The Indian food retail sector is one of the biggest industries in the country
with an annual turnover of around US 18billion.IthasbeenestimatedthatorganizedfoodretailinginIndiawhichisworthUS 666 million today
will increase to US $ 33,333 million by 2015. The inherent attractiveness of
the segment is luring more and more investors from both India and abroad,
as is clearly indicated by the opening of a number of retail stores by major
corporate houses like those of Bharti, Reliance, Pantaloons (Food Bazaar),
Subhiksha, ITC (Choupal fresh), etc. However, to build long-term customer
loyalty, price, quality, variety, and right image are very much needed. To
attain this, the aesthetic appeal of the store and the way the products are
displayed at the store are very important. Thus, the visual merchandising
(VM) is the need of the hour at the food retail stores. This paper has
studied various components of VM at retail stores and has analyzed the
impact of indoor signages on customer’s buying behaviour. A comparative
analysis of VM has been done at Food Bazaar (Ambala), Subhiksha
(Chandigarh) and ITC Choupal Fresh (Chandigarh). Problems faced in
implementation of VM at retail stores have been highlighted and some
implications have been mentioned