CHAPTER-II: OVERVIEW OF

THE STUDY
 1. PROFILE OF KAMRUP (METRO) (METRO)
The study is undertaken in Kamrup (Metro) (metro) district
in the state of Assam, which is situated in the North-Eastern region of
India.

The locality of the study is Guwahati city of Kamrup (Metro) (metropolitan) district of
Assam. The state comprises of 35 districts, out of which Kamrup (Metro) metro district is
purposively selected for the study. Guwahati city is taken up for the study because it is one of
the most rapidly growing cities in Assam with an area of 216.19 square kilometre and sis situated
55 meter above sea level. Guwahati is the most thickly populated city of Assam situated on the
bank of Brahmaputra. It is also known as the gate way to the north-east f India. Dispur, the
capital of Assam is located here and the city is principle centre of social, cultural, political, trade
and commerce of the entire region. Guwahati is the largest city of Assam in terms of population
and municipal area. The city has tremendous commercial importance. It is connected by rail road
and air transport to Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, west Bengal,
Guwahati has emerged as popular tourist destination, Kamakhya temple, Umananda, Lachit
that\, Barista Ashram, Dolgubindra, Gandhi Mandap, State Zoo, Madan Kamadeva temple are
some magnificent archaeological places of interest. Sualkuchi is famous for silk industry with
verities like era Muga (found only in Assam) tsar and pat.
Historicity of the district is quite significant from time immemorial. The Amingaon
area, wherein the present district head quarter stands, was battlefield wherein the Ahom
soldiers resisted, Mughal invasion several times. The Ahom’s under Lachit Borphukan won
Guwahati back from Mughal in september-october 1671.

2. STATUS OF RETAILING IN INDIA:

Indian retail industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast
paced industries due to the entry of several new players. It accounts for over 10% of the
country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and around eight% of the employment. India is
the world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail space. India ranked 73 in the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
E-commerce Index 2019. India is the world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail
space and ranked 63 in World Bank’s Doing Business 2020.
Indian retail market is a highly potential market in the world. Population wise our country is
in second position. After liberalisation i e after 1991, many new companies have entered in
Indian market with their new range of products. Various organised forms of retailers have
entered in Indian market. For example, wall- Mart. Renowned foreign retail chains have
entered in India with a joint venture agreement with Bharati and it is known as Bharati-Wall
Mart. At present they are operating in all major cities of India. Beside these departmental
shops, speciality stores, convenience stores have also come up in all cities and towns. Indian
retail market is spread over 5,000 cities and 6,00,000 villages. Table -2.1Rural & Urban
population Graph of India

3. PROBLEM FACED BY THE RETAILERS:

The Kamrup (Metro) Retail Industry is still developing and needs a lot of
improvement to become a flourishing Industry. There are so many challenges faced
by Kamrup (Metro) Retail Industry like unorganized display, parking problem, credit
card issues, few promotional activities, long billing queues, less number of trial
rooms, Competition, less skilled human resource, government policies, tax structure,
unorganized retail sector etc.

1. Lack of Technology Adoption: The availability, feasibility and adoption of

technology is the major challenge faced by the Indian retail outlets. Technology is
being used for the day to day functioning the retail out lets like billing and payments,
prevention of shrinkage, keeping record of stock, supply chain management. But the
scope of technology is wider. Other software’s can be used like RFID for
understanding customer preference, CRM for customer relationship management and
ERP tools for other activities of the outlets.

2. Escalating land and rental prices: Huge growth of retail industry has created a huge
demand for the real estate. This is leading to increase in property prices. Starting a
new store needs huge investment in purchasing a land. This huge investment is also a
challenge for the retail outlets. Rental prices are also increasing, leading to increase in
the overall costing.
 3.Cultural Diversity: India's huge size and socio economic and cultural diversity
means there is no established mode or consumption pattern throughout the country.
The manufacturers and retailers will have to devise strategies for different sectors and
segments which by itself would be challenging.

4. Price War: There is price war between different retail organizations. Every
organization is trying to provide goods at low cost and offers various lucrative
promotional schemes. In such situation, it is difficult to attain customer loyalty and
companies keep marginal profit to provide the goods at competitive prices.

5. Inefficient Supply Chain Management: Delivering the right goods at right time at
right place is very important. In Kamrup (Metro), there is lack of efficient Supply
Chain Management. In India supply chain management should be improved and more
technology need to be used to make the supply chain management effective and
reduce the inventory cost.

4. Significance of retailers:
 Provide Assortments- Supermarkets or small Kirana shops sell different product
items manufactured by different companies. These places enable and give
choices to customers to pick from a vast assortment of goods, sizes, brands, and
prices at one location.
 Breaking Bulk Orders- Manufacturers and wholesalers sell the products in bulk to
the retailers. The retailers then sell it to the customers in smaller and more useful
quantities. This activity of breaking bulk order into tiny amount according to
customer’s requirement is known as breaking bulk.

 Holding Inventory- The significant action accomplished by the retailer is maintaining

an inventory, so the items are available whenever the customers want. This action
allows the customer to buy products in a small quantity as required.

 Providing Services- Retailers implement services that make customers shopping

journey favourable. Example, retailers showcase all the products so that the
customers can see and buy them. Retail store’s employee salesperson to assist the
customers.
5. Present Scenario of Unorganised Retail in India:
Sl. No. Name Share of unorganised retailer
1 US 13%
2 UK 17%
3 France 16%
4 Japan 29%
5 China 74%
6 India 90%
7 Pakistan 99.8%
8 Thailand 52%
9 Malaysia 41%
10 Germany 14%

6. Comparison between organized and un-organized retailing

Criteria Organised Unorganised

Ownership Corporate business House hold business

Size of the operation Comparatively large
Nature of employment Hared persons
Product availability Wide range of branded and
non-branded product
Selling price MRP
Store ambience Excellent
Promotion Joint promotions
Small store
Generally family members
Selective range of branded
and non-branded products
Price less than MRP
Poor
Company promotions only

Tax payments Greater enforcement of Evasion of taxes

taxation mechanism
Market experience Short term
Long term
Locations Distantly located Round the corner located