PEERLESS PIONEER

BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR RADHAKISHAN DAMANIPROMOTED AVENUE SUPERMARTS, WHICH OPERATES HYPERMARKET CHAIN DMART, IS A STRONG PLAYER THAT RULES THE VALUE SEGMENT

- KRISHNA GOPALAN

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. It’s not just hoteliers and real estate agents who harp on this as the most important aspect of their business. Retailers, too, say much the same thing. Pick the right location for a store, and half the battle is won. Or is it?

The fact is, choosing the right location for a store is an art and science in itself. And as you go deeper into the other aspects of the retail business, you realise that location is not the only thing that a retailer needs to get right. Other components include understanding areas such as consumer trends, spending patterns, population density, competition, supply chain, and above all coming to terms with an operations-intensive business. And in India, this is just half the story.

Consider the country’s demographic spread across a very complex terrain. Their needs are catered to by 11 million neighbourhood stores. The Indian consumer is not just aspirational but discerning as well. From a larger business point of view, retail is all about low margins and that is the single, biggest challenge to overcome.