In recent times, India's retail market has begun to reach a much more advanced stage of maturity. Consequently, companies are continually expanding their retail presence in order to reach out to an increasing number of customers. 

The Indian retail market, the fifth-largest retail destination globally, has been ranked as the most attractive emerging market for investment in the retail sector by AT Kearney's eighth annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), in 2009.

Further, organized retailing is growing at 50–55% in small towns compared to 30% in large cities. According to the estimates by Ernst & Young, while there were some 50 superstores (including Malls and Hypermarts) in 2006, this figure is likely to quadruple to 220 by end-2007. Organized retail is expected to grow four-fold from $7 billion to $30 billion by 2010. 

"The retail segment is still in its developing stage and it will be some time before we can say our retail segment attains maturity," says Kaspersky.

"The booming retail sector in India offers newer opportunities to global brands to showcase our products in the right ambience. While Indian retail witnessed a boom some time back, it is now maturing into an expansive platform that will eventually enable tech brands to make their products available in all parts of the country," says Ernest Sim,  Regional Sales Manager for the Indian Subcontinent, Creative Technology. 

The security company Kaspersky has two distributors - Zoom Technologies for South & East and Sakri IT Solutions for North and West. Under these distributors, the company has sub-distributors and retail partners across the country in almost all the cities and geographies in India. The company has separate retail channels and separate Enterprise and SME partners. 

"We have a very strong presence in retail through our vast channel network. We, along with our both distributors, ensure that the retail outlets get the service in terms of product availability, point-of-sale material, marketing material such as display banners, etc. are made available from time to time to help in their sales out,"  says Jagannath Patnaik, Director - Channel Sales, Kaspersky Lab India. Kaspersky expects a major share of our sales volume will come through retail, as per the current market trend. 

Since its entry in the Indian market, Creative, a leader in digital entertainment products, has continually increased its focus, making it a significant contributor to our overall global growth story. The company is poised for a fast track growth in the country spurred by the burgeoning nature of the digital entertainment market and increasingly technology-savvy users.

Strengthening its retail presence is one of Creative's major focus areas this year in India. As a step forward, the company has tied up with Landmark Stores recently and is currently working with a few others to have its products placed in. "We will continue to seek other opportunities to have Creative products made readily available in the retail segment, so that consumers can purchase them not only through the IT channels but also from the CE channels easily," says Ernest Sim.

"We have announced our collaboration with Landmark in April 2010. Our partnership is strategic in two ways - firstly, it is to enable consumers to purchase Creative products from their favourite bookstore. Secondly, it expresses a strong retail focus in our go-to-market strategy going forward. That said, retail presence will certainly boost our brand recall within the personal digital entertainment space," says Ernest Sim.

"There will always be two different customer bases for this market that shops from separate channels, and we will cater to them accordingly. The tech-savvy users who have the knowledge of what and where to search for their gadgets will prefer to shop from the IT channels. There is another customer base that demands a one-stop solution for their needs and retail will be the suitable channel for them."

Creative is very excited about the new tie-up with Landmark and is looking at carrying this success over to a few other LFR accounts. "We have seen that some customers want to get a hands-on experience of the product before purchase. Hence, we are working with retailers to set up 'Experience Zones' to serve this specific need," says Ernest Sim.

 Zicom Retail pioneered the concept of selling Electronic Home Security Solutions through modern retail covering  large- and mid-size format stores in India. "Being a leader in the domain, we have experimented with innovative  ideas and 'first-to-market' concepts and Zicom products can be found in LFR's like Ezone and Home Town, to  name a few," says Anand S, CEO, Zicom Retail. 

Anand S, 
CEO, Zicom Retail

Zicom Retail has been in the retail domain since the launch of Retail Division in 2006. Zicom's Route-to-Market model is devised keeping in the mind the “Customer Experience” as the key criteria. Zicom's products are classified into two categories: 

a. Volume Products for SMB and corporates consisting of CCTV/DVRs, Access Control Systems and Fire Control Systems. 

i. Zicom follows a 100% channel model. We already have over 1,500-plus channel partners and SIs enrolled across the country as on date with a target to reach 5,000 partners in the next few quarters. 

b. Value Products for the Homes/Apartments consisting of Intrusion Detection Systems, Video Door Phones, Multi Apartment Video Door Phones and Fingerprint Locks

i. Zicom sells through a combination of Direct Sales Executives, Modern Retail and Value Partners who are specialized in Intrusion Detection systems and Video Door Phones.

For any product to fly off the shelf in retail, the products have to fall into the matured-product category. Simply put, Electronic Security products need selling and not fulfilment. Hence, it is still quite a way off before it takes off vis-à-vis other electronic product category sold through retail.  

"At Zicom, we do not believe in 'One-Size-Fits-All' solutions. Our engagement model and product training policies are customized to meet the skills and needs of resellers and retailers, which are very different from each other," says Anand S.

Finally...

The retail segment with special reference to consumer electronics and IT products has evolved a lot over these years. Point of purchase environment, display merchandize and customer service play an important role in achieving customer loyalty and sales volumes. Today's consumers are well informed. It is just that slight handholding and last- minute guidance that are required by the customer before making the purchase according to his/her needs. Training is almost necessary for both retailers and resellers.