Attitudes and Perspectives of Key Stakeholders in the Retail Start-ups toward Long-Term and Sustainably Profitable Business Model in India - An Empirical Evaluation

Abstract

It is evident that among more than 250 Retail start-ups in India, only a few have created a true retailer image in their employees, investors, competitors, and consumer’s minds. Furthermore, the retailing business model adopted by a majority of them which is widely known as Digital or Technology-Enabled Retailing is still in question owing to no clear evidence of profit being reported by such Retail start-ups in India. In this study, we have (i) identified key aspects of a startup business available in the literature, (ii) analyzed the last five years investment pattern using secondary data, (iii) collected levels of importance/priority given by the key stakeholders of select Retail start-ups to the key factors of retailing business, (iv) mapped the actual levels of importance/priority with the ideal required levels that were derived from previous research carried in the context of retailing in India, (v) evaluated last two year’s actual financial performance of these select Retail start-ups, and (vi) drawn inferences based on qualitative and quantitative findings from primary and secondary data. Results indicate that (a) sustainable profit is not an important aspect and priority; (b) exponential growth in revenue and firm valuation is the most important priority; (c) unit economics is not a need of the hour; (d) overconfidence among founding team and investors is persistent; (e) a majority of Retail start-ups are concentrated in a single retailing model that has serious limitations in reaching a majority of the population; (f) investors are carried away by a few success stories of start-ups that may not be clear representations of the Retail segment.