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Shamik Paul

Bangalore, Aug. 7 Software maker Oracle Corp said it sees increased demand for sophisticated retail solutions in the Indian retail industry, fuelled by the necessity to provide localised service by retailers to their customers.

Since the Indian consumer is used to personalised services, the organised retailers are looking to deliver better localised offers.

This would drive demand for more IT solutions, said Mr Ronan Gilhawley, Vice President and Head, Oracle Retail, Oracle Asia Pacific.

He said the unstructured retail in India, which is very strong, is highly localised.

The unstructured retailers often personally know their customers, offer credit and other services.

The organised retail players would have to localise their front-end to drive growth, he said.

The pricing or their stock would have to be in accordance with local preferences. It cannot be all standardised, he added. The Indian customers have very diverse taste, and there is a lot of disparity in purchasing power as well.

What works for the northern part of the country would be different from what works in south India.

The organised retailers would have to factor in all these details, and it is happening, he said.

In the last 12 to 18 months, the company has seen a rise in demand for more sophisticated solutions, Mr Gilhawley said.

He said the organised retail industry in India is maturing very fast, and the more mature the market become, the more tailored it would get.

Mr Gilhawley also said he expects some consolidation in the Indian retail industry in the next 12 to 18 months.

This would increase technology adoption as well, because they would want to quickly integrate and roll out the business. The organised retail industry has already implemented the basic IT solutions, said Mr Gilhawley.

It has automated it processes and got the plumbing in place. The next move is towards increasing the quality and efficiency of the operating models.

There is a very strong interest in technology, he added.

He said the Indian retail industry is growing rapidly and so it is difficult to talk about market share.

Meeting or exceeding the market growth rate is the company’s target, he added.

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