A Comparative Study of Organized and Un-Organized Food Retailing in Ahmedabad City of Gujarat

Abstract

Food retailing, which was dominated by the unorganized sector until 1990s, is now witnessing a rapid growth with entry of corporate groups in organized sector. Entry of organized sector provided a ray of hope to the supply chain efficiency of the perishable food items as these have the capability to invest in the supply chain infrastructure to prolong the shelf line of food items. Additionally, farmers are also expected to be benefitted as the alternate channel for selling their agricultural produce will give them fair prices. The study tries to explore the supply chain management practices and the constraints faced by these organized and unorganized retailers in the Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. It is found that direct procurement of food items from farmers is still not a big practice with majority of the organized and unorganized retailers procuring from the traders. Organized retailers are quite ahead in making the use of infrastructure to improve the supply chain efficiency. Organized along with unorganized retailers are felt as threat for the unorganized retailers.