Introduction

The modern Indian retail industry is expected to grow at a 15% CAGR to reach 18% by 2025.

However, the organized Indian retail market has increased by ~50% between 2012-2020 and currently holds nearly 12% of total retail.

Starting your own business is a dream for every entrepreneur. Still, it is important to consider which industry you’re planning to enter and check its current stage, whether it is growing or saturated, and whether it has the potential to scale, etc.

When it comes to the retail industry, many entrepreneurs are considering starting a supermarket business as it is organized, attractive, and a growing sector in the Indian retail market.

But things are not that easy; starting a supermarket business is not a cakewalk. It requires high investment and marketing efforts to make it a profitable business.

In this article, we will guide you on how to start your own supermarket business in a step-by-step process. 

Before starting a supermarket business, certain factors need to be considered, like selecting the category, whether to go for a departmental store or a hypermarket, store location, area, size, and capital required for business.

We’ll discuss each of them in detail.

How to start a supermarket business?

As we discussed, starting your own business is the best income source and offers more growth opportunities. Now we’ll discuss how to commence a supermarket business step-by-step.

1. Research

The first step in setting up a supermarket business is to do basic research.

You can begin your research by taking the example of an existing business you plan to commence. In other words, research your competitors, analyze their business and identify the opening hours, fast-moving products, employee shifts, etc.

You can also do online research to get more information; like you’re reading this blog, you will get an idea of how it works and how long it takes.

2. Business plan

Planning is one of the important steps for the success of your business. As we all know, a paper document, probably a business plan, will give more information and a clear picture of what, how much, & when is it needed, etc.

Creating a business plan can simplify your journey to start a supermarket business and clarify the actual time needed to get it done.

Make a plan on how you will arrange the funds, market the firm, and take action accordingly.

3. Capital investment

Arranging the funds is one of the difficult tasks for starting a business; for a supermarket, you need to figure out how much capital is required to begin and identify the sources to arrange funds once you know the amount.

You can invest your own money or arrange funds from relatives, friends, partnership agreements, shareholders and others, etc.

4. Location

Selecting the appropriate location is very crucial for the success of your supermarket business; a proper location can make or break your business.

You can analyze the market and choose the correct spot for your business, where you find the potential and make the most out of it.

For a supermarket business, the best location is in urban areas or semi-urban areas, which is beneficial and increases the profitability of your business

5. Register the store

Once you select the desired location, the next step is to register your store. Apply for a GSTIN number and business license, and submit other legal documents necessary to start and register your business.

6. Store Design & fixture

The next step is to design your store; it must be simple, attractive, and visually appealing to the customers. You can post the banners of your top offer products on the walls.

Your store design should depict what you are offering, focus more on visibility, and use light colors, glass shelves, and other decorative items to attract customers.

It should look good and attractive from inside and outside perspectives and grab people’s attention.

7. Sourcing

Finding a good supplier is like finding a needle in the grass; a good supplier can make or break your business. If the supplier doesn’t deliver the goods on time, you may lose your sales and customers.

Find the right suppliers for your business and maintain a long and fruitful relationship with them. They should be able to offer products your desire at a fair price. You may contact the distributor for products, but for the non-branded goods, you need to have a supplier.

Explore local wholesale markets or other manufacturers and also look on IndiaMART and select the suppliers whose location is near to you and offer the products at a low price.

8. Products & USP

Before starting the business, you should answer why people should buy from you as there are many supermarkets.

Make the USP of your business like quality, price, variety, customized products, etc., and your product should add value to your customers.

Use the 4Ps of marketing, offer the best products at a reasonable price, provide at people’s convenience (online delivery of goods) and promote your products regularly. This will boost your chances of success within a short period.

We’ll discuss how to promote and market your business in the next step.

9. Marketing

The next step is to promote your business online and offline run marketing campaigns to build awareness and run offers to attract potential customers.

You can run pre-launch marketing campaigns to capture the attention of a major chunk of your audience and make them utilize the offer. Make sure to put some deadlines on your offers. An offer with urgency will get more attention compared to the usual one.

10. Billing Software & POS

The final step is to have a  billing software and POS to manage and record your day-to-day sales transactions, inventory management and other operations.

Nukkad shops can simplify and take care of all your business operations. You can manage your day to day billing operations, inventory management , procurement, stock purchase, stock transfer and can set a low stock alert level for your products.

You could also take your store online with Nukkad Shops Consumer App and give your customers the ease of ordering online directly from the store without sharing any revenue with any third party service provider.

Furthermore, you can file your GST , access business reports even from the comfort of your phone and analyze the business performance.

It also enables you to run targeted marketing campaigns and promote your business without any hassle.

Key takeaways

Hence the organized retail market is growing, and it will continue to grow and open more opportunities for entrepreneurs to start their businesses. 

Nukkadshops can help you take your supermarket business to the next level with a systematic recording of transactions, keeping track of your business and customers through reports & insights, etc.

For any questions or queries, please fill out the form below.