| At a Glance |  |  |
| News: Apparel, Specialty, CDIT ... | | |
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 | Retail giant Wal-Mart, still limited by rules barring multi-brand foreign retailers in India, expects supply chain woes to make fast expansion in the country difficult, the chief of its Indian joint venture said. India's USD 450 billion retail sector is largely closed to overseas firms, with those carrying multiple brands restricted to cash-and-carry, or wholesale. |
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Kishore Biyani-run Future Group's Big Bazaar Family Centre, with its focus on community retailing, intends to open two new centres and also convert existing Big Bazaar stores to this new business model, a top company official said. "We intend to open two new Big Bazaar Family Centres by March 2011, spread across about 80,000 sq ft. The centres would mainly come up in the southern region in places such as Hyderabad and Bangalore," Future Ideas' Director, Ashni Biyani said. |
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The lenders to Vishal Retail on Wednesday compared rival proposals from the Future Group and private equity firm TPG, at a meeting held in New Delhi. Sources from the banking sector said no conclusive decision was taken. "It was a meeting of members of the monitoring committee, which comprises officers in the rank of general managers," said a bank official on condition of anonymity. "Each bank will now present the proposal of the bidders to its credit committee, before taking any final decision," he added. |
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Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail (WLRPL) has tied up with Shoppers Stop for the first shop-in-shop at Juhu, Mumbai. With the vision to make high-end global brands accessible to Indian consumers, WLRPL will open and operate exclusive stores and shop-in-shops across India for brands Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier. |
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Shoppers Stop Ltd has announced that the company has opened its Shoppers Stop store at Bhopal. With the opening of this store, the company has now 32 Shoppers Stop stores under its operation. |
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| News: Food & Grocery, QSR ... | | |
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Eyeing the increasing vegetarian population in India, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)'s "finger lickin' good" signature Zinger burger has now turned vegetarian. The US-based fast food chain from the Yum Brands stable, which is known for its chicken delights, is aiming to bring a balance in its menu with the introduction of the veggie Zinger burger. The firm hopes the introduction of the vegetarian product will add about 20 per cent to its customer footfalls during the rest of 2010. |
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Gurgaon-based hospitality group Nirula's plans to expand its footprint in India through its restaurants, ice cream kiosks and express outlets. Currently, operating 75 outlets in 16 cities across India, the company aims to operate around 175 outlets by the end of this current fiscal, through its own and franchise outlets. |
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Top quick service restaurant (QSR) chains like Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Caf Coffee Day (CCD) and KFC have stayed ahead of the double-digit inflation to record top line growth of 20 to 30 per cent in the first half of the year. While these companies say the growth has largely been possible due to tightening supply chain management, moderate price rise and aggressive marketing campaigns, they have now embarked on an aggressive expansion plan this financial year. |
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| Retail Trends | | |
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 | Beginning August 1, men's blue jeans and underwear sold at Walmart will carry electronic radio identification tags... International industry journals report that Indian suppliers to other retail heavy hitters such as Metro, Target and U.K.-based Tesco have already been issued directives to replace bar codes with RFID tags. |
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 | British Prime Minister David Cameron sang an overtly optimistic tune about Indo-British ties, as he delivered a key-note address at Infosys Technologies' campus in Bengaluru, on Wednesday. "India represents an enormous opportunity for British companies... Your retail market is growing by 25 per cent annually, and there is no reason why British companies should not be a part of that too." |
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HMV digital, the high street retailer, has re-launched its online music store and is selling top 40 singles for the unbelievable introductory rate of 40p, less than half the price charged by most major rivals. Unlike HMV's old service, the new store carries a catalogue of 10 million songs and will synchronise it with iTunes, leading many to perceive it as a genuine rival to the Apple behemoth. |
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 | It's 11 p.m. and the duty-free area at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai... At the Pavers England footwear store, some passengers are trying out pairs of comfy-looking formal shoes. Stuart Paver, President and Chairman, Pavers England Footprints Ltd, from the Pavers family which manages one of Britain's largest footwear retail chains, intends to have eight more airport outlets, to add to the five it already has. |
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Inflation continues to haunt India and most emerging market economies... A suitable model related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail needs to be developed in the Indian context. Foreign Direct Investment in food retailing with due safe guards to protect the existing retail corner stores/employees of these stores should be encouraged, by allowing phased entry of FDI in food retailing. |
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The Indian government has said it is not considering imposing import duty on sugar and wheat at this moment. "The Department of Commerce does not propose to levy duty on import of sugar at this stage," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. |
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| Retail Insight | | |
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| Retail 2020: Going Beyond Retail |
| Jones Lang LaSalle |
Forward wind to 2010 and the retail industry is still talking about the need to achieve the Holy Grail of sensational customer experiences and inspired in-store service. Does this talk to 25 years of laziness and lost opportunity or to an extreme difficulty in delivering these aspirations? Again, what can be said is that these last 10 years have been very favourable for occupiers and owners and the real need to invest in 'the icing on the cake' has not been there. By and large, products have sold themselves and in-store environments and customer care has just had to be par with benchmark, no better. |
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