Standalone stores one up on supermarts

Stand alone supermarket stores which are not part of the multi-city or local chain of stores comprise of one-fourth of FMCG sales in India.

According to a study conducted by A C Nielsen while traditional retail stores like grocers, paan etc still hold sway, modern retail formats are growing in importance for the FMCG goods due to the range of products that they stock and the high average daily sales per store.

In cities like Delhi and Lucknow more than half of all FMCG sales through supermarkets come from standalone stores.

Even a city like Chennai, which boasts of a healthy presence of multi-city and local chains witnessed a 50 per cent contribution from standalones.

While standalones reach a greater number of consumers, they present interesting challenge for marketers in terms of visibility. The average shelf space per store at 1896 sq ft implies that their smaller overall size does not restrict them from displaying more brands.

Compared to the 122 product categories stocked by the average supermarket, standalones stock an average of 126 categories. (Refer to Table )

Combining this with the fact that the average spend per consumer is lower than the average supermarket, it means that products and brands have to compete much harder for the consumer's money.

Standalone stores are able to attribute their large contributions to their geographical placement since they reach over 40 per cent of the purchasing population.

"Moreover, standalones go at lengths to service consumers within their catchments, with a higher percentage of these stores offering telephone and home delivery, said Sujit Das munshi, executive director, A C Nielsen India.

Standalones do not restrict themselves to just FMCG products but have a healthy stock of premium FMCG products, added Munshi.