Education Options and Eligibility and What are various institutes in such stream? 
A lot of entry level jobs are available after graduation and due to a current dearth in specifically qualified people, a lot of people with non-retail educational backgrounds are making their mark in retail, slowly working up the ladder. But recent times have seen a good number of institutes coming up with specialized course in retail for serving the needs of the sector.
Students wishing to pursue a career in retail have the option of taking up either a  degree or diploma in retail management. There are also post graduate programs like MBA in retail management, Post Graduate Diploma in Retail Management and so on. In some institutes, retail management is offered as a specialized paper with MBA or other subjects. In fact most top tier MBA institutes now have retail related subjects be it in marketing, operations/IT etc as options in the second year making a specialization in retail possible via that route.

For certificate, diploma or bachelors in Retail Management courses anyone with a high school graduation or its equivalent, plus two or degree can apply. As for the MBA in retail Management, it is more like a specialization on top of a general MBA and hence the selection procedure for these courses are mostly similar to that of an MBA and the specialization might kick in in the 2nd year.

Among the specific courses, Retailers Association of India (RAI), the first independent body of retailers in India, conducts a Common Admission Retail Test (CART) on national basis for admission to Postgraduate Program in Retail Management (PGPRM) offered in 15 B-Schools across India. Candidates applying for CART must hold a bachelors degree with 50% marks. Final year students can also apply. The objective of the test is to assess the candidate's aptitude for retail management education, including Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Consumer Comprehension. The participating institutes in CART are :

•       Asian School of Business Management, Hyderabad
•       Bangalore Management Academy, Bangalore
•       Chennai Business School, Chennai
•       Chennai Business School, Mumbai
•       C.T. Group of Institute, Jalandhar
•       IFIM Business School, Banglore
•       Institute of Management and Information Science, Bhubaneswar
•       International School of Business & Media, Banglore
•       KLE Society College of Business & Administration, Belgaum
•       MERC School of Business and Retail Management, Pune
•       NSHM Center of Management & Development Studies, Durgapur
•       NSHM Center of Management & Development Studies, Kolkata
•       Rustomjee Business School, Mumbai
•       Vasavi Institute of Management & Advanced Studies, Banglore

Apart for the top B schools in India like the IIM's, FMS,SP-Jain etc who offer Retail Management as one of the optional subjects these retail management courses under CART are the most revered in the industry. Abroad, there are institutes that offer four year Bachelor of Science courses in Retail Management.


What is the content/syllabus of such courses?
There is a lot of concepts and topics common in a general management course and a course in retail management and hence a course in Retail Management cant be thought of as a specialized general MBA. Doing a specialized course ensures that even if one is learning a general management topic like HR, there will be a more practical and relevant discussion on cases etc related to retail management scenarios. Common MBA subjects like marketing strategy, accounting, business mathematics, ethics and law, customer relation, business communication, consumer buying behavior, supply chain management, marketing information, finance management and operations are also present in most retail management courses.  Some other subjects that are specific to retail that are covered include merchandising, electronic retail, supply chain management for retail etc. Students also learn about sales promotion with public relation, inventory management, customer relationship, business ethics, retail brand management, business communication, management and organizational behavior, quantitative methods in retailing etc

Retail Management courses also help further specialization of students into streams like Visual Merchandising, Store operations or Supply chain management making them more suitable to take up positions in these specific areas.