Retail Insight on 7th December 2009

December 7, 2009

News for the retail industry

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News

Bharti-Walmart earmarks $105 mn for cash-and-carry Sify The next outlet is expected to be set up shortly at Banur near Chandigarh. According to sources in the company, fluctuations in commodity prices have helped

Croma to invest Rs 40 cr to up stores to 52 by March Economic Times Tata Group's electronic retail chain, Croma, will invest over Rs 40 crore to scale up its stores to 52 by next March, a top company official said. "We will open 13 more large-format stores in only those markets where we are present by end this fiscal and will invest over Rs 40 crore for the same," Croma chief executive officer, Ajit Joshi said.

Arvind Mills weighs direct selling plans Economic Times "Why can't we sell a shirt at a pan shop in a village," asks Kulin Lalbhai, the youngest son of group's chairman, who is the chief manager of Arvind Retail. The question has set the pace for the group that re-looks at it's shirting business with product innovation and rural marketing focus.

More Choices in Store: India's Retailers Are Stocking Up on Private Label Brands Knowledge@Wharton Not only are private brands now found across a spectrum of products -- from groceries and staples to apparel, consumer electronics and mobile handsets -- they are considered brands in their own right.

'We plan and open stores patiently' Business Standard Reliance Brands, a group company of Reliance Industries, began operations two years earlier to launch premium-to-luxury domestic and international brands and also set up retail stores for them. Earlier this week, the company announced a partnership with US-based footwear major Timberland, its third tie-up after the earlier two with Italy's Diesel and Paul & Shark in 2008.

GHCL to expand retail biz-CEO Reuters India GHCL's retail arm Rosebys plans to raise its stores to over 200 in India from 80 now by 2010/11 and spend 1.5 billion rupees over the next two years to build its brand, a top executive said on Friday.

Tata's retail arm Trent plans to increase the share of private labels FoodBizDaily.com Trent, a retail arm of leading business group Tata, has managed to beat the slowdown blues because of its focus on private labels. With 3.8% net profit margins, Trent has decided to increase the share of its private label products.

Former IT head to start 40 organic restaurants in Bangalore Economic Times Dispelling the popular idea of healthy food being pricey food, a hospitality major led by a former IT honcho plans to open forty organic restaurants in Bangalore. "Modak", part of the Aspasia Group, has come out with a strategy to promote organic food at the IT hub, offering a vegetarian thali beginning Rs 50.

German domestic appliance maker Miele bets on India Economic Times Miele, the German manufacturer of high-end domestic appliances is planning a multi-channel retail strategy to rake in a turnover of Rs 105 crore in the next four years. Dhananjay Chaturvedia, MD, Miele India, said, "We will be present in the top seven cities of India in the next five years. We will start with Mumbai in the first quarter of 2010."

3 Idiots merchandise in Pantaloon Entertainment and Showbiz! Vinod Chopra Films and fashion retailer Pantaloons have collaborated to launch the 3 Idiots apparel and accessories collection worn by Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and others in the movie.

Retail Trends

Managing in an environment of vendor short fills CIOL Indian organized retail sector is still developing and currently does not contribute to significant revenue shares of consumer goods companies. The result of this is vendor short fills. While most of the optimization software builds its logic on firm vendor commitments, in India such commitments are seldom firm.

Wal-Mart enters $600 million deal with three IT firms TopNews Infosys technologies, Cognizant technology solutions and UST Global, the three IT firms of India have collectively bagged multi year contracts worth $600 million, from the Wal-Mart stores Inc, World's largest retailer.

Modern retail may spell doom for old markets Rediff While the debate on the impact of modern retail on the traditional one continues, there are unmistakable signs that there will be a far-reaching impact of modern, well-conceptualised shopping centres on the traditional marketplaces if such traditional retail markets/high streets do not reinvent themselves in a hurry.

Resurgence of the brand mascot Business Standard Vodafone's much talked about Zoozoos were in the news again, thanks to a merchandising tie-up with Shoppers Stop. The success of the Zoozoos perhaps signals the resurgence of the advertising critter or 'brand mascots' as they are commonly called. The Amul girl is still synonymous with branded butter and Air India's Maharaja is the most prolific symbol of Indian hospitality. Onida's green-tailed man helped bring stature to the brand.

Retail Insight

The Information Agenda Guide for Retail IBM To respond to today's challenges and remain competitive, retailers must: Deliver a superior shopping experience by providing personalized experiences that enable every customer to shop in-store and across channels however, whenever and wherever they choose Create demand-driven merchandising and supply chains that are fully integrated and driven by consumer insights that align products and services with anticipated shopper demand Drive operational excellence through integrated systems and processes that deliver analytical insights for fast development and deployment of new capabilities Implementing these three initiatives depends on one vital ingredient: information.