Retail Management

This article provides an analysis of the retail market structure, potential size and profitability, potential problems, and impact of cultural aspects on the retail industries of Australia and India. It discusses the challenges faced by the retail industries, the potential size and profitability of the markets, and the impact of cultural aspects on the retail industries. The article also provides insights into the subject, course code, course name, and college/university if mentioned.

1Running Head: RETAIL MANAGEMENT
Retail Management

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................3
Structure of Retail Market...........................................................................................................3
Potential Size and Profitability of the Retail Markets.................................................................5
Potential Problems Faced by the Industries.................................................................................6
Impact of Cultural Aspects on the Retail Industries....................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The retailers are known as intermediate between consumers and producers, and efficient
operations of retailers are vital to trigger the sales volume that increases the sales volume as well
as the financial profitability of different manufacturing companies (Ayers and Odegaard, 2017).
In recent years the numbers of retail industries are increasing all over the world due to public
interest and all the organisations use digital technology to serve the service globally. The size
and profitability also increased in comparison to previous years, so that market competitions also
increased (Choi and Shen, 2017). Retain industries in different countries are also facing various
problems and that generally hampers the overall financial position as well as a brand image
(Preston, 2018). At the same time, there are different factors such as political, cultural and
economic that generally increases the chances of risk so that all the organisation needs to
implement different strategic ideas to improves the overall operational excellence. The retail
industries also contribute a huge amount to the country’s economy for that reason government
also supports the retail organisations in expanding the business in different places (Polkinghorne,
2018). This particular project generally focused on the scenarios of retail marketing of Australia
and India and comparison between the retail market of Australia and India also provides a
competitive detail pattern that will help the industries to grow further. Apart from that the
cultural aspects of both countries are different so that it will also indicate the culture, buying
trends and behaviours of the customers.
Analysis
Structure of Retail Market
Retail Market Structure of Australia
All the retail sectors of Australia are going through massive changes in globalisation, and that
also influence sales volume, customer acceptance etc. Online sales also enable the retailers to
compete with overseas retailers and that will helps the organisation to improve its brand image as
well as financial position (Grimmer et al., 2017). Australia is one of the popular countries that
have more than 140000 retail organizations that mean public demand is higher in this country,
but the retail industry of this country faced different problems over the last five years such as

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negative sentiments of the consumers, weak retailing environment and global financial instability
(Nelson et al., 2018). This industry also shows a great diversity by region, types of goods, retail
format and the size of business. The departmental stores of this country generally divided into
two major segments such as discount stores and up departmental market stores. From last few
years, the buying trends of the customer towards the retail industry also reduced, and the overall
retail market is very competitive in Australia. Majority of the organisation are now focusing on
online retailing services to grab the attention of more customers, and that will provide the
organization huge competitive advantages in operating market (Sebastian and Gupta, 2018).
According to the research, it has been identified that online retailing in Australia generally
represents 6% of total retail sales. From 6% online sales 4% are domestic, and the remaining 2%
are overseas sales. That means industry performance for online service is not effective so that the
higher management of the organisation needs to select various strategies to improve the sales
growth. The retailers also need to follow different acts and fiscal policies of government to
continue their operations in an effective manner (Nazir and Malhotra, 2017). The industry
regulations create pressure on the management team, and it also restricts the competitiveness. At
the same time, the trading hour’s regulations and zoning regulations also reduce the ability of the
operation team to compete with different online competitors. Australian retail industry also has
different roles. The number of traditional stores also increased n the country, and that increased
the Gross Domestic Product of Australia. The domestic and rural retailers also provide people
with high-quality products to add significant value to the local communities. Apart from those
Australian retail industries also generated more than 200000 employment leads to improve the
overall economic condition of the country.
Retail Market Structure of India
On the other hand, the Indian retail market is also the biggest market all over the world, and it is
valued to be about $600 billion. The foreign retailer generally controls the 51% of this industry.
The gross domestic product rate also increased due to more sales of the Australian retail industry.
According to secondary data, it has been identified that more than four million retail shops are
present in India (Bauman, McFadden and Jablonski, 2018). The retail industry of India is also
growing faster due to public interest so that India is one of the most attractive destinations for the
retailers. Changing of lifestyle, personal behaviour of consumers, and the influence of western

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culture also makes the market emerging. The overall retail industry can be divided into three
major parts such as Unorganized retail sectors, Organized Retail Sectors and In-store retailers
etc. The unrecognised retail industries are responsible for maintaining the production and
inventories.
The retail organisation sectors refer to the retailers who are registered through income tax and
sales tax. The numbers of In-store retailing also increased in India in comparison to previous
years. The government also supports the young entrepreneurs to grow the business in domestic
as well as international market to gain more benefits. Indian retail market shows 10% of growth
year financial year 2013. The change of current trends, customer behaviour and lifestyle mainly
hamper the overall sales as well as the growth of this industry (Tyagi and Nauriyal, 2017). The
apparel retailing is one of the dominant segments of the Indian retail sector that shows more than
12% predicted growth. At the same time, the brand value of Indian retail organisations is very
high so that it generally grabs the attention of many customers’ leads to increase the industrial
growth. The suitable business policies and taxation also enable the organisation to maintain their
operations swiftly. Apart from that online is one of the major threat for Australian retail market
and majority of customers moved in online shopping and never came back so that it also creates
a negative impact in this industry.
Potential Size and Profitability of the Retail Markets
Potential size and Profitability of Australian Retail Market
Based on secondary data it has been recognised that the traditional retail stores of Australia also
faced different problems over the last five years due to negative behaviour of the customers. For
that reason, it is essential for all the retail organisation to make proper market research such as
identification of different growth factors to improve the overall business position (Pradhan,
Panda and Jena, 2017). The customers of Australia become very price conscious so that they also
compare the cost and products from different stores and that generally increase the overall
competition of the Australian retail market.
Revenue of the Australian retail industry is reduced by 0.9% over the last five years. Apart from
that, the product of this industry also segmented into different groups such as furniture,
housewares, foot wares, jewelry, hand bags, clothing, textile etc. these are the largest product

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segment of Australian retail industry and that estimated more than 35% of total revenue. That
means the potential size of this industry is huge in Australia but the profitability of this industry
is less due to high competition and negative buying behaviors of the consumers. It has been
recognized that the overall retail sales of Australian retail industry raised by 2.6% in the financial
year 2017-18 and also increased 1.9% in compare to previous years (Bhaskar and Harshitha,
2017). The food sectors generally show more growth in comparison to other segments. At the
same time, retail price growth is expected in next financial years due to a decrease in upstream
cost. That means the overall growth of this industry is not good enough so the management of
different retail organizations needs to implement different strategies to expand the business to
trigger organizational sales leads to improve financial profitability as well as overall industrial
position.
Potential Size and Profitability of Indian Retail market
The overall size of the Indian retail market is higher in comparison to Australia, and the size of
the retail market is estimated at $600 billion. It has been recorded that India’s retail market is one
of the fastest growing markets all over the world. More than 1 billion people depend on Indian
retail industry (Pham et al., 2017). The sales volume and marketing generally depends on the
buying behaviour of the customers and Interest of Indian public on retail market is higher for that
reason it increases typically financial profitability as well as market position. Due to the high
market demand foreign direct investment also increased and that will helps this country to
improve its economic condition effectively (Jarvis and Williams, 2017). In the financial year
2012, the central government of India approved the single brand stores with full ownership. Most
of the Indian publics prefer small groceries, and open markets and the intermediate people
generally dominate the Indian retail market. In present days the opening of different shopping
malls and branded stores generally grab the attention of all customers, and it usually triggered the
overall retail sales of this country leads to improve financial position (Pradhan, Panda and Jena,
2017). At the same time, the innovation of new technology and strategic implementation also
enhances organisational sales. Apart from that, introduce of online retailing and free home
delivery service also attract huge customers, but the entrance of different organisation also make
the industry very competitive so that all the retail organisations are trying to improve their
positions to gain more competitive advantages in operating market.

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Potential Problems Faced by the Industries
Potential problems of Australian Retail Industry
The retail industry of Austral also faced different problems such as lack of customer loyalty,
negative behaviour of the consumer and high market competition generally reduces the overall
sales of this Industry (Ayers and Odegaard, 2017). According to the research, it has been
identified that the operational cost of this industry also increased and that will also reduce profit
margin. The business owners of the retail sector have different goals such as minimise the cost,
boost the sales volume, provide a sustainable business solution and to create an effective
corporate culture in the workplace (Bauman, McFadden and Jablonski, 2018). It is essential for
senior management to understand the customers so that proper market research is essential and
lack of market research generally reduces the sales and financial profitability. For that reason to
gain more competitive advantages in operating market, it is important to make innovative
strategies and change in the organisations to gain more loyal customers. It is also important to
gather feedback from the potential customers it will help the retail organisation to improve the
product quality as well as service.
Potential Problems of Indian Retail Industry
According to the research, the retail productivity in India is very low so that majority of the
organisation cannot be able to fulfil the demand of products and that generally creates a negative
impact in the industry (Nazir and Malhotra, 2017). At the same time, the income of people is not
the same, and the income of the majority public is below average so that the selling of luxury
items is very less. The number of young shoppers is very high in this country, but the use of the
internet and social media generally changes the trends and buying behaviour of young people.
Grow of Urbanization is also one of the main reason of psychological changes so that it also
hampers the mentality of consumers (Grimmer et al., 2017). The primary objective of all the
retail organization is to expand its business and increase the sales volume to achieve the
corporate goals as well as huge profitability. So that, to achieve make the success, the
organizations invest huge amounts, but it is important for the Indian retail organizations to
evaluate the market position and identify the potential risk factors for sustainable industrial
development. Apart from that, India is the country of diverse culture and diverse religions so that
it is very tough for the retail organization to recognize the buying behaviour of people.

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Impact of Cultural Aspects on the Retail Industries
Culture can be regarded as a complex concept that consists of belief, understanding, morals, law,
customs and other human habits and perceptions that are generated as a consequence of living
within a particular society of people. Quite naturally it casts a great spell over the decision
making process of the people having a specific cultural background. As the cultural traits are
influenced by what an individual witness around him, the regional customs can play a vital role
shaping the pattern of living and consumption of that individual (Dalby et al., 2014). Given that
decision making of an individual is influenced considerably by external factors such as social
class, culture or ethnic background, development of retail business in a country depends largely
on whether the sector can manipulate these pivotal factors in their favor or not. In the following
section the comprehensive discussion has been conducted focusing on the extent to which
Australian and Indian culture impact upon the retailing sector in their respective countries.
Keeping aside the very fact that Australia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world,
the culture of Australia alone can be a determining factor behind the rise of retail industry in the
sector. The Australian culture is predominantly a western culture that has originated from Britain
along with the other European countries from where people have immigrated in the continent.
However, the diversity of the culture has taken placed due to the inputs of the aboriginal people
of Australia that are the Torres Strait Islander and the Oceanian people (Kwintessential, 2018).
From a generalized viewpoint, the Australians have a high standard of living that laid the
foundation of the development of the retail industry in the country. The demand of high value
and quality products among the Australians has presented great prospects for this sector. It is
noticed that in spite of the sluggishness in the economy in the recent years the cutting back on
lifestyle products in the country has not gone through major changes. This quite efficiently
reflects the high consumption habits of the Australian population. Over the span of last 15 years,
the average affordability on non-essentials has increased by 43% in the country contributing
greatly to the flourish of the retail sector (Santander, 2018). This has been further fuelled by the
high education rate, awareness, urbanization, reception of technological advancements.
On the other hand, Indian culture can be regarded as quite a complex culture that have
immensely influence the pattern of living of the region. While a few decades ago the Indian
consumers used to show a tendency towards saving their incomes, a contrasting approach has

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been adopted with the development of Indian economy along with the invasion of western
modernity. This has significantly improved the standard of living among the Indian people that
has consequently acted in favor of the retail sector in India (Talwar et al., 2015). For instance,
from a socio-economic standpoint with the rise of Indian economy the per capita income, job
opportunities and other indicators of economic flourish have also increased significantly,
resulting in great prospects for the retail market in India. Moreover, the great reception of
technology has given rise to a more accepting customer culture. The young Indian generation
who have grown up in midst of internet, television have been introduced to a better standard of
living (Khare, 2013). Such awareness among the people with the effects of urbanization has
made the Indian consumer base more accepting towards flexible financing options leading to the
growth of retail sector in the country.
Additionally, from a socio-cultural viewpoint, the growth of women population in India as a
work force has made demand of convenience products more imperative in order to lighten the
burden of their domestic responsibilities. This has certainly acted in favor of the retail industry in
India. Furthermore, the modern Indian society imposed great vitality on physical appearance and
health, be it in case of men and women (Talwar et al., 2015). This has contributed greatly to the
flourish of cosmetics retailers. On a larger scale, the Indian culture has attained a seeming
diversion from spiritualism to materialism. This change has made great contributions to the
development of retail industry in India as the collective desire of Indian people towards physical
comfort and social stature has increased profoundly over the last few decades.
Conclusion
Arriving at the concluding part of this essay, it can be summarized that the contemporary
situation of the retail market in both these countries are not only flourishing, but it also upholds
greater opportunities and scope for the industry to grow further. It can be noticed in case of both
Australia and India that sell of lifestyle and convenience products from the retail stores in these
countries have increased to a significant extent, keeping a suitable balance with the
improvements in the pattern of lifestyle and standards of livelihood. Therefore, taking into
account the economic development of these two nations it is quite obviously presumable that
there are greater prospects lying in the retail sectors of these countries. In this regard, the

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contributions of the respective cultural traits can be considered to be of significant value. The
amalgamation of the particular cultural norms of these two countries with the universal consumer
culture of the modern age has immensely catalyzed the growth of the retail industry in the
countries. Hence, it can be concluded by stating that the future of retail management both in
Australia and India seems to be highly encouraging and prosperous in nature with the potential
of prolific development.

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