Large-Scale Retailing

About 100 years back from today, there was a concept of producers and businessmen that the retail trade on large scale is a tough task. But for the last few years, the large-scale retailing bodies have very speedily developed in India. In the western countries, in comparison to our country, some of the bodies have already been undertaking the retail trade since very long. In our country, there has been late development of large-scale retail bodies as compared to that in the countries like England and U.S.A., etc.

In the modern era, in all the countries of the world, due to the following factors, the large-scale retailing is sufficiently going up very fastly:

1. For the last few years, the population is migrating from the villages to the cities due to which the large-scale retail bodies have developed and established there.
2. The standard of living of the society is rising up due to which the consumers raise up their demand for various kinds of goods at one place hence the establishment of the multiple or chain shops and departmental stores is fastly going up.'
3. During the preceding few years, the varieties of products are continuously increasing which is encouraging the setting up of large-scale retail business bodies.
4. The large-scale retail bodies make the purchases of goods from the wholesellers and/or manufacturers, in bulk quantities. In it, they get good commission and the facilities of storing, etc. Due to this factor, they too could extend various better services to their customers.
5. The large-scale retailing bodies get various advantages due to their financial soundness.
6. Due to the large-scale production, the producers have begun to exhibit their interest in the direct distribution of the products to the consumers through retail trade.

Types of the Large-Scale Retailing Bodies

The following are some of the types of the large-scale trading bodies

(1)   Departmental Stores. The departmental store is a group of various retail shops, situated in one building and under the same roof. It is such a type of business-house where the requirements of the consumers are fulfilled at one single place. For instance, in a departmental store, there might be several departments, for example, the cosmetics department, leather goods department, clothes and apparels department, cycles department, tailoring department etc. On the one hand, the things are sold to the customers by these departmental stores and, on the other, they variously provide services and facilities to their customers. There are provided the rest-houses, cafeteria and restaurants, hair-cutting saloons, posts and telegraph office, bathrooms and latrines (toilets), telephone exchange, etc. for their customers. The departmental stores owe their origin to France. These stores are generally located near the dense Areas of customers. The credit facilities too are granted by them to their customers.

(2)   Multiple or Chain Shops. The chain-shop system is such a device of undertaking retail business in which many shops (branches) resort to the sale of one and the same kind of products, under the same ownership, control and management. In other words, it might be said that the multiple-shop system is such a device of business in which, within some central management, there are set up many shops of one and the same type for selling the products. These shops are opened with a view to checking exploitation from the middlemen and supplying the products at reasonable price to the customers. These shops are started mainly by those manufacturers who possess a very sound financial base. Such shops originated for the first time in America. During the 20th century, these shops (multiple-shop system) developed enough and today, about one-third of the retail business of America is undertaken by means of these shops. The main organizations undertaking business by this system in India include, for instance, Bata,D.C.M., Jay Engineering, Carona, etc.

(3)   Mail-Order Business. Under this system of retail trade, the business is undertaken mainly by means of the postal system, The post office acts as a via-media between the customer and the trader. In it, the buyer and the seller don't know each other directly. The consumer places the order by post, for purchasing the products. The payment of the price for the goods purchased, is made to the seller by means of V.P.P. system. The business attempts to .attract the customers by giving advertisements in the newspapers regarding their products. The development of this method of retail trade has come up along with the development of the means of transport and communication. This method of retail trade has developed mostly in such countries which are quite ,developed from the point of view of transport and communication.

(4)   Super-Bazar System. The super-bazar is such a retail shop, established on a large-scale, which apparently resembles the departmental stores system. The objective of setting these shops is to make all the required commodities of the consumers' interest available at one and the same place. These are run on the self-service basis. The commodities are made available to the consumers by the super-bazars on fair or cheaper prices. These deal mainly in the food and general merchandise items. Since various commodities are sold through these shops, hence, these are also designated as the 'general stores'. Too many employees are not kept in the super-bazar. The consumer or the customer himself, after selecting the items or products, puts them in a trolley and takes them to the gate of the super-market. The super-bazars came into existence in the United States of America during the depression period. There, the first super-bazar was opened in New Jersey near New York as 'Beer Bazar' in the year 1932.

(5)   Consumers' Co-operative Stores. These stores are such shops, organized on the basis of the principle of co-operative, which are run by the consumers themselves for their own interests. These stores had originated with the objective of removing the middlemen from the distribution system, for distributing the profits mutually and for making the things of general consumption conveniently available to the consumers' for reasonable or fair price. By the consumers' co-operative stores, on the one hand, the consumers are able to get the commodities of good quality, and on the other, their prices, too are relatively lesser than those of the market rates. We may also call it as a voluntary organization of the consumers. These are such thrifty stores, in the running of which there is not involved or required any special expenditure since the consumers themselves run them on. The origin of consumers' co-operative stores owes to England in the year 1844.

(6)   Bodies Selling on Hire-Purchase and Installment Basis. In the hire-purchase and installment basis systems, the buyer promises, through guarantee, to make the payment of the price of the product through installments to the seller. The buyer is required to make the payment of interest on the unpaid installments, to the seller. Thus, without having paid the total price at one time, the buyer gets the commodity. This device of retail trade too is gradually becoming quite popular day-by-day among the consumers of the whole world.

Progress of Large-Scale Retail Trade in India

In our country, there has been very scanty progress of the large-scale retail commercial organizations as compared to those of the western countries, since the majority of Indian population still resides in villages, the standard of people's living is of lower grade, the masses are illiterate and the income of people too is quite scanty, etc. There is insignificant prevalence of the departmental stores and chain-shops in India. Only Rome progressive manufacturers resort to the sale of commodities through the medium of the chain shops. In the rural regions, due to the slow progress of the means of transport and communication, the mail-order business too has not achieved much popularity in the country. But, on the other hand, in our country the chain-shops or multiple shops system has achieved much of the success and has become more popular. Today, so many manufacturers resort to sufficient sales through the hire-purchase and the installment systems of sales. The consumers' co-operative stores too are being established in the country, but due to various different reasons, these have not been able to achieve the desired success in the country.