As we understand, retailing involves all activities directly related to the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumer for personal, non-business use. Simple retailing is maturing into a more microscopic and systematized process.

The era of rural retail industry could be categorized into two formats: weekly markets and village fairs. Primarily weekly formats catered to the daily necessities of villagers. Village fairs were larger in size with a wide variety of goods sold from food, clothing, cosmetics and small consumer durables. The traditional era saw the emergence of the neighborhood Kirana store to cater to convenience of the Indian consumers. The era of government support saw indigenous franchise model of store chains run by Khadi & Village Industries Commission. The KVIC has a countrywide chain of 7000 plus stores in India. This period also witnessed the emergence of shopping centers with car parking facility. The Modern era has a host of small and large formats with exclusive outlets showcasing a complete range of products. The department stores and shopping malls targeting to provide a complete destination experience for all segments of the society. The hyper and super markets are consistently trying to provide the customer with the 3 Vs. (Value, Variety and Volume)

Over the last three years, this sector has witnessed an exorbitant growth due to the establishment of numerous international quality formats to suit the Indian purchase behavior, the improvement in retail processes, the development of retail specific properties and the emergence of both, domestic and international organizations.

Retailing sector is the second largest employer in the country with almost over 12 million retail outlets in India and only 4% of them being larger than 500 square feet in size. Although retailing in India is fairly fragmented, organized retailing is gaining momentum rapidly growing at almost 25-30% per annum and is forecasted to touch a figure of Rs I,50,000 crore by 2010. The economy is projected to grow at 8.1% in 2005-2006 having grown at a steady pace of around 6% over the last 10 years.

Organized retailers are the contemporary formats by which shoppers have the edge of a world class shopping experience. Fine examples of these formats are Pantaloon, Shoppers Stop and Trent. Organized retail may broadly be classified into the following formats-