News: Indian late-night shopping to be reality soon
(TNN 26/07/2006) Kolkata - Shop till you drop! Metros like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai may soon allow shopping malls and retail chains to operate their outlets till wee hours, say till 1 am.
Courtesy, constant lobbying by the organised retailers with state governments.
Retailers may be able to whet your shopping spirit beyond mid-night in just two-three month’s time. Those in the know said ‘the late night shopping saga’ will unfold sometime around October when festive shopping takes off.
In fact, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu state governments are quietly trying to amend the Shop & Establishment Act in their states to facilitate this. “We have been trying to convince several state, labour and industry departments to allow 24X7 shopping for more than a year now.
It now appears that at least four state governments are all set to make the necessary changes enabling shops to remain open till 1 am over the next two-three months,” Gibson Vedamani, CEO, Retailers’ Association of India (RAI), told ET. A senior Future Group official said the flexible shopping hours will primarily target IT and ITeS professionals.
“Even if we are permitted, we will not keep all our outlets across all formats open since it will not make business sense,” the official said. The group will decide the outlets depending on the catchment area and seasonality. Corroborating, Spencer’s retail president JH Mehta said: “Retail outlets needs to extend their trading hours to cater to the working men and women.
To keep the rapid growth pace of retail, necessary changes should be made to accelerate growth.” RAI has initiated discussions with the West Bengal government, but is still awaiting for a response from them. States usually allow retail outlets to extend trading hours during festival seasons like Durga Puja and Diwali.
Apart from increasing business volume for retailers, extended trading hours will also help shoppers. “Currently, retail outlets in India see maximum footfall from 5 pm onwards till the shop closes,” said Mr Vedamani. In the US, shopping hours vary based on management considerations and customer needs.
Retail majors Wal-Mart and Meijer advertisements splash ‘Open 24/7 365-days-a-year’. Retail circles feel the idea of allowing shops to be open past midnight is likely to be music to several of the foreign players keen to enter India.
Courtesy, constant lobbying by the organised retailers with state governments.
Retailers may be able to whet your shopping spirit beyond mid-night in just two-three month’s time. Those in the know said ‘the late night shopping saga’ will unfold sometime around October when festive shopping takes off.
In fact, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu state governments are quietly trying to amend the Shop & Establishment Act in their states to facilitate this. “We have been trying to convince several state, labour and industry departments to allow 24X7 shopping for more than a year now.
It now appears that at least four state governments are all set to make the necessary changes enabling shops to remain open till 1 am over the next two-three months,” Gibson Vedamani, CEO, Retailers’ Association of India (RAI), told ET. A senior Future Group official said the flexible shopping hours will primarily target IT and ITeS professionals.
“Even if we are permitted, we will not keep all our outlets across all formats open since it will not make business sense,” the official said. The group will decide the outlets depending on the catchment area and seasonality. Corroborating, Spencer’s retail president JH Mehta said: “Retail outlets needs to extend their trading hours to cater to the working men and women.
To keep the rapid growth pace of retail, necessary changes should be made to accelerate growth.” RAI has initiated discussions with the West Bengal government, but is still awaiting for a response from them. States usually allow retail outlets to extend trading hours during festival seasons like Durga Puja and Diwali.
Apart from increasing business volume for retailers, extended trading hours will also help shoppers. “Currently, retail outlets in India see maximum footfall from 5 pm onwards till the shop closes,” said Mr Vedamani. In the US, shopping hours vary based on management considerations and customer needs.
Retail majors Wal-Mart and Meijer advertisements splash ‘Open 24/7 365-days-a-year’. Retail circles feel the idea of allowing shops to be open past midnight is likely to be music to several of the foreign players keen to enter India.
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 13:45
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