“And so it begins”
-King Théoden, Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers
Favorite desi hangout – now coming to the desh
img: via yahoo
It was bound to happen. The nation of price conscious customers and the store of everyday low prices. Walmart is opening its first store in the desh. [Yahoo!]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc is set to open its first cash-and-carry centre in India next week in a signal of foreign investor confidence in India just days after a reform-minded Congress-led coalition won an election.
Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of India’s Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart, will open the wholesale centre in Amritsar, Punjab, a spokesman said.
And why is Walmart’s entry into India so significant?
India’s fragmented and tightly-controlled $400-billion retail industry is forecast to nearly double in size by 2015, but less than 5 percent of the market is in the hands of modern retailers.
Modern retail in India is still in it’s nascent stages. The U.S. market is still in doldrums and facing a long and painful recovery. India is expected to have a stable government and subsequent economic growth. The Communists are expected to carry negligible political clout. And above all, Indian people love to shop. India’s retail market is ripe for the picking particularly for large retailers like Walmart.
Walmart’s entry, of course, makes small traders wary, as Walmart is well known for killing off smaller retailers by low-balling them out of business. Whether Indian traders need to worry about competition from Walmart needs to be seen. Going by previous trends of businesses like KFC and McDonalds, Walmart may actually end up becoming a high-end retail store catering to India’s burgeoning middle class and above.
Walmart’s entry also raises a few important questions:
1. Will they have Black Friday in India now? Hey, if we can have Valentine’s Day, why not Black Friday?
2. Clothes purchased in Walmart are often labeled “Made in India”. Will Walmart continue with the “Made in India” labels or changed them to “Made in USA” to make them sound “hipper”?
3. Clothes purchased in Walmart are often labeled “Made in Pakistan”. Do I need to state the obvious?
4. Will crazy Hindu nationalists and wacko left wing commies now target Walmart, instead of Pepsi, Coke, KFC and McDonalds everytime they want to protest?
Please post your thoughts, opinions and (random) questions for Walmart in the space below.
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