Indian Consumers

The McKinsey Quarterly writes: “India’s growing market for consumer goods, already in the top ten, could reach $400 billion by 2010making it one of the five largest in the world. Add the fact that during the next few decades India will likely surpass China as the world’s most populous country, and it is clear that multinational consumer goods companies seeking faster growth must begin to focus on the subcontinent…The modernization of India’s retailing sector will complicate life for consumer goods companies, which must not only go on building and leveraging their far-flung small-store networks but also adopt key-account-management skills from the developed world and other countries where modern retailing has moved ahead. To complicate matters further, local retailers are aggressively launching store brands, and Indian consumers don’t differentiate between them and brand-name products from big consumer goods companies, according to our research. Clearly, the growth of modern retailing will be a boon for Indian customers. But to maximize the Indian opportunity, big consumer goods companies must learn to manage a widespread distribution network as well as to navigate the modern retailing sector.”