Company should provide them special cabinets, stands, hoardings, glow boards and banners etc. of different companies brand for advertisement purpose. The promotion campaign should be intensified round the year, particularly during festival seasons. These are boom periods for Mall owners hence companies should offer a variety of promotion schemes like price offer, free gifts, quantity discount to Fetch maximum sales. In today’s Market share, logistics efficiency is a key factor for success. So companies should try to make its distribution very effective and improve its reach by increasing the number of Malls and opening more malls surrounding the cities, so that more and more small towns can be covered. Most of retailers at Malls complain of low profit margins. The companies should increase the retailer’s margin. Companies should offer good incentive schemes to Mall owners to motivate them. Policies regarding replacement of expired stock should be modified and should be made more liberal and flexible.
On the other hands, Retailers should provide adequate feedback to the companies. They should provide adequate and reliable information about his Malls structure. This helps the companies in formulating appropriate marketing strategies according to the Market conditions. Retailers should provide excellent professional management at their mall by recruiting qualified staff. Retailers should suggest and recommend the product brands to the customer by in Mall and out mall man campaigning. Mall owners should store adequate quality product in their mall in order to attract more and more new customers. Mall owners should use modern methods of promoting the products and services in their Malls/Stores. Though every effort was made to elicit authenticity in every sense, yet there can be uncomfortable factors which may have their influences on the final outcome. The survey is conducted in Jalandhar district of Punjab. It may not be true representation of entire national market. Few respondents who are not familiar may give a neutral or unfavorable response to some of the questions. Some variables might have omitted in the study. There may be some biases in the information provided by mall owners. Limited rather no access to secondary data pertaining to shopping mall management and its performance was another problem in finding a correct market response.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
In today’s fast emerging concept of professionalized mall management with best and innovative products under one roof at competitive prices, the consumers are rapidly and more consistently accepting the modern form of shopping. Increase in consumer’s purchasing power has led to expecting more personal attention and care at the malls and inclined more towards malls due to availability of more international brands at competitive prices coupled with prompt as well as replacing the old stock with new one more regularly. Customer’s tastes and preferences have changed with westernization and globalization. The monthly and annual sales turnover figures were quite satisfactory and encouraging as customers are ready to spend more than usual due to availability of different product and services at one place. Quality was the foremost thing that customers want at competitive prices. There were also some bottlenecks like customers were not satisfied with the parking facilities at malls, as they have to park their vehicles in open on roads. Mall owners were not satisfied with profit margin and non-replacement of damages of goods by concerned companies. The customers have also shown their resentment towards their luggage and personal property being taken off at the main entrance of the mall. The company should keep the prices of goods at malls reasonable and competitive, so that low level income groups can also become a regular customer of malls. Advertising is assuming much importance now; companies should maximize their advertising especially in interiors of cities through billboards, posters, newspapers ads and television ads etc. The retailer should provide adequate feed back to the companies. Retailer should store adequate quality products in their malls. With a large number of malls in the pipeline one of the critical factor that will give an edge to one retail center over the others is the way it is managed. Competent mall managers are in short supply and the situation will remain the same for next 2-3 years. Some of the B-Schools are launching specialized courses on retail management including mall management. Over the next few years, professional mall management service will establish its significance in the industry. The country requires higher attention to be given to developing more number of persons with the right skills and knowledge, who can be employed in this function.
Corporate know that the Indian agriculture sector is a potential goldmine that has not been tapped till now and farmers have a lot of reasons to be happy with the corporate entry into agriculture scenario. Rural economy of India will be substantially improved through innovative agriculture and linking them to retail boom in agricultural sector. India is endowed with several advantages for ushering in retail boom in agriculture since it has second largest arable land in the world; diverse agro climatic conditions across the country, round the year sun shine potential to cultivate vast range of agricultural products through vast pool of crops. Currently Indian agriculture is only quantity oriented rather than quality oriented. Markets also do not procure the product by giving price based on quality parameters of the produce. But the retail boom necessitates placement of products with value in terms of its nutritive and neutracutical value, taste, tempting to buy appearance, attractive colours etc. When multinationals or big business houses enter the retail trade the chain of intermediaries between the producers and the consumers are minimized and there will be scope for higher share of profit reaching the farmers who toils in the farm. Hence the farmers stand to gain much due to retail boom by way of enhanced price for their produce and assured market.
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NEWSPAPERS
? PTI, “Wal-mart, Bharti Fine-tuning deal”, Feb 22, The Tribune 2007.
? Debashish Mukherji, “Indian Retail: only big boys will rule”, Times of India, Jan 9, 2006.
? Garima Sharma, “Mall Mayhem” Times of India, Feb 17, 2007.
? HT Correspondent, “Cash in on the retail boom,” Hindustan Times, Jan 24, 2007.
? PTI, “Nath told to make cabinet note on opening up retail”. The Tribune, Dec 27, 2006.
? PTI, “Birla eye retail sans foreign player” The Tribune, Jan 4 2007.
? Ruchika M. Khanna, “Malls with a focus”, The Tribune, March 17, 2007.
? Sanjeev Sinha , Anuradha Himatsingka, Irshad Daftari, J Padmapriya, Raja Awashthi, Mayur Shekhar Jha, Arvind Singhal & Rajeev Karwal, “Scaling the Wall.” “The Great Wal of Bharat.” The Economic Times, 3 Dec 2006.
? Syed Amir Ali Hashmi, “Footholds for Footfalls.” Times of India, March 17, 2007.
? Tribune News Service, “Bharti to invest $2.5bn in Retail venture, The Tribune, Feb 20, 2007.
? Vivek Sinha & Chaitali Chakravarty, “RIL Retail hires 60 expats”, The Economic Times, 23 December 2006.
WEBSITES
? , www.imageretail.com .
? Http// Vishalmegamart.com
? Http//Walmart.com
? Http//www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/downtowns/Itb/Iets698.html
? http/www.rediff.com/money/2007/Jan/19inter.htm
? www.ingentaconnect.com

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