A PROJECT REPORT ON TO STUDY THE USEFULLNESS AND BRAND AWARENESS OF IT PRODUCTS IN RETAIL SECTOR

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTER IN MANAGEMENT STUDIES (MMS)

2011-2013

ROLL NO:- P-36 (MARKETING)

SUBMITTED TO

DR. V.N. BEDEKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, THANE

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STATEMENT BY THE CANDIDATE

I wish to state that the work embodied in this

Project titled

TO STUDY THE

USEFULLNESS AND BRAND AWARENESS OF IT PRODUCTS IN RETAIL SECTOR forms my own contribution to management. Wherever references have been made to

intellectual properties of any individual / Institution / Government / Private / Public Bodies / Universities, research paper, text books, reference books, research monographs, archives of newspapers, corporate, individuals, business / Government and any other source of intellectual properties viz., speeches, quotations, conference proceedings, extracts from the website, working paper, seminal work et al,they have been clearly indicated, duly acknowledged and included in the Bibliography.

_________________________ Signature of project Guide

_________________________ Signature of Candidate

Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity with much pleasure to thank all the people who have helped me through the course of my journey towards completing this project. I sincerely thank my mentor, Ms. Swapna Tamhankar, for her guidance, help and motivation. Apart from the subject of my research, I learnt a lot from her, which I am sure, will be useful in different stages of my life.

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Dhananjay Maniwade(Field Manager at IMRB) for his help in making me understand the working of IMRB and providing me help throughout my project. My sincere gratitude also goes to all those who instructed and taught me through the years.

Finally, this project would not have been possible without the confidence, endurance and support of my family. My family has always been a source of inspiration and encouragement. I wish to thank my parents whose love, teachings and support have brought me this far.

SAMEER Y. WAJE

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 5 ABOUT IMRB INTERNATIONAL COMPANY .............................................................................................. 6 Need and Scope of Project .......................................................................................................................... 10 Project Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 11 About the Itops Project ............................................................................................................................... 12 RETAIL INDUSTRY ................................................................................................................................. 13 Top Retail Formats in India ........................................................................................................................ 15 Retail Technology and the Evolving Shopper ............................................................................................ 16 Need of Information Technology in Retailing ............................................................................................. 17 How Information Technology Involved In Retailing Operations? ............................................................. 19 Applications of Information Technology in Retail ..................................................................................... 21 Some of the Information technology tools that retailers are using are: ...................................................... 27 Contribution of Indias IT industry to Economic progress ......................................................................... 33 Advantages of conventional and modern organized retail formats ............................................................. 35 Literature Review........................................................................................................................................ 36 Outcome of the Study from Customer Survey............................................................................................ 41 Learning from the project ........................................................................................................................... 53 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 54 Bibliography/ References............................................................................................................................ 55

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Industries in our modern day are facing tremendous pressures like society conformation, technology innovation and market competition. These three forces describe by Boyett and Boyett, (1995) catalyzed an organization to initiate goodwill responses, improve their technological platform and invent systems to automate their operational processes. These are efforts contributed to retain their competitive edge thus preserving their existence. The challenge of retailing is to strike the balance between cost optimization and maintaining the level of service. The trade-off between these factors is a dynamic one and retailers have to endeavor to strike a balance towards it all times. Technology has become the basic fabric of the retailing industry today. Perhaps the most important fact is that retailers who do not understand the ways to use technology for competitive advantage will be left out in the competition. This study is an effort to understand the applications of information technology in the modern retail industry, like in supply chain management, store management, point of sale and customer relationship management. With the help of case studies and a brief customer survey the current industry scenario is also studied.

ABOUT IMRB INTERNATIONAL COMPANY

INTRODUCTION:
IMRB International, the erstwhile Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB), established in 1971, is the oldest & largest market research organisation in India and South Asia. IMRB International is part of the world renowned Kantar Group, the Insight and Consulting Division of the 10 Billion WPP Plc. The other partners in the Kantar world include Research International, Millward Brown, BMRB, etc. In India, IMRB International is owned by HTA Private Limited which also owns the world renowned advertising agency, JWT.

In 2005, IMRB International managed 2,500 projects and 40,00,000 interviews across all its offices in India.

IMRB International promises high quality conceptualization, strategic thinking, execution and interpretation skills on all its clients' research needs. IMRB International is the only research company in India today that offers the entire range of research based services to its clients. IMRB International's specialized areas are consumer markets, industrial marketing, business to business marketing, social marketing and rural marketing.

The company has ability to provide the highest quality of professional services to the utmost satisfaction of our clients which include small medium and large scale industries, government and public sector units, multinational corporations and international companies.

To serve the diverse needs of our clients, the company has five specialist units: Probe Qualitative Research (PQR) Social and Rural Research Institute (SRI) Media & Panel Research Group Customer Satisfaction Management & Measurement (CSMM) Business & Industrial Research Division (BIRD) and the e-Technology Group

IMRB offers the full spectrum of customised research services which besides consumer research, includes trade research, industrial market research, business to business research, trade and tourism research, corporate image research, media research, financial services research, medical marketing research and social research.

In addition, IMRB offers a wide array of syndicated research services in the field of technology, media and market measurement. Infrastructure and Resources

Research staff IMRB has close to 400

professionals on its research staff for handling consumer, industrial and qualitative research. These

include managers, project directors and research executives from

diverse including

academic engineering, social

disciplines statistics, sciences,

psychology,

economics and management. All research staff is extensively trained in conducting market research through in house experts as well as faculty invited from the industry in India and abroad. The induction training programme of IMRB International Lyceum, is well known in the research fraternity for imparting best quality training.

Analysis and Systems staff Analysis of all survey research data is computerised. The in-house data processing cell has the state of art infrastructure (hardware and software) available to them. The department is manned by more than 150 full time computer professionals most of whom have advanced qualifications in computer applications and languages. These personnel are also well versed in the use of wide variety of off8

the shelf data processing packages such as SPSS, Quantum, Brio, MDS, Excel Pivots, CAN, LOTUS, FOXBASE, etc. Whenever necessary, customized analysis software is developed in-house using higher level programming languages such as C++, Visual Basic , Fortran, etc. Field staff Field management operates through a three-tier structure to ensure close control and supervision of fieldwork. Each of the zonal offices has more than 10 field executives who work under the overall supervision of the Zonal Field Manager. The field office maintains panels of interviewers for consumer research and panels of specialist interviewers for interviewing target groups such as business executives, medical practitioners etc. The interviewers are personally briefed and trained by IMRB executives on each project. To collect data for its research projects, the research office draws upon the support from its local as well as 15 field offices spread across the country. The 15 field offices of IMRB International have also empanelled agencies to enhance our presence in over 250 towns of the country. This decentralized field infrastructure with multi-lingual field executive staff enables data collection across the country.

Need and Scope of Project

A thought of understanding the IT Environment & its life cycle. To know the current marketing scenario in todays world. To determine various IT related uses and requirements.

To know the different scenarios and perception for IT products and its beneficiaries.

To find out & analyze the various ways of use of IT products in retail sector. To find out how IT can generate better usefulness to retail outlet. To find out how retailers can make a good buy worth for their business through IT. To see how retailers rate IT and its involvement in their business workforce.

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Project Objectives

To study and check the usefulness of IT products (PC/Laptop) in outlet sector with changing IT technology.

To study the availability and brand consciousness of IT products with changing IT technology and its usage in retail sector.

To figure out retailers needs wants and preferences towards IT durables.

To find out which branded product satisfies retailers in their business use.

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About the Itops Project

The annual MAIT Industry Performance Review ITOPs, conducted by Indias leading market research firm IMRB International is a survey of the IT hardware sectors efforts to manage the business environment, gauge the market potential and consumer trends. This round of the study involved face-to-face interviews with over 15,000 respondents selected randomly across 22 cities in India. The MAIT-IMRB study was initiated in 1996-97 and encompasses five broad product segments computers, networking products, printers used in outlet sector. Apart from the yearly review, a supply-side estimation module is used to monitor industry performance every half-yearly, alternating with the annual review. The MAIT-IMRB study involves data collection after the 'last mile' that the product travels, i.e. from the premise where the product is finally installed. It is therefore an accurate estimate of 'what' was bought, 'by whom', and for 'what purpose'. Since the MAIT-IMRB study is based entirely on data collected from 'users', it is able to accurately estimate the large unorganized market as well as direct imports. It does not suffer from shortcomings of estimates based on shipment or supply which in addition to under or over-counting, may also reflect biases in perception of vendors and resellers.

With five consecutive years of ITOPS data, the study is now able to closely track emerging segments such as retail outlets, small offices, home users, first time buyers, etc. By virtue of tracking the installed base built over the years, and monitoring the

extent of up gradations/ replacements taking place in the market, the study has been able to identify emerging business opportunities that promise to expand the market for IT products in India.

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RETAIL INDUSTRY
What is retailing? The word "Retail" originates from a French-Italian word. Retailer-someone who cuts off or sheds a small piece from something. Retailing is the set of activities that markets products or services to final consumers for their own personal or household use. It does this by organizing their availability on a relatively large scale and supplying them to customers on a relatively small scale. Retailer is a Person or Agent or Agency or Company or Organization who is instrumental in reaching the Goods or Merchandise or Services to the End User or Ultimate Consumer. Indian retail industry is going through a transition phase. Most of the retailing in our country is still in the unorganized sector. The spread out of the retails in US and India shows a wide gap between the two countries. Though retailing in India is undergoing an exponential growth, the road ahead is full of challenges. The Indian retail segment accounts for 22 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and contributes about 8 per cent to the total employment. India continues to be among the most attractive investment propositions for global retailers. India has emerged as the fifth most favourable destination for international retailers, outpacing the UAE, Russia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, according to A T Kearney's Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) 2012. "India remains a high potential market with accelerated retail growth of 15-20 per cent expected over the next five years," highlighted the report.

Retail in Rural India Rural chains in India are focussing on hinterlands in a big way. For many companies, a large portion of their revenues comes from rural sales. The companies thus are aligning their marketing strategies in accordance to the requirements of their customers in rural areas. Turtle, one of India's leading men's lifestyle brands unveiled their limited edition collection of Khadi menswear with the theme "Ecological Weave". This is an initiative which not only hopes

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to revive the khadi industry and the livelihood of its weavers and their families in rural India, but is also poised to revolutionalise menswear fashion.

PRESENT INDIAN SCENARIO * Unorganized market: Rs. 583,000 crores * Organized market: Rs.5, 000 crores * 5X growth in organized retailing between 2000-2005 * Over 4,000 new modern Outlets in the last 3 years * Over 5,000,000 sq. ft. of mall space under development * The top 3 modern retailers control over 750,000 sq. ft. of retail space * Over 400,000 shoppers walk through their doors every week * Growth in organized retailing on par with expectations and projections of the last 5 Years: on course to touch Rs. 35,000 crores (US$ 7 Billion) or more by 2005-06

Major players - Food and grocery - Fashion - Others - Food world - Shoppers' Stop - Vivek's - Subhiksha - Westside - Planet M - Nilgris - Lifestyle - Music World - Adani- Rajiv's - Pyramid - Crossword - Nirma-Radhey - Globus - Life spring

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Top Retail Formats in India

Traditional Format :

. Salesman . Haats . Mandies . Company/Multi Brand store etc Established Formats :

. Kirana stores . Convenience/Departmental Store . Pan/Beedi Shop . Malls/Special Malls . Company/Multi Brand Store Emerging Format :

. Exclusive Retail Outlet . Hypermarket . International Retailer

. Malls/Special Malls . Multiplexes

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Retail Technology and the Evolving Shopper

Technology has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives. From how we listen to music and where we keep our information, to how we watch movies and communicate with our peers, emerging technology is transforming our daily lives in ways that might have been impossible to imagine a few years ago. Except for retail. It seems odd that retail shopping is amazingly similar to the experience our parents knew. Sure, the cash register is now computer driven and the credit card swipe generates an approval in seconds. And much of the back-room technology that drives inventory replenishment is highly automated. Shelf labels may be printed out on computer stickers today, but many retailers still hand write their end cap signs. The physical displays are still the same metal shelves. And even when digital monitors are hung in the store, they are often little more than noisy, flashing versions of the same signs on the shelf. Despite a few improvements, from the shoppers point of view, the shopping process is remarkably unchanged from the 1970s. Not so in the electronic shopping world. Amazingly powerful technology helps you make smarter, more informed decisions and gives you access to the worlds supply of retail options. Consider the Amazon shopping experience: smart software helps you quickly find what you are looking for and gives you a wealth of information about the item. You can see previous purchase reviews, detailed product information even reviews of the shoppers who wrote the reviews! And Amazons ability to identify other items you might like often makes the shopping experience feel magical because it is so easy. Sporting goods retailer Golfsmith has a sophisticated e-commerce site as well, with video reviews from store associates about new golf club designs and links to articles in golfing magazines. They even allow you to read previouspurchasers product reviews based on the reviewers skill level learning how beginner golfers lowered their scores might be more valuable than scratch golfers conversations on subtle changes in grip improvements. Is that same experience available in store? Not really. Sure, a great associate can beat the Amazon experience, but often shoppers want to explore unassisted. Meanwhile, with retail labor turnover approaching a 100% a year, great customer service is often impossible to sustain.

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Need of Information Technology in Retailing

The critical information needs of the retail organization form the basis for critical success factors in the retail business. The following are some of the key information areas; Product information catalog, availability, new releases, promotion, supply and demand etc. Customer information profile, behavior, activities, preferences, distribution etc.

Operations information logistics, allocation, procurement, schedule, inventory, shelf space A number of factors are responsible for the need of information technology in retail out of which four factors are more important than ever before. They are: 1. Intense Competition: Intense competition forces the organization to become more efficient and effective. As the industry matures lack of growth and excess capacity will often result in a share battle between the large companies. For example we are witnessing a market share battle in steel, automobile, chemical and food industry. One way to gain the competitive advantage is to use information technology at least in four ways. It reduces the operating costs through automation. It improves the product or service quality by providing quality assurance Information technologies provide a value added services which creates a differentiation. Information technology can be used for competitive intelligence. 2. Globalization of business operations: In all the businesses whether it is consumer or industrial, high tech or low tech, service or product there is at least some degree of global completion. Global operations require that both the time and distance barrier is to be eliminated or reduced. As the industry become more global in its procurement, manufacturing and marketing operations it requires a greater use of information technology to reduce the time and space barriers.

3. Organizational changes: With the organizational reorganization and increased mergers and acquisitions top management recognizes the need for flexibility through compatible information technology. Some of the aspects that creates the need for information technology are: Cost efficiency through consolidation and automation. Significant number of mergers and acquisitions.

Crises management and security of physical human resources has become a major issue in recent years

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 As the major industries mature and competition intensifies they are reorganizing to become market driven. 4. Technology revolution: In a very short period of time we have seen the commercialization of information technologies. The performance and price ratio of new generation information technology is making them more affordable and useful to the organization (Sheth, 1994). There are three fundamental dimensions of information technology; Sharp experiences in information technologies resulting in an increased value in use. Information technologies have been distributed over time with respect to processing, memory and intelligence.

Information technologies are highly integrated with the advent of end to end digital

technologies, it is possible to transmit, store, process and distribute different forms of information on a single integrated technology.

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How Information Technology Involved In Retailing Operations?

Information technologies can be used by the organization in variety of innovative ways. They have become tools to meet corporate objectives of effectiveness and efficiency. They can be used as shown in the following figure.

Some of the areas are:

* Forecasting: Forecasting is the process of estimation in unknown situations. It's an essential and very important process in any business organization. Business leaders and economists are continually involved in the process of trying to forecast, or predict, the future of business in the economy. Business leaders engage in this process because much of what happens in businesses today depends on what is going to happen in the future. Modern demand-forecasting systems provide new opportunities to improve retail Performance. Although the art of the individual merchant may never be replaced, it can be augmented by an efficient, objective and scientific approach to forecasting demand. Large-scale systems are now capable of handling the mass of retail transaction data organizing it, mining it and projecting it into future customer behavior (Hussain, 2010). This new approach to demand forecasting in retail will contribute to the accuracy of future plans, the satisfaction of future customers and the overall efficiency and profitability of retail operations.
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Inventory Management: Inventory can be either raw materials, finished items already available for sale, or goods in the process of being manufactured. Inventory is recorded as an asset on a company's balance sheet.

To optimize the deployment of inventory, retailers need to manage the uncertainties, constraints, and complexities across their global supply chain on continuous basis. This allows them to improve their inventory forecasting ability and accurately set inventory targets. An IT solution is a proven and market leading solution for determining optimal time-varying inventory targets for every item, at every location throughout supply chain. This allows retailers you to significantly reduce inventory without adversely affecting service levels.

Store Management: Another example where Information technology can be beneficial is a store management system that alerts out-of-place or stock-out items. A store is commonly a shopper stall for the retail sale of commodities, but also a place where wholesale supplies are kept, exhibited, or sold. A place where something is deposited for safekeeping is called store. An in-store system uses magnetic strips or barcodes or RFID to monitor actual versus intended product location on the floor or in the stockroom (Negi, 2008).

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Applications of Information Technology in Retail

The Indian organized retail industry is the fastest growing in the world. To keep pace with the rapid expansion, companies are forced to leverage technology to bring in operational efficiency. With the government of India allowing 100% FDI in retail, major retail companies have started entering the Indian market. The competition is getting tougher by the day and companies are using technology as a differentiator. The following sections highlight the various operational areas of retail industry and how information technology is used for competitive advantage.

IT in Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain may be defined as the series of companies that eventually make products and services available to consumers, including all of the functions enabling the production, delivery, and recycling of materials, components, end products and services. Supply Chain Management may be defined as the systematic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within a particular company and across business within supply chain for the purpose of improving the long term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole. SCM gives a value-enhancing and long-term benefit for the organization. Firms with large inventories, many suppliers, complex product assemblies, and highly valued customers have a lot to gain by good practices in SCM. The cost of inventories was over $2.2 trillion in U.S in 2000. Transportation and inventory carrying cost in U.S totaled $434 billion in 2000 (U.S Central Bureaus Annual Survey of Manufacturers). The best way to leverage the potential of SCM is by the efficient use of IT in this area. The importance of IT in SCM has long been acknowledged but little work has been done in this area. But with growing competition and greater emphasis to keep price as low as possible the companies are looking towards strengthening their supply chain. IT can be used in SCM in various areas such as: Purchasing Management Demand Forecasting
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Performance Evaluation Inventory Management Implementation of JIT ERP Systems

1.

IT in Purchasing Management

Electronic data interchange was developed in 1970 to improve the purchasing process. The rapid advent of internet technology in the 1990s spurred the growth of non-proprietary and more flexible internet based e-Procurement systems. Earlier critics argued that e-Commerce have been over inflated and it results in larger expenses than its savings. Today though many well managed e-commerce firms are beginning to thrive as users realize the benefits of their services. The material user initiates the e-procurement process by entering a material request and other relevant information. This is then submitted to the purchasing department. After verification of this the buyer transfers this data to the e-procurement system and assigns qualified suppliers to bid for it. Suppliers connected to this system receive the bid instantaneously. The purchasing department maintains a list of preferred suppliers for each category of material. Thus the buyer is able to submit the bid request to numerous suppliers within seconds. The traditional manual purchasing system is a tedious and labor intensive task. The new e-procurement system is a time saving system. It also results in a lot of cost saving as manual tasks are reduced. This system is much more accurate than the manual system. It allows mobility to the system. Audit trails can be maintained for all transactions in electronic form thus increasing the tractability. This system results in overall better management. This also results in various benefits for buyers.

2.

IT in Forecasting Demand

Forecasting provides an estimate of future demand and the basis for planning and sound business decisions. The goal of a good forecasting technique is to minimize the gap between actual and forecast demand. All the factors that influence demand, the impact of these factors and there time frame must be considered in developing an accurate forecast. Also buyers and sellers should
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share all the relevant information about the forecasting so that a correct decision can be made. Various forecasting techniques are as follows: Jury of executive method Delphi method Sales force opinion Consumer survey Simple average forecasting Moving average Weighted moving average Exponential smoothening Regression analysis

Some of the forecasting software used are: Forecast Pro Software: It is used by over 15,000 companies in 84 countries. The

software is easy to use and has a built in expert selection system that analyzes the data, selects the appropriate technique for forecasting, builds the model and calculates the forecast. Smart Software: This software is used by companies such as HP, Mead Corporations

etc. This is designed to run on Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP.

3.

IT in Performance Measurement

It is said that You cant improve what you cant measure. Performance measurement is the use of statistical evidence to determine progress toward specific defined organizational objectives. The daunting task of measuring performance for organizations across industries and eras, declaring the top performers, and finding the common drivers of their success did not occur to anyone until around 1982, when Tom Peters and Bob Waterman got down to work researching and writing In Search of Excellence. This publishing sensation challenged industrial managers actions and attitudes, and inspired researchers and scholars to further pursue the theory of high
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performance. This task becomes more complex as corporations diversify into multiple industries. A researcher must take this into consideration when conducting a comparative analysis of companies. Performance Measurement Guidelines in SCM:

Total SCM cost Supply Chain production flexibility Supply chain delivery performance Supply chain e-business performance Supply chain perfect order fulfillment

The evaluation of performance of the suppliers, material etc. requires a lot of data and continuous evaluation is required. Due to large volume of information available it has become almost impossible to do this evaluation process manually and thus the role of IT in this area has been increasing. One of the most recognized methods for integrating supply chain and measuring their members performance is the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR). This model is used as a supply chain management diagnosis, benchmarking and process improvement tool by manufacturing and service firms in a variety of industries across the globe. This follows weighted approach to the areas that need more competencies. 4. IT in Inventory Management

In traditional supply chain inventory management, orders are the only information firms exchange, but information technology now allows firms to share demand and inventory data quickly and inexpensively. The inventory management directly influence how effectively the organization deploys its assets and capacity in producing its goods and services. The problem of inventory is compounded in an integrated supply chain, where a missed due date or stock out cascades downstream, affecting the entire supply chain. In this area IT is used in The Chase Production System in which the capacity is adjusted in the demand pattern. It is also used in Master Production Scheduling, listing the exact end items to be produced in a specific period. IT is also used in Material Requirement Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning.

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Case in Focus International Truck and Engine Corporation is a fortune 500 manufacturer of make-to-order trucks and buses. It has a huge network of dealers in more than 50 countries. The company has annual sales of about $6.7 billion in 2001 and sold about half a million trucks in 2001. Its main feature is the make-to-order trucks according to customer specifications. This helps in reducing the inventory and provides a opportunity to charge a price premium for its trucks. But to manage this information is a complex task. It required a system that could handle more than 173,000 models and feature combination. The new system needed to handle all aspects of product change effectively and efficiently, including the ability to interface and communicate with existing systems. The company opted for TrigentConfigration Solution as is manufacturer. This system had information imbedded in it. This information was used to process truck orders. Dealers and company is also connected. The results were an increase in the revenue by 150% and increase in profits by 120%. Also the BOM records were reduced from 7.2 million to 250,000. The system enabled International to differentiate its products and compete effectively in a market plagued by an oversupply of used trucks.

5.

IT in Just In Time

Just-in-time (JIT) is an inventory strategy implemented to improve the return on investment of a business by reducing in-process inventory and its associated carrying costs. When implemented correctly, JIT can lead to dramatic improvements in a manufacturing organization's return on investment, quality, and efficiency. Implementing lean/JIT practices significantly reduces lead time. Lean/JIT practices mediate the influence of IT integration on lead-time performance. Process improvements that result from lean/JIT practices are important contributors to the success of IT integration. Even companies that have experienced success in reducing lead time through lean/JIT practices may benefit from IT integration practices such as those embodied in enterprise resource planning systems. Two general approaches have been taken to reduce lead times in manufacturing: information technology (IT) integration within and between firms in the supply chain and process improvements that, as a group, are often referred to as lean/just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing practices. IT integration refers to information systems that electronically transmit information within firms and between firms. Although these IT integration and lean/JIT initiatives are complementary in concept, in practice they are often considered to be competing.
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The sense of competition stems from two major sources. First, the source of organizational expertise required is quite different for each approach, IT professionals in the case of IT integration versus manufacturing management and manufacturing engineering for the lean/JIT approach. Second, the financial resources and top management attention required by each of these approaches often obviate initiating both IT integration and lean/JIT in a large scale at the same time.

Case in Focus The example is about one of the most well-known companies of the world, Dell Computer Corporation. Product goes in and out of Dell so fast that there is barely any time to see whether it is in the warehouse or manufacturing. Dell refers to this as a combination of just in time process and e-commerce and the main reason for its success. Dell started in 1984 as a build-to-order organization based on telephone call orders and the inventory was always low but never close to todays levels. Material arrives at Dell two hours prior to assembly. The internet can be used to compress time and thats what Dell has changed itself into. With the use of internet they can get a better pulse on their customers needs at any given time and also feed the data to the suppliers. The suppliers have also been brought close to each other by the use of internet and help in the implementation of JIT.

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Some of the Information technology tools that retailers are using are:
1. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is one of such technologies which can dramatically increase the organizations capability to acquire data about entities properties and location. RFID technology can provide much useful information about products: Product identification number, price and cost, manufacturing date, location, inventory on hand and so on. RFID technology can increase speed, accuracy and visibility of operational information exchange which in turn leads to shorter cycle times, lower labour costs and improved customer service . Radio frequency identification technology is a technology that uses radio frequency waves to transfer data between a reader and a movable item for the purpose of identifying , categorizing tracking and monitoring products. A typical RFID system is comprised of tags, readers and software. Tags are the key component and are placed on the entity which is identified as data carrier; readers can read/write data on tags and transmit the data between readers and tags; and software integrates an RFID system which usually includes a front end which manages the readers and tags and a middleware which routes this information to servers in order to run the back end database applications.

There are three main benefits from RFID application in retail supply chain. First, identifying and tracking product information from RFID system can enable firms to integrate inventory timeliness; for example a study reports that RFID can make a savings of 16% in out of stock. Secondly RFID technology can greatly reduce or avoid shrinkage, which is the financial losses attributable to a combination of employee theft, shoplifting administrative error and vendor fraud. Thirdly RFID technology can help companies improve supply chain planning in three ways: enhanced information visibility, increased information accuracy and privacy and security issues. The three major concerns are first its relative high cost. Second the lack of globally accepted standards and third complexity of RFID implementation.

2. Point of Sale technology: This can be defined as a computerized system used to capture time and place of sale. It provides up to date information on sales of different brands, size, colour, styles, prices, etc. Under point of sale technologies, specialized terminals or desktops are combined with bar coding readers, magnetic stripe readers and cash registers for accurately and
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instantly capturing the sale transaction. Retailers investing in these systems can benefit by reducing their inventory investment by 15 to 30 %.

3. Electronic data Interchange: EDI is the exchange of business information through standard interfaces, by the use of computers. In simplers terms, EDI is defined as the exchange of electronic documents between organizations. It allows retailers to place instantaneous, paperless purchase orders with suppliers. EDI is not only efficient but also reduces the time needed to supply products to customers, by ensuring quick and accurate transactions. By using this technique human intervention can be minimized and employees can focus on key business areas.

4. Barcode and Scanners: Bar code readers are photoelectric scanners that read the bar codes or vertical zebra striped marks, printed on product containers. Barcode scanner reads the bar codes quickly, speed up the checkout and makes the pleasant cashier to transfer the positive energy to customers. Retailers now a days are increasingly using bar code system called the Universal Product code (UPC).

5. Business to Business (B2B) collaboration: B2B is pre-agreed technological information sharing mechanism and co-planning process. Business to business collaboration is electronic marketplaces on the internet where supplier and buyers interact to conduct transactions. B2B solutions are usually implemented through packages (SOA, C-ME and customized solution). UccNet is an emerging B2B data communication standard for the retail industry with a significant potential impact.

6. The Database Management, Data Warehousing and Data Mining: A single transaction at a retail outlet releases a handful of information. The use of systems to organize, retrieve, search and manage that data is referred as database management. A data warehouse is a collection of computer based information that is crucial to the successful execution of enterprise initiatives. The concept of data warehouse implies that the data stored for business analytics can most effectively be assessed by separating it from the data in the operational systems. A data warehouse is used for upgrading a retailer with important information regarding sales like colour,

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size, and quantity of product. Data mining helps the retailers in extracting information from database about the existence of which the user was not aware. It discovers a relationship between customer behavior and variables that seems to be non intuitive.

7. Cloud computing: Cloud computing is an IT delivery paradigm where compute capacity is made available to users in an on demand fashion through a shared physical infrastructure. The expectation is that sharing hardware, software, network resources and management personnel would reduce per unit compute cost for enterprises. 8. Collaborative, Planning, forecasting and Replenishment: Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) is a concept that aims to enhance supply chain integration by supporting and assisting joint practices. CPFR seeks cooperative management of inventory through joint visibility and replenishment of products throughout the supply chain. Information shared between suppliers and retailers aids in planning and satisfying customer demands through a supportive system of shared information. This allows for continuous updating of inventory and upcoming requirements, making the end-to-end supply chain process more efficient. Efficiency is created through the decrease expenditures for merchandising, inventory, logistics, and transportation across all trading partners.

9. Electronic Cash Register: The Electronic Cash Register (ECR) keeps track of sales transactions quickly and effectively. An abundance of PLUs (Price Look Ups) and department keys accommodate a variety of merchandise items. This means a faster, more accurate check out process and the ability to manage a wider variety of goods and services more efficiently. And with features like fast, attractive receipt print outs and an easy-to-view LCD operator display, the ECR makes managing the business a pleasure.

10. Loyalty Membership cards: Creative personalized customer loyalty cards enable retailers, casinos and many others to provide customer loyalty reward points, discounts and perks. Customer loyalty card programs also create opportunities to track customer data and use it to build strong, lasting relationships.

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11. Two Way Radios like the Kenwood TK3201: Members of staff communicate over a wide area, check stock levels and stay in touch across the entire site. Not only does 2 Way Radio allow members of staff to communicate over a wide area but they can be used as a health and safety tool so workers can report accidents, check stock levels and stay in touch across the entire site from the shop floor to the distribution area. Imagine a customer asking a member of staff if a particular item was in stock. Gone can be the days of the staff member disappearing from what seems like ever to find out. Instead a simple call using the Two Way Radio to someone in charge of the stock levels and the customer is told in seconds if the item is available. Modern Two Way Radios like the Kenwood TK3201 and Motorola XTN446 Radio are a perfect way for modern retailers to differentiate themselves from their competitors whilst making all our shopping experiences better.

12. Quick Response codes (QR): The Quick Response codes are the bar codes on the products which could be downloaded by the customer from the internet or could be picked up from the previously bought products on the smart phones or tablets. A list of all items to be purchased can then be mailed to the retail outlet. The retail outlet can pack your material and either deliver the same at your residence at a price or keep it at the outlet and the customer could pick it up based on his convenience. 13. Customer Relationship management, Online Analytical Processing Collaborative planning forecasting and replenishment: The emphasis of retailers are now in utilizing IT solutions like CRM, OLAP, CPFR tools to carry out the behavioral analysis to stay in the competitive market. Retail ERP packages have been implemented by large retailers but today they are experiencing difficulty in utilizing it fully, one of the key reasons could be the lack of adequate training. But it is expected that the demand and utilization of these packages will grow in the near future. It is estimated that about 400 to 500 mega bytes of data are transmitted daily between point-of sales counters and corporate headquarters of retail chains in developed countries. Relay of transaction data in such volumes helps to maintain a close working relationship between retailers and vendors to predict consumer demand, shorten lead times, reduce inventory holding and thereby
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save cost. Retailing database also helps in tracking purchase behavior through demographic and psychographic information. This clearly is an indication of technology serving as an effective means to build the retail business and not just restricted to supporting and improving the operational efficiency.

14. ERP like Retail Pro, higher-end solutions like JDA, SAP IS Retail or Retek: Facilitate complete integration of all the operations of the retail business and are a must in a scenario where retailers have thousands of products, hundreds of suppliers, multiple locations, etc.

15. Customer Service Kiosks and Intelligent Vending Machines: Latest information about products, their availability, price verification can be done at the customer service kiosks. If the product is not currently available a process, whereby the missing goods are ordered and directly shipped to the customer can be initiated. A Get help button, can be used where by a customer can click on this button and the store manager on the floor can walk down to the customer to resolve his query or could inform the customer how much time he would take to come down to the kiosk.

16. Voice ready Multi-Modal Wearable Computer Operatives can work completely hands and eyes free by receiving picking commands from the WMS via a plug-in headset. Popular application software and devices are available today that give a store associate access to store inventory, point of sale, voice communication, instant messaging, and even external data such as inventory at other stores in the region. Voice communication can be broadcast, where all employees hear the same thing, or unicast where a conversation happens between two employees. Group communication, or multicast, is also available which can be used to let groups of managers communicate only amongst each other.

17. Mobile payment: Order through M-commerce or telephone and pay through mobile. This is a very convenient way of making payment. The customer can order the material through his smart phones using the Quick response codes. Ask the retailer to deliver the goods at his residence and make payment through mobile saving huge amount of time.

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18. Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) Master Data across all business partners remains the same. If any business partner makes a change in the master data especially product master, a simultaneous change will be initiated in the database of all the other parties interested that is the suppliers, company and the customers. And therefore all the parties in the value chain maintain the same master data avoiding confusion and errors.

19. Video Conferencing: Video conferencing solutions within and between retail branch locations can facilitate inventory checks, remote support, remote team meetings, last minute specials, new incentive programs, faster access to sales reports, employee information and remote expertise

20. Mobile point of sale: Fully mobile point-of-sale stations can be set up using handheld computers, scanners, and printers with integrated credit card readers. This would be a great help in reducing the queue at the retail outlets especially during peak hours. The store personnel could use mobile point of sale equipments and complete the customer transaction at a great speed avoiding dissatisfaction. 21. E-Commerce and F-Commerce: Use of electronic communication like e-marketing could well be a cost-effective form of attracting and retaining customers. With internet penetration and awareness on the rise in the country, e-marketing does prove to be a good communication tool. Use of technology could further be extended to home shopping, direct mails and telemarketing. It can also facilitate growth in newer applications like kiosks, intelligent vending machines, PC net shops, etc. F-commerce is face book commerce. Retailers are sending posts to the respective face book accounts based on the interest level of the customer thereby individualize the information sent.

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Contribution of Indias IT industry to Economic progress

The contribution of India's IT industry to economic progress has been quite significant. The rapidly expanding socio-economic infrastructure has proved to be of great use in supporting the growth of Indian information technology industry. The flourishing Indian economy has helped the IT sector to maintain its competitiveness in the global market. The IT and IT enabled services industry in India has recorded a growth rate of 22.4% in the last fiscal year. The total revenue from this sector was valued at 2.46 trillion Indian rupees in the fiscal year 2007. Out of this figure, the domestic IT market in India accounted for 900 billion rupees. So, the IT sector in India has played a major role in drawing foreign funds into the domestic market. The growth and prosperity of India's IT industry depends on some crucial factors. These factors are as follows: India is home to a large number of IT professionals, who have the necessary skill and expertise to meet the demands and expectations of the global IT industry. The cost of skilled Indian workforce is reasonably low compared to the developed nations. This makes the Indian IT services highly cost efficient and this is also the reason as to why the IT enabled services like business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing have expanded significantly in the Indian job market. India has a huge pool of English-speaking IT professionals. This is why the English-speaking countries like the US and the UK depend on the Indian IT industry for outsourcing their business processes.

The emergence of Indian information technology sector has brought about sea changes in the Indian job market. The IT sector of India offers a host of opportunities of employment. With IT biggies like Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture and several other IT firms operating in some of the major Indian cities, there is no dearth of job opportunities for the Indian software professionals. The IT enabled sector of India absorbs a large number of
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graduates from general stream in the BPO and KPO firms. All these have solved the unemployment problem of India to a great extent. The average purchasing power of the common people of India has improved substantially. The consumption spending has recorded an all-time high. The aggregate demand has increased as a result. All these have improved the gross production of goods and services been instrumental in facilitating the economic progress of India.

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Advantages of conventional and modern organized retail formats

Conventional large bargaining power overheads proximity to consumers long operation-hours strong relations with customers convenience and hygiene.

Modern organized Low operating cost and overheads Range and variety of goods long operating-hours assurance (brand related durability)

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Literature Review

a) Topic-ORGANIZED RETAILING IN INDIA CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES LearningsIndian Retail Industry is ranked among the ten largest retail markets in the world. The attitudinal shift of the Indian consumer and the emergence of organized retail formats have transformed the face of Retailing in India. With the sign of reemergence of economic growth in India, consumer buying in retail sector is being projected as a key opportunity area. As a consequence, Indian corporate houses are refocusing its strategic perspective in retail marketing with the idea to use resources optimally in order to create core competence and gain competitive advantage. The paper theme is to analyse finer strategic perspective for the retail sector in India and suggest measures so that the corporate strategists could incorporate the same both qualitatively and quantitatively. Based upon the qualitative judgment, a retail unit may be given an overall understanding about the expected performance that can further be corroborated by quantitative analysis. Retail trade has emerged as one of the largest industry contributing to employment generation, revenue generation, increased turn over and many more. Organized retailing is showing signs of enormous creativity. It. has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. As a matter of fact retailing in India is gradually edge its way towards becoming the next boom industry. This paper provides detailed information about the growth of retailing industry in India. It examines the growing awareness and brand consciousness among people across different socio-economic classes in India and how the urban and semi-urban retail markets are witnessing significant growth . The paper includes growth of retail sector in India, strategies, strength and opportunities of retail stores, retail format in India, recent trends, and opportunities and challenges. This paper concludes with the likely impact of the entry of global players into the Indian retailing industry. It also highlights the challenges faced by the industry in near future

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b) Topic- CUSTOMERS OPINION ON SMALL SCALE RETAIL STORES Date and volume- May 2013 Learnings- The Indian retail sector is dominated by small scale retailers. The organized sector occupies only 5 percent share in the total retail sector. The presence of millions of small scale retailers in different product categories makes one realize that a large number of people depend upon this activity. In the light of severe competition from the fast growingand more challenging big retailers in the fast changing scenario, the survival and growth of small scale retailers depends upon their ability to provide customer satisfaction. Customer loyalty and support are the pillars of success for these retailers. The present study aims to examine the opinion of customers on small scale establishments. The customers opinion on facilities, ambience factors, communication, sales promotion techniques, and service performance of small-scale retailers are ascertained and analyzed in this paper. The findings of the study indicate the fact that small scale retailers are the key players in the Indian retail sector and continue to offer services to the satisfaction of customers. The boom in organized retailing did not affect the consumer opinion and perceptions against small scale retailers. The small scale retailer is the preferred choice of customers in all the product categories. The customers expressed their satisfaction on these retailers services. The findings of the study do not lead to the conclusion that the small scale retailers can ignore the competition from big retailers. On the other hand, it cautions the threat and makes them realize the opportunities to build loyal customer base by continuously improving their marketing offers and interactions. The small scale retailers will have bright future in India provided they upgrade the quality of services continuously.

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c) Topic- ORGANIZED RETAIL SECTOR: FUTURE, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA

Date and volume- Volume 4 Issue 1 January 2013 LearningsRetailing provides a crucial link between producers and consumers in modern market economy. Retail in India is most dynamic industry and represents a huge opportunity both for domestic and international retailers. Modern retailing is not threat to independent Mom and Pop stores as most of the consumers said that they never stopped visiting Kirana stores. They strongly agreed on coexistence of both is requirement of the day. Their frequency of going to kirana stores is reduced but its kind of opportunities for reorienting Mom and Pop stores for attracting more customers. So, organized retailing is beneficial for India because its not alarming to create conflict with unorganized stores but reshaping unorganized stores into budding/nascent organised stores. Modern retailing has miles to go in India. The growth of modern formats has been much slower in India as compared to other countries and the development of this sector is restricted by the presence of regulatory and structural constraints.

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d) Topic - Technology Advances in Retail: Improving Margins using Wireless Networks LearningsThe retail industry is one that lives and dies on margins, with managers on a never-ending quest to increase revenue and decrease costs. Technology has been an area of intense focus in retail industries as a way to accomplish both goals. Improvements have been made in areas such as supply chain management, inventory management, customer experience, and loss prevention. Wireless technology, permitting communication between people and devices anywhere and without cables, has enabled the dramatic transformation of business processes in the past, and continues to do so. However, wireless deployments in the past have been limited by security requirements, the cost of deployment, inadequate management solutions, lack of standards, and availability of innovative solutions. Rapid advances in wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in recent years along with widespread adoption of the technology in the consumer and enterprise space have eliminated many of these roadblocks. Today, a new wave of opportunity exists for retail industries to improve margins through the use of wireless technology. This white paper discusses the applications for this technology, the security requirements in retail environment, and considerations when selecting the right architecture for mobile network deployments. There is no magic technology that by itself can boost margins, fix operating problems, and guarantee customer loyalty. Only people can do these things, along with a well-executed operational plan but technology can help. Successful companies today must build technology into their businesses. Wireless technology has a number of innovative uses in retail, as described in this paper, that can improve operational processes, improve the customer buying experience, give better visibility for management into store operations, and ultimately improve the bottom line.

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e) Topic -RETAIL TECHNOLOGY AND THE EVOLVING SHOPPER

LearningsNew, powerful shopping technology will transform the retail landscape. And it will happen fast. The convergence of low power usage screens, high battery capacity, 4G mobile speeds, touchscreen/intuitive interfaces and behavior analytics are conspiring to generate unprecedented, transformative power for shoppers. And with increasingly lower-cost electronics combined with increasingly tech-savvy shoppers, adoption rates at scale in retail are inevitable. Brands will try to harness this to connect directly with shoppers. Retailers will try to ensure retail loyalty and increase conversion. While both are valid strategies, both will be essentially misguided. Shoppers will use high tech where it helps them become smarter, faster, and more informed. If brands and retailers focus on serving shopper needs with new technologies, they will win. Shoppers will also win, and winning with shoppers means driving sales.

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Outcome of the Study from Customer Survey

The survey was conducted by me in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Western suburb side. Since it was a new project and exploratory study for me so no hypothesis was formulated. But the summary of this project gives brief idea about the survey done in various areas of Mumbai, navi Mumbai and western suburb side. The survey states the following categories of questionnaire in 2 ways i.e. PC section (outlets having IT product) and NON PC section (outlets not having IT products). Further in pc section it states about the IT products available in retail establishment in various ways in questionnaire such as i.e. qualifying section, peripheral section, operating section, networking products and amount of investment on IT in that establishment.

IT Products

No 20%

Yes 80%

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1. In qualifying section there are various questions, regarding the particular establishment i.e. primary role of the particular respondent in particular establishment. i.e. formulation of It plans, evaluating IT requirement, developing technical specification, approving IT purchase and final purchase authority. So in this 50% of respondent had option as evaluating the IT requirement, 25 percent of respondent had option i.e. formulation of IT plans, sometimes 20 percent of people respondents approves IT purchases and rest all are stuck between 5% to 25% in final purchase authority and formulation of IT plans

Role of respondent to IT product

formulation of IT plans 5% 25% 20% Evaluating the IT plans

Approving the IT purchase and final purchase authority

Final purchase authority 50%

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2. In another question which states about nature of work that is mainly carried out in that premise particularly. I.e. shop, restaurant, dealer, shop and warehouse etc. so most of the survey we had in hotels and shops i.e. shoes shop, medical, clothes shop, specks etc.

Major Activity
Outlets 7%

14%

Service

Manufacturing 57% 22% Other

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3.

Another question which states the total number of employees in the outlet establishment

i.e. 1, 2-5, 6-10, 11-25, 26-50. So retailers can be as large and medium size retailers. So depending upon this most of the retailers have an employee size of 6-10 in automobile spare parts shop and in hotel it was 11-25 employees working as staffs and waiters and one manager. Some times in kiranaawala shop there might me a range of 2-5 employee data. So we can say almost 75 percent of retail sectors have an employee size of 6-10 and 20 percent belong to 2-5 employee size.

Employees percentage in retail outlet

1 3% 18% 2-5 employees 6%

6-10 employees 12% 11-25 employees

61%

26-50 employees

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4.

The study also states the following products installed/used in the particular establishment.

I.e. desktop computer, thin client- workstation, netbook/mini laptop, notebook/laptops, all-inone desktop, tablet computer, servers. So it was observed that retail sector are still using old technology desktop computer in retail outlets. 75 percent of outlet sector are using desktop computer and 20 percent of outlets are using laptops in their establishment and 5 to 10 percent are using netbook/mini laptops. But still the technology of thin client workstation and tablet pc and all in one desktop is not seen in retail outlets which would be still a upcoming technology which would be seen slowly in future.

Products Percentage

Dekstop 10%

20%

Laptop

Netbook/mini Laptop 70%

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5.

The study also stated the printers installed/used in the particular establishment. i.e.

DMP(dot matrix printer), multi-functional inkjet printer-(MFD IJP), single-functional laser jet printer (MFD LJP), multi-functional laser jet printer (MFD LJP), single function laser jet, line printer , scanner, UPS. So it was observed that 60 percent of retail outlets use single function laser jet which was mostly observed in larger number as the single function laser jet are used for printing bills purpose, brochures etc. and multi-functional laser jet was found to be around 20% in retail outlets. Dot matrix and line printer is mostly seen in banking sector and printing bills.

Printer installed in establishments

Dot matrix printer 2% 6% 2% multifunctional laserjet single funtion laser jet

23%

Line printer

67%

Ups

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6.

The study also illustrated the brands of desktop and laptop computer installed in the

establishment and its totals installed in particular establishment. i.e. Acer, Asus, dell, HCL, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, ThinkPad, Wipro, zenith, assembled products and their brands.so it was observed 50 percent of retail outlets used assembled computer, 8% used Samsung and 17 % used Hewlett Packard and 25% used other IT brand products.

Brands of computer

8% 25% 17%

Samsung

Hewlett Packard

Assembled

Others 50%

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7. Next questions say about the various business activities that an establishment uses the IT products. I.e. Finance and Accounting department, marketing and sales, human resource and administration, technical operation, logistics procurement. And all these activities is break up in percentage which all together total should add up to 100%. So 60% of retail outlets perform finance and accounting department,25% perform marketing and sales work, 10% perform human resource and administration and 5% perform logistics and procurement.

Business activities in retail sector

5% 10% Finance and Accounting Department

Marketing and Sales

25% 60%

Human Resource and Administration

Logistics and Procurement

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8. Next questions show the latest processors used in the computers and laptops used in the current establishments. It was found 60% used Pentium 4, 20% used core 2 duo, 10 percent used core i3, 3% AMD Athlon, 2% atom etc.

Processor installed
Pentium IV 0% 3% 3% 10% 2% Core2Quad Core i3 20% 60% Core i7 AMD Athlon 2% Core i5 Atom Core2Duo

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9. The next questions states the respective brands of printers installed in the retail outlets. It was observed that that 6o% retail outlets use Epson printers, 15% use canon printers in their outlets because their cartridges are less costly and easy to installed.

Brands of printer
Canon 0% 5% 5% 10% Epson

HP (Hewlett Packard) 20% Samsung

Panosonic

Dont know 60%

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10. The next question suggest about the various sources you will use to gather more information on IT. i.e. newspaper, magazines, websites, advertisements, friends , others. So it was observed retailers mostly preferred newspaper and friends as a source of information about IT products.

Source of Information
Newspapers 4% Magazines 25% 33% Websites

Advertisements

Friends 13% 17% 8% Other

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11. Next question tells about kind of customers you have for your retail outlet. Target consumer for these retailers belong to the same city (area) where the enterprise is situated. Only few retailers have their customers abroad.

Customers for the establishment

From Same city 6% 13% From Same State

Other 19% 62% All over India

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12. Next question suggest about rating IT for retail business activity. For retailers, IT products provide Security as well as work proceeds are also accomplished in efficient manner.

IT to Business

9% Security

19% 43%

Efficiency in work

Network Enhancement

Other 29%

Learning from the project

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Many retailers often manage most of their operation on It technology. . Desktop Pc- an IT product is popular and preferred more among others. For Retailers, IT products are bought with an intention of Final purchase only. Most IT products are assembled rather than associated with one single company. Still the small percentage of retail sectors is unaware about the IT products and its usefulness. Sales and marketing are prime one. Provided support from other activities. The office staff ranges till min 15 in nos. However certain shops showed high in nos. Owner has main access to the IT products. Elsewhere, situation changes in lower nos. Newspapers and acquaintances are more trusted to obtain any information on IT by the retailers. Major part of the retailers was Outlet Owners. Target consumer for these retailers belongs to the same city (area) where the enterprise is situated. IT products provide Security as well as work proceeds are also accomplished in efficient manner.

Conclusion

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The introduction of information technology in the retail sector has not only helped the industries flourish at a fascinating rate but has also helped people reach the global market easily and has established the name of Indian Markets in the international market. With coming up of online retail stores like Flip kart, EBay, Home Shop 18, Snap deal India has shown that India is in no way behind other countries in any aspect. Recently we saw the rise of Indian companies in the field of Information Technology who have invented new technologies that are helping the retail sector. WIPRO along with other companies has setup many Point of Sales across the country. Retail industry is now greatly influenced by technological advancements. Recent studies have shown that retailers are more interested in investing in the online sector as it is very fruitful in the long run, cost effective and reach to a large number of customers at a time. Information technology may capture the whole market but that doesnt mean that the physical markets will vanish or deteriorate. They have existed since many years and will continue to exist. It can be said that Retail Industry has been blessed with IT in its business activities generating High returns, wider market reach, consumer preferences and likewise. Though IT has on steady verge of being used in Retail industry, it still ranks itself on limited approach style. It is seen that, Retailers (small-scale) are not too keen on use of IT thereby reducing scope of development through IT for their business activities. But yes, those retailers who quickly grabbed the opportunity of IT and its use in their business have shown steady rise both in profit margin and market leading in terms of popularity, quality, and service in the minds of the consumers.

Bibliography/ References

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Media Reports, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Market Research, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). http://retailindustry.about.com/

IT innovations in Indian Retail - www.expresscomputeronline.com

RFID Technology - www.microsoft.com/industry/retail/businessvalue/rfidoverview.mspx

http:// www.imrbint.com

www.interbrand.com/.../BestRetailBrands/2013/articlesinterviews/articlesi

www.indiaretailing.com

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