Retail Insight on 12th February 2010

February 12, 2010News for the Retail industry










Previous Issues

News: Apparel, Specialty, CDIT ...



Another luxury partnership from abroad goes kaput

Business Standard

Aigner, the German luxury brand, and Genesis Luxury, the up-market retailing arm of Genesis Colors, have ended their tie-up in the country, as their plans did not go as expected, said a person close to the development. Genesis and Aigner had agreed in 2007 to import and distribute merchandise. The partnership ended last month. Genesis Luxury, which ran the Aigner stores in Mumbai and Delhi (three in all), has shut these, through mutual agreement.





TT to expand retail biz

Hindu Business Line

Knitwear and fabrics brand TT said it will expand its exclusive retail chain and introduce new ranges in the premium segment for women and kids, as part of its plan to achieve a turnover of Rs 200 crore from its garment business by next fiscal. "Our strategy is two-pronged, with focus on both market expansion and product expansion," TT Ltd. Joint Managing Director, Mr Sanjay K Jain said.





Arvind launches ready to stitch workwear brand

Hindu Business Line

Eyeing the Indian workwear segment, Arvind Mills launched its new collection of ready to stitch (RTS) fabrics under the brand Arvind Intellifabrix, in two categories - Denim Chinos and Denim Jeans. "Our new collection of RTS fabrics is value for money preposition and true solution for the Indian workwear segment..." said Mr Aamir Akhtar, CEO, Denim Fabrics Arvind Mills.





Turning Big Bazaar into a community mall

Daily News & Analysis

If Ashni Biyani, Director, Future Ideas at Future Group, has her way, the residents of Malleswaram in Bangalore will celebrate Ugadi festival in Big Bazaar this year. With Pantaloon, her father Kishore Biyani introduced the mall culture in India, and now Ashni wants to take shopping to the next level. She envisions Big Bazaar as the community retail centre of tomorrow, where tradition meets modernity under the same roof.





Startup online fashion retailer 99Labels offers special premium brands for V Day

domain-B

Newly launched online fashion retailer, 99Labels has brought for its members a range of premium brands this Valentine's season. Keeping in mind the occasion of Valentine's Day, 99Labels will offer a number of International premium brands like BWITCH lingerie and Guess watches to make the Valentine's Day special for its members.







Watching a Titan grow

Hindu Business Line

While the goal this year is to reach $1 billion in turnover, Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director of Titan Industries, believes Titan is much more than a business entity chasing numbers. Twenty-five years and going strong, Titan Industries is well poised to grow into an institution, says Bhat.





News: Food & Grocery, QSR ...



Capital Foods to buy all Sanjeev Kapoor brands

Business Standard

Capital Foods, a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, is set to acquire all brands of chef Sanjeev Kapoor, to introduce a new line of products in the ready-to-eat segment, frozen foods, jams, pickles and papads. Kapoor will also join the board of directors of Capital Foods, according to a source. Ajaay Gupta, managing director of Capital Foods, confirmed the development and said that all 'Khana Khazana' brands by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be a part of Capital Foods.





Food brands and retailers: Private labels get branded push

Economic Times

The next time you reach out for a store brand of noodles at Reliance Fresh or Aditya Birla Retail's More, turn the pack over, you may be suprised to learn that it is manufactured by the makers of Top Ramen. As private labels edge out greater shelf space for themselves across retail chains, the undercurrent battle between food brands and retailers continues to simmer.





Small food cos spice up marketing strategies

Economic Times

Smaller food brands are finding it tough to stand out in the clutter. They are trying different things, but with the same objective: reach out to the buyer. One innovation is to open a limited number of company-owned stores, giving a chance to the prospective buyer to touch and feel the product and even buy some. Venky's India has already done it, while Weikfield Products, a foods company, is weighing the options for outlets in hill stations.





Retail Trends



Realty cos lose workers to services sector

Economic Times

Real estate firms are feeling the pinch of skilled and unskilled labour shortage as infrastructure growth picks up and workers get tapped by retail and other service-oriented industries. Cost of acquiring and retaining talent is going up too.





Retail sector awaits impending demand for industry status to be heard

Economic Times

In order to usher an era of real growth in organised retail, the retail sector needs some impetus from the Government. It has been a long standing demand to award retail an industry status, which will help in over-all development of the sector.





Retail Insight



Global Retail CIO Survey 2010: Preparing the Consumer Chain

IBM, Aldata, Martec

This report covers food and category management style retailers (i.e. those that mostly focus on year round product) in North and South America and Europe. It focuses on technologies already in use, plans for the future, plus IT spend and investment priorities across all the main areas of the business. New to the 2010 survey is research on sustainability as it impacts IT in retail.