STRATEGY OF HYPERMARKETS OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES RETAILING IN TAMILNADU

Indian Modern Food Retail Chains (MFRC) have been growing as the fastest in developing countries for the last two decades. What impact will it have on existing fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) supply chains, procurement price offered to farmers and consumers' purchase prices? This paper analyses the evolution of MFRC, particularly during the last two decades. Further, the paper traces the current structure and expansion of retailing through supermarkets in India and discerns the strategy of the retail chains and price spread in F&Vs. This paper is based on primary survey and data were collected in 2019 in Chennai, Tamilnadu. Field findings show that domestic modern retailers resort to joint ventures with other international companies mainly for utilizing their international experience, expertise in brand development and retail led technological development. The authors noted that the MFRC have shifted away from the use of spot markets towards purchasing directly from the farmers for differentiating their product from traditional retailers, maintaining higher product quality, consistency and cutting costs in order to compete with the traditional players and wet markets. This paper concludes that most of the F&Vs and MFRC offer higher prices to the farmers as compared with traditional and spot market prices.