Guest post by Shri. H Goenka Esq. on the occasion of the anniversary

In the early 90s, when RPG first conceptualized organized retailing for the Indian markets, consumers in India were largely comfortable with the neighbourhood provision store as their mainstay for home supplies. We knew we were early, as with any pioneering effort and we knew we were in for a long haul. However when we launched, we had a very encouraging response to our small format stores scattered all across South India. Besides retailing food and grocery we were also selling music through the MusicWorld channel, which has today grown to become the largest music retail chain in the country. Footfalls were reasonable at the time, but more importantly we built a strong merchandising process and farm sourcing chain. Our biggest break came when we decided to enter the hypermarket segment. It was the first time anyone had attempted this format in India. To our surprise, the response was overwhelming. We even had to extend the operating hours to much later in the night to cater to the flow of customers. The first hypermarket was opened in Hyderabad followed by Chennai and Delhi. The smaller format which was sized midway between a supermarket and a daily store was growing but at a slow pace. We had about 80 stores by late 1990s and about 40 Music World Stores. By 2004 retailing was gaining momentum and the number of players increased. We stepped up our growth plans and in that process decided to go forward on our own under the Spencer's name. Geographically too we spread across to western, eastern and northern India beyond the south where we had a strong foothold. The last 5 years have been a period of high growth. It has been an immense challenge. We have ensured that our standards on quality and customer experience are not compromised as we grow in scale. Today we have come a long way with over 350 stores across 60 cities covering a retail trading area of 1.3 million square feet and over 4.5 million customers a month. India is a unique market for retailing with a complex consumer structure and buying pattern. We are optimistic of the future of retailing in India in its varied forms as it evolves and matures into what will be the largest segment of organized industry.

Regards,

H Goenka