Rural Retailing for Grocery Items: An Empirical Study

Food and grocery is the largest retail sector worldwide and a majority of large global retailers such Wal-Mart and Carrefour operate in this segment. Retail is being projected as India's industry of the future, driven by the country's huge urban middle class population. Food and grocery is the largest segment of the retail industry and the potential for new entrants in this segment is enormous, particularly in untapped markets like rural and semi-rural areas. The Indian grocery market, specially the rural market, although extremely large, is immature and fragmented and is characterised by the presence of Mom and pop (Kirana) stores. This paper analyses the consumer attitude, preference of store choice for grocery items in rural markets.