Challenges and Opportunities of Grocery Business: A Study on Rangpur City Corporation in Bangladesh

Abstract

The study has revealed the challenges and opportunities of grocery business in Rangpur City Corporation in Bangladesh. Seventy individual shop-keepers from seven different areas in Rangpur City Corporation have been selected following stratified random sampling technique and the first-hand information has been collected from the selected respondents using structured questionnaire for rigorously study with due diligence. Empirical findings have revealed that the age of most of the shop business is within the range of five to ten years and the average growth rates of sales and profit are very insignificant and in both the case it is below 10 percent. On the whole, the shop business is not doing. The research finding disclose a long list of hurdles that stand in the way to healthy growth of these highly popular business segment where about 0.75 percent of the citizens are depending for their livelihood. Among the bottlenecks, shortage of capital and severe compaction are the leading causes. Therefore, the study recommends for easy access to the bank credit with a very low rate of interest and lenient terms for sustainable growth in grocery business and welfare of the tiny businessmen as well as their family members and dependents.