Organized retailing is based upon the concept of cheap pricing and good quality of goods. This can be achieved with the help of bulk purchase and better quality control. However better supply chain management can help them in reducing the cost to another lowest level as it will reduce their cost of inventory and cost of working capital. Supply chain management (SCM) consists of network of organizations related to each other in different activities that produce value in form of product or service to satisfy customers. In SCM, there are different types of activities like flow of material, information or finance. SCM may also be applied to large companies with several sites, covering large geographical area with the aim to satisfy large number of people with different types of products or services. In broad sense SCM is inter-organizational supply chain which does different types of functions like marketing, production, procurement, logistics, finance, etc. The utmost need of governing supply chain management is to get competitive advantage. As in competitive situation if organization does not apply supply chain management, it is not able to optimize resources and hence unable to improve its functions and cannot survive in the market. SCM deals with competitiveness which can be improved by reducing cost, optimized use of resources, increased flexibility to deal with customer demand and frequent change in customer demand, providing superior quality of product and services,. utilizing information and communication technology. There are various facets of Supply Chain Management. Besides competitiveness and customer service, strong integration between sub-functional departments within the organization and outside the organizations, i.e. network and inter-organization collaboration, is very much required to implement a successful and effective supply chain. SCM should be process orientated and equipped with advance planning and it should also look into customer behavior, change in demand and technology, forecasting of finance, material, etc.

This study was conducted on the use of SCM by the organized retailers in NCR on different aspects of retail business and the main objectives of this paper are:

Indian organised retail industry is poised for growth. Rapid state of change due to speedy technological developments, changing competitive positions, varying consumer behaviour as well as their expectations and liberalized regulatory environment is being observed in organized retailing. Information is crucial to plan and control profitable retail businesses and it can be an important source of competitive advantage as long as it is affordable and readily available. DSS (Decision Support Systems) which provide timely and accurate information can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study, exploratory in nature plans to adopt a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in grocery sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study attempts to describe practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in grocery sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. Comparison across national chain and local organized retailer in grocery sector reveals that national chain having implemented ERP partially are mostly using the same for majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management. Two local players use spread sheets and in house software to make the above operational decisions. The benefits realized remain the same across the retailers. Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not communicated. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS by the respondents portrayed a promising picture. “Decision Support Systems in Indian Organised Retail Sector.(Sharma Ankush, Dr. Preeta Vyas, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad).” Indian apparel retail sector poses interesting challenges to a manager as it is evolving and closely linked to fashions. Appealing mainly to youth, the sector has typical information requirements to manage its operations. DSS (Decision Support Systems) provides timely and accurate information & it can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study exploratory in nature, adopts a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in apparel sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study describes practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in apparel sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. A multi brand local chain and multi brand national chain of apparel was chosen for the study. Varied tools were found to be used by them. It was also found that sales forecasting and visual merchandising decisions require prior experience rather than any DSS tool. The benefits realized were; “help as diagnostic tool”, “accuracy of records and in billing”, “smooth operations”. The implementation issues highlighted by the store managers were; more initial teething problems rather than resistance on the part of employees of the store, need for investment of time & money in training, due to rapid technological advancements, time to time updating in DSS tools is required. Majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management were handled by ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or POS (Point of Sale). Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not attempted. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS seems bright as apparel retailers are keen to invest in technology (Sharma Ankush & Vyas preeti 2007)

The Retail industry worldwide has witnessed a paradigm shift over the years. From the developed countries to the emerging markets, the retail sector has undergone significant change. The trend of globalization of modem retail continues to accelerate. The most developed European markets and the rise of consumerism in Asia and the Middle East have led to the emergence of a retail revolution in the Asian Countries. Emerging economies like China and India continue to be the favorite retail destination worldwide. Literature clarifies that retail formats have their own life cycle like product life cycle (PLC). The present paper provides a close and vivid insight into the Retail Life Cycle (RLC) considering world perspective in general and Indian in particular. The paper justifies the life and longevity of modem retail formats in the Indian scenario with the help of primary research conducted in Delhi & NCR. It also discusses the challenges faced by retailers in the years to come & ends up with the suggestions for the retailers to sustain their growth momentum.

In the conference on ‘Wining with Intelligent Supply Chains’ (WISC 2004), organized by the FICCI, Mr. Patrick Medley, Distribution Sector Leader, Asia Pacific, IBM Consulting, Singapore (bureau, 25^th septamber’04) said that “India can position itself as a lead player in Asia, if the retail sector here attains the competitive strengths by responding to the changing markets”. He further stated that “In today’s highly competitive environment, as companies are under intense pressure to reduce costs, expanding into fresh markets and to develop new products, every manufacturer’s supply chain is expanding and becoming increasingly complex. Effectively managing this complexity of the supply chain can be a manufacturer’s greatest asset”. Various studies in India on the retail sector have also pointed out that current retail boom in India could only sustain its momentum if supply chain management is given the top priority by the retail players. The supply chain has a key role to play in the expansion and profitability of many companies, but it has rarely been adapted to meet the new demands placed upon it. The critical differentiating factors that synchronize the entire global supply chain are collaborating with customers rather than only with suppliers. Mr. N.V. Ramana, Group CEO of Basix India Ltd (Hyderabad) states that the supply chain management is crucial for the Indian retail sector, as millions of small producers and small farmers in the rural sectors need to be included in the system (Bureau, 9^th July ‘07). He further stated that a number of major retail chains such as Wal-Mart were entering the Indian retail market, but it should be realized that “the Indian market is qualitatively different from the western ones. There, the rural sector hardly accounts for less than five percent or so. In India, the rural market accounts for 60 % and the small producers (farmers) with an average holding size of less than two hectares will have to be taken into account. This is the real challenge and this can only be handled by an effective management of the supply chain”

Supply Chain Management (SCM) focuses on the flow of goods, information and funds, right from the basic raw material supplier to the end-customer and vice- versa as shown in the figure-1. The organized retail community is facing some common issues, which are:

The absence of common/ standard communication practices between the seller, buyer and logistics services provider leads to errors in commercial transactions. The magnitude of these transaction errors in developed economies is to the 0.5 % of the retail business turnover. In India, it is not possible to estimate the magnitude of these errors. Moreover, lack of intransit information, mismatch in supplies, inaccurate or untimely supplies, etc, have become part of daily routine problems. Amongst the challenges a retailer faces today, a major one relates to managing supply chain efficiency. This requires accurate and updated supply and demand management. From the demand side, a retailer would like to know his stock status across locations, at all times, with detailed analyses on what is selling, how much and when. This, in turn, should facilitate building sales forecasts based on actual demand, store-wise and location wise. He can, then, manage his dynamic sales ordering on vendors/suppliers more accurately and tune them to dynamic market environments. In addition, he should be able to track & trace all his stock-keeping units (SKU) at all times, whether for new or old stocks, and efficiently track his products/consignments across locations in transit.

A key enabler in addressing some of the above issues is the use of international identification standards which can uniquely and universally identify products/ consignment/locations and can be recognized by all trading partners in the supply chain including the supplier, distributor, freight forwarder and retailer. When used with bar coding, this helps to automate the data capture process across the supply chain, eliminate manual errors in dispatches/stock taking and avoid repetitive data entry by supply chain trading partners. Retailers, in particular, benefit from not having to apply additional bar code labels/tags to SKU using proprietary product codes and thus saving labeling/tagging costs at their end. As is done worldwide, this task is performed by suppliers/vendors who use these international product codes (EAN.UCC standards) which can be read by bar code scanners at the retailer’s easily and facilitate uniform product/goods identification by all supply chain trading partners. EAN.UCC standards are de-facto standards in retail for product/consignment identification used extensively worldwide for the past 25 years. This is why EANUCC standards in bar coding are called the ‘Global language of business’ (Poluha, 2006).

The result are remarkable accurate product and information flow across the supply chain and its associated benefits in demand and supply chain management of SKU, speedier check out process at the point of sale, accurate billing, reduced data entry and increased data accuracy and easier product identification. Manufacturers, transport companies, warehouse operators and retailers are able to get benefit from efficient supply chain in a following manner: by integrating with ERP/EDI applications seamlessly, by enabling unambiguous & accurate information flow ahead of the product flow all across the supply chain, through elimination of manual data entry at repetitive points in the supply chain, through generation of automated billing/packing lists/purchase orders, by enabling dynamic production scheduling based on product consumption and through reduction in administrative costs. Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an important aspect of the industry and aims at reducing inventory costs. Retail industry experts generally categorise the SCM technology into six categories.

SCM can be understood from the above chart that it has six integrated steps which are mainly, Planning includes forecasting demand and the amount of resources, which is necessary to meet demand and sale forecasts., Sourcing- This category is about procuring goods from suppliers that may involve online auctions and collaborations through the internet, Manufacturing- This is the step where raw materials are turned into finished goods. Tools for determining which involves machines, processes, and personnel should perform these tasks may be used to provide more efficiency; Producing- Goods producing industries are primarily associated with the production. However, these sectors may also produce some services. Delivery- It is also known as supply chain fulfillments, this step entails getting the finished products to the dealers or end users. It takes into account how the product will be shipped, including the means of transportation and how products may be consolidated to cut down on shipping expenses., Returns- No one wants to think about products coming back due to defects, damages, or some other problems. However, automating the return process and capturing data on why products are returned is essential for cutting expenses.

The retailers are other prime candidates for advancements in supply chain management. With better visibility across the entire supply chain, retail buyers can make easy informed decisions about every aspect of their operations, from how to optimally allocate inventories among different stores and warehouses, to what types and quantity of goods to order and reorder, howto quote the price and also to stock them. Supply chain is a complex network of relationship that organizations maintains with trading partners to source, manufacture and deliver products. There is a huge pressure on a business customer with demand for greater variety of products and services, investors demanding growth and competitors forcing more frequent product changes. It is the Indian corporate who should start thinking about SCM from a strategic perspective rather than just as an operational issue (Gullberg, 2004). SCM is the top management priority for retailers in today’s business scenario. Fierce competition is forcing retailers to respond to changes in the market quickly. This highlights the growing importance of SCM in managing stock availability supplier relationships. New value added services and cost cutting. We are now moving in an era where supply chains will prefer competing with each other, than with products and marketing techniques. First class products and brand power no longer guarantees success in the aggressive battle for market share. Thus, it is important to get closer to customers by understanding what they want, when they want, where they want and at what prices they want it. Supply Chain Management helps retailers in: Avoiding costly disasters, reduce administrative overheads, decrease the number of hands that touch goods on their way to the end customers, eliminate obsolete business processes, reap cost cutting and revenue producing benefits, speed up production and responsiveness to consumers, Gamer higher profit margins on finished goods.

The retail supply chain represents many challenges like linking the consumers in the supply chain planning process, managing product life cycles, promotional planning, planning for seasonal products, determining cost-effective supply channels, forecasting (CPFR) and scheduling in a volatile economic environment and many more. These are the issues like aligning strategic business issues with tactical solutions to extract maximum value from the supply chain. It is required to transform the supply chain, from strategy to execution, providing competitive advantage and maximizing your profit and shareholder value (Berman and Evans, 2004). According to www.wipro.com, the companies supply chain specialists leverage IT to create an adaptive supply network, which seamlessly connects supply, planning, manufacturing and distribution operations to critical enterprises applications. It aids in providing real-time visibility across the supply network, thereby enabling rapid decision-making and optimal execution. Supply Chain Management (SCM) focuses on the flow of goods, information and funds, right from the basic raw material supplier to the end-customer and vice-versa.

The Data is collected on the aspects of type of services provided by the retail store, Knowledge and use of SCM, and its evaluation in cost effectiveness and quality control. Total No. of outlets of 18 Organized retail were taken as sample and No. of outlets were for the sample purpose 110 out of which 10 outlets and 2 organized retail brand were rejected because the information received from them were not adequate for this paper.

To find out, how the retailers are managing their supply chain, researcher contacted the person in-charge of the organized retail stores in the city of Delhi. The stores contacted were the big bazaar, salasar and vishal mega mart. The findings can be summarized as follows

Thus one can say that supply chain management is no longer a theory, but a track proven technology applicable to just about every company, regardless of the industrial sector. It is a series of complex decisions that optimize enterprise plans within a given set of constraints, backed up by a fully integrated suite of financial, distribution and human resource management systems. Allied activities such as warehousing and distribution would provide growth opportunities and supply chain development would take place in secondary cities and in time to come competition would not be among the retailers but between the supply chains of the retailers. The country’s technological prowess could help it become the backbone and backend management of global retail supply chain.

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