TABLE OF CONTENT

Sr. No. 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Topics EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction to Indian Retail Industry History of Retailing Evolution of Retail RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Objective Literature Review Type of Research Sources of data collection Scope of Study Limitation of the study INTRODUCTION TO FUTURE GROUP SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTED STRATEGIES SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN PROBLEMS FACED SOLUTION TO PRESENT SCENARIO CONCLUSION CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

Page No. 5-10 7 9 10 11-14 11 11 14 14 14 14 15-17 18-23 24-28 29 30 31 32

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The Indian Retail Industry is valued at about $300 billion and is expected to grow to $427 billion in 2010 and $637 billion in 2015. Only three percent of Indian Retail Sector is organized. Retailers of multiple brands can operate through a franchise or a cash-and-carry wholesale model Retail is Indias largest industry, accounting for over 10 percent of the countrys GDP and around eight percent of employment. Retail in India is at the crossroads. It has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. The retail industry sector has undergone many changes over the past few years; better communication between retailers and suppliers has been taking place more exchanges in information and know-how and perhaps a slightly more transparent commitment to building a win/win approach to competitiveness. Retailing is all about value extraction from the supply chain and delivering it in a viable way to the consumer. It is characterized by a clear strategy and an operational plan and recently, the industry has made a heavy use of information technology tools to manage the logistics and marketing functions. The project work title Retail strategy of future group. Critically focus on the supply chain issue & adopted strategy which ultimately leads to affect the customer satisfaction & effective business in the retail sector. The project work also through a light on the Indian retail organized sector, the challenges faces by the industry as well as the problem belong to the future group. Before starting the project, I have selected the few Retail chain operating in India specially the future group, these Retail chain are similar in their product category and functioning even they have the same targeted customer. The selected Retail Chain outlets are Big bazaar, Pantaloons, E-zone, Food bazaar, Furniture bazaar and the Local grocery shops. The base of the research is that the supply chain function affects the satisfaction and perception of the customer, to confirm this fact a comparative study of strategies adopted is done among the selected Retails supply chain. The research started with the gathering of secondary data through internet magazines journals and visiting libraries. Initially it was very difficult to get hold of adequate information as very little is known and written about the retail industry of the country. It was observed that even
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though India has the highest number of retail outlets in the whole world the industry as on date is highly fragmented unorganized and unprofessional. The distribution networks are extremely well developed by the concept of internal logistics is literally unknown.

INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY

As organized retailers carve out a bigger piece of the retail pie for themselves its an exciting
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time for the retail sector. (By Dominic K) The Indian retail industry in valued at about $300 billion and is expected to grow to $427 billion in 2010 and $637 billion in 2015. Only three percent of Indian retail is organized. Retailers of multiple brands can operate through a franchise or a cash-and-carry wholesale model. Retail is Indias largest industry, accounting for over 10 percent of the countrys GDP and around eight percent of employment. Retail in India is at the crossroads. It has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. That said, the heavy initial investments required make break even hard to achieve and many players have not tasted success to date. However, the future is promising; the market is growing, government policies are becoming more favorable and emerging technologies are facilitating operations The Indian retailing sector is at an inflexion point where the growth of organized retailing and growth in the consumption by the Indian population is going to take a higher growth trajectory. The Indian population is witnessing a significant change in its demographics. a large young working population with median age of 24 years nuclear families in urban areas along with increasing working women population and emerging opportunities in the services sector are going to be the key growth driver of the organized retail sector in India. The retail industry sector is undergoing major changes. As competition is expected to intensify more, profit margins will become tighter and the ability for margins will become tighter and the ability for effective management through continued cost reduction is going to determine winners from losers. Integrated management through the extended supply chain is however the best way forward to effective value provision to the end customer. The extended supply chain however may not necessarily means structural and methodological change but the ability to move away from conventional rigid approaches characterized by a win/lose approach. The Retail industry has undergone many changes over the past few years; better communication between retailers and suppliers has been taking place more exchanges in information and knowhow and perhaps a slightly more transparent commitment to building a win/win approach to competitiveness. Retailing is all about value extraction from the supply chain and delivering it in a viable way to the consumer. It is characterized by a clear strategy and an operational plan and

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recently, the industry has made a heavy use of information technology tools to manage the logistics and marketing functions. The project work title Retail strategy of future group, focus on the supply chain issue & adopted strategy which ultimately leads to affect the customer satisfaction & effective business in the retail sector.

Table 1-Retail Market in India Size

Estimated size of retail in India Share of Organized retail (%) in India Size of organized retail in India

2004 (Rs. Bn)

9300 3 280

2010 (Rs. Bn)

14000 10-12 1400-1500

Source: KSA Techno park

History of Retailing

1870s

: General Stores

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1870s onwards

: Increase urbanization in west due to increase industrialization; growth of specialty store.

1880s

Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company started as a modern chain of stores.

1890s

: Department store start appearing on the scene which is bigger in size and stock variety is considerably increased.

1920s

supermarkets appear

1940s (Post world war ) Trend of discount stores starts where the products are made available to buyers at lower than MRP prices; this format catches on rapidly in the USA and UK and is a huge success.

1970s

the bigger stores and malls start moving to the suburbs in USA.

1995s

Evolution on Net based retailing.

2003

Implementing web based technology (online trading)

2007

Boom in retail industry

EVOLUTION OF INDIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY

For Indian retailing, things started to change slowly in the 1980s when India first began opening its economy. Textiles sector was the first to see the emergence of retail chains. Later on Titan,
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maker of premium watches successfully created an organized retailing concept in India by establishing a series of elegant showrooms. For long these remained the only organized retailers but the latter half of the 1990s saw a fresh wave of entrants in the retailing business. This time around it was not the manufacturer looking for and alternative sales channels. These were pure retailers with no serious plans of getting into manufacturing. These entrants were in various fields, like Food World, Future Group, Subhiksha, Big- Apple, 6-ten, and Nilgiris in Food and FMCG; Planet M and music World in music. As of the year ending 2000 the size of the Indian organized retail industry was estimated at around Rs.13000 Crore. The various segment of retail stores are given in the table. Retail growth is already gathering momentum and the organized retail industry is touched Rs.45000 Crore in 2005. The modern retail industry could be worth US $ 175-200 billion by 2016.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE-

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 To explore different innovative supply chain strategies adopted by Future Group. To explore the other strategies those are adopted across the globe by various retail players that can be used in Indian context.

LITERATURE REVIEW The retail scenario in India is in a phase characterized by Supply Chain management, Operations, Technology and processes (Ernst and Young in Sreejith and Raj 2007). The increasing purchasing power of the Indian middle class is seen as a great source of money that can push the profits of retailers up by giving consumers more choice. The foremost company that is trying to become the Wal-Mart and Tesco of India is the Pantaloon Group operating its stores under the Big Bazaar banner which has already established a major presence across many important cities. Following it closely are the Reliance Group and the Bharti group, whose tie-up with Wal-Mart has also come under criticism even though the government has given a go-ahead for the deal (Economic Times, 2007). Other international retailers are thus open to such a joint venture where they would get to manage the back-end operations. In the list of banned things for FDI in India, retail stands first (SIA, 2008). Emotions are raised when this topic comes up and the opposing view is currently strong. Even those arguing for allowing FDI do with caution; that the entry should be gradual and with social safeguards (Guruswamy et al, 2005). That the retail sector is estimated to be the second biggest sector of the economy contributing over 10% of the GDP (Department of Commerce, 2005) highlights its importance. The Future Supply Chain Solutions team currently oversees the operations of an existing fleet of over 600 dedicated trucks, contracted from established regional and national transport carriers, most of which are now equipped with GPS sets. In addition it provides integrated endto-end SCM, warehousing and distribution, multi-modal transportation and container freight

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station. The total consolidated warehouse space that the company intends to have operational by 2010-11 is nearly 7.50 million square feet. Questions however remain as to whether India would go the full way of liberalizing the retail trade in light of opening up of the economy, a policy it has followed since the 1990s. There have been many demands to allow full FDI in light of arguments of efficiency and the effect FDI has played in other sectors as automobiles. There are negative reactions of allowing FDI in this owing to the Wal-Martization effect; where more and more power(economic and otherwise) is control by fewer corporations (Ribeiro, 2005).That major retailers would want to enter India is not a surprise going by the increasing standards and consumer oriented mindset of the population. With the economy in the growth path since the last decade and real consumption estimated to grow from 17 trillion rupees to 70 trillion rupees by 2025 (Narayanswamy and Zainulbhai, 2007), its no wonder big companies want a share of this pie. Two retailing giants Wal-Mart and Tesco already source goods worth billions of dollars from India and both are looking to establish a presence there in light of the great opportunities present (Elliott, 2006) and German giant Metro already has multiple outlets in the Cash and Carry wholesale segment. Sobel and Dean (2008) have argued that despite contrary belief, Wal-Mart has statistically insignificant impact on the local small business sector in the US and have used Schumpeters theory of Creative Destruction that even though it may cause some individual businesss to fail, these are offset by entry of other businesses elsewhere in the economy. Thus, in their thoughts, Wal-Mart is simply an evolution over other forms. There are arguments that these big superstores are simply a better way of resource utilization in the economy and should therefore be good for the economy. Moreover, even the big retailers have failed elsewhere. Going with its price competition has not been successful for Wal-Mart in Germany, where it, along with other retailers was forced to increase prices (Andrews, 2000). Its ignorance of the competitive German market could be another reason (Knorr and Arndt, 2003). Tesco, even though successful in many other international destinations, had failed in France in 1996-97 (Dunn et al, 2003). Thus, even if such big companies were to enter India, success would not be guaranteed. There is growing evidence that Wal-Mart does
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not bear the full economic and social costs of its business practices (Irvin and Clark, 2006 ) and thus it is the community that has to do the balancing act and bear the brunt of having a Wal-Mart nearby. This may not be a good option for developing countries like India which may not be able to take additional social burden. Each worker in Wal-Mart replaces about 1.4 from the labour market (Neumark et al, 2007) and the practice followed by in respect to payments for employees has not been great (Greenhouse, 2002). Studies have also shown that small towns lose about 47% of their retail trade after about 10 years of a Wal-Mart opening nearby (Stone quoted by Stone, 1997) Moreover, competing for good is not a necessary assumption in this case. Often companies with deep pockets would want to wipe out competition and then play as a monopolist. The erosion of traditional industry boundaries and with companies as Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Tesco and Intel knowing the ecosystem much better (Moore, 1997), competition would often fall to pieces even if it was there. What happens after the entire competition is wiped out? Is a monopolist situation better for the country? Retail modernization in developing countries and its effect on the broader food system has been a major focus of research since the early 2000s. The most visible banner for this work has been the supermarket revolution. Supermarkets existed in Latin America from at least the 1960s, but began to grow much more rapidly in that region during the economic boom and opening to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of the 1990s. Growth began later in East/Southeast Asia and Central Europe, followed by selected countries of Africa (Reardon et al, 2004). This growth, together with new procurement practices that the firms work to apply, has lead to a rash of studies attempting to document and anticipate the impacts of these firms on existing actors in the food system, and to draw policy implications for governments and donors.

Type of Research: Case study research methodology.

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Sources of data collection: The data will be collected from secondary sources. The secondary sources will be collected from various books, business magazines, reports; websites etc. then primary research as interviews be conducted to carry the further research.

Scope of Study: With the Indian retail landscape undergoing a sea change via the entry of organized players and multinationals, the fate of the neighborhood kirana store as well as the posh supermarket is bound to change. The study will cover the different aspects of Supply chain i.e. Transportation, Packaging, Handling, Storage & inventory and Distribution activities in the Retail business of future group. The study is important with respect to working on private labels and work on improving back-end inefficiencies. The research can further be generalized to the whole retail sector.

Limitation of the study: The study and the research will be limited to the Retail sector. The major limitations could be that company may not find it feasible to disclose their confidential information.

INTRODUCTION TO FUTURE GROUP

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Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is Indias largest leading retailers. It operates on multiple platforms like Value and life style segment in the Indian consumers market. Company head quarters located in Mumbai. As on Feb 2009 Company operates over 12 million square feet of retail space, 1000 stores in 71 cities with employee strength of 30,000 people. The company is in aspect of giving retailing a modern look with reachable for middle and middle lower class people. Retailing includes retail formats like Pantaloons, Big bazzer, Food bazzar, brand factory, Blue sky, and Top 10, Star & sitar and e zone. The company also operates on online future bazzar.com for upper class that can get internet connectivity. Home Town a large-format home solutions store. Pantaloon Retail is the flagship company of Future Group, a business group catering to the entire Indian consumption space. Future Group led by its founder and Group CEO, Mr. Kishore Biyani, is one of Indias leading business houses with multiple businesses spanning across the consumption space. While retail forms the core business activity of Future Group, group subsidiaries are present in consumer finance, capital, insurance, leisure and entertainment, brand development, retail real estate development, retail media and logistics. The company was established in 1987 as Manz wear private Limited launched its first product Pantaloons trousers. In May-1992 company offered Initial public offering. The company enters in modern retails business in 1997 from Kolkata with 8000Sq.ft store. In 2002 company initiated a lunch of food chain market Food bazzar. In 2004 central mall was lunched to concentrate on India one sector launched near brigade road in Bangalore. In 2005 group moves beyond retailing starts diversification and in organic growth by acquiring galaxy entrainment, Indus League clothing and Planet retail. In 2006 company starts finical facilitation company to help internal need Future capital Holdings. They started its first Home building and improvement product retailing in Bangalore. Starts joint ventures with Staples, US based company and with Genreali a Italian Insurance major. In 2007 Group had turnover of $1 billion. Specialized companies in retail media, logistics, IPR and brand development and retail-led technology services become operational. In 2008 big bazaar crosses 100 malls. The company observes retail customer trend and changing consumption tastes. Organization is customer driven opposed to product driven .Company is very conscious about culture and
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regional consumption pattern. Strategies change frequently due to orient to the customers needs. The continues of learning, unlearning and relearning is applied to update the quick changing strategies across the organization. As Kishore Biyani MD Pantaloon retail India LTD says Retail is like riding bicycle. In uphill if you stop pedaling you will slide down. The statement express the need of continues learning process to form the strategies.

GROUP VISION Future Group shall deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time for Every Indian Consumer in the most profitable manner.

CORPORATE STATEMENT Our customers will not just get what they need, but also get them where, how and when they need. We will not just post satisfactory results, we will write success stories. We will not just operate efficiently in the Indian economy, we will evolve it. We will not just spot trends, we will set trends by marrying our understanding of the Indian consumer to their needs of tomorrow. Rewrite Rules, Retain Values.

CORE VALUES

Indianness: confidence in ourselves. Leadership: to be a leader, both in thought and business. Respect & Humility: to respect every individual and be humble in our conduct.

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Introspection: leading to purposeful thinking. Openness: to be open and receptive to new ideas, knowledge and information. Valuing and Nurturing Relationships: to build long term relationships. Simplicity & Positivity: Simplicity and positivity in our thought, business and action. Adaptability: to be flexible and adaptable, to meet challenges. Flow: to respect and understand the universal laws of nature.

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTED STRATEGIES

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Based on analysis its business strategies can be categorized in 3 major groups. They are: Diversification strategy Classes destination strategy Maximum market shares strategy

DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY The company started its business as textile manufactures but growth in modern organized retailing attracted the company to switch diversify to the next consumption pattern. The company diversified and acquired a large business in organic and inorganic way. But company did not forget ripe its strategy and values in the diversified company. Diversification is done in two main categories: RETAIL FORMATS and SPECIALIZED BUSINESS. CLASSES DESTINATION STRATEGY Future group has diversified its business keeping the retiling as common goal. To set and concentrate on one stratum is main objective of this strategy. Each business is set to operate on defined strata. Company has divided Indian customers in three different groups. INDIA ONE, INDIA TWO, INDIA THREE. Each has different values, products and quality requirements. INDIA ONE or consuming class .The population of this constitutes only 14%.Till recent times the modern retiling formats is offered for this class. According Maslows theory of hierarchy the 14% people are in self actualization and Esteem needs in the pyramid. For this class pantaloon patterned Future bazaar, E zone, Central, brand factory, Home town and star Galaxy entertainment. INDIA TWO or the serving class it includes people like house hold helpers, office peon etc. This is the people who make service INDIA ONE class. The population of this class is more than 30%. In the needs hierarchy they are located in for Social and security .Earning capacity of this class is 60% lesser than INDIA ONE. For this class as the big bazaar, Food bazaar, Future money and other retail formats are presented.
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INDIA THREE or struggling class. The class led life on hand to mouth existence. They cant afford for beater living style. This segment doesnt contribute much in the contribution cycle. The need of the segment is local as they are finding it cheaper. The present business model is not addressing this class. Statics describes change in consumption patter by different class in 2001-02 and 2007-08.INDIA ONE has changed from 25% to 35% normally the total profit in this segment will comparatively 20% more than they are sold in next segment. As ambiance is factor and other pleasuring non value added services are necessary. INDIA TWO has not changed it conception level. INDIA THREE has seen 10 % decline.

MAXIMUM MARKET SHARES STRATEGY The retail chain by pantaloon in all business patterns tries to achieve maximum market share in all the products or service it provides .The Company does not bothers about short term profit or loss by a strategy. This are considered as learning. The business will sell at marginal profit some times to attract the new customer who will prove potential customers in future. The strategy achieved by focusing pricing factors in INDAI TWO and on service and quality in INDIA ONE.

PRICING STRATEGIES Pricing is strategy used by Pantaloon retail chain to attain maximum market shares. The company offers numerous schemes to attract the new customer as well as to retain the present customers. The companys schemes are categorized in following groups

VALUE PRICING

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This approach is used where external factors such as recession or increased competition force companies to provide 'value' products and services to retain sales. The product value will be associated with external factors.

PROMOTIONAL PRICING Pricing to promote a product is a very common application. The application of this is done by BOGO (Buy one Get One), BTGO (Buy Two Get One Free) etc.

BUNDLING Bundling is marketing tool sell two or more complementary product as a package with attractive price. The price is will lesser then individual selling price.

LOW INTEREST RATE FINANCING Future money helps in asset purchase at 0% interest.

PHYSIOLOGICAL DISCOUNTING In India this approach is called as Bata rating system. Organization utilizes this approach when product has emotional value rather than rational value. Example a product is priced for 99 instead of 100.When board shows price reduction from 100 to 99, Consumer looks at 3 digits to 2 digits rather than exact value

TIME PRICING The innovative way of attract the customer is Timely pricing it is known that during holidays rate of customer is more. Reduction of profit margin with lot of advertisement will invite new customers. The company has learnt it from strategy made on public holiday 26-Feb. When the turnover of the day reached 30 crore where average is 5 crore. With such experience
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crowded management is essential so to divert potential customers Wednesday bazaar where it will offer less profit margin sales.

MARKETING: Technique of offering two or more complementary goods or services together as a package deal. Bundled items are sold at a price attractively lower than the total of their individual selling prices.

HUMAN RESOURCE Well trained staff, Appearance, Empowered individuals, Use scenario planning as a tool for quick decision making, Brand ambassador

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE & CONTROLS The entrepreneurial culture and spirit prevails in the company, Appetite for taking risks is encouraged, learning while doing, No rigid organizational structure, and organization design approach.

BALANCED SCORE CARD APPROACH

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Retail control - Semi Centralized, Complex

Sourcing

- E-touch with supplier, Self production facilities with small number of

suppliers, Short term contracts (based on lowest bid) Process -Modern hard technology, Devolved internally, Reduces cost, new strategies

and process innovations Facilities - Special propose, Large, Capital driven, Placed in major cities

MARKETING STRATEGY

Future group, is planning to start renting clothes for occasion wear and sell second-hand clothes. This will allow customers to hire high-end clothes, bags, jewellery and other accessories for a fraction of a price. Pantaloon is also trying to build in-store branded sections for categories such as sunglasses and watches and high fashion garments. It also has a separate section -aLL, which houses fashionable apparel in western and ethnic wear for plus-size men & women

Type of Market:
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Major formats of in-sector retailing have been listed in table given below:

Format Branded stores

Description The value proposition Exclusive showrooms either owned or Complete range available for a franchised out by a manufacturer. given quality. brand certified product

Specialty stores

Focus on a specific consumer need ,carry Greater choice to the consumer most of the brands available comparison between brands

possible Department stores Large stores having a wide variety of One stop shop catering to varied products organized into different department consumer needs. such as clothing, house-wares, furniture, Supermarkets Discount stores appliances, toys etc. Extremely large self-services retail outlets. One stop shop catering to varied

consumer needs. Stores offering discounts on the retrial price Low prices through selling high volumes and reaping the economies of scale. Larger than a supermarket sometimes with a Low prices vast choice available warehouse appearance generally located in including services as cafeterias. quieter part of the city Small self service formats located in Convenient location and extended crowded urban areas. operating hours.

Hyper-mart

Convenience stores Shopping malls

An enclosure having different formats of in- Variety of shops available close to store retailers, all under one roof. each other.

SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN

Each retail chain organization has its own supply chains which fulfill all the requirement of its retail outlet in different location effectively. The supply chain belong to a retail chain may also
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fulfill the requirement of the other retail outlet which does not belong to the original retail chain, but it may be to get financial benefit. The appropriate design of supply chain will depend on both the customers needs and the roles of stages involved. Organizations increasingly find that they must rely on effective supply chains, or networks, to successfully compete in the global market and networked economy. In Peter Drucker's (1998) management's new paradigms, this concept of business relationships extends beyond traditional enterprise boundaries and seeks to organize entire business processes throughout a value chain of multiple companies Successful SCM requires a change from managing individual functions to integrating activities into key supply chain processes. An example scenario: the purchasing department places orders as requirements become appropriate. Marketing, responding to customer demand, communicates with several distributors and retailers, and attempts to satisfy this demand. Shared information between supply chain partners can only be fully leveraged through process integration. Supply chain business process integration involves collaborative work between buyers and suppliers, joint product development, common systems and shared information. According to Lambert and Cooper (2000) operating an integrated supply chain requires continuous information flows, which in turn assist to achieve the best product flows. Retailing in India is gradually inching its way to becoming the next boom industry. The whole concept of shopping has altered in terms of format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping. Modern retail has entered India as seen in sprawling shopping centers, multi-storied malls and huge complexes offer shopping, entertainment and food all under one roof.

Warehouse 1 Farmers Mandi

Retail 1

SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN

Warehouse 2 Retail 2 Custom er

Manufactur er 21 | P a g e

Distributo r

Warehouse 3 Retail 3 Warehouse

The information is shared at each level in a more effective way so that the product is available to its customer in the store when it is required in minimum lead time.

DELIVERY AND LEAD TIME

In the Future stores supply chain the lead time is of two day, the store in charge indent the order in the system which is centralized. All the order from different stores is collected at the central store or in Head Office, from there the information is passed to different warehouse so that the particular product can be made available to the customer on time. The delivery pattern to the store from the different warehouse to each store is similar, all the stores get the delivery of goods two times in a day, these are the items which are ordered or indent two days back.

Delivery of vegetable and fruits:-

These are the items which are perishable in nature. The supply of these item is made on daily basis each store received the fruits and vegetable according to their consumption. The Supply of
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these items, including the dairy product, is made two times in a day one is around 7.00 a.m. and second delivery is around 9p.m.

Delivery of Staple Item: The delivery of Atta, Sugar, and Dal etc is done two or once in a week according to the need of the store but minimum of two to three days are required for receiving a product after making or indent is made.

Stock out Handling at Stores: The unique feature of the reliance fresh store is that the stores are integrated so that the sudden increase in the demand at a store can be met in a very short span of time. This is only possible because of the store or retail integration, suppose if there is a sudden increase in the demand of a product at a particular store and that particular product is short at that time, then because of the retail integration this store can search the inventory level of that particular product lying at near by store, than the stock from there can be transferred to the store manually where the demand is high, by the store employee. It helps the store to meet the sudden increase in the demand of a product.

Store timing and staff in a store:

A typical store opens at 5 a.m. in the morning for the staff. At this time the staff receives the goods from the head office and arranges it on the shelf. The store remains open for public from 8.a.m. to 9 p.m. but for working staff its closes at 11p.m. in the night. There are two shifts of the workers who worked in the store. Present Trend: As the contemporary retail sector in India is reflected in sprawling shopping centers, multiplex- malls and huge complexes offer shopping, entertainment and food all under one
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roof, the concept of shopping has altered in terms of format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in India. This has also contributed to large-scale investments in the real estate sector with major national and global players investing in developing the infrastructure and construction of the retailing business. The trends that are driving the growth of the retail sector in India are

Low share of organized retailing. Falling real estate prices. Increase in disposable income and customer aspiration. Increase in expenditure for luxury items.

The retailing configuration in India is fast developing as shopping malls are increasingly becoming familiar in large cities. When it comes to development of retail space specially the
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malls, the Tier II cities are no longer behind in the race. If development plans till 2007 is studied it shows the projection of 220 shopping malls, with 139 malls in metros and the remaining 81 in the Tier II cities. The government of states like Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) are very upbeat about permitting the use of land for commercial development thus increasing the availability of land for retail space; thus making NCR render to 50% of the malls in India.

PROBLEMS FACED:

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The first challenge facing the organized retail sector is the competition from unorganized sector.

In retail sector, Automatic approval is not allowed for foreign investment. Taxation, which favors small retail businesses. Developed supply chain and integrated IT management is absent in retail sector. Lack of trained work force. Low skill level for retailing management. Intrinsic complexity of retailing- rapid price changes, threat of product obsolescence and low margins.

Organized retail sector has to pay huge taxes, which is negligible for small retail business.

Cost of business operations is very high in India.

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SOLUTION TO PRESENT SCENARIO

Availability and cost of retail space is one major area where Government intervention is necessary. Liberalizing policy guidelines for FDI needs focus as well. Proper training facilities for meeting the increasing requirements of workers in the sector would need the attention of both Government and the industry. Competition for experienced personnel would lead to belligerence between retailers and higher rates of attrition, especially during the phase of accelerated growth of the retail industry. The process of avoiding middlemen and providing increased income to farmers through direct procurement by retail chains need the attention of policy makers. Taking care of supply chain management, mass procurement arrangements and inventory management are areas that need the focus of entrepreneurs. EDGE OVER OTHERS Multiple Formats - If margins from apparel sales in Pantaloons (the Lifestyle store) suffer, the company does have the option of moving stock to the discount store, Big Bazaar. Pantaloons Green Card Program. Your Green Card is your passport to a whole new world of exclusive benefits and privileges. Targeting youth, setting their own garment factories. Just in time approach - prevent over stock of inventories. Green Card Shopper

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CONCLUSION:
The Retail industry is growing very fast and giving opportunity of the employment to many of the candidate. The Indian retailing sector is at an inflexion point where the growth of organized retail and growth in the consumption by Indians is going to adopt a higher growth trajectory. This industry is now at its childhood stage in India. We can assume that the coming or ongoing era is of era of Retailing. Retailing is now very much focused by the companies. The Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, the company has developed a comprehensive strategy, where in it expects that in 2years, it will not recruit any new managers from outside. "The estimated need is 1 lakh of employees till 2011", said Mr. Sanjoy Jog, HR Head at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. Pantaloon has the concept of partnership with educational Institute to run retail courses across the entire chain. The company has tied up with 11-B schools including K J Somaiya , Welinkars, Narsee Monjre and IISWBM. "The students joins the course and they are given an appointment letter by Pantaloon to become employees" said Mr. Jog, Pantaloon. Pantaloon is also planning to tie up with Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design to start a course in visual merchandising. "The apex body of Indian organized retailers, Retailers Association of India( RAI) is also lending help hand to tide over the shortage of employees in organized retail sector.

Finally it is important to note that these strategies are not strictly independent of each other; value is function of not just price quality and service but can also be enhanced by personalization and offering a memorable experience.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. References from Books Book name 1. Strategic supply chain management 2. Supply chain strategy 3. Logistics and retail management Auther Jim Miller Edward Frazelle john Fernie & Leigh Sparks

2. http://www.futuregroup.in/corporate_profile.asp 3. http://www.futuregroup.in/fretail.asp 4. http://www.pantaloonretail.in/companyinfo.asp 5. http://www.pantaloonretail.in/E-tailing.asp

6. Berman, A talking Shop; outlook,Dec9,2000 7. Cook and Walter, D (1991), Retailing Marketing: Theory and Practice, PHI, New Delhi 8. Chandrashakher .P. Retailing in India trends and Opportunity: The Hindu Business Line Catalyst(channi) dt.15/02/2002 9. Mohamed Zairi (1998) Best practice in supply chain management: the experience of the retail sector, European Journal of innovation Management, vol 1. no.2,pp.59-66 10. Lambert, D.M and Cooper, M.C.(2000),issues in supply chain management, industrial Marketing Management,vol. 29 No.1 1,pp 65-83.

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