RETAIL SCENARIO OF JODHPUR CITY

Dear Readers,

                          Jodhpur is known as Cultural Capital city of the Rajasthan. The paper attempts to focus general scenario of unorganized as well as organized retailing in Jodhpur city. Terms & conditions to maintain the franchisee or dealership for an entrepreneur includes: meeting company sales target, prime location, populated area, bank guarantee adhering Company rules & regulations and minimum space area. Minimum space area covered by any retailer in Jodhpur city is 25*40=1000 sq.ft. Initial investments to start a business type are affected by many factors likewise, time of investments, entrepreneur’s financial capability, location of the shop, branded or unbranded products sold, and expected profit margins earned in each business. Provision Stores and departmental stores do not remember their initial investment amount, may be because of age-old shop or are unwilling to disclose. Many retailers did not reply or responded properly, may be to conceal their trading amount or do not want to discuss in details with the surveyor. F/D in electronics possess more sales figure comparatively to the LRS. But Sales figure for apparels in LRS exceeds the apparels in F/D, due to diverse/ variety of stock with LRS. Handling Female customers seems to be major challenge for salesman as they are the key partners in bargaining. LRS are more interested in fixed salary basis because the hiring turnover is very high for salesmanship, only those employees are given incentives or bonus who has worked with them for more than a year. Warranties are entertained, goods are repaired at service centers, change of item is also accepted. Defective pieces are returned back to the company. Generally 4% is VAT and 12.5% is Service Tax applies as per Government rules. Cross-checking with receipts is a major practice almost at majority of retailers; it is a precautionary measure against accounting, shop goodwill, customer satisfaction as well as shop-lifting. Major promotions tools used by retailers are advertising in local newspapers, local television channels, painting shutters of the shops, occasional discounts (like 50% + 49%, flat 31% et), hoardings, off season sale, fairs & exhibitions etc. Franchisees have a very small budget for promotions and major expenditure is born by the concerned Companies. It is unfortunate to say that majority of the retailers spends negligible amount on social responsibility affairs like providing drinking water or donations etc. It is found that even if such expenditure is incurred, that is connected to the owner’s class of society.

Jodhpur has its significance worldwide as one of the most attractive tourism spot due to its magnificent architecture reflected in Umaid Bhawan Palace and Mehrangarh Fort.
Thanks for reading,
Yours Raghvendra
Jodhpur, Rajasthan