COOPETITION STRATEGY FOR ENHANCING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FAMILY OWNED KIRANAS IN THE VOLATILE, UNCERTAIN, COMPLEX AND AMBIGUOUS (VUCA) INDIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY

Abstract

Agrarian based Indian economy currently turned into a service based economy. Liberalization of Indian economy as well as present government's retail sector policy paves way for big organized retailers' to enter and also expand in the Indian retail market. Currently Indian retail market is dominated by unorganized, family owned kiranas, which hold almost 88% market share. Entry of new big organized players and expansion of existing big players will bring in conflict of interest with the currently dominating kiranas, who provide major employment. This paper discusses about adaptation of coopetition strategy by big organized retailers and kiranas, mainly to mitigate such conflict of interest. As per the strategy, organized big retailers will be the wholesaler for kiranas and kiranas will be the last mile distributor for the big player. Information Communication Technology (ICT) shall bridge the organized and unorganized retailers and play a major role in implementing coopetition A study was conducted among 272 Kiranas of southern districts of Tamil Nadu to check the feasibility of coopetition From the study, it is found that most of the Kiranas are ready to adapt Coopetition strategy. This strategy will curtail the big organised retailers' investments in distribution network. At the same time kiranas will not lose their proximate customers business, even if the customer's order their requirements through E-retail system.