The FMCG sector is riding high on modern retail trade formats in 2005. Booming business from supermarkets and hypermarkets, which is growing at over 30%, has begun throwing up substantial sales volumes for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry in 2005. Industry officials expect the total contribution from modern trade to cross 10% from the current 3-5% in the next few years. The sharp growth rates have resulted in companies like Cadbury, Godrej, HLL and others setting up specialised teams handling such key accounts. In fact, most of these companies are sending their senior marketing officials abroad, especially to other Asian countries, to study the modern trade formats.

The average FMCG turnover per store per day is the highest from hypermarkets at Rs 9.7 Lakhs followed by department stores at Rs 68,000 and discount stores at Rs 30,000. Apart from convenience, modern trade enjoys huge discounts on several products and stocks a huge range of SKUs.