Retail Insight on 30th November 2009

November 30, 2009

News for the retail industry

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News

Aditya Birla Retail mulls IPO Economic Times Aditya Birla Retail, the country's second biggest supermarket operator, is considering an initial public offer (IPO) and will time it as soon as the company starts spinning profits.

Reliance Brands in licence & distribution deal with Timberland Economic Times The iconic US shoe brand, Timberland, is finally setting foot in India. Reliance Brands has entered into a licensing and distribution deal with the $1.5 billion shoe company and will roll out the first store next year, according to sources in the luxury and premium retail industry.

Thai food chain Minor to enter India Hindu Business Line Thailand-based Minor Food Group will enter the Indian market next year and plans to bring three of its major brands of ice-cream, pizza and cafe. The company, which owns the Swensen's brand of ice-cream chain, along with fast food brand, The Pizza Company, and coffee chain, The Coffee Club, plans to set up operations in India by mid 2010, through the franchise route.

'We've shifted gears to top line, margin building' Business Standard Spencer's Retail, a unit of RPG which runs 220 stores, is trying hard to become profitable after it made losses of Rs 220 crore last year. After closing or relocating 140 stores in 2008-09, it has again started opening stores and entering new markets.

Titan plans to make Titan Eye+ a Rs 500 cr brand in 3 years Economic Times Diversified retail company Titan Industries would open 20 more outlets of its speciality eyewear chain "Titan Eye+" by the end of this fiscal as part of a plan to make it a Rs 500 crore brand in three years.

Spencer's Retail to open 70 Beverly Hills brand stores Business Standard Spencer's Retail, a subsidiary of RPG Enterprises, today said it will open 70 stores of the premium brand Beverly Hills Polo Club across India during the next fiscal. The company said it has earmarked Rs 20 crore for the purpose and is negotiating with various mall developers to avail themselves of the best rental schemes.

Shoppers Stop's private labels see marginal dip Business Standard Shoppers Stop, the retail chain major, has seen a marginal dip in the sales of its private labels this year. The reduction, according to the company, has come about owing to the recession. It will, however, go ahead with its plans to set up more stores across the country.

Stanchart PE, Temasek eye Coffee Day Holdings Business Standard Global private equity players Stanchart Private Equity and Singapore-based Temasek have joined the race with KKR to invest $100-150 million (Rs 465-700 crore) in Bangalore-based Coffee Day Holdings.

Brewberrys to stir up coffee market Business Standard Brewberrys Hospitality Pvt Ltd (BbH), which operates the Brewberrys chain of cafes in India, plans to increase its footprint by over 200 per cent in the coming months. The Vadodara-based cafe chain is banking on the franchisee model to gain further scale and depth in its operations, according to Reji Thomas of JenJon Retail & Services Private Limited, the master franchiser for Brewberrys.

Retail Trends

Retailers gain from fostering 'copy shopping' at stores Daily News & Analysis Anju confesses that had it not been for the act of peeping into a fellow-shopper's trolley, she would never have availed of the offer.On its part, the store benefited from having a customer 'copy shop'.

FMCG firms shelve ACNielsen data Economic Times The tension between ACNielsen and consumer product makers has reached a peak with Dabur discontinuing the service of the market researcher and confectionery firm Perfetti Van Melle, saying it no longer regularly buys Nielsen data, considered the benchmark for market share data and category growth trends.

Consumer food service biz to see rapid growth in India Business Standard The country's consumer food services business is expected to be one of the fastest growing industries, thanks to the changing demographic profile, rising income levels and increasing urbanisation. According to the India Retail Report 2009, the food services industry in India is in the growth phase and offers opportunities across a variety of cuisines such as fast food restaurants, multi-cuisine food courts and home delivery.

High debt levels burden textile exporters even as orders surge Livemint Export orders at large textile firms have risen in the past few months as demand from the US and the UK markets return, but these companies are still under pressure from significant debt on their books.

Retail Insight

Business Intelligence in Retail: A Best-in-Class Roadmap for Performance Improvement Aberdeen Group Aberdeen selected three key performance criteria to distinguish Best-in-Class companies from Industry Average and Laggards. Based on these indicators, Best-in-Class companies showed the following performance: - An average year-over-year same store sales increase of 11.7% - 92% have increased their profit margin, with an average increase of 9.3% - Increased their customer retention by an average of 12.2%