ISSN No - RBS

investment pattern. It is not just theglobal players like Wal-Mart, Tescoand Metro group are eying to capturea pie of this market but also thedomestic corporate behemoths likeReliance, KK Modi , Aditya Birlagroup, and Bharti group too are atsome stage of retail development.Reliance, announced that it will invest$3.4 billion to become the country'slargest modern retailer byestablishing a chain of 1,575 stores.The last couple of years have beenrosy for real estate developers and theretailers are finding suitable retailspace in prominent locations. Theindustry is buoyant about growth andthe early starters are in expansionmood. There is increasedsophistication in the shopping patternof consumers, which has resulted inbig retail chains coming up in mostmetros; mini metros and towns beingthe next target. Consumer taste andpreferences are changing leading toradical alteration in lifestyles andspending patterns which in turn isgiving rise to new businessopportunities. Companies need to bedynamic and proactive whileresponding to the ever-changingtrends in consumer lifestyle andbehavior.The generic growth is likely to bedriven by changing lifestyles and bystrong surge in income, which in turnwill be supported by favorabledemographic patterns. Rapid growthin international quality retail spaceand announced development plansproject in which at least 150 newshopping malls will be opened by nextyear has brought joy to shoppers dueto which shopping malls are becomingincreasingly common in large cities.The number of department stores isDecember 2010 Vol. 7, Issue 2growing at a much faster pace thanoverall retail, which is 24 per centannually. Supermarkets have beentaking an increasing share of generalfood and grocery trade over the lasttwo decades.Development of mega malls in India isadding new dimensions to thebooming retail sector. Shoppingexperience in the nation ofshopkeepers is changing very fast.There is significant development inretail landscape not only in the metrosbut also in the smaller cities. EvenITC went one step ahead torevolutionize rural retail bydeveloping ‘Choupal Sagar’ a ruralmall. On one hand there are groups ofvisionary corporate workingconstantly to improve upon urbanshopping experience and on the otherhand some companies are trying toinfuse innovative retail experienceinto the rural set up.Ting Zhu, Vishal Singh (2007) made aresearch on the importance ofgeographical differentiation in storelocation decisions of firms in the retaildiscount industry. They have usednovel data set that includes the storelocations and accompanying marketconditions for all stores belonging tothe Wal-Mart, K-mart, and Targetchains. They have also studied thefactors that influence the entry andlocation decisions of these firms. Themodel involves an incompleteinformation game between the threeplayers where each firm has privateinformation about its ownprofitability. A key feature of themodeling approach is that it permitsasymmetries across firms in theimpact of exogenous marketcharacteristics and competitiveThere is increasedsophistication in theshopping pattern ofconsumers, whichhas resulted in bigretail chains comingup in most metros;mini metros andtowns being the nexttarget.[ 131 ]