Bangalore is leapfrogging into the retail scene and the last few years are a testimony of that. Retail is growing at an annual rate of 45% in the city and is on the preferred city and launch list for most retailers. Not only has Bangalore consolidated its position as a number three retail player in the country after Delhi and Mumbai, market trends reveal that it’s now all set to overtake Mumbai and occupy the number two position by next year. Helping this trend is the new airport slated to come up in May 2008 leading to the volume of air traffic crossing the 10 million mark. One reason why global retail giants are rushing to Bangalore International Airport to set up shop here. In the race are big European names of travel retail: the Nuance Group, HMSHost; Gebrueder Heinemann, Dufry International; DFS Group; Alpha, SSP; and domestic names like Shoppers’ Stop, Oberoi and Pantaloon Retail.
With global brands like Reebok, Levi’s, Adidas, Esprit and Nautica competing with each other to open the biggest retail store in Bangalore, the scene can only get better in the days to come. Take Levi Strauss & Co. Only recently, the MNC opened its second largest store in the world in Bangalore spanning three floors and spread out over 9,000 sq ft. Adidas India wasn’t far behind. The company opened its largest Sport Performance Centre in Asia, in Bangalore. Spread across an area of over 9,000 sq ft over two floors, it offers consumers the same brand experience its customers are familiar with in cities like New York, London, Tokyo and Melbourne. Early this year, Nautica, a leading global lifestyle apparel brand joined the fray in India and set up its 6,800 sq ft flagship store, in Bangalore. It is the largest standalone store outside the US.
The retail market in South India is valued at Rs 262,930 crore (at 2006 current prices). Out of this, the size of the organised retailing market in 2006 stood at Rs 12,825 crore, comprising 4.9 per cent of the total. Only 4.6 of the all-India retail market was organised in 2006. Bangalore was an early mover in setting up organised retail chains – prominent examples include Nilgiris, Viveks and Café Coffee Day. Of the major southern states, organised retail is is highest in Karnataka (5.3%), followed by Kerala (4.8%), Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (4.7% each).
Food &Grocery is the largest retail category (South India : Rs 162,313 crore; all-India Rs 743,900 crore), and here, in the South 1.2 per cent is organised, as against 0.8 per cent for the whole of India. Fashion is the largest category in the organised retail segment, valued at Rs 4,665 crore and comprising 19 per cent of the organised market share in South India. Future projections show the share of retail for Karnataka will be 10.8 per cent (3.55 million) in 2010. The total supply of shopping centre space in South India is 14.1 million square feet (2006-07), accounting for an increase of about five million square feet over the space available in 2004.
(To be continued)
