India is next China in retail potential: survey

A survey on the retail industry in the Asia Pacific region has come up with some interesting findings. While, in terms of potential, India is posing to be the next China, Japan is by far the most advanced retail market, followed closely by Australia and Korea.

These are some of the findings released in India by Retail Asia and KMPG today as part of the Retail Asia Top 500 rankings. The ranking of the top 500 companies, which is based on total turnover, covers companies in 14 economies in the Asia Pacific region.

While Japanese retailers dominated the rankings with 72 companies featured on the listing, 17 Indian retailers, too, made it to the list. Indian retailers, featured in the rankings, include Apollo Hospitals, Raymond and Madura Garments, besides more obvious Pantaloon Retail and Shoppers' Stop.

The study was conducted by Euromonitor International based on annual reports of companies, and public and other information, as well as field research and interviews in the 14 economies covered. Parameters considered were sales per unit area, operating area etc.

This was the second year of the survey, and this time the number of formats considered was increased from seven to eight, to include the fast growing clothing, footwear and accessories outlets, which had been clubbed in the 'others' category last year.

The Japanese dominance in the retail sector in the region becomes an obvious observation, as only four of the top 20 companies surveyed were non-Japanese. However, there is a lot of optimism as far as the Indian retail market is concerned.

Stephen Goh, executive chairman, Retail Asia, said, "The economy growing at 8 per cent and the consumer spending increasing at 11 per cent over the past decade have resulted in a 29 per cent surge in the retail sales growth for the retailers in the top 500 list."

Further, George Svinos, partner ASPAC head of retail, KMPG, said given that as little as less than 5 per cent of Indian retailing being organised, the potential for growth is tremendous, and just about any format is likely to succeed in India.