Buy our Omnibus edition featuring 4 reports covering the fast growing retail scene in India. Updated March 2008. The reports begin with an overview of Retail in India. Your purchase includes 3 additional reports on:
1. Grocery and Food Retail
2. Growth of Malls in India
3. Growth of Single Brand Stores in India
General Plans and Information
1. Organized retail share expected to rise to 20%
According to new estimates from FICCI, the organized retail sector will see a 30% growth by 2010 from its current 4%, while the total retail sector will grow to $430 billion, from its current $328 billion. The association has recommended the opening up of FDI, granting industry status, tax rationalization and encouraging public-private initiatives to train the required manpower.
The report further states that the organized sector will grow at a 50% rate and will be worth $90 billion by 2010. In the past five years, the organized sector has been growing at 35% and accounts for 1.5% of the country’s GDP at present. The bulk of the expected growth will take place in larger cities. Monday, April 23, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
2. Anti Wal-Mart campaigner Wade Rathke to mobilize farmers
Wade Rathke who is in India to mobilize support for the anti-Wal-Mart campaign is creating a protest movement centered on farmers. He stated that “Our campaign in India will be centered around farmers, and leading farmer associations across India have already joined hands with us. We will conduct awareness programmes at grassroot levels so that farmers don’t sell directly to any of these companies.” Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
3. Anti-Wal-Mart activist Wade Rathke stirs up support
Leading anti-Wal-Mart activist and head of community group Acorn, Wade Rathke has found support in labor groups and farmers in India who are also against the entry to the retail giant in India. While for a lot of the protestors, their issue is not necessarily against only Wal-Mart or any other international company per se, but against large retailer including domestic companies like Big Bazaar and Reliance Retail. Thursday, April 26, 2007
Source: Financial Times
4. Retailers in India get down to basics
Retailers in India are matching prices of fruits and vegetable sold at farmers markets or mandi’s to bring in customers, but is also showing the way to other new retailers at how to do the business right. According to Raman Mangalorkar, head of consumer and retail practice at AT Kearney, "Having an efficient way of sourcing, storing, moving and replenishing products is going to be very critical to profits." Consumers have a lot of choice now, not only in the variety of food available but also in choices of prices and quality at all the levels of retail stores. Friday, April 27, 2007
Source: Reuters
Big players - plans and investments
1. Future Group to invest Rs. 40 billion
The Future Group announced that it will be investing Rs. 40 billion in the coming year to expand its stores and reach a topline of Rs. 300 billion by 2010-11. According to Kishore Biyani, managing director of Pantaloon Retail, “We are increasing the outlets of Big Bazaar from 50 to 100 by next year. We are also adding eight more stores of HomeTown.” The company will also be opening 12 Central malls, and factory outlets in Gurgaon, Kolkata and Chennai. Monday, April 23, 2007
Source: Business Standard
2. Future Brands plans to recreate private labels
The Future Group is currently in the process of redoing its private brands into conventional labels. According to Santosh Desai, managing director and CEO of Future Brands, "Under Future Brands, we will be revamping and marketing some of our private label products to position them as any of the other existing brands in a conventional and a traditional sense in the market." The company will be redoing 7-8 of its private labels. Monday, April 23, 2007
Source: The Hindu Business Line
3. Reliance is highest bidder for Park Circus market
Reliance Retail has won the bid to redevelop the Park Circus civic market under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), beating three Kolkata based real estate developers. As per the conditions, Reliance has 154,000 sq ft of space in a total area of 230,000 sq ft. At present there are 400 stallholders who will have to be rehabilitated. Only 10-15% of the total area would be kept for the corporation, and the balance would be for Reliance to develop a mall or multiplex or shopping market. Thursday, April 26, 2007
Source: Business Standard
4. 74 new stores for Reliance Retail in Q4
Reliance Retail had a busy fourth quarter, with 74 new store openings of its Reliance Fresh Brand. The company has a total of 135 stores in 16 cities, with its first Reliance Fresh store opening last December in Hyderabad and it’s first Reliance Digital store opening in NCR this week. It’s stores cover a total area of 370,000 sq ft of space. Friday, April 27, 2007
Source: Business Standard
5. Pantaloon net up by 73% for Jan-Mar quarter
Future Group’s flagship division Pantaloon Retail reported a 15.2% increase in net profits at Rs. 187.1 million as compared to Rs. 16. 240 million for the same quarter of the previous year. Net sales grew by 89% to Rs. 610.4 million and revenues from its value retail segment increased from Rs. 2,978.6 million to Rs. 5,584.6 million. Friday, April 27, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
International
1. Louis Vuitton in process of buying 20% share of Hidesign
LMVH, the global luxury brand is looking to take on competition from Japanese luxury bag makers via its purchase of 20% stake in Indian bag manufacturer Hidesign. The company will position the Hidesign brand against its nearest competitor Coach in the Japanese market, focusing on department store sales. LVMH will use Hidesign as its affordable luxury brand.
According to Dilip Kapur, president of Hidesign, “Our partnership with Louis Vuitton is at the operational, marketing and design front but all decision making will be ours. In addition to the equity stake, there is an understanding of mutual aid between the two brands.” Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
2. Carrefour postpones India plans
French retailer Carrefour has indefinitely put off its plans to open stores in India, due to “rising political opposition” for the entry of international retailers. According to Carrefour India head, Gerard Freiszmuth, “We will not be in a position to announce any concrete India entry plan till policy issues on FDI in retail are made clear.” The company is also waiting to hear some decisions on the Wal-Mart-Bharti deal and will decide accordingly. Carrefour is also awaiting for the results of the ICRIER study that the government had commissioned in February, on the impact of large retailers, international and domestic companies, on the local mom-and-pop retailers. Friday, April 27, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
Regional Trends
1. Retail gets maximum support in South India
Organized retail got started in south India, in cities such as Kochi, Coimbatore, Chennai and Bangalore and even now, customers are more loyal to these formats than customer in other regions of the country. At CEO-Speak, a management program organized by the School of Management at Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, NS Muthukumaran, AC Nielsen ORG-MARG’s Director of Online Research and Technical Training, said that Kochi received the largest number of sales by volume and Comibatore had the fourth largest sales through organized retail formats. Thursday, April 26, 2007
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Support Industries
1. Focus on in-store displays
The power of retail was discussed at Goafest last week, specifically how advertising at the point of purchase is more beneficial compared to traditional forms of advertising. Speaking at Goafest, Maureen Johnson, CEO of WPP’s global retail practice, said, “For a few categories, 99% of the buying decisions are made while the purchaser is on the shop floor.” Most retailers are venturing into the world of advertising, such as WalMartTV, a new initiative where the retailer will have it’s own programs and advertisements for it’s stores. Monday, April 23, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
Unique formats
1. Discount malls galore
Retailers in India are fascinated by the concept of discount malls, where branded goods are sold at 30-40% lower than the MRP. In the next two years, there will be around 50 such malls coming up, such as the Orchard Road Mall, which is being developed by Royal Palms in a Mumbai suburb, which will retail all the major brands such as Welspun, Calvin Klein, Louis Phillipe, Adidas, Nike and many more. Akruti Nirman is another developer who is creating discount malls at first only in Mumbai’s suburbs and in a later development in other tier II and III towns as well. Sunday, April 22, 2007
Source: Financial Express
Sector specific
Books, Stationary & Cards
1. Bennett Coleman buying minor stake in Archies
Bennett Coleman & Company announced that it would be buying 3.7% stake in Archies, the country’s most famous gift and card retail chain. Through this venture, Archies will raise Rs. 200 million, which will be utilized for expanding the company and meeting higher advertising costs. At present there are 83 Archies stores that are operated by the company itself, which will be increased to 230 by March 2010. Monday, April 23, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
Consumer Durables
1. Reliance Retail plans its own electronics brand
Reliance Retail announced that it would be launching it’s own label of consumer electronics, through its stores called Reliance Digital. For this venture, the company plans to invest Rs. 10 billion over the next 3-4 years to set up 150 stores. The first of these stores was opened in the NCR on April 24, 2007 at the Shipra Mall in Ghaziabad, a suburb of Delhi. One more outlet is expected to open in the NCR along with 3-4 stores in south India in the next few days.
Reliance Digital stores will sell everything from TVs, home theatres, refrigerators, cooking ranges, dishwashers, computers, mobile phones and many more items. On average, the stores will be 15,000-30,000 sq ft in size. Besides carrying all the major branded goods, the stores will also carry it’s own private label, and will offer membership to RelianceOne, a common loyalty membership program to all its formats. Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Source: Rediff Money
Food & Grocery
1. Reliance opens store in Jalandhar
Reliance Retail will be opening its first store in Jalandhar in Punjab this month and plans to open several more stores in the state in the next few months. New distribution centers are also planed for the area in cities such as Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala and Chandigarh and will open by end of May or early June by the latest. The distribution center in Jalandhar takes care of supplies to Delhi and the NCR. Thursday, April 26, 2007
Source: Business Standard
2. Large-scale organized retail shaking things for small fast food chains
The immense power of organized retail is shaking things up in the world of HR for small fast food chains, where people are moving across hierarchies, management structures and companies. Barista is currently facing 5% attrition per month from its 900 employees and is working to create a system where its staff don’t leave the company and instead want to build a career with them.
According to Partha Dattagupta, CEO of Barista Coffee Company, “We won’t call it stemming attrition, rather fostering growth.” The churn has hit Domino’s hard, with 10-15% at the management level and 50% at the front-end level. Ajay Kaul, CEO of Domino’s (Indian subcontinent) says that, “The threat from organized retail is clearly there, and we are constantly thinking of ways to retain talent, whether it is improving the work environment or empowering employees to grow further.” The number one reason that people join the larger retailers is to make more money. Other reasons are the potential of the opportunity and access to more challenging assignments. Thursday, April 26, 2007
Source: The Economic Times
www.india-reports.com: A Chillibreeze Website - Focusing on niche, value added epublications covering Indian business, economy, industries and government policy.
Stay abreast of the fast moving economic super-power — India!
| 
| 
