@Risk

Analysts estimate that India’s retail sector is worth $450 billion. However, India’s government has kept this giant marketplace largely closed to foreign firms.

Could all that be about to change?

Late last month, Indian officials circulated a discussion paper about easing up on the restrictions, and not surprisingly, that move has ignited international debate. As it stands now, overseas firms can only operate in India as wholesalers and they are required to partner with domestic firms. But, a few weeks ago, Walmart said it could open “hundreds of stores” in India if the country unlocked its retail sector to foreign investors.

Of course, achieving that goal would require significant improvements to the supply chain. As Reuters points out,  “in a country where at least 40 percent of produce is wasted because of inadequate storage and transportation, large investments in warehouses, refrigerated trucks and other amenities are needed.”

Currently, organized retail accounts for only 6 percent of the total retail sector in India. The remainder is in the hands of “mom and pop” shops, which rely mostly on farmers and other local suppliers. Overhauling the system to accommodate retailers like Walmart could take years. In fact, the managing director and chief executive of one of the few Walmart wholesale ventures allowed in the country, predicts India needs at least a decade to establish a supply chain of “international quality and standard.”

A decade and plenty of foreign capital, that is. What investment –in time, effort and resources –would you be willing to make in order to gain market share in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy?

Showing just how strongly low prices drove consumer loyalty during the recession, Walmart dominates the newly released 2010 COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index.

Previously published in 2008, the COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index ranks the top retailers in the nation according to customer loyalty ratings. The 2010 index was built from a December 2009 survey of 3,500 U.S. consumers in five regions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Northwest. Respondents were surveyed across four retail categories that included Grocery, Personal Care, Department Stores and Mass Merchants.

The results show that customers claimed the highest loyalty to Walmart in many of the Grocery, Personal Care and Department Store regional categories. Costco had the highest customer loyalty ratings in three out of five Mass Merchant regional categories. In COLLOQUY’s index from two years ago, shoppers claimed the most loyalty to Costco, which ranked first in nine out of twenty regional and retail categories. (more…)

Peak season sales numbers for 2009 moved in a positive direction overall and helped to show retail companies precisely which supply chain strategies are most successful for pulling out of the recession, according to a recent Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium survey report, Lessons Learned from a Tough Market.

The Consortium polled senior level supply chain executives from top retail companies and asked about the supply chain strategies they used with regard to people, processes and technology. The results (illustrated in the graphic above) showed that the top four retail inventory strategies used by respondents were: (more…)

The most cost-efficient US retailers manage many of their supply chain operations internally, and their costs in this area are 22 percent less than the median, according to new research from Deloitte Consulting LLP.

The research, conducted by Deloitte’s Global Benchmarking Center, was designed to quantify store operations and general and administrative (SGA) cost-improvement opportunities in retail. The study included more than 60 high-profile retail organizations and analyzed retail-specific functions such as store operations, merchandising, supply chain and marketing across 120 different performance metrics.

I found it intriguing that, in addition to their strategic supply chain management, Deloitte also found that low-cost performers differentiate themselves from median performers with: (more…)

U.S. retail container volume is expected to see three straight months of gains in early 2010, ending more than two years (31 months, to be exact) of declines, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released last week by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and IHS Global Insight.

Port Tracker covers a variety of ports, including: Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast; and Houston on the Gulf Coast. (more…)