Understanding the evolution in the concepts of organized retailing in India Dr. Zameer Qazi Asif Professor, FORE School of Management, New Delhi, India, asif@fsm.ac.in Online published on 28 February, 2019. Abstract According to world history, the Romans are the first civilization to establish a sophisticated form of retailing (https://seedsnapster.blogspot.in). American retailing institutions originated after 1850. It is the first country to start some form of organized retailing. After that, department stores became important in US. As department stores grew in cities, rural citizens made use of catalogs from mail order houses. From here, chain stores evolved. Technology improved. The Internet boomed. The rest is the making of retailing history as online retailers like Amazon started dominating the retail world. The origin of retailing in India can be traced back to the emergence of kirana stores and mom & pop stores. These stores used to cater local people. Eventually the Government of India supported the rural retail & many retail shops come with the help of Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in early nineteen sixties. The first few private companies which came up with retail chains were in textile sector in the year 1980. There are great changes occurring in retail sector in India. The retail industry is moving from an unorganized one to an organized one with entry of big Indian corporates as well as global retail giants. As organized retail has evolved, the definitions and the concept of this business have also changed. The study was undertaken to map the evolution of the very concept of Organized Retailing in the context of Indian economy through secondary research of published literature over the last 15 years since reports and academic journals started appearing around this theme. From the study, it became clear that the concept and understanding of what constitutes organized retail is dynamic and ever-evolving. From a very naive and simplistic distinction between unorganized and organized retail sector given in India Retail Report (2005), many more strategic, functional, legal and technological dimensions have been added in later studies to make this distinction more lucid and unambiguous. However, the last word on understanding organized retail in India is still to be written and the dimensions defining organized retailing in India will keep on evolving as the country.s retail sector matures at a fast pace. Top Keywords Indian economy, unorganized retail, organized retail, evolving concept, new dimensions. Top |