Emerging online face of unorganized retail in India – A case study on Aaramshop

Indian retail sector is noticeably different, compared to other developed countries. India has a very low percentage (estimated 7%) of the total organized retail sector in world. Large format retail stores have emerged since 2005. Entrance of these big retailers has an impact on small unorganized grocers, neighborhood stores/Kirana stores. According to the data collected by the research firm “The Nielson Company”, the small unorganized retailers (Kirana Stores) are still growing. But the rate of their growth is very low.

The strength of Kirana stores is their deeply entrenched distribution channels. But they are marred by lack of capital, physical space and illiteracy. Most of these Kirana wala‘s are not highly-educated or tech-savvy. One company is there which is providing this muscle to these Kirana wala‘s-“Aaram Shop”. This company is trying to tweak them with IT to take on large retailers. Today‘s consumers are tech-savvy and online media is very handy to them. That‘s why Aaram shop is leveraging technology and the existing inventory and distribution channels to connect Kirana wala‘s to a set of consumers.

In this case we are going to discuss the various aspects on which Aaram shop operates and all challenges related to its expansion. We are going to discuss the new frontier provided by the AaramShop to Kirana stores to reduce the gap between them and consumers.