Retail as speciality

Retailing in the Indian market has gained momentum, recently, partially due to the required thrust provided by the entry of international players and the industry’s initiation into newer segments of retail. Circumventing the grocery and apparel store the industry has moved on to newer and innovative formats of retail creating concepts like hypermarkets and speciality retail store. Of these, speciality retail store is the latest introduction.

Speciality retail is, today, observed as an acceptable business format as it stands a better chance of serving the customer with specialised products of one category under one roof. While bookstore chain Oxford, for example, serves all needs related to book-reading, it also helps people of the same genre to interact.

The retailers are already pleased with the good sales during the festive season pointing to the fact that the consumers are again spending money. This is also evident from the figures drawn by consumer durable giants which recorded a 40 per cent increase in sales during the Diwali season. The positive development this Diwali has come somewhat as a surprise and given hope to the retail sector to cheer.

The success of a retail store depends on various factors. One of them is that you benefit by taking a franchise of the brand as you do not have to device new ways to succeed in your business. A retail store has to deal with various issues while running a business, like for instance, product selection, marketing, visual merchandising and inventory control, however, in a franchise network these issues are already organised and formulated by the franchisor. You only need to replicate the business and run the store according to the franchisor’s system.

In the following pages, TFW has worked on various concepts of speciality retail giving you a better insight into choosing a consumer durable business.

Retail store advice

Tips to make your retail store succeed

Plan your store promotions in advance.
Get into the spirit of celebrating special days. Remember how Archies store made Valentine’s and Father’s Day famous in India.
It’s good to reward your customer. Retail is all about making your customer happy, if you succeed in that sales are bound to increase.
Plan through various marketing schemes. In today’s environment there are more and better ways to reach out to the customer; you just have to learn which one suits your target audience.
Decide your niche. The success of speciality retail store lies in selling different types of the same product which is not available in other stores. Make sure your products are unique.