| From the Editor's Desk |  | |
The Agile retailer - Tapping into events
The Tantra store in Colaba is now stocking Obama t-shirts which are apparently selling quite well with the young and trendy crowd. This is precisely the kind of excitement-generating merchandising that all the organized retailers need to consider. Events that capture the popular imagination include cricket, bollywood films and political controversies. Just like the Amul ad campaigns created memorable and fun twists on the latest events, retailers have the opportunity to do so with their merchandise in the form of apparel, accessories and even promotional schemes. While typical lead times required to create a new assortment are several months, some events are known well in advance - so retailers can prepare for them. In other cases, franchisees can be given the freedom to source locally, even if it turns out to be more expensive. The rewards of such agility include customer loyalty and repeat visits which will far outweigh the costs.
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| At a Glance | |  |
| News: Apparel, Specialty, CDIT ... | | |
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Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd today said that it has lined up a capex of around Rs 2,100-crore over the next three-years, to fuel its retail expansion. The company, which runs a chain of outlets such as Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, KB's Fair Price and rural model Adhaar, will invest around Rs 600-700-crore every year, for the next three years, CEO, Kishore Biyani said. Pantaloon, a part of the Future Group, would be using the funds to add 15-million square feet retail space into its portfolio by 2014, Biyani said. |
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 | Shriram Group's Chairman, R Thyagarajan said that the company was close to completing a deal with Texas Pacific Group (TPG). This deal size, he said, is close to Rs 1000 crore. The Chennai-based Shriram Group is to take over the cash-strapped front-end retail company of Vishal Retail Ltd (VRL), after leading private equity investor Texas Pacific Group (TPG) takes charge of its wholesale division. |
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Exactly three years after it was forced to close shop in Uttar Pradesh, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries made a comeback in organised retail through Reliance Trends, a format of its retail arm, Reliance Retail. The company opened its 33rd store in Lucknow on Wednesday. Arun Sirdeshmukh, Chief Executive, Reliance Trends, said the company is keen to make its presence felt in other cities of the state as well, including Kanpur, Agra, Meerut and Bareilly. |
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More trouble seems to be lurking for the promoters of Kouton Retail India (Kouton). ECL Finance, a subsidiary of Edelweiss Capital, invoked shares pledged by the promoter group entities aggregating around 10% of Kouton equity. As of the quarter ending September 30, promoters and promoter group entities of the asset light-debt heavy apparel retailer had pledged over 54%, up from 29.25% as of previous quarter. Promoters were holding 59.50% stake in the company as of the quarter ending September 31, 2010. Kouton stock is plumbing the bottom compared to its peak of Rs 450. |
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Shoppers Stop opens M.A.C door at Chennai
Myiris.com
Shoppers Stop announced that one M.A.C door to Express Avenue Mall, in Chennai has been opened by the company. With the opening of this store, the company has now 16 M.A.C. doors. It started operations with the first store in suburban Mumbai and is now a multi-channel retailer with 33 large format department stores and online presence. |
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Bridgestone, the world's leading tyre and rubber manufacturer, announced the inauguration of its exclusive Select showroom in Kolkata. The Select stores has an exclusive Bridgestone retail "Identity and Sales", in line with the global retail philosophy adopted successfully across the world. The Select outlet, Lamba Agencies Pvt Ltd, hosts several customer friendly facilities. |
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The mobile guide application, Mobiesta is going to be available on various application stores soon. The company, which launched operations early this year, has already registered over 10,000 users who are actively using the application. Udit Joshi, Marketing Manager, Mobiesta, said, "We have a good following in the Delhi-NCR region and the user base would increase in leaps and bounds, as we move to other cities. To reach out to the same, we are making ourselves available on various application stores." |
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| News: Food & Grocery, QSR ... | | |
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Diwali is the time of the year when one set of the Indian population splurges on mouth watering sweets while another set - the diabetics and the health watchers - wistfully drag their eyes away from the tantalizing array of sweets. Sundar Diabetics Dezire brings Diwali cheer to the latter category. They can now relish laddus and gulab jamuns without a twinge of conscience or paying a price. Dezire is the brand that introduced for the first time in India, a whole range of food products especially suitable for diabetics and the health watchers, using levulose, a natural sweetener. A chat with R. Lavanya, Director, Sundar Diabetics Dezire. |
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| Retail Trends | | |
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 | It is the festive season, a time of happy card-swiping for clothes, sweets, fireworks, gifts, home upgrades and whatever is new and in. In your "must-buy" frenzy, it's possible you'll overlook an acquisition that slips in silently - the extra bulges. You despair polishing off the box of burfis. Don't despair. The buying spree has its hidden blessing. It's called retail therapy. In his book "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping", author Paco Underhill puts down "therapy" as a reason for shopping. |
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With its motto of "When your own initials are enough", Bottega Veneta doesn't believe in literally spelling out luxury. Away from the logo mania and the concept of the "It" bag, the Italian fashion brand entered the Indian market two years ago. Right around the time when the financial downturn hit the world, it opened a store in Mumbai. The brand now sells in Bangalore and New Delhi. On his first visit to the country, Marco Bizzari, President and Chief Executive, spoke about doing business in India, recession troubles and how Bottega Veneta is relevant in India's logo-driven market. Edited excerpts: |
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It's the festive season and if you have not found time to shop or find malls and stores too crowded, then you have the option of shopping online. At least online shoppers don't have to worry about finding space to park cars or not having their pockets picked in crowded shops. But how popular is online shopping in a city like Mumbai? Many people shop for a few goods online, but when it comes to Diwali shopping, they prefer to look at products before purchasing them. |
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 | The stores were crowded with shoppers, but the shine was a bit dull. High prices of gold seem to be putting off Indians from their favourite obsession, gold. The record high prices, which had recently crossed the 20,000 mark, have forced several customers to cut back on their purchases. However, industry sources say that more than the high price of gold, it is the continuous fluctuations that put customers off. |
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 | Teenagers are making a beeline to grab Obama T-shirts ahead of the US President's visit to Mumbai on November 6-7. T-shirts with pictures of the world leader are put on display at a clothing store in Colaba in South Mumbai. "Both Indian and foreigners are pouring in great numbers to buy these tees," Kishor Sabraj Punjabi, sales personnel, with the retail Tantra Stores, said. Interestingly, this is the first time that the store is selling merchandise bearing any political personality. |
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| Retail Insight | | |
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| Retail Franchising: The next BRIC thing? |
| indiaretailing |
In the case of all emerging markets, the questions should not be whether India, China, Brazil, or Russia are better prospects than a domestic market, but whether the ultimate return on investment will be better abroad than at home. The question is whether the performance within the domestic market has already been factored in. |
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