India's grocery and apparel retailers are reassessing store blueprint and strategy during the ongoing coronavirus-forced lockdown in the country. A large number of retailers are of the view that they may have to axe unprofitable stores if footfalls are low.

"We have not decided how many stores we would need to rationalise as yet. If we have multiple stores in a certain locality, we are trying to see if we can axe some in overlapping areas," said a food retailer.

Industry officials believe that retailers could look at rationalising at least 20-30 percent stores in the short-to-medium-term. "It is important to keep costs under control and preserve cash at this point. If we feel that more customers are preferring home delivery, then we may also look at resizing existing stores," said a food retailer.

For the organised space, home delivery constitutes about 3-7 percent of the overall business. Retailers are expecting this to go up to anywhere between 10 and 12 percent in the short-to-medium-term. Owing to this, they are looking at strengthening their home delivery infrastructure.

Both large format supermarkets as well as smaller grocery stores have already tied up with apps like Swiggy, Zomato and Scootsy for home delivery. The plan is to come up with several home delivery options in the post-pandemic era.

"We are exploring a click and collect model. Through this model, a customer can place an order online and collect the parcel at the store," said an apparel retailer. Several grocery retailers are also exploring the click and collect model. Retailers are also now tying up with hyperlocal courier services to get items delivered from the store to the customer's house. "Customers are more willing to pay delivery charges now. We are working on options like contact-less delivery and WhatsApp based ordering system," said a food retailer.

Kirana stores or the small mom and pop stores have already started their own building or area wise WhatsApp groups through which customers can place orders.

Apparel retailers are working on innovative tech concepts like virtual trial rooms and in-store 3D mirrors for clothing trials. They are also working on self check-out billing systems for customers.

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