A Mix of Modern and Traditional Retail Strategies Required to Sell to Emerging Markets

In emerging markets the world over, multinationals struggling to get their products to consumers confront a bewildering kaleidoscope of strategic and operational challenges. At one extreme, they must grapple with traditional retailers: the chaotic array of shops, kiosks, street vendors and other small proprietors who seem to offer neighborhood customers a little of everything, whether it be groceries or branded goods, such as beverages, small electronic devices and personal-care products. At the other, multinationals must deal with modern retailers - global giants, including Carrefour, Tesco and Wal-Mart, as well as local leaders, such as CR Vanguard, in China, or Grupo Pão de Açúcar, in Brazil - that have become a powerful force in the emerging world's fast-growing cities.

Today, retail landscapes in emerging markets can be divided into three broad categories:

• predominantly traditional markets, such as India, Nigeria and Indonesia, where small proprietors account for 98 percent, 97 percent, and 85 percent of the market, respectively

• predominantly modern markets, such as China, Mexico and South Africa, where modern trade already accounts for more than half of sales

• transitional markets, where small proprietors currently prevail but are being rapidly elbowed aside by modern retailers; in Turkey, for example, their share of sales has shot up to 46 percent in 2011, from 26 percent in 2005.

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Keywords: international trade, retail supply chain, emerging markets, marketing to emerging markets, selling to emerging markets