Friday, September 7, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
South India retail in focus at The Shop
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7 Sep, 2007
Customer focus is the key to retail success, cohered retail experts on the first day of South India’s first mega retail event, The Shop, an Images Group event organised under the auspices of India Retail Forum (IRF). The event was held in Bangalore on May 30-31. This is the third of a series of Images regional retail forums, the first of which was held in Kolkata last year.
The event took off with retail stalwarts Bijou Kurien, president & chief executive, Lifestyle, Reliance Retail; Kodandarama Shetty, CMD, Viveks; and Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries Limited, addressing the inaugural session. The focus was on South India’s Rs 250,000-crore retail landscape.
In his inaugural address, Kurien, officiating as the conference chairman, highlighted the various key elements that differentiate South India from the rest of the country and present retailers with unique challenges and opportunities. Higher literacy rates, lower population growth rates, and higher levels of urbanisation offer tremendous untapped potential for retailers in South India. Kurien also emphasised that the diversity in language and ethnic and cultural practices, as well as higher price and brand sensitivity of customers induce retailers to adopt distinctive retail strategies for different parts of the South.
Kurien highlighted that South India has always been at the forefront of the retail revolution, with several firsts – examples include the largest toy store, Kemp Fort; the largest film city, Ramoji Film City; and even the first mall of the country, Spencer’s Plaza in Chennai. The way forward for the retail sector in India, he said, should be a growth model that is inclusive of unorganised retailers as well.
Kodandarama Shetty reiterated the huge potential that South India offers to retailers, giving the example of Viveks – the company achieved a turnover of Rs 100 crore in just 105 days last year, which is a stark contrast to the fact that its first Rs 100 crore turnover landmark was achieved only after 30 years of operations.
Good retail, Bhaskar Bhat emphasised, is a judicious blend of information-led customer management and an attitude to serve. South India, by virtue of its high literacy levels, brand loyalty, and quality consciousness, offers huge potential for retailers. He said that backend information management and technology has an important role to play in the growth of the retail segment. Therefore, this is one retail function where the South, by virtue of its developed technology industry, can significantly contribute to the retail industry.
The inaugural session was followed by a panel discussion on “Retail Space”, and the relationship between developers and retailers. Subhrangshu Pani of Trammel Crow Meghraj was the moderator. Experts on the panel included Mahesh Khaitan, Salarpuria Developers; Tim Eynon, Prozone; Tan Ngoranga, Satyam Cinemas; Paul Merrifield, Aditya Birla Retail; Vijayant Chhabra, Archies; Kaushik Mukherjee, My Dollar Store; Dippankar S Halder, Spinach; and Kunal Sachdev, Hidesign.
Retail representatives on the panel outlined the issues associated with mall retailing that they face with various developers – among these, change of layout, fluctuating prices, and compromises on significant promises made at the time of signing the deal. The need of the hour in this sector, as explained by the various developers on the panel, is for developers to understand the needs of retailers and sustained communication between the two parties.
Tim Eynon said that there were two kind of developers in India at the moment, namely, the local developer who has been involved with residential properties and is merely looking at mall development to cash in on the retail boom, and the other who genuinely understands the retail environment and the specific needs of each retailer. It is important for retailers to work with those developers who understand the retail sector and are prepared to work towards meeting the needs of each individual tenant.
Paul Merrifield suggested that it is advisable to build a mall around consumers, that is, to first identify the kind of consumer profile that the mall intends to cater to, and then bring the right retailer to serve that consumer profile. This kind of speciality retailing will help to solve the many problems that developers and retailers are facing in India today. Addressing a query on Indian brands vs international brands in malls, Kunal Sachdev reiterated Merrifield’s point by saying that in the coming years, the kind of consumer targeted by the mall will be the key factor in deciding whether an Indian retailer will feature in it or an international one.
In conclusion, Subhrangshu Pani emphasised that the relationship between retailer and developer can benefit from constant communication between the two parties, increased professionalism, and understanding of the retail space and requirements.
Explaining the relevance of ‘The Shop’, Amitabh Taneja, Images Group head, said that South India has long been acknowledged as a pioneering base for organised retail in India. However, it is now time to move up the chain, with more advanced retailing practices that will integrate it with some of the world’s best practices in store operations, management and vendor sourcing. The Shop can emerge as a nodal point for such information and business opportunities to meet each other.
The crucial topic of retail design and shopfit was expounded upon by a expert panel that included Sanjay Mehra, NIKE; Fazle Naqvi, LMG Brands; Partha Dutta Gupta, Barista; Shantanu Saha, IDIOM; ASC Shekhar, Featherlite; Ashvini Kumar, Samsung; Syed Kashif Akhtar, Havelock AHI WLL (Bahrain); and Peter Baker, H&B Stores, Dabur. The session was moderated by Rahul Kalhan of Magnum Design.
The experts on the panel reiterated that shop and retail design is a surrogate for brand experience and that it is a silent salesman and an important factor in motivating buying. Sanjay Mehra highlighted the Nike experience by stating that companies and brands do not just sell a product; in reality, they sell a story and an experience for the customer. Partha Dutta Gupta highlighted the importance of providing customers with an overall superior experience. The panel concluded the session by highlighting the need for both localisation and standardisation across the linguistically and culturally diverse segments in India.
The discussion on merchandise and vendor management was led by Rajan Malhotra, Big Bazaar, and the experts on the panel included John Wilcox, Hypercity; Munish Hemrajani, Big Apple; Sarang Kanade, Spencer’s; Jay Gupta, The Loot; Arun Sirdeshmukh, Reliance Retail; and Aloke Banerjee, Total Home Expressions.
Rajan Malhotra stressed the importance of retailers evolving merchandise management systems that would be scalable and able to evolve over a period of time. Agreeing with his observation, John Wilcox added that it was important not to over-analyse the market and understand the customer profile in order to optimise one’s services and offerings. Malhotra explained this in the context of the Big Bazaar model for the demand-and-supply cycle – first, create the demand, and the supply will follow. In India, he added, the supply chain is extremely strong and while analysts talk about huge wastages in the supply chain, at the grassroots level it is seen that there is very little wastage as Indians find innovative uses for most things. Further, the panel concluded that private labels and brands are equally important for any retailer, and that private labels are a way of growing category penetration.
The first day concluded with the session on services in retail. The lead speaker for this session was C Gopalakrishnan, managing director, N Supermarket. The experts on the panel included Ronojoy Sengupta, Bata; Uday Sharma, SafeExpress; Mohit Oberoi, Polaris Retail Infotech; and Sumit Ray, Home Solutions Retail.
The panellists were in agreement that the concept of services has changed over the years, and today, customers expect faster turnover time and improved levels of service from all retailers. In order to ensure that customers get what they expect, there are three major aspects that need to be kept in mind – logistics, which includes transport, government taxes, restrictions, etc.; human resources, high quality of front-end staff, highly motivated staff who will exude their own passion for the job and thereby influence customers; and IT, automation of key backend processes, checkout time, etc. The panel also addressed the issue of attrition and poaching in the industry, and stressed the need for companies to spend time and money on training and retaining their retail staff.
The first day’s proceedings were wrapped up with the formal release in Bangalore of the retail visionary Kishore Biyani’s book “It Happened in India”. The book, which has earlier been issued in Mumbai and New Delhi, relates to the Big Bazaar philosophy.
Day II of The Shop saw intense discussions among CEOs and top executives of well-known retail chains, on South-based retailers going national as well as the moot point of southern markets being really different from the northern ones.
The first session focused on South-based retailers and their success stories. The panel comprised BA Srinivasa, Viveks; VP Harris, Witco; A Mahesh Raju, Digital Shoppe; Hemanth Bothra, Trust Chemists; and C Gopalakrishnan, N Supermarkets. The session observer for this discussion was Raman Mangalorkar, principal, AT Kearney.
The session focused on the success stories of each of the panelists, who started out in a small way in one city and then over the years expanded to multiple locations and multiple cities in the region. On the question of expanding their businesses to other regions in the country, namely North India, most of the panellists reiterated that their expansion plans to other parts of the country will take place once they have studied the markets, consolidated the supply chain, and have a trained sales force in place. Expansion plans are clearly on the cards for each panelist, with N Supermarkets aiming to open 60 to 70 stores over the next five years in the South, Viveks planning to go national with 100 more stores across the South and West over the next five years, and Witco planning to open five more stores in Bangalore and entering the Hyderabad market.
The second session for the day focused on the major lifestyle stores in South and their perspective of the North-South divide. The session panellists included Dilip Kapur, Hidesign, who was also the lead speaker for the session; Chitranjan Dar, ITC; CK Venkatraman, Tanishq; Mahesh Rao, Carbon; Thorsten Allenstein, Triumph; and Shumone Chatterjee, Levi’s. The session observer for this discussion was Harish Bhat, Titan. Other participants in the discussion were Jay Gupta, The Loot; Venkatramani K, Peter England; Tim Eynon, Prozone; Sanjay Luthra, Mattel Toys; and Rajeev Merchant, Portico.
The session opened with Dilip Kumar outlining the Hidesign expansion strategy that highlights the key differentiating factors of the brand such as craftsmanship, materials, and ecological value by use of vegetable tanned leather. The panellists differed in their viewpoints on the southern market vs the northern market. The general consensus was that westernised fashion brands do not require a change in strategy for different markets, whereas brands that compete in the traditional or ethnic market space need to customise their merchandise, pricing strategy, and marketing communication strategy for each market. What also emerged from this session was the fact that most retailers see the gap between the North and the South narrowing, and retailers would need to keep that in mind.
Explaining the relevance of The Shop, Amitabh Taneja, Images Group head, said that South India has long been acknowledged as a pioneering base for organised retail in India. However, it is now time to move up the chain, with more advanced retailing practices that will integrate it with some of the world’s best practices in store operations, management and vendor sourcing. The Shop can emerge as one of the nodal points for such information and business opportunities to meet each other.
Customer focus is the key to retail success, cohered retail experts on the first day of South India’s first mega retail event, The Shop, an Images Group event organised under the auspices of India Retail Forum (IRF). The event was held in Bangalore on May 30-31. This is the third of a series of Images regional retail forums, the first of which was held in Kolkata last year.
The event took off with retail stalwarts Bijou Kurien, president & chief executive, Lifestyle, Reliance Retail; Kodandarama Shetty, CMD, Viveks; and Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries Limited, addressing the inaugural session. The focus was on South India’s Rs 250,000-crore retail landscape.
In his inaugural address, Kurien, officiating as the conference chairman, highlighted the various key elements that differentiate South India from the rest of the country and present retailers with unique challenges and opportunities. Higher literacy rates, lower population growth rates, and higher levels of urbanisation offer tremendous untapped potential for retailers in South India. Kurien also emphasised that the diversity in language and ethnic and cultural practices, as well as higher price and brand sensitivity of customers induce retailers to adopt distinctive retail strategies for different parts of the South.
Kurien highlighted that South India has always been at the forefront of the retail revolution, with several firsts – examples include the largest toy store, Kemp Fort; the largest film city, Ramoji Film City; and even the first mall of the country, Spencer’s Plaza in Chennai. The way forward for the retail sector in India, he said, should be a growth model that is inclusive of unorganised retailers as well.
Kodandarama Shetty reiterated the huge potential that South India offers to retailers, giving the example of Viveks – the company achieved a turnover of Rs 100 crore in just 105 days last year, which is a stark contrast to the fact that its first Rs 100 crore turnover landmark was achieved only after 30 years of operations.
Good retail, Bhaskar Bhat emphasised, is a judicious blend of information-led customer management and an attitude to serve. South India, by virtue of its high literacy levels, brand loyalty, and quality consciousness, offers huge potential for retailers. He said that backend information management and technology has an important role to play in the growth of the retail segment. Therefore, this is one retail function where the South, by virtue of its developed technology industry, can significantly contribute to the retail industry.
The inaugural session was followed by a panel discussion on “Retail Space”, and the relationship between developers and retailers. Subhrangshu Pani of Trammel Crow Meghraj was the moderator. Experts on the panel included Mahesh Khaitan, Salarpuria Developers; Tim Eynon, Prozone; Tan Ngoranga, Satyam Cinemas; Paul Merrifield, Aditya Birla Retail; Vijayant Chhabra, Archies; Kaushik Mukherjee, My Dollar Store; Dippankar S Halder, Spinach; and Kunal Sachdev, Hidesign.
Retail representatives on the panel outlined the issues associated with mall retailing that they face with various developers – among these, change of layout, fluctuating prices, and compromises on significant promises made at the time of signing the deal. The need of the hour in this sector, as explained by the various developers on the panel, is for developers to understand the needs of retailers and sustained communication between the two parties.
Tim Eynon said that there were two kind of developers in India at the moment, namely, the local developer who has been involved with residential properties and is merely looking at mall development to cash in on the retail boom, and the other who genuinely understands the retail environment and the specific needs of each retailer. It is important for retailers to work with those developers who understand the retail sector and are prepared to work towards meeting the needs of each individual tenant.
Paul Merrifield suggested that it is advisable to build a mall around consumers, that is, to first identify the kind of consumer profile that the mall intends to cater to, and then bring the right retailer to serve that consumer profile. This kind of speciality retailing will help to solve the many problems that developers and retailers are facing in India today. Addressing a query on Indian brands vs international brands in malls, Kunal Sachdev reiterated Merrifield’s point by saying that in the coming years, the kind of consumer targeted by the mall will be the key factor in deciding whether an Indian retailer will feature in it or an international one.
In conclusion, Subhrangshu Pani emphasised that the relationship between retailer and developer can benefit from constant communication between the two parties, increased professionalism, and understanding of the retail space and requirements.
Explaining the relevance of ‘The Shop’, Amitabh Taneja, Images Group head, said that South India has long been acknowledged as a pioneering base for organised retail in India. However, it is now time to move up the chain, with more advanced retailing practices that will integrate it with some of the world’s best practices in store operations, management and vendor sourcing. The Shop can emerge as a nodal point for such information and business opportunities to meet each other.
The crucial topic of retail design and shopfit was expounded upon by a expert panel that included Sanjay Mehra, NIKE; Fazle Naqvi, LMG Brands; Partha Dutta Gupta, Barista; Shantanu Saha, IDIOM; ASC Shekhar, Featherlite; Ashvini Kumar, Samsung; Syed Kashif Akhtar, Havelock AHI WLL (Bahrain); and Peter Baker, H&B Stores, Dabur. The session was moderated by Rahul Kalhan of Magnum Design.
The experts on the panel reiterated that shop and retail design is a surrogate for brand experience and that it is a silent salesman and an important factor in motivating buying. Sanjay Mehra highlighted the Nike experience by stating that companies and brands do not just sell a product; in reality, they sell a story and an experience for the customer. Partha Dutta Gupta highlighted the importance of providing customers with an overall superior experience. The panel concluded the session by highlighting the need for both localisation and standardisation across the linguistically and culturally diverse segments in India.
The discussion on merchandise and vendor management was led by Rajan Malhotra, Big Bazaar, and the experts on the panel included John Wilcox, Hypercity; Munish Hemrajani, Big Apple; Sarang Kanade, Spencer’s; Jay Gupta, The Loot; Arun Sirdeshmukh, Reliance Retail; and Aloke Banerjee, Total Home Expressions.
Rajan Malhotra stressed the importance of retailers evolving merchandise management systems that would be scalable and able to evolve over a period of time. Agreeing with his observation, John Wilcox added that it was important not to over-analyse the market and understand the customer profile in order to optimise one’s services and offerings. Malhotra explained this in the context of the Big Bazaar model for the demand-and-supply cycle – first, create the demand, and the supply will follow. In India, he added, the supply chain is extremely strong and while analysts talk about huge wastages in the supply chain, at the grassroots level it is seen that there is very little wastage as Indians find innovative uses for most things. Further, the panel concluded that private labels and brands are equally important for any retailer, and that private labels are a way of growing category penetration.
The first day concluded with the session on services in retail. The lead speaker for this session was C Gopalakrishnan, managing director, N Supermarket. The experts on the panel included Ronojoy Sengupta, Bata; Uday Sharma, SafeExpress; Mohit Oberoi, Polaris Retail Infotech; and Sumit Ray, Home Solutions Retail.
The panellists were in agreement that the concept of services has changed over the years, and today, customers expect faster turnover time and improved levels of service from all retailers. In order to ensure that customers get what they expect, there are three major aspects that need to be kept in mind – logistics, which includes transport, government taxes, restrictions, etc.; human resources, high quality of front-end staff, highly motivated staff who will exude their own passion for the job and thereby influence customers; and IT, automation of key backend processes, checkout time, etc. The panel also addressed the issue of attrition and poaching in the industry, and stressed the need for companies to spend time and money on training and retaining their retail staff.
The first day’s proceedings were wrapped up with the formal release in Bangalore of the retail visionary Kishore Biyani’s book “It Happened in India”. The book, which has earlier been issued in Mumbai and New Delhi, relates to the Big Bazaar philosophy.
Day II of The Shop saw intense discussions among CEOs and top executives of well-known retail chains, on South-based retailers going national as well as the moot point of southern markets being really different from the northern ones.
The first session focused on South-based retailers and their success stories. The panel comprised BA Srinivasa, Viveks; VP Harris, Witco; A Mahesh Raju, Digital Shoppe; Hemanth Bothra, Trust Chemists; and C Gopalakrishnan, N Supermarkets. The session observer for this discussion was Raman Mangalorkar, principal, AT Kearney.
The session focused on the success stories of each of the panelists, who started out in a small way in one city and then over the years expanded to multiple locations and multiple cities in the region. On the question of expanding their businesses to other regions in the country, namely North India, most of the panellists reiterated that their expansion plans to other parts of the country will take place once they have studied the markets, consolidated the supply chain, and have a trained sales force in place. Expansion plans are clearly on the cards for each panelist, with N Supermarkets aiming to open 60 to 70 stores over the next five years in the South, Viveks planning to go national with 100 more stores across the South and West over the next five years, and Witco planning to open five more stores in Bangalore and entering the Hyderabad market.
The second session for the day focused on the major lifestyle stores in South and their perspective of the North-South divide. The session panellists included Dilip Kapur, Hidesign, who was also the lead speaker for the session; Chitranjan Dar, ITC; CK Venkatraman, Tanishq; Mahesh Rao, Carbon; Thorsten Allenstein, Triumph; and Shumone Chatterjee, Levi’s. The session observer for this discussion was Harish Bhat, Titan. Other participants in the discussion were Jay Gupta, The Loot; Venkatramani K, Peter England; Tim Eynon, Prozone; Sanjay Luthra, Mattel Toys; and Rajeev Merchant, Portico.
The session opened with Dilip Kumar outlining the Hidesign expansion strategy that highlights the key differentiating factors of the brand such as craftsmanship, materials, and ecological value by use of vegetable tanned leather. The panellists differed in their viewpoints on the southern market vs the northern market. The general consensus was that westernised fashion brands do not require a change in strategy for different markets, whereas brands that compete in the traditional or ethnic market space need to customise their merchandise, pricing strategy, and marketing communication strategy for each market. What also emerged from this session was the fact that most retailers see the gap between the North and the South narrowing, and retailers would need to keep that in mind.
Explaining the relevance of The Shop, Amitabh Taneja, Images Group head, said that South India has long been acknowledged as a pioneering base for organised retail in India. However, it is now time to move up the chain, with more advanced retailing practices that will integrate it with some of the world’s best practices in store operations, management and vendor sourcing. The Shop can emerge as one of the nodal points for such information and business opportunities to meet each other.
Retailing in Rural India
Is it rural India or urban India that is shining? This was the central question raised by panellists on the final day at India Retail Forum (IRF) during a discussion held on the topic ‘Retailing in Rural India’. The discussion started off with an informative speech by AMK Sinha, ED, Indian Oil, which runs over 700 Kisan Seva Kendras (KSK) across Indian villages.
Speaking about the business viability and expansion plans of KSK, Sinha said: “Our experiences in the rural area taught us that it is the real place where business comes from. We will have 1,000 Kisan Seva Kendras by 2010 and 5,000 by 2012.”Indian Oil retails its branded petroleum products, consumer durables, FMCG products and the like, plus services.
“We are initiating projects like providing purely treated portable water at our KSKs. The company plans to take up many other rural projects for the betterment of villages,” Sinha added.Discussing about the business of stores in villages, S Shiva Kumar said, ITC’s E-Choupal and Choupal “ITC had foreseen the viability that rural retailing can bring to the company.
Today, we are successfully running 20 outlets across various villages, and hope to add five more Choupal stores by this October.”Talking about the statistics of working population across villages, Kumar informed: “About 75 per cent of the males are engaged in agricultural activities. If we look at the aspirational element of rural and urban populations, it is almost the same.” With a brief introduction on the $1.75-billion Godrej and its rural retail format Agrovet, CK Vaidya, MD, Godrej Agrovet, said, “My parent company is 110-years-old. I would say that Godrej Agrovet is as successful as its parent, and the credit for that success goes to the country’s villages. According to estimates, there are over 6 lakh villages in India, and we will spread ourselves to many of the less-covered markets.”
He said that the company’s 95 per cent business comes through rural retailing. Talking about the challenges of rural retailing, Rajesh Gupta, business head, Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar, said: “The size of the market is not big due to the thin density of population. The rural population is not aware of the advantages that they derive from an organised retail set-up; the biggest challenge is to educate the masses.”Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar provides everything under one roof, including agricultural products, FMCG, grocery, and financial services. The company has tie-ups with many companies and banks.
Supply chain-partnerships-emerging retail spaces take centrestage at this Forum
The national retail deliberation session held on the second day at India Retail Forum (IRF) was an eye-opener with its debate on the ‘organised versus unorgansied retailers’ theme. The session began with a welcome note by Suresh Prabhu, Shiv Sena MP. “Retail is a big game.
We see the potential it can bring for the betterment of Indian economy. Meanwhile, the corporate retail houses should also manifest their concern for the development of farmers, vendors and small retailers. There should be a win-win situation for long-term and sustained growth,” said the former power minister of Maharashtra. Taking the consumer perspective, Prabhu commented:
“Retailers have to treat consumer needs in the best way possible, and without any compromise. The corporate retailers should also come up with projects for the development of small villages and towns.”
According to him, corporate retailers have the potential to execute productive development projects in small villages and towns, including building roads and facilitating other infrastructure-related projects, which in turn will help them to solve their logistics and other transportation problems. Bijou Kurien, president, Reliance Retail, started off with an informative presentation filled with facts and figures to take a realistic stock of the persisting mysteries of the current Indian retail scenario.Kurien said, “I was struck to see the Indian figures on various industries. Consider the car market as example. There were only 0.08 million cars in 1996, with only 2-3 model options; today we have over 50 variants available and a consumer base of over 1.25 million. The telecom and airline industries have also grown in similar fashion. This is what the retail industry must look up to. The consumer base has grown, as also the incomes. The consumer today looks for variety and options. The more you change, the more you attract a customer.”
Vikram Bakshi, MD, McDonald’s, focused on the real estate hitches. Urging the panel to find out solutions to deal with rising property prices, he insisted on developing a template through which the real estate industry can be brought on to a common podium in partnership with retailers, and rates are decided on the kind of retail formats as also the margins that a retailer is working on. Bakshi also insisted that a profit-sharing model can be formed in association with real estate developers and retailers.
R Subramanian, MD, Subhiksha, explained the model his company operates on and what have been the determinants in their successfully cashing in on the rural markets. He said that a shop in a tier II or III can be as profit making as in a metro. Subhiksha has had a first-go opportunity getting the desired sites at viable rates and capturing the hidden buying potential of consumers in those markets.Supply chain and logistics came up for resolution at a panel discussion starring Rahul Sinha, AD, PricewaterhouseCoopers
DS Mathur, president and head, supply chain, Reliance Retail Ltd; David Herridge, director, supply chain solutions, JDA Software Asia Pvt. Ltd; Amit Jatia, MD, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd; and
Venu Nair, regional head, South Asia, Marks & Spencer. With the theme as “How do we unleash the potential of supply chain and logistics in the Indian retail sector,” the panellists agreed that a process of evaluation is de rigeur when retailers consider their service providers and technology vendors. Significant value and cost efficiencies can be achieved only by building and nurturing partnerships – that is, work on process, people and systems in a synergistic manner and with a long-term context in mind. As modern trade grows, supply chain and logistic systems can be used to create a competitive advantage. The panellists agreed that internalising the concept of supply chain would make the all-important difference.Shoppers’ Stop ties up with IGNOU In a bid to develop retail talent for the industry,
Shoppers’ Stop has tied up with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to launch affordable retail courses for the common people.Speaking to Indiaretailing on the sidelines of India Retail Forum, BS Nagesh, MD, Shoppers’ Stop, said: “The course is aimed at providing an affordable educational curriculum to the common people. The six-month diploma programme costs only Rs 6,500 and will help the common people to get a professional backup for getting into the modern retail arena.”Shoppers’ Stop plans to have around 50 stores operational across all formats in various parts of the country by this fiscal. The company is witnessing a 25-35 per cent year-on-year growth. It is planning to introduce multi-channel marketing through internet, mobiles and the like.
“Multi-channel marketing is our focus since we expect it to drive more customers to our stores. We will continue to invest in developing IT infrastructure across our stores. In 1997, Shoppers’ invested around Rs 2 crore and this has increased exponentially since then.”When enquired about the company’s talks with the brand Macy, Nagesh commented: “I also read this news in a paper, but frankly I have no idea about the aforementioned talks.”
Retail in India will hope to find bigger opportunities and better clarity at IRF 2007
5 Sep, 2007
A few hours from now, the retail conglomerate of India as also from across the world, will sit, sip and dine together with one common aim – create opportunities, and chalk out a path for better access to the future of retailing in India.The fourth day of September will see curtains rising on India Retail Forum (IRF) 2007, a substantive unravelling of intellectual and information exchange for the retail business in the Indian subcontinent. The forum presents the business of retail in the region to a global audience, with the express aim of facilitating understanding about – and encouraging investment in – this massive marketplace.
A few hours from now, the retail conglomerate of India as also from across the world, will sit, sip and dine together with one common aim – create opportunities, and chalk out a path for better access to the future of retailing in India.The fourth day of September will see curtains rising on India Retail Forum (IRF) 2007, a substantive unravelling of intellectual and information exchange for the retail business in the Indian subcontinent. The forum presents the business of retail in the region to a global audience, with the express aim of facilitating understanding about – and encouraging investment in – this massive marketplace.
At India Retail Forum, it is a congregation of retail brands, companies and minds from across the globe, from diverse retail-related verticals – from retail real estate, and design and architecture, to visual merchandising, retail support, and technology.The conclaves, conferences and workshops will revolve around various talked-about subjects, some of which are: The New Paradigms in Retail, Environment & Infrastructure for Retail, Multi-format Management in Retail, Retail Innovation, Staying Ahead of Real Estate Curve, Category Management, Organised Retailing vs Modernizing Retail, Growth vs Profitability, Growth vs Corporate Governance, Emerging Retail Spaces, and Retailing in Rural India.
The sessions will be interspersed with Jayne Rafter talk shows conducted with such industry personalities as Cliff Crosbie of Nokia, Karen Eidsvik of Subway International B.V., Rex Mehta of Dollarstore Corporation, and Francis McAuley of Debenhams.IRF will see the launch of Shopping Centres Association of India. The one-of-its-kind association will be backed by such industry veterans as Neel Raheja, K Raheja Corp.; Ajay Chandra, Unitech; Ajay Khanna, DLF Retail; Nikhil Chaturvedi, Prozone; Dharmesh Jain, Nirmal Lifestyles; Harshvardhan Neotia, Bengal Ambuja; Rahul Saraf, Sunsam Properties; Anuj Puri, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj; Suresh Singaravelu, Reliance Industries; Shishir Baijal, Kshitij Advisory Investment; Pranay Sinha, Select Infrastructure; and Anshuman Magazine, CBRE.The assemblage of speakers for the India Retail Forum sessions include: V Vaidyanathan, ICICI Bank; Rajan Bharti Mittal, Bharti Enterprises; GC Daga, IndianOil Corp.; Abraham Goren, Elbit Imaging Group; Louise Spillard, IGD, UK; Ravi Naware, ITC Foods Division; Samir Kuckreja, Nirula’s; Rodney Fitch, Fitch, UK; R Subramanian, Subhiksha; K Radhakrishnan, Reliance Retail; Roopa Purushothaman, Future Capital Holdings; Lenders Staf, IKEA; BS Nagesh, Shoppers’ Stop; Sumantra Banerjee, RPG Enterprises; Sumant Sinha, Aditya Birla Retail; Bijou Kurien, Reliance Retail; Renuka Jagtiani, Landmark Group; Hemant Kalbag, AT Kearney; Ajay Kaul, Domino's Pizza India; Tim Eynon, Provogue & Prozone; Rahul Sinha, PricewaterhouseCoopers; David Herridge, JDA; Amit Jatia, McDonald’s; Nigel Lang, Direxions, UK; Andrew Levermore, HyperCity Retail; David Walter, Photolink Creative Group, UK; Samir Modi, Twenty Four Seven Retail; James Bamford, Multimap, UK; Suresh Singaravelu, Reliance Industries; Roy Palmer, Pragma, UK; Noel Tata, Trent Ltd; Renuka Ramnath, ICICI Venture Funds Management; Raghu Pillai, Reliance Retail; Govind Shrikhande, Shoppers’ Stop; Michael Green, IMSG, UK; Ajay Khanna, DLF Retail; Rajiv Bhatia, Inorbit Malls; Shumone Chatterjee, Levi's India; Vikram Bakshi, McDonald’s; Kishore Biyani, Future Group; Peter Lau, Giordano; Ian Duffy, IKEA; Barbara Wold, global retail & consumer expert; S Siva Kumar, ITC; and Reg Athwal, World CEO Forum.The launch of India Food Forum at IRF will initiate planning of a series of activities including an international event for food processing industries, with formation of an advisory board inviting organisations with interest in food processing in India – among them, APEDA, NDDB, ITC, Godrej, Unilever, Bharti, Reliance, AV Birla, Castlerock, Dabur, Marico, Bakemans, Amul, Nestle, Cadbury and Tata.
Besides huge export potential, organised retail in India needs fresh and processed food and farm produce worth USD30 billion by the year 2010. In the absence of adequate process industries, structured supply chain and logistics, a large portion of demand is expected to be met by imports, and that needs immediate attention.
Retail new concept of revolution in life........
FDI and Global Retailers 51% FDI allowed in single brand retailing FDI Laws relatively liberal in wholesale trade Metro AG and Shoprite already operating More Foreign Retailers eyeing possibilities in wholesale Tesco and Carrefour expected to operate soon Wal-Mart has already sined a JV with the Bharti Group Woolworths (Dick Smith Electronics - durable retail arm) recently started their operations through a JV with Tatas with plans to open 60 Croma stores by 2009. French retailer Geant is also expected to begin operations in India soon.
Government of India is considering opening up of certain retail sectors for foreign direct investment (FDI). The four sectors are electronic goods, Office equipments & stationery, sports goods, and building equipment.
The Retail Evolution
Indian organized retail is at the brink of Revolution indeed. The last few years have seen rapid transformation in many areas and setting scalable and profitable retail models across categories. Indian consumers are rapidly evolving and accepting modern formats overwhelmingly.
With escalating consumerism, unprecedented awareness, and a youth-heavy customer base, India is the ‘Promised Land' for the Global brands and retailers. A T Kearney's ‘2005 Global Retail Development Index' gives a clear message to global retailers on India: Move now or forego prime locations and market positions that will become saturated quickly. Global retailers that missed out on capturing first-mover advantage in China can make up for it in India.
INDIA RETAIL: 2006 (at current prices)
Retail Segments
INDIAN RETAIL MARKET 2006*
India Retail Value (Rs.Crore)
Organised Retail (Rs.Crore)
% Organised in 2006
Clothing, Textiles & Fashion Accessories
113,500
21,400
18.9%
Jewellery
60,200
1,680
2.8%
Watches
3,950
1,800
45.6%
Footwear
13,750
5,200
37.8%
Health & Beauty Care Services
3,800
400
10.6%
Pharmaceuticals
42,200
1,100
2.6%
Consumer Durables, Home Appliances/equipments
48,100
5,000
10.4%
Mobile handsets. Accessories & Services
21,650
1,740
8.0%
Furnishings, Utensils, Furniture-Home & Office
40,650
3,700
9.1%
Food & Grocery
743,900
5,800
0.8%
Catering Services (F & B)
57,000
3,940
6.9%
Books, Music & Gifts
13,300
1,680
12.6%
Entertainment
38,000
1,560
4.1%
TOTAL
1,200,000
55,000
4.6%
© IMAGES F&R Research
* Quick estimates
1200000
54999.6
USD 270 Billion
USD 12.4 Billion
_________________________________________________
Observations :
BOOKS, MUSIC & GIFT RETAIL
The magazine & books segment offers tremendous opportunity to structure the roadside selling of new and old publications. Neighbourhood stores, kiosks in malls, airports, stations & subways and online space tremendous opportunity for this segment to grow.
CATERING SERVICES
Indian railways, inter-state bus stands, fuel stations, service centres, large offices, fitness salons, educational institutions offer additional spaces for growth.
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
With ever evolving technology and communication spread, last few years have seen big change in consumer mindset. Indian consumers now upgrade fast. The traditional formula of progression may not apply in the context of changing consumer behaviour in this country. A rich villager wanting to buy his first TV set can straight go for a plasma model.
FASHION RETAIL
The branded retail revolution is yet to happen for the Indian women. The ‘Adonis Complex' or the ‘syndrome' has won over in the ready-to-wear stakes. Womensfashion branding is still elusive. With some of the fashion companies entering the womens market, we see the stirring of a revolution that may sweep India in the next 5 years or so. The designer fashion brands may also play a role in this dramatic development.
Women have driven fashion worldwide. The power of the purse is getting more powerful by the day. In India too, we are beginning to see the change and it's high time that our fashion industry and the marketers strategise to drive this trend towards business generation.
If the fashion business has to grow, it is arguably the untapped womens segment that needs attention of the corporate giants.
FITNESS AND PERSONAL CARE
Many corporates are opening fitness and grooming centres within the office premises and this shows the way ahead for growth of this segment. Sports & beauty companies need to work aggressively to inculcate the very concept of living healthy and beautifully. Over 1000 centres expected to come up in next 2 years through these two channels itself.
FOOD & GROCERY
In the absence of quality space within main cities and neighbourhood markets, it is expected that by 2010 over 50,000 kirana stores will get a facelift in partnership with national retailers and FMCG brands engaging structured VM, supply chain, billing systems and loyalty programmes.
FOOTWEAR
As footwear moves from utility to fashion and durability takes a backseat, there is is a big opportunity for small retailers to get into boutique spaces with traditional handcrafted footwear.
FUEL & FORECOURT RETAILING
Fuel forecourts with 24X7 convenience within cities and on the highways with security around offer huge scope. The concept has the potential to create excitement and initiate activities in small towns and cities as well.
HEALTH AND PHARMACEUTICALS
Scope for specialisation not explored so far. Concepts like ' Trust Diabetic World ' can do well. HOME AND OFFICE IMPROVEMENT
This sector badly awaits entry of foreign players as these formats require demo spaces & skills and most materials are imported. As more builders, architects and designers take up the job of home and office improvement, retailers need to appoint expert salesmen like medical representatives to meet up with the consultants and ensure their visits to the stores with their respective clients – builders or customers.
JEWELLERY RETAILING
High value sales of jewellery in exhibitions in cities' premium hotels prove that security remains a prime concern for the buyers. There is a definite need to create high security zones for high value transactions – banks, luxury & jewellery retailing etc..
TELECOM RETAILING
Mobile handsets have been immensely successful in increasing aspirations of the classes as well as the masses with rapid successions. The top priority segment in the age group 11-50 years, retailing of mobile products and services has the potential to connect with every possible format and category of retail.
TIMEWEAR & EYEWEAR RETAIL
Part of the giftware and personal accessories segment, watches and sunglasses retail need to add more to its portfolio to ensure steady inflow of customers. Premium writing instruments, metalwear could be the initial add ons matching the price points and overall look of the stores. There is a distinct need for stores like Claire's in India.
Retail Formats
MBOS will do well - converting to EBOs, speciality concept stores or category killer formats. Neighbourhood stores - day-to-day needs only - face lift & supply chain management in association with leading retailers or FMCG Brands (Examples Subhiksha and HLL) Cash & Carry - Big Bazaar also opening Big Bazaar Club. Opportunity to explore for small cities & towns Public private partnership Co-operatives - Facelift & vendor management Post offices & Banks Railways - Railways land, platforms, in train shopping marts, restaurants, entertainment Khadi Bhawans & State emporia Neighbourhood markets Corporation and state authorities owned/ managed distric centres & office complexes
Indian organized retail is at the brink of Revolution indeed. The last few years have seen rapid transformation in many areas and setting scalable and profitable retail models across categories. Indian consumers are rapidly evolving and accepting modern formats overwhelmingly.
With escalating consumerism, unprecedented awareness, and a youth-heavy customer base, India is the ‘Promised Land' for the Global brands and retailers. A T Kearney's ‘2005 Global Retail Development Index' gives a clear message to global retailers on India: Move now or forego prime locations and market positions that will become saturated quickly. Global retailers that missed out on capturing first-mover advantage in China can make up for it in India.
INDIA RETAIL: 2006 (at current prices)
Retail Segments
INDIAN RETAIL MARKET 2006*
India Retail Value (Rs.Crore)
Organised Retail (Rs.Crore)
% Organised in 2006
Clothing, Textiles & Fashion Accessories
113,500
21,400
18.9%
Jewellery
60,200
1,680
2.8%
Watches
3,950
1,800
45.6%
Footwear
13,750
5,200
37.8%
Health & Beauty Care Services
3,800
400
10.6%
Pharmaceuticals
42,200
1,100
2.6%
Consumer Durables, Home Appliances/equipments
48,100
5,000
10.4%
Mobile handsets. Accessories & Services
21,650
1,740
8.0%
Furnishings, Utensils, Furniture-Home & Office
40,650
3,700
9.1%
Food & Grocery
743,900
5,800
0.8%
Catering Services (F & B)
57,000
3,940
6.9%
Books, Music & Gifts
13,300
1,680
12.6%
Entertainment
38,000
1,560
4.1%
TOTAL
1,200,000
55,000
4.6%
© IMAGES F&R Research
* Quick estimates
1200000
54999.6
USD 270 Billion
USD 12.4 Billion
_________________________________________________
Observations :
BOOKS, MUSIC & GIFT RETAIL
The magazine & books segment offers tremendous opportunity to structure the roadside selling of new and old publications. Neighbourhood stores, kiosks in malls, airports, stations & subways and online space tremendous opportunity for this segment to grow.
CATERING SERVICES
Indian railways, inter-state bus stands, fuel stations, service centres, large offices, fitness salons, educational institutions offer additional spaces for growth.
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
With ever evolving technology and communication spread, last few years have seen big change in consumer mindset. Indian consumers now upgrade fast. The traditional formula of progression may not apply in the context of changing consumer behaviour in this country. A rich villager wanting to buy his first TV set can straight go for a plasma model.
FASHION RETAIL
The branded retail revolution is yet to happen for the Indian women. The ‘Adonis Complex' or the ‘syndrome' has won over in the ready-to-wear stakes. Womensfashion branding is still elusive. With some of the fashion companies entering the womens market, we see the stirring of a revolution that may sweep India in the next 5 years or so. The designer fashion brands may also play a role in this dramatic development.
Women have driven fashion worldwide. The power of the purse is getting more powerful by the day. In India too, we are beginning to see the change and it's high time that our fashion industry and the marketers strategise to drive this trend towards business generation.
If the fashion business has to grow, it is arguably the untapped womens segment that needs attention of the corporate giants.
FITNESS AND PERSONAL CARE
Many corporates are opening fitness and grooming centres within the office premises and this shows the way ahead for growth of this segment. Sports & beauty companies need to work aggressively to inculcate the very concept of living healthy and beautifully. Over 1000 centres expected to come up in next 2 years through these two channels itself.
FOOD & GROCERY
In the absence of quality space within main cities and neighbourhood markets, it is expected that by 2010 over 50,000 kirana stores will get a facelift in partnership with national retailers and FMCG brands engaging structured VM, supply chain, billing systems and loyalty programmes.
FOOTWEAR
As footwear moves from utility to fashion and durability takes a backseat, there is is a big opportunity for small retailers to get into boutique spaces with traditional handcrafted footwear.
FUEL & FORECOURT RETAILING
Fuel forecourts with 24X7 convenience within cities and on the highways with security around offer huge scope. The concept has the potential to create excitement and initiate activities in small towns and cities as well.
HEALTH AND PHARMACEUTICALS
Scope for specialisation not explored so far. Concepts like ' Trust Diabetic World ' can do well. HOME AND OFFICE IMPROVEMENT
This sector badly awaits entry of foreign players as these formats require demo spaces & skills and most materials are imported. As more builders, architects and designers take up the job of home and office improvement, retailers need to appoint expert salesmen like medical representatives to meet up with the consultants and ensure their visits to the stores with their respective clients – builders or customers.
JEWELLERY RETAILING
High value sales of jewellery in exhibitions in cities' premium hotels prove that security remains a prime concern for the buyers. There is a definite need to create high security zones for high value transactions – banks, luxury & jewellery retailing etc..
TELECOM RETAILING
Mobile handsets have been immensely successful in increasing aspirations of the classes as well as the masses with rapid successions. The top priority segment in the age group 11-50 years, retailing of mobile products and services has the potential to connect with every possible format and category of retail.
TIMEWEAR & EYEWEAR RETAIL
Part of the giftware and personal accessories segment, watches and sunglasses retail need to add more to its portfolio to ensure steady inflow of customers. Premium writing instruments, metalwear could be the initial add ons matching the price points and overall look of the stores. There is a distinct need for stores like Claire's in India.
Retail Formats
MBOS will do well - converting to EBOs, speciality concept stores or category killer formats. Neighbourhood stores - day-to-day needs only - face lift & supply chain management in association with leading retailers or FMCG Brands (Examples Subhiksha and HLL) Cash & Carry - Big Bazaar also opening Big Bazaar Club. Opportunity to explore for small cities & towns Public private partnership Co-operatives - Facelift & vendor management Post offices & Banks Railways - Railways land, platforms, in train shopping marts, restaurants, entertainment Khadi Bhawans & State emporia Neighbourhood markets Corporation and state authorities owned/ managed distric centres & office complexes
As there is not much scope in creating more high street within cities, Govt. needs to explore public private partnerships for regenerating district centers, office complexes, railway spare land, post offices etc.
There should be restriction of developing multistoried malls in new cities and encourage more high streets Need to give Indian retail - a face of India
India Brand Story can travel across the globe with 'Delhi Hat' type shopping cum entertainment centres opening not only across India but all over the world. Public private partnership can revitalise the formats like KVIC run Khadi Bhawans, one of the largest retail networks in the world, and also govt. state run emporia.
There should be restriction of developing multistoried malls in new cities and encourage more high streets Need to give Indian retail - a face of India
India Brand Story can travel across the globe with 'Delhi Hat' type shopping cum entertainment centres opening not only across India but all over the world. Public private partnership can revitalise the formats like KVIC run Khadi Bhawans, one of the largest retail networks in the world, and also govt. state run emporia.
As India emerges as one of the most potential markets for global brands and retailers and retail reinvents the way modern Indians celebrate their s pending power , India that takes pride in its rich culture, heritage, art, craft and variety of wares must capitalize on this ever escalating consumerism and channelise the spending towards healthy consumption for overall development of the country.
Retail can not sustain exorbitant real estate prices
Skyrocketing retail real estate costs not healthy for retail growth. Khan market rentals – Rs. 700-1000 psqft quite absurd. Retail sales in such a market do not justify rental of even Rs. 250/- psqft.
Real estate owners/ developers need to evolve new revenue models on profit sharing basis and minimum guarantee. Select City Walk, the upcoming premium mall in south Delhi has worked on this new concept.
Special Note for the Auto retail sector
The auto retail sector needs to explore innovative collaborative opportunities with the retail sector to create excitement in auto retailing and also to add value to auto shopping experience like oil companies are expanding with new concepts on forecourt retailing. So far operated through dealership network with showrooms mostly in not-so-happening premises, auto showrooms are now beginning to move to retail centres to grab attention of new generation upwardly mobile customers. With increasing income, easy credit facilities and 'change every year' new found attitude (initially started with mobile handsets) Indian consumers are likely to make spontaneous decisions on automobile buys as well.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
jeans Love... Dress up and feel cool.....
The poodle skirt. Bellbottomed pants. Neon spandex (double trouble). For reasons unknown, fashion trends come and go as each decade goes by. One trend that's always remained lurking in the background, however, is the beloved denim. Born in Nines, France and raised in America, jeans have hugged the frames of icons for years. It hasn't always been this way - at one point, denim was simply a faux pas, rather uncool, if you will (seriously)!
Created in the 18th century for miners due to the durable nature of the fabric, denim didn't become popular until the 1930s. It acted kind of like a souvenir for Americans who visited "dude ranches" (obviously they hadn't heard of postcards), and they brought home waist overalls. Then came the 1950s, teenage rebellion, and a young stunner named James Dean. Denim was the quintessential item for revolt, and some schools even banned them.
The popularity of denim grew during the next few decades, finally becoming "high fashion" in the 1980s (along with puffy pants, puffy shoulder pads, and puffy hair...). Remember the Calvin Klein ads? Nothing really did come between Brooke Shields and her Calvin's, and sales for the brand and others soared. The economic recession of the early 90s slowed down sales, but it struck back with a vengeance: the new millennium finds denim in just about every home
worldwide.
Jeans have gone in and out of fashion more times than Elizabeth Taylor's been married (impossible to keep track, we know). We know that the 60s were synonymous for hippie bell-bottoms, the 80s for the tapered leg. Nowadays, denim is all about variety, and we couldn't be happier. Designers are looking to the past and dreaming of the future, creating bold styles and keeping up with the fast-paced lifestyles of its consumers.
Apparently, these bold styles don't come cheap. Gone are the days when you could splurge on a great pair of jeans for $50. Nowadays you need to forego on a few essentials to save up the money for your favorite label (but really, who needs groceries anyway??). Designer denim labels, such as Blue Cult, Chip and Pepper, Joe's Jeans and Seven, are being created based solely on jeans retailing at as much as $400 US a pop.
So what inspired this resurgence in denim? Well, you can thank your favorite celebrities for that. Popping up on runways since the turn of the millenium, jeans are the must-have item. Gone is the overdressed formality of movie premieres and awards shows, and in its place is a relaxed attitude and the cool comfort of designer denim--so loosen that tie and unbutton that belt!
Flip through the best-dressed list of any magazine and you'll see the bodies of Hollywood's hottest squeezed into the newest designer jeans. Celebs like Kate Hudson and Jennifer Aniston have been spotted sporting their favorite brands at events normally calling for black-tie attire. Gwyneth Paltrow wore a pair of Blue Cult jeans to several NY Fashion Week events, and they have since become so popular that Blue Cult has re-named them "The Gwenyth Jeans".
Britney Spears even went so far as to wear ripped jeans during her hasty Las Vegas wedding. Brittany Murphy chose head-to-toe denim as her ensemble of choice for both the MTV Video Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards, and looked fab! More and more celebs are dressing down with denim, but still heading out in style.
Britney Spears even went so far as to wear ripped jeans during her hasty Las Vegas wedding. Brittany Murphy chose head-to-toe denim as her ensemble of choice for both the MTV Video Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards, and looked fab! More and more celebs are dressing down with denim, but still heading out in style.
Thankfully, the low (and we mean low) waist trend that's been lingering for the past few seasons seems to be on its way out. In its place is a return to comfort, as high waisted jeans muscle their way back into the spotlight. Complete with designer touches and detailing, they also come with a new special added feature - "butt-lifting". It's time to celebrate that booty, and let your jeans show it off (we can thank Jennifer Lopez for this). Darker, indigo blues are the shades for the season, and stretch is also making a long-awaited comeback. Jeans that are stylish and comfortable--what a novel idea!
Once worn for dirty work, we now see denim paired up with sexy stilettos and lace, or sneakers and T-shirts. Strutting their way down runways worldwide, cozying up to A-list celebrities, and accompanying you on your daily activities, jeans have come a long way since their grubby beginnings down a mineshaft.
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