In an interesting story - Why hypermarts are a hit in India- Indian customers are checking out everything in sight, visibly overwhelmed by the choiceand prices in hypermarkets.
Today, the country has barely 25 hypermarkets, but the belief is that India's 67-odd retail destinations can easily accommodate over 1,000 hypermarkets by 2010. No wonder the early birds are working overtime to keep the footfalls coming.
As Andrew Levermore, CEO, HyperCity Retail, says, "Rich people love low prices, the poor need them."
Says Levermore, "Today, there are too many middlemen. To be able to capture value, we need to be able to source directly from the farm-gate, bypassing intermediaries, so that both the farmer and we benefit."
After all, at an estimated $230 billion, the size of the entire Indian retail sector today is less than Wal-Mart's turnover: $285 billion. Of this, the organised sector accounts for just 3 per cent, or $7 billion. That's expected to grow by over 400 per cent to $30 billion by 2010, according to Ernst & Young.
I must admit, it is interesting days ahead for the Indian consumers and Indian retail!