| From the Editor's Desk |  | |
The ERP is the foundation of Retail IT
Some of the retailers I have spoken to claim to be using Business Intelligence when they don't have a properly functioning ERP. This is equivalent to talking about building a penthouse in a building whose foundation is shaky. The reports spit out by your BI system are only as good as the data that goes into it, most of which comes from an ERP system. The ERP itself requires significant work and should be implemented in a manner that makes sense for your Retail business. Remember the ERP is best used a rear-view mirror, to see what has already happened, while applications like Planning software and BI help you make decisions in the future based on past data and parameters set by you.
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| At a Glance | |  |
Headline, Apparel, Accessories, Specialty, ..Food, QSR, ..Trends and Insight
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Debt-ridden Vishal Retail said it is looking for an out-of-the-court "amicable solution" with its lenders, who had approached the Delhi High Court to stop the retailer from selling its assets. "Winding up petitions have been filed by certain lenders, but Honourable Courts have not given any decision. The company is in the process of approaching lenders for amicable solution," Vishal Retail said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Earlier, the board of Vishal Retail had decided to sell its business to Chennai-based Shriram Group and private equity fund Texas Pacific Group for Rs 100 crore. The sale is, however, subject to a clearance from the Delhi High Court. |
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Walmart, the world's largest retailer, recently announced that it would sell $1 billion in food, sourced from one million small and medium farmers, by the end of 2015. In an email interview, Walmart Asia's President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Price outlines the retail giant's sourcing plans for India. Edited excerpts: |
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Bangalore-headquartered jewellery maker and exporter Rajesh Exports Ltd has posted a 2.26 times rise in its net profit to Rs73.7 crore during the July-September period of the present financial year, on the back of higher earnings from its retail jewellery business. Rajesh Mehta, Chairman, Rajesh Exports, said, "By end of this fiscal, we aim to open around 60 retail jewellery stores in the country and reach 450 stores in the next three years." The company is also looking to to acquire a gold mine in Madagascar or West Africa by the end of this fiscal. |
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Gitanjali Gems has announced its results for the quarter ended September 2010. It has reported consolidated net profit at Rs 80.4 crore as against Rs 52 crore, a growth of 54.62% on year-on-year basis. Consolidated revenues were up 42.74% at Rs 2,509 crore from Rs 1,757.7 crore (YoY). In an interview, Mehul Choksi, CMD, Gitanjali Gems gave his perspective on the quarter gone by and the road ahead. Excerpts: |
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Cantabil Retail India, well-known for its Cantabil brand of denims and casual family wear, is now aggressively panning out to South and East India, after establishing the brand over the rest of the country. Large cities and Tier II-III towns in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are on their expansion list, along with Kolkata and smaller cities in the Northeast. It also has plans to take up showroom proposals from untapped markets wherever possible and open 80 new stores all over India by March 2011. |
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 | Women's ethnic wear brand Fida has recently launched its second outlet in Bhopal. Located at DB Mall, the 1,000 sq.ft store is Fida's 25th outlet in India. Fida, which was earlier known as FI, was given a new identity by parent company, SNG Fashion Pvt Ltd last month. SNG Fashion has robust expansion plans for the brand. It plans to have 100 Fida stores in the next three years, across the country. |
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| News: Food & Grocery, QSR ... | | |
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Yum! Restaurants India, the operator of the Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell restaurant chains, said it will invest USD 100 million to more than treble the number of eateries it operates across the country to 1,000, by 2015. Of the total restaurants planned, about half would be KFC outlets, Yum! Restaurants India Managing Director, Niren Chaudhary said. Talking about Taco outlets, he said, "We have aggressive plans to increase the number of Taco Bell restaurants across India. We are opening two new outlets in Bangalore by the end of this month and have plans to have about five more restaurants next year." |
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Rebirth, the branded wellness store of the Yash Birla Group (YBG), is introducing mouth watering basket of sugarless health and nutritious food products in contemporary formats. The sugarless cookies, chocolates, muffins and nutri bars at Rebirth offer a healthy eating option without compromising on the taste. The chocolates, cookies, bars etc. allow quicker digestion, assimilation and enhances body metabolism, says the company. Nutrinext is available at all outlets of Rebith (Yash Birla Group) across Mumbai city. |
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ACIL Cotton Industries Ltd has selected locations and finalised opening of four retail outlets under the brand name 'ACIL Krishi Stores', in November 2010, in Ahmedabad and Surendrangar Districts in Gujarat, All four outlets will become operational in a short time. Going forward, the company plans to set up more outlets. All the retail stores will facilitate availability of the best kind of agriculture inputs to farmers, at reasonable prices. |
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| Retail Trends | | |
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Tata Consultancy Services to focus on product space
Economic Times
Asia's largest software services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is planning to increase its revenue from software product space focusing on healthcare, government and retail sectors, said a top company official. "Major portion of our product revenue is from our financial services product space. We are now focusing on software products for government/healthcare and retail sectors," and MD, TCS, N. Chandrasekaran said.. |
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Tashi wasn't Tata International's debut in footwear retailing, as the company had launched the Stryde brand a decade ago. That failed experiment, however, didn't come in the way of the hype that Tashi has generated since its launch a month back. There are two reasons for this: One, this was the first significant initiative taken by Tata International after Noel Tata took charge as managing director, leading many to believe that the company would be second time lucky because of the MD's vast experience as the head of Trent, the Tata Group's retail venture. The difference was visible: unlike Stryde, which followed the franchisee route, Tashi will be a company-operated brand with strong in-house logistics and distribution support. The second reason for the buzz over Tashi is of course the way it has been promoted so far, starting with teaser ads. |
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| Retail Insight | | |
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| The Science of Uncovering Retail Opportunities |
| QuantiSense |
You've heard it for years: Retail is detail. Every retailer's weekly mountain of information represents an enormous challenge for anyone in retail management. And every new week brings a new historical perspective. Business intelligence takes a scientific approach to the problem of digesting all of this information. We start with the premise that the comparison of two or more data points represents a possible opportunity to gain an insight. Insights lead to action. Actions enable a feedback loop. Finally, feedback brings knowledge. As knowledge builds, so does competitive advantage. The more feedback you can gain about your actions, the more knowledgeable you'll be. The more detail you have, the more knowledge you can gain. The mastery of detail is a fundamental business requirement,
especially in an industry like retail. |
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