India Retail News

All India Retail

There has been talk recently about retailers collaborating with each other in their supply chains to reduce costs and help the fledgling organized retail industry in India survive the current downturn. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, it raises another interesting question. What is the state of the retailer-supplier relationship in India? This is a relationship that has to exist by necessity and can provide significant benefits if managed well. Sadly, there is a lot to be desired when it comes to how retailers and vendors are dealing with each other today. The relationship is largely transactional, based on zero-sum negotiations and even adversarial. For the large FMCG companies, modern retailers are still a new phenomenon that cannot be ignored, but lower in priority than the wholesale channel that supplies to the over 10 million kirana stores in the country. The situation is similar in apparel, consumer durables and specialty products. This article will first build the case for retailer-vendor collaboration and then suggest a roadmap for retailers to follow.