Retail insight as on 10th June 2010

June 10, 2010

News for the Retail industry

Previous Issues

At a Glance

• Italian brand Paul & Shark docks in India
• Akillis to appoint distributors across India
• Shoppers Stop opens a Mothercare store at Andheri, Mumbai
• Reliance Retail opens a new store in Bangalore
• iPhone 4 In Indian stores by September, says Vodafone
• Mother Dairy aims to become a retail giant
• Godrej to take a bite of the chocolate market with Hershey's
• SIL: Second coming
• Tesco's CEO-to-Be Unfolds Map for Global Expansion
• Retail investment in India gung ho!
• 'This kind of thing doesn't happen only by hard work'
• Future Group launches MBA and BBA courses

News: Apparel, Specialty, CDIT ...

Italian brand Paul & Shark docks in India Economic Times "The opening of the Paul & Shark store in India is the culmination of a long cherished goal to enter this unique market place and also marks the beginning of a very promising partnership with the Reliance Group," Andrea Dini, owner & CEO of Paul & Shark, said in a statement. The store offers the Indian consumers a complete menswear collection that can be worn at diverse places and on social occasions like workplace, holiday, leisure time and travelling.

Akillis to appoint distributors across India Financial Express Luxury French jewellery manufacturer Akillis announced plans to expand its distribution network throughout India through opening of boutiques, appointment of franchise partners, shop in shops and retail corners across India as part of its first phase of expansion

Shoppers Stop opens a Mothercare store at Andheri, Mumbai BloombergUTV Shoppers Stop has announced that the company has opened its Mothercare store at Shopper's Stop Andheri, Mumbai. With the opening of this store, the company has now 26 Mothercare stores, with eight stores on standalone and 18 stores on shop in shop basis.

Reliance Retail opens a new store in Bangalore Mangalorean.com Reliance Retail opened its first 'Living Store' in Bangalore. Though 'Reliance Living' has not tied up with any International Brands, it offers international brands like Corelle, Coringware, Pyrex, Pasabache and Venus and many others. Reliance Retail aspires to open more such stores across Bangalore.

iPhone 4 In Indian stores by September, says Vodafone Tech Gadgets Web (blog) Apple officially launched iPhone 4 in WWDC. Vodafone India announced on Tuesday that it will bring the Apple iPhone 4 to Indian stores by the month of September.

News: Food & Grocery, QSR ...

Mother Dairy aims to become a retail giant Business Standard Mother Dairy, one of the country's largest milk processors, plans to roll out a chain of exclusive retail outlets, named 'Gaurav Stores', to market the entire range of its products across India. According to company sources, it has planned to launch 350 exclusive stores in New Delhi and 200 retail outlets in Mumbai in the first phase, to be expanded later in all major cities.

Godrej to take a bite of the chocolate market with Hershey's Business Standard Till now, it was an unequal fight between two players, Cadbury and Nestle, for a pie of the Rs 3,000-crore branded chocolate market in the country. With Godrej Group developing a taste for chocolates, through its joint venture with US chocolate maker Hershey's, it has queered the pitch. The key challenge with chocolates, say observers, is having the right taste, at the right price point, available at the right outlets.

SIL: Second coming Business Standard Remember SIL jams? The brand, which had a memorable ad campaign that featured a grownup boy crying like a baby for a spoon of jam, had almost disappeared from the markets after FMCG major Marico sold it to Scandic Food India, a subsidiary of Danish food major Good Food Group, in March 2008. Under the new owners, SIL has managed a 5 per cent market share in the Indian jam market.

Retail Trends

Tesco's CEO-to-Be Unfolds Map for Global Expansion Wall Street Journal British supermarket giant Tesco PLC named its Europe and Asia chief, Philip Clarke, to succeed longtime Chief Executive Terry Leahy next March, a sign that one of the world's largest retailers will continue its aggressive global expansion, especially in emerging markets

Retail investment in India gung ho! BusinessLine The Government is soon expected to come out with a concept paper on the retail sector that would particularly look at relaxing FDI norms in this sector. There are still doubts on whether this is a move to relax FDI norms or just another forum to reiterate what has been repeatedly said, 'no further liberalisation in retail'

'This kind of thing doesn't happen only by hard work' Hindustan Times What goes around comes around. That's a piece of wisdom that the 52-year-old CEO of Bharti Enterprises knows only too well. Sunil Mittal in a free-wheeling conversation says how the government once unwittingly pushed him in the right direction, why there's nothing to fear in big retail, and how his latest expedition will open up Africa to India.

Future Group launches MBA and BBA courses Franchiseindia.com Kishore Biyani-promoted retail giant Future Group has announced the launch of Future Innoversity, an academic initiative of its learning-training-education arm, Future Human Development Ltd. It will offer two-year full-time flagship MBA and three-year full-time BBA courses in retail and entrepreneurship. All successful MBA and BBA students would be inducted into the Future Group companies - Big Bazaar, Pantaloons and Central - at managerial and supervisory positions.

Retail Insight

Shifting Responsibility to Vendors Through VMI RIS As retailers cut spending, a bloated supply chain is usually the top target. And that's where a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) approach helps. VMI and consignment inventory capabilities enable retailers to free up funds by deferring the cost of inventory ownership further back into the supply chain until replenishment at the store occurs