The flip side of organised retailing
"9th Aug celebrated as 'Quit Retail Day'".This day was famously known as Quit India Day (circa 1942). But "FDI Watch India" and "Vyapaar Aur Rozgar Bachao Andolan" have given it their own flavour. Even if this was expected, the creativity and the intensity of the message sent by juxtaposing the two events is surprising.

The biggest fear among those resisting the Indian Retail Revolution is that of loss of jobs or displacement. The 200 Billion Dollar retail industry in India is highly segmented right now. Only 4%, expectedly, of this is truly organised in the way we see Foodworlds, Fabmalls, Monday to Sundays, Ahmed Bazaar (Bangalore), Shopper Stops, Westsides etc which are chains or corporation, sometimes even listed. The number might also include goverment-run Janatha Bazaars. The remaining share includes the gamut of sellers at all levels who are located near your home or street. I am not sure if the Sabjiwala who rings your door bell is counted at all. Nevertheless, selling remains the biggest occupation in India with 11 stores per 1000 persons. This is a huge number considering that China has 6 and USA 3.8. "What will happen to all these people?" is a question that cannot be ignored and is a common refrain today.

In the past, India has seen huge displacements, be it during industrialisation during the early Five Year plans or urbanisation that followed it and which continues today, or the IT and ITes revolution that is gripping youth today. Of course, the challenge of displacement from ITeS is at a different level altogether (acedemia and R&D bodies fretting the trend involving loss of qualified engineers and science graduates to high-paying jobs) while that in question is in a more basic stratum.

But one must not ignore the fact that these changes have happened over the years, if not decades and Retail Revolution will be no different, even if technology enables it to bring about changes faster. In addition to technological enablement, acceptance and inertia to life style changes play a great role in moulding mindsets.

Organised retailing will create its own opprtunities. To fill the boardroom-to-field gap, companies always look for local subject matter experts. Who better than middlemen can fill this gap? Sure, one can follow the principle of 'try to beat 'em, if you don't want to join them', but that is a diffent argument. Contract farming will provide farmers opportunities with ensured income. New job streams are already cropping up what with Retail Sales executive diplomas and Degrees in Store planning making rounds in newspaper classifieds. People With a little sensitivity, interest (or need) and attitude can easily find avenues in in-store salesmanship. With growing organisation in retail will come more back-end operations. Employment opportunities in the bottom layer will see the most growth.

There are other long term effects one can foresee changing the way we live in the next decade or so, as a direct consequence of the type of set-up organised retailing will require. Since food, especially seasonal, will slowly become independent of local climatic conditions (already happening for some items) with perennial supplies planned for and achieved, food processing will gain prominence. Food processing and preservation is what will help corporations maintain their stock levels and meet demands across geographies.

Almost all of us eat fresh produce, today. It may not be so easily available once processed foods become a norm. Canned-everything is what most American families shop for and live on (emphasis on organic and fresh produce is the reaction to this phenomenon). Today, we can find Rasgulla's and baby corn with Indian labels. These cans will more and more commonly hold tomatoes, spinach and carrots to name a few, something that we would find too convinient to ignore. Talk to DINKs and SINKs living in nuclear families and you get a perspective on how consumption of ready-to-eat foods is gaining prevelance.

All these changes are inevitable. How the Indian system adapts to it is the area of concern. India will move forward, urban Indians will move faster. Only a good system-social support, health, judicial, legal- will ensure uniform growth in all socio-economic categories . Government should enforce policies that bring accountability for and quick addressal of genuine concerns people could have out of corporatisation of retailing. Vocational training programs will ensure that opportunities flow equally to all geographies of India and strata of society.

There is little point in being protectionist about the Retail Revolution. Energies need to be focussed on enabling the Indian system to handle the inevitable changes which have the potential to transform the way we live now.