Retail insight as on 26th October 2010

From the Editor's Desk

FDI - Time to focus on the benefits

Wal-mart is all over the news in India again. With growth in the US slowing down significantly, it is increasing its focus on large international markets. CEO, Mike Duke is hoping to get FDI rules eased, timing it with President Obama's visit to India. The factors sighted in favour of opening up the trade, including reducing wastage, improving quality and reducing inflation are all potentially true. The government should frame policies that enable these very benefits, instead of quoting "democratic compulsions" as reason to stop FDI. To begin with, food retailing should be considered separately and policies should be set up to train and empower farmers, improve post-harvest yields and optimize the supply chain.

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At a Glance  Wal-Mart CEO positive on FDI in multi-brand retail HC rejects Subhiksha's merger plan with Blue Green Cotton Babies inks pact with SmartBaby Godrej Interio launches outlet in Noida Raipur gets its first Reliance Trends store Titan Industries net up 64.6 per cent to 127.7 cr How Big Mac plans to change Indian food habits Bruijn opens its first Delhi outlet The kidswear market: Much more than child's play Continuum 2010 highlights enormous opportunities of retail sector Raymond to employ media innovation Fearing trouble, Retailers keep rohinton novel off their shelves Mastering Airport Retail   News: Apparel, Specialty, CDIT ...  Wal-Mart CEO positive on FDI in multi-brand retail The Hindu Wal-Mart Stores President and CEO Michael T. Duke on Monday said he was hopeful about India opening up foreign direct investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail sector and that the talks with the government so far had been positive. "Wal-Mart has expressed that 100 per cent FDI would be the solution for all constituents and stakeholders (in the Indian retail sector)," Mr. Duke said in an interaction with journalists here. He, however, said Wal-Mart respected the India's calibrated approach towards opening the retail sector to FDI. HC rejects Subhiksha's merger plan with Blue Green Economic Times Troubled retail chain Subhiksha's last-ditch attempt to survive has failed, with the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court rejecting its merger scheme with Blue Green Constructions. Justice V Ramasubramanian, who delivered the order on Monday in Madurai, said the merger scheme will not be allowed in public interest as it may lead to the combined entity further raising money from the public, three lawyers present at the court said. The judge also added that Subhiksha was suffering from "multiple organ failure, was in a financial ICU and only a miracle could save it," according to these lawyers. The failure of the merger scheme is a pre-cursor to Subhiksha being wound up as a winding up petition will now be heard against the retailer. Cotton Babies inks pact with SmartBaby India Infoline.com USA based Cotton Babies, Inc. has announced that it has entered into an exclusive tie-up with SmartBaby, India's leading online retailer of baby care products to market its extremely successful range of cloth diapers in India, including its leading cloth diaper brands, bumGenius, Flip and Econobum. According to Jennifer Labit, CEO, Cotton Babies, Inc., and the inventor of bumGenius cloth diapers, "We are excited to have tied-up with SmartBaby and are confident that they will be able to effectively market our innovative product range in India, which has a huge market for quality cloth diapers. Our products will be available at SmartBaby's online store immediately and we look forward to an enthusiastic response from the Indian parents!" Godrej Interio launches outlet in Noida indiaretailing.com Godrej Interio, which offers a contemporary and stylish range of furniture and interiors solutions, has launched an exclusive designer outlet at Noida's Sector 16 market. On the launch of the showroom, Sushil Thariani, head of north region, Godrej Interio, said, "Godrej Interio is constantly evolving itself to understand the needs of its customers. Now, one can find everything, from sofa sectionals, tables to innovatively designed beds that suit personalised needs, under one roof." Calling Noida a very significant market for the company, Thariani said, "We enjoy a huge equity among customers here. We believe launching a store in the heart of the city will further cement our bond with customers." Raipur gets its first Reliance Trends store indiaretailing.com Reliance Trends, the apparel, luggage and accessories speciality format of Reliance Retail Ltd, has launched its first store in Raipur. Spread over an area of 14,000 sq.ft, the store at City Centre Mega Mall offers a wide array of exclusive designs for men's, women's and children's apparel and accessories. On the launch of the new store, Akhilesh Prasad, national head of operations, Reliance Trends, said, "We are thrilled to bring Reliance Trends to City Centre Mega Mall, Raipur. We are confident that this store, with the latest fashion, high-quality and affordable prices, will be welcomed by the discerning consumers." Titan Industries net up 64.6 per cent to 127.7 cr Economic Times Titan Industries posted a 64.6 per cent jump in net profit for the second quarter ended September 30 to Rs 127.7 crore, against Rs 77.6 crore in the same quarter last year. Titan's net sales grew 33.9 per cent at Rs 1,536 crore during the three-month period under review, compared to Rs 1,147 crore in the last fiscal, the company said in a statement. "All businesses of the company have recorded good performance compared to last year due to good retail sales growth," Titan Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat said in a statement.    News: Food & Grocery, QSR ...  How Big Mac plans to change Indian food habits Rediff After wooing customers with happy meals and extra-value meals, Big Mac has added breakfast to its menu, which it believes will keep the chain 'ahead of competition'. After trial runs in a few Mumbai and Delhi restaurants, McDonald's has taken over two years to formally launch the breakfast category, which both the chain and analysts call a challenging segment to be in, given the Indian habit of having breakfast at home. Bruijn opens its first Delhi outlet  indiaretailing.com Bruijn, an international luxury brand of handmade chocolates and imported nuts, has opened its first Delhi outlet. Spread over an area of 953 sq.ft, the outlet at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj has a contemporary design and a robust presence of orange and white colours of the brand. "At Bruijn, we add our own touch of modernity while retaining the sublime taste and authenticity. Our packaging and outlook is chic, elegant and modern, but our chocolate and nut recipes have been unfiltered down the years. This challenging target drives us to constantly provide chocolate lovers and connoisseurs with the utmost pleasurable experience at Bruijn," says Mandavi Kanchan, founder of Bruijn.   Retail Trends  The kidswear market: Much more than child's play Tehelka The market for kidswear in India is growing by leaps and bounds, reflecting a huge opportunity in the Indian apparel retail segment. With branded as well as smaller local players cottoning onto the potential of the kidswear market, several foreign players are keen to set up shop. Over the last one year, a large number of foreign brands such as Catmoss, Tommy Hilfiger and United Colours of Benetton, and major sports goods companies such as Reebok International Ltd and its parent Adidas AG, have entered the kidswear segment in India. Continuum 2010 highlights enormous opportunities of retail sector Fibre2fashion.com Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF), one of the premier fashion and design institutes in the country, in association with LDT Nagold, Germany organized an International Conference on fashion retail and marketing titled "Continuum 2010" at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Various important issues pertaining to the fashion retail and marketing like future of retail industry, latest trends in the retail industry, challenges faced by the industry and what can be done to improve the conditions were discussed by some of the renowned names in the industry. There was also a discussion on foreign brands who want to invest in the Indian market and how will this step change the whole prospects of the existing industry. Raymond to employ media innovation India Infoline.com Raymond Limited, India's leading textile player now becomes the first Company in the sector to employ a media innovation to expand the spread of its brand commercials i.e. LCD screens at electronic outlets. To begin with, 65-80 large LCD screens kept on display at Croma outlets across Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai would showcase Raymond's "The complete man" commercials all through this festive season, starting October 2, 1010. Commenting on this media innovation, Aniruddha Deshmukh, President of Sales and Marketing of Textiles, Raymond Limited said, "From a branding perspective, this is a breakthrough development for marketing textile brands. " Fearing trouble, Retailers keep rohinton novel off their shelves Mumbai Mirror Such A Long Journey has vanished from the shelves of the city's bookstores. Though some of the city's major chains claim it's all sold out, that's such a long way from the truth. The more accurate reason is that Mumbai's bookstores are spooked. They're treading the path taken by Mumbai University's vice chancellor Rajan Welukar and crawling when they have not even been asked to bend. The popular stores like Crossword, Landmark and Oxford and even pavement booksellers, are simply not stocking the book for fear of backlash from Shiv Sena, which has objected to a fictional character's take on its politics.   Retail Insight  Mastering Airport Retail Arthur D Little Over the past five years, the efforts of the airports to develop revenue from non-aeronautical sources have driven strong growth in the airport retail sector. The sector will become all the more strategic as the decline in air traffic forces airports to reduce their dependency on airline fees. Airports are battling to improve performance and optimize the management of concessions, while retail operators face the challenge of responding to the airports' new expectations and growing competition.