Infotech Lead India: Sahara India’s plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore to enter retail sector will create big opportunity for IT companies in the country.
Sahara India’s retail stores in 60 towns and cities in five states will be launched on August 15.
The company will start its retail business under the Q brand name.
Sahara India is planning to expand its reach in nearly 1,000 cities and towns by 2013.
It is targeting revenue of Rs 50,000 crore by the end of two years.
The company will initially focus on states such as Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Sahara Q shop will sell products under 73 different categories, which include staples, processed food, personal care products, home care products, general merchandise and lifestyle products at competitive prices.
IT will gain from retail opportunities in India. If India government allows FDI in retail sector, it will open up further investments.
An IDC Retail Insights survey of IT decision makers found that cloud spending in retail is set to grow in the coming three years, with about a third of retailers indicating expected spending increases of up to 25 percent in cloud computing.
Though current cloud adoption rates in Western European retail are low, adoption is expected to increase 300 percent by 2014. 61 percent of Western European retailers intend to invest in cloud computing in 2012, with a slight skew toward greater investment from large retail companies (500+ employees), with the budget for cloud being typically less than 5 percent of the overall IT spend.
According to IDC, social retailers, those who harness insights from analyzing what their customers and other consumers are saying about them and their competitors in the digital universe, have the tools to make better decisions than their competitors.
