With the Indian organised retail market expected to grow threefold by 2010, large Indian retail chains have started investing in a host of IT solutions to grab the upcoming opportunity.
For instance, Infiniti Retail has planned to invest around Rs10 crore in IT in the coming months. Apart from this, they have already invested Rs 25 lakh for every store all over India on the IT front.
?IT helps in store planning, in expansion of stores, backend systems, planning for merchandising, and makes all these very transparent. With customers? buying patterns differing across India, IT can play a critical role in enabling organised players to address customer preferences,? commented Ajit Joshi, MD & CEO, Infiniti Retail. ?These solutions have also enabled us to spend marketing money quite wisely. We have 12 stores all across Maharashtra, and deploying IT solutions have made management much smoother,? he added.
Likewise, Shopper?s Stop has also spent around Rs 15 crore on IT. ?We have been giving IT a lot of importance. It helps in the smooth operation of stores and thus, in a way, it helps in the growth of the chain as well,? Arun Gupta, chief technology officer, Shopper?s Stop, told FE.
IT companies are offering retail chains a host of specialised solutions that help in delivering economic value to the whole business, from in-store operations to corporate strategy to supply chain and logistical management, thereby transforming the entire business.
?With the entry of large corporate houses into the Indian retail sector, the sector is undergoing a transformation in terms of the nature and size of operations. And in order to enhance their business model, retail companies are increasingly turning to IT to address their business requirements,? commented Mukesh Mathur, director and business head, Oracle Retail India.