Financial Problems of Food & Grocery Shops in Aizawl, Mizoram

In Mizoram, food & grocery shops play an important role in supplying the food & grocery needs of the people. The grocery shop business provides employment to many families. There are dozens of food & grocery shops in a local area where people can get their nutritional/day-to-day needs without having to travel long distances. Studies have shown that the problems faced by food & grocery stores in the national and international level are competition from larger chain grocery stores, high operating costs, unavailability of satisfactory labour, narrow profit margin, taxes, government regulations, lack of community support, low sales volume. There are instances where retailers have failed to understand neither these problems nor the ways to solve them and have to suffer losses and in some case had to shut down their business. One of the main problems faced by entrepreneurs across the nation is lack of adequate finance while sufficient financial resources are a must for the development of every business. The inaccessibility of credit from banks by business owners is the main problem faced by business owners in regard to finance. The financial needs of businesses have to be fulfilled mostly by owners. Therefore, the present study is aimed at studying the financial problems of food & grocery shops in Aizawl in meeting their start-up capital as well as financial problems in management of their business.