Aditya Birla Retail Ltd (More) will focus on expanding its presence in rural markets, according to its Vice-President (FMCG), Mr Sumit Chandana.
Participating in a panel discussion on retail innovation at a marketing conference at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here on Saturday, he said out of 580 supermarkets, about 200 were in smaller towns.
The disposable income in tier-II and tier-III locations was high and there were no inhibitions about spending in retail chains, he said.
“Our expansion plans to a large extent are centred around smaller towns,” he said.
Mr V Ganesh, Head – New Geographies & Direct Trade, Colgate-Palmolive India, said understanding the shopper with the aid of analytics, technology and market data was a key challenge in retail.
While the modern methods of trade are becoming important, the traditional trade patterns in retail would still account for about 80 per cent business and, hence, was important, he added.