Indian Talent, Global Content
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Indian Talent, Global Content |
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March 2010: What's in the breeze |
News Update from the Retail Scene in India
The retail industry could see a sea change with the Government of India considering Foreign Direct Investment. With this in view, Chillibreeze plans to bring you periodical updates on the retail scene in India.The Chillibreeze Business Research Team has writers with interest and experience in the Retail industry, will be populating this page with the updates. Retail News 4th June - 10th June 2006 For other weekly updates click: Weekly Retail Update
June 4th – 10th India Retail News: Ikea, Reliance’s Fresh, Piramyd’s, Versace, Spencers1. Monday, June 5, 2006 The retail division of Reliance is set to make Thailand as its procurement hub for products such as FMCG goods and consumer durables. The company will also establish warehousing facilities in Thailand. Most products will be sourced from China, Indonesia and Thailand itself. Reliance is working out agreements with local manufacturers to source products from them and is reportedly asking for discounts of 40% on the MRP against the usual 20-30% given to organized retailers. Source: Business Standard 2. Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Although Hong Kong based clothing company Giordano has made plans to open 20 stores in India by 2008, the company will not start outsourcing its products from India as yet. Peter Lau, chairman and chief executive, Giordano International said “Textile infrastructure in India is yet to meet the global standards in terms of quality and scaleability of products compared to China”. Giordano recently opened its first store in India in Chennai and will be opening stores in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai in the future. Lau also spoke of concentrating on south India as Giordano’s retail hub and moving to other regions at a later time. The company will be testing the Indian market with 20 stores initially and eventually open up to 150. Source: Economic Times 3. Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Australia’s Cookie Man plans to expand its operations across India to open in non-traditional locations such as airports and petrol pumps. According to Sandeep Sewal, senor vice-president (retail) for Cookie Man India, the company is aggressively taking up retail space in malls, including those in tier II cities. The company plans to have 14 exclusive stores and 40 express stores by 2007. So far the company has taken retail space upcoming malls in Pune, Ludhiana, Indore, Jaipur and Chandigarh. Southern cities of Mysore and Coimbatore also feature high on the company’s list of expansion locations. Besides the personal shopper, Cookie Man is also targeting corporate gifts in the IT, BPO and insurance sectors. Source: Economic Times 4. Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Swedish company Ikea is considering entering the Indian retail market in the next 5 years, according to an announcement made by Anders Dahlvig, President and CEO of the company. Dahlvig added that the company would open a store in India by 2011, under the right conditions. The Indian market, he added, was as large as the European market and offers enormous expansion opportunities. At present, the company is focusing on its US and China expansion. Source: Kamcity.com 5. Wednesday, June 7, 2006 The race to form agreements with real estate companies and buy up space is heating up. Pantaloon is conducting talks with Unitech and Reliance is reportedly talking with DLF and other major real estate companies. Piramyd Retail, a division of the Piramal Group is tying up with sister concern, Morajee Realty. While Reliance is looking for such agreements in the metros, in tier II towns where the land is cheaper, it has been buying huge tracts of land. Several cities such as Nagpur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad and Pune have already seen a rise in real estate prices. Source: Economic Times 6. Wednesday, June 7, 2006 Reliance Retail’s fresh fruit and vegetable venture will be called Fresh Plus and is likely to be launched in August or September. The company has already invested Rs. 40 billion in setting up a food supply chain in Punjab and Haryana, where it has tied up with farmers for supply of fruits, vegetables, food grains and processed foods. Reliance has already had a soft launch of its retail operations at Sahakari Bhandar, a Maharashtra government owned enterprise and is looking for similar set ups with cooperatives in Delhi such as Kendriya Bhandar. These set ups give the company a ready base of consumers along with visibility. Source: Economic Times 7. Wednesday, June 7, 2006 The Retailers Association of India (RAI) and Mudra Institute of Communications have launched a professional programme in Visual Merchandising and Creative Communications. The course will be six months in duration and will focus on ‘persuasion through presentation’. Source: The Hindu Business Line 8. Thursday, June 8, 2006 Shoppers’ Stop is making plans to enter the food and beverage sector by opening up branded food courts and standalone fast food outlets such as deli’s and cafés, competing with Barista, McDonalds and Pizza Hut. The company will have 100 outlets across the country in the next three years, according to Harshita The company also recently tied up with Blue Foods Ltd. to launch Café Brio, a European style deli in existing Shoppers’ Stop locations. Brio will be introduced as a standalone by end 2006. Desi Café, offering Indian food will also be launched in a standalone format by end 2007. Source: The Hindu Business Line 9. Thursday, June 8, 2006 The Piramal Group’s retail division, Piramyd is restructuring internally to compete with domestic retail majors like Pantaloon, Shoppers’ Stop and Trent. The company has organized its lifestyle division under the Megastore brand and food, home and personal care under the Trumart brand, with different managements. Although the company increased its retail space from 150,000 sq ft to 480,000 sq ft in 2005-06, it is aiming to reach 900,000 sq ft in the year 2006-07. Piramyd will be opening 4 Megastores and 35 Trumarts each year for the next three years. In a change from the usual store-in-a-mall strategy, the company will be opening Trumarts in local neighborhoods to compete with kirana stores. Source: Business Standard 10. Thursday, June 8, 2006 The Reliance Group is likely to become the master franchisee for major international brands like The Home Depot and Target. The company is also considering the option of purchasing into Target. Reliance executives have not commented on the issue as yet. Source: Financial Express 11. Thursday, June 8, 2006 Pantaloon Retail has formed an equal joint venture with Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Pvt. Ltd. The new venture will focus on retailing of fitness and health related products and services. Kishore Biyani, managing director of Pantaloon, said that the company will be opening gyms in their malls to sell fitness related products. Three fitness centers will be opened in the next three months in Mumbai and Bangalore. Source: Reuters 12. Friday, June 9, 2006 Italian couture house Versace opened a store in the CR2 mall at Nariman Point in Mumbai. This is the company’s second store in India, and features casual wear under the Jeans Couture name. Versace’s first store opened earlier this week in Juhu’s JW Marriott hotel and offers the labels premium collections. The luxury goods market is seeing strong growth due to an unending demand of premium brands by Indians. Based on a survey by AC Nielson, Indians regard Gucci, Versace and Giorgio Armani as the most prominent designers whose clothes they would like to wear. Source: Business Standard 13. Friday, June 9, 2006 K Raheja’s retail division Shopper’s Stop has formed an equal JV with the Nuance Group to operate stores in airports in India. The Nuance Group is owned by Italian shareholders, GESCOS/Gruppo PAM and Stefanel and operates over 330 outlets in 59 airports in 17 countries and has 4,500 employees. Airports in India are one of the most promising sectors for development. Shopper’s Stop managing director, BS Nagesh said that "This partnership will extend our unique shopping experience to the airports and touch the lives of millions of travelers." Source: DNA India 14. Friday, June 9, 2006 RPG’s retail chain, Spencers will be increasing its range of garments in an effort to grow. Currently, the company’s turnover is Rs. 3.2 billion and the company is placing a dedicated team to develop the apparel segment. The plan is to increase the share of private labels to 30-40% from its negligible rate currently. According to Sumantra Banerjee, chief executive officer of PRG Retail, “Apparel comprises only 30% of our total business. We are aiming to take its share to 40% of the enhanced revenue that we will have with the growth of the business in the next couple of years." Its sister concern, Spencers Daily is already well known for its food and grocery products and Spencers Hyper concentrates on offering a variety of products, ranging from apparel, general merchandise, electronics, FMCG products and food and vegetables. Spencers Super is the company’s department store format and currently has only 2 stores. Source: DNA India
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