The Future of Retail Stores in India: Dead or Alive?

With the increasing penetration of e-commerce in India, a national discourse has prevailed for the past few years, which is: what is the future of retail stores in India?

In recent years, India has witnessed a boom in internet-driven technologies and has also seen new ways of conducting business with the help of these technologies. At that time, we also became aware of many new terms such as: online marketplace, e-commerce portal, online shopping, etc. With a growing number of online marketplaces, online stores, and a growing e-commerce commerce, this discussion is naturally bound to take place, because these platforms are perceived to pose serious threats to traditional retailers.

But is it really so? Are physical retail stores about to die in India? Is it really such a serious matter to worry about?

Based on insights, revealed by leading agencies like KPMG and others after studying buying trends and buyer behaviors in India, we say no.

The future of retail stores remains secure here, but only through timely adoption and updating of technology, bringing a great in-store experience to shoppers.

Digging deeper, this is the fact that, anywhere in the world, the shopper’s inclination towards online and mobile shopping is largely due to the fact that these platforms offer great convenience, speed, and ease of use, while the Obsolete brick and mortar do not provide the same. This also applies to India. In addition, the Indian industry has also experienced significant disruptions from e-commerce due to all the technological interventions and the deep discounts offered on purchases via the Internet or mobile devices. All of these factors seriously affected physical stores and posed a threat to offline businesses.

However, to solve the problem of inappropriate huge online discounts, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) approached the Government of India many times and as a result the policy to regulate e-commerce commerce it is now pending. But, that is not the only tool for offline retailers to establish themselves in such fierce competition, they really need to be on the warpath to face such challenges, and that is only possible by adopting cutting edge technology.

Now, we also need to look at the other factors like advantage or disadvantage for online and offline retail. If the online platform has an advantage in the form of “ease of purchase”, brick and mortar has an even more special advantage: having face-to-face interaction between customers and their associates, which is rare in other channels. But, even being in this advantageous position, a physical store has to suffer due to the lack of convenience for the consumer. State-of-the-art retail involves even more, in addition to attractive design, good execution of store fixtures and fittings. In new age retail, it is very essential for a retailer to take care of the convenience of the customers and provide them with the best shopping experience. Also, not only physical stores face problems, but online players also suffer due to various implications. In this country of 1.25 billion people, only 330 million people have access to the Internet, most of the population still lacks basic services, and people are more attached to local physical stores for their household needs. So, looking at all these aspects, although the number of online stores is growing, but to some extent, the online platform has the limitations, but physical stores do not.

India is one of the largest markets in the world; here the consumption of products and services is constant, per capita income is gradually increasing, and urbanization is occurring rapidly, so you have a great opportunity for successful retail. Therefore, to make retail more convenient, many surveys have been conducted over the past few years and data shows that Indian consumers are gradually becoming more aware of ease and convenience during shopping. Therefore, it is time for retailers to embrace cutting edge technology. They can also enable integration between online and offline retail with the help of technology to provide a seamless and excellent shopping experience for customers. If a customer really feels that ease of clicking a brick and mortar, that experience gives them a kind of satisfaction, and eventually that becomes too.

Additionally, the importance of brick-and-mortar stores is so critical that many successful online retailers have realized their importance and are also going offline to touch a consumer base, which they had not yet taken advantage of. In India, there are many such winning omnichannel players, who are constantly improving their operation and expanding their business day by day, for example: Lenskart, Zivame, Pepperfry, Raymond’s, etc. are the leading names in the retail of the new it was. Therefore, the omnichannel retail concept, which is successful in many countries, is also viable in India.

Simply put, the future of retail stores is not doomed in India, it is even brighter, with constant innovation and improvement.