Retail Management Practices in Consumer Cooperative Stores – A Case Study

Abstract

The Retail Industry is considered a sunrise industry and it is classified into two sectors namely, Organised Retail Sector and Unorganised Retail Sector. The organized retail consists of all the big super - market chains, hyper - market chains which pay taxes and comes into government records. The unorganized retail includes the kirana stores, family owned shops, small outlets, wholesale shops which do not come into government records. India’s retail trade is largely in the hands of the unorganised sector. In India, organized retail accounts to just 9% of the total share, 1% is covered by E-Tail and the rest is dominated by unorganized retail. The retail market size grew from USD 518 billion in 2012 to about USD 672 billion as on 2016, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)  of 7% during the period (Source: www.ibef.in). India is fifth-largest global destination in theretail space and is growing at a rate of 12% per annum. India’s economy is expected to grow between 7% and 7.5% in April 2018- March 2019. All the major wholesale cash and carry players like Wal-Mart, Metro and Carrefour have set up shops in India and have multiple outlets ranging from two in the case of Carrefour to as many as 14 in case of Bharti-Walmart. Consumer Cooperatives one of the formal retail segments, dealing in retail wholesale trading and they also undertake processing of consumer goods. Consumer Cooperatives have been serving the public for more than a century in India. They have been working as check and balancing mechanism in the market. The present study deals with retail management practices of a select cooperative wholesale store and it analyses the retail sales performance of the store over a period of 5 years from 2011 - 12 to 2015 -16. Case study method has been adopted for this study. The Dindigul District Consumer Cooperative Wholesale store (DCCWS) was selected purposively as the sample store undertakes the trading activities both wholesale and retail. The wholesaling is being done to the affiliated Primary Stores and Institutions and such business is done mostly on credit basis. Credit sales are also allowed to the employees who are working in the store. Cash sales are the effected for others. Retailing is effected through its own Super Market and its branches. The sample store is practising the retail management practices in the form of Purchasing, Storing, Assortment, Displaying and distribution. The present study is focusing the current retail management practices of consumer cooperative stores and providing some valuable suggestions for sustenance in future.