By 2010, the list of India's top 10 retailers will have at least 5 Indian corporate. Retail Marketing will go through a tremendous change in India this millennium. It will change India's cities, its people, and its households. The Indian consumer is reportedly the largest spender in Singapore and London. It is, therefore, strange that there have, so far, been few efforts to present the product in the right kind of environment in India. Indeed, the right shopping experience does induce Indian consumers to spend more. This is evident from the experiences of retail-outlets like Shoppers' Stop, Music World, Food World, Crosswords, The Home Store, Ebony, Bigjo’s, Saboos, Standard, Vijay Store and Janaki Das & Sons, Westside etc.
However, the development of organized retail is dependent on the efforts of several agencies and institutions. The first among these is the government. In a country as big as India and with as many states as ours, it is imperative that the Central government and all state governments bring in Value Added Taxation or a unified taxation system to ensure that the tax-regimes are the same across the country.
The laws governing retail real estate should also be looked into, so that it is possible to develop retail-estate beyond the city-limits.
Apart from providing entertainment and retail opportunities, this will also decongest the city center and facilitate the development of suburbs. The relevant rules should also be amended to allow retail-stores to operate 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. Given the hours most urban consumers keep at work, and keeping in mind the increase in the number of nuclear families, this may, indeed, make sense. This will also help people enjoy their evenings, out at malls.
The second group, whose participation is essential in making retail a boom-sector in this millennium, comprises developers. Most properties are developed without considering the end user; thus, we sometimes