Marketing strategies for Wal-Mart to enter Indian market

Abstract

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer sees India as the biggest opportunity in the coming future. It is very keen to enter Indian market but the FDI restrictions in India do not allow foreign Multi-brand retailers to set up shops in India. Wal-Mart is in a dilemma whether to enter Indian market with some joint venture or start with Sam’s Club which is their warehouse model. In order to arrive at our recommendations, we studied the Indian retail industry with special focus on discount stores and hypermarkets operating in India. We analyzed the spending patterns of Indian consumers and found some changing trends in the buying habits of the consumers. We looked at the competition in retail market with special focus on the discount stores operating in India and studied the success factors for these stores. Considering the Indian retail market the rapidly growing competition coupled with the FDI restrictions will cause hindrances in the way of Wal-Mart in its endeavor to enter Indian market as early as possible. Hence we recommend that if FDI is not allowed in the next 6 months, Wal-Mart should start with its Sam’s club format. This will help them in forming its distribution network which can help them in their long term strategy of operating other store formats. We recommend that Wal-Mart should enter in the following two formats: a. Supermarkets for food and grocery at convenient locations b. Hypermarket discount stores which will offer one-stop shopping experience. Other strategies are discussed in detail in the report.