Indian Retailer

Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt. Ltd. said Wednesday it has set up its first centre in the northern Indian state of Punjab to source farm produce for its wholesale cash-and-carry business as well as for the retail stores under the 'Easyday' brand.

Bharti Wal-Mart is a joint venture between the world's largest retailer by revenue, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and India's Bharti Enterprises Ltd., which is the parent company of the country's largest telecommunications company by users, Bharti Airtel Ltd.

The joint venture currently operates a single wholesale store in Punjab.

The agricultural co-operative centre aims to create "a robust aggregating, handling, packaging and delivering system of fresh produce," to the wholesale store that operates under the name Best Price, as well as the 'Easyday' stores, Bharti Wal-Mart said in an e-mailed statement.

The chain of retail stores in India, under the "Easyday" brand, is run by Bharti Retail, another unit of Bharti Enterprises.

Indian laws don't allow multiple-brand retailers, such as U.S.-based Wal-Mart, to sell directly to consumers. But they can run wholesale operations and provide back-end support to local retailers.

The centre will "directly link farmers to consumers, providing them access to quality produce at low prices," said Raj Jain, managing director and chief executive at Bharti Wal-Mart.

Small towns and emerging markets are fast-replacing Paris and New York as the hotspots for Indian fashion designers such as Anamika Khanna, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Rajesh Pratap Singh.

With the western world still struggling to come out of its worst recession in several decades, the fashion fraternity is now venturing into small cities and towns in India with cheaper offerings and targeting newer markets in Latin America and Asia. Many designers have opted out of international fashion weeks that charge exorbitant entry fees to focus funds towards what they see as emerging markets outside the big five cities. Anamika withdrew from the European market this year, though she continues to retail in Kuwait and Dubai. “It was a case of growing too big too fast in Europe,” the Kolkata-based designer said.

Rajesh Pratap Singh said he explored better opportunities in new markets such as Latin America last year after facing a lot of order cancellations over the past two seasons. Manish Arora, who operates through a subsidiary in Europe, found new stockists across Bahrain, Singapore and Italy and cut prices by 10-12 %.

But the real hip story is India. Sabyasachi Mukherjee is doing shows in cities such as Chandigarh and Nagpur and has launched an ethno-pret (ready-towear ) line that plays in a lower price band of Rs 5,000-15 ,000. The strategy helped his business expand 65% this year to Rs 22 crore. “The middle class is getting more affluent and it would be foolish not to capitalise on this growing market. I intend to launch a sub brand in a lower price category that will exponentially increase my audience by next year,” he said.

Mumbai-based Krishna Mehta is also overwhelmed by the demand in smaller cities such as Kochi, Vijayawada, Baroda and Rajkot where she entered this year with products priced 25% lower than her retail prices a year ago. She said that the label’s turnover has multiplied thrice in one year and production capacity almost quadrupled. “Organised designer retail in India is ready for a scale game for the first time,” said Delhi-based designer Raghavendra Rathore.

The likes of Mukherjee and Manish Arora now plan to attract venture capital investors by the end of the year to fund expansion. One reason behind the domestic designers’ sudden penchant for cheaper offerings is the fear of foreign brands. “In order to compete with foreign brands, we have brought down the average price bracket of Manish Arora’s western wear to Rs 10, 000-20 ,000 from above Rs 20,000 earlier,” said Deepak Bhagwani, director of Three Clothing Company, which owns the label.

Besides extending into accessories, jewellery and home textiles, Indian designers are increasingly seeing business through design collaborations in India.

While Mukherjee has tied up with real estate developer Samira Habitat to design five luxury villas in Alibaug, Rajesh Pratap Singh has several multiplex interior projects in the pipeline. Manish Arora has launched a crockery collection with home accessories chain Good Earth in addition to his sub-brand Fish Fry that was licensed to Reebok just as Aki Narula is collaborating with sports lifestyle brand PUMA. Rajesh Pratap Singh also plans to add sev

LS Retail, a leading Dynamics Retail Solutions provider, has chosen Dynamic Vertical Solutions (DVS), business management applications provider, to set up its “Retail Centre of Excellence” (CoE) in India.

The “Retail Centre of Excellence”, is an initiative to provide retailers of all sizes insights into usage and application of cutting edge technologies in the retail industry and would showcase an end-to-end solution roadmap for the retail industry.

Through the Retail Centre of Excellence DVS would demonstrate the strengths of its retail offerings provide thought leadership on industry issues and promote usage of ground breaking technologies making it a centre of learning for the Indian retail community.

Gunnar Gunnarsson, CEO of LS Retail said “LS Retail is very proud to announce DVS as our chosen Retail Centre of Excellence in India. We are confident that the retail industry in India, and globally, will benefit from the technological educational and best practice learning that this Centre will provide.”

Microsoft India, the Indian subsidiary office of Microsoft Redmond, has given its full support to this initiative. DVS which works very closely with Microsoft as one of its primary Principal Partners will look to support Microsoft Dynamics Partners in India and across the globe to penetrate and support the Indian Retail Market.

Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Microsoft India said, “The Retail Centre of Excellence will be a much required platform and space for businesses to interact, learn and adopt best of breed retail technology solutions. The CoE will act as a facilitator for the retail industry, in its quest for achieving competitive advantage in the market place.”

Through the newly created Retail Centre of Excellence, DVS will deliver business value to retailers seeking to improve their bottom line profitability.

The 'Retail Centre of Excellence' will be fully operational to go live in the First Quarter of the next financial year (April-June 2010).

One of the world's largest food companies, Kraft Foods, has finally bitten into sweet chocolate with its bid for Cadbury. But in the Indian market, where Cadbury is synonymous with chocolate, it’s time now to see both Toblerone and Dairy Milk on the same rack.

Kraft has finally managed to take a bite of Cadbury through its $19.6 billion bid and emerge as the No 1 foodmaker. Once the deal goes through, Kraft, known for its brands like Oreo and Tang, will get into the Indian market, Kraft has been eyeing since a very long time now.

CY Pal, non-executive chairman of Cadbury, said, “Kraft has very little presence in India at the moment, while Cadbury has an extremely strong presence in India. We are the market leaders in India and therefore it would benefit Kraft immensely in terms of broadening the base of the business in India.”

Kraft will get access not only to Cadbury's five manufacturing units here, but also over 1.2 million retail outlets spread across the country. In addition Kraft is also likely to set up their own manufacturing units to make milk products and biscuits.

But even for Cadbury, which has over 72 per cent share in the Rs 2000 crore chocolate market, it's sweet deal, say experts. Cadbury can now enter newer and high margins segments, courtesy Kraft's portfolio of over 40 super brands, many of them in the premium segment.

Ashish Nanda, partner of retail and consumer products at Ernst & Young, said, “Kraft is not new in the country, especially in urban markets where it is well known. So, the moment the portfolio is expanded, the entire relevance to the trade channel increases channel partner and economic viability improves.”

But apart from multinationals Nestle, homegrown company Britannia, which has made fortunes selling biscuits and dairy products, will also have to fight world's largest biscuit brand Oreo and Kraft Cheese. Well, in this competition, Indian consumers will now surely have much more in the plate than they can actually gulp.

For retailers, every occasion to celebrate is appropriate to do big business. This year, the Republic Day falls soon after weekend and top retailers are hiking their advertising and marketing spends by an additional 30% to 50% on offering huge discount offers, freebies to woo customers and spur sales. Before the last Republic Day, they were not so enthusiastic due to the economic slowdown, and rather preferred to maintain their consumer offers to certain categories only.

Big Bazaar, part of the Future Group, plans to launch Saalke Sabse Saste Chaar Din (the year’s most economical four days of shopping) offer between January 23 and 26, which will run across 120 Big Bazaar hypermarkets in 70 cities of India on many merchandise. Damodar Mall, group customers director, Future Group told FE, “After witnessing revival in footfalls since October last year , we are hiking expenditure for ads and marketing spends for this Republic Day over previous corresponding period by an additional 25% to 30%, and thereby cash in on the opportunity from weekend onwards as January 23 falls on a Saturday.”

“We hope to achieve 35% to 40% higher revenues through promotions during the Republic Day through innovative consumer offers apart from offering huge discounts on existing merchandise as well,” Mall added. The overall marketing budget by Big Bazaar was Rs 100 crore during the previous Republic Day, which included below-the-line advertisements, promotions and innovations, according to the Future Group spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Hypercity Retail India too plans to hike its marketing budget by over 50% for this Republic Day, over previous corresponding period, in launching innovative consumer offers on certain existing and new merchandise. This would include food, grocery and general merchandise, Ashutosh Chakradeo, head - food & grocery, Hypercity Retail ( India ) Ltd said.

Premium department store, Shopper’s Stop plans to launch new variety of ethnic apparels in private labels, which will be offered to customers at discounts with a value-for-money pricing strategy during the Republic Day. Besides, there could be offers on purchase of certain branded luxury perfumes and accessories as well, its president and CEO, Govind Shrikhande said. According to him, “Soon after New Year promotions, we feel Republic Day is the main driving force for spurring sales. Hence, we are upbeat about upcoming occasional celebrations and looking at increasing marketing spends.”

Mumbai-based VVF Ltd beat Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail to acquire three brands from detergent and home care company Henkel India, namely Aramusk and Moloy soaps and Mahabringol hair oil.

The move comes three months after VVF, the makers of Doy and Jo soaps and one of the world’s largest contract manufacturers of bar soaps, bought out Henkel’s plant at Tiljala, Kolkata.

Rashmin Joshi, president and director (consumer goods) of VVF, confirmed the development. “We have been looking at such acquisitions as part of our core growth strategy,” he added. Reliance Retail, which was keen to buy the three regional brands on the block to boost its private brands business, lost out because Henkel was keen to sell them off along with the plant.

“Reliance Retail was keen only on acquiring the three brands; so lost out to VVF,” an official directly involved with the development said.

The total deal is estimated at Rs 22-23 crore, with the plant accounting for Rs 17-18 crore, the official said.

Although the brands do not bring in much turnover at a national level, they are attractive local buys. Aramusk is among the oldest male deodorant soaps in the country with a loyal consumer, while Moloy sandalwood soap and Mahabringol hair oil have reasonable equity in eastern India.

“We plan to take the three acquired brands national in due course,” said Mr Joshi, pointing out that his Rs 1,350-crore company already covers one million outlets across the country. The Kolkata plant, which can produce 10,000 tonnes of soaps per year and a smaller amount of toothpaste, will be VVF’s eighth plant.

It will manufacture Henkel’s Margo, the three acquired brands, and its own Doy at the plant, Mr Joshi said.

The Chennai-based Henkel India, 51% owned by Düsseldorf, Germany-based Henkel group, put the three brands on the block last year. Media reports had said Marico and Emami too were interested in Aramusk and Moloy brands.

The company wanted to prune its portfolio to focus on flagship brands Henko and Mr White (both laundry care products), Pril dishwasher, Margo soap, Fa deodorants and Neem toothpaste.

Alongside, Henkel — which also makes haircare brands Igora, Bonacure, Glatt and Palette and Bref surface cleaners — also decided to divest the Kolkata plant to concentrate on marketing.

Henkel had acquired the plant along with Aramusk and Moloy brands one decade ago when it bought out Shaw Wallace’s consumer care division, which included Calcutta Chemicals and Detergents India.

Henkel now has only one plant in Pondicherry for manufacturing its laundry and home care products. About a dozen contract manufacturers make the rest of its products as the company wants to focus on marketing and distribution.

Apart from soaps brands Doy, Doy Aloe Vera and Jo and contact manufacturing, VVF also makes oleochemicals, a key ingredient for soaps and cosmetics. In mid-2008, VVF had acquired Henkel’s soap manufacturing plant in Poland. It was the first European facility of the company with a global capacity of 300,000 metric tonnes.

HyperCITY Retail (I) Limited, today launched its much awaited store at Big Thane Shopping Centre, Ghodbunder Road, Thane. After the successful launch of four stores; in Mumbai, Vashi, Jaipur & Hyderabad; HyperCITY Thane is the fifth store in India and third in Mumbai.

Commenting on the launch of the Thane store, Mr. B S Nagesh, Vice Chairman, HyperCITY Retail said, “HyperCITY Thane is another milestone in our effort to bring about a retail revolution in India. HyperCITY provided Mumbai its largest & second largest hypermarket with Malad & Vashi, and now Thane’s largest as well. With Thane, HyperCITY has now over 3 Lac sq. ft. of retail space in Mumbai alone. HyperCITY Thane will enable customers to discover the next level of shopping; whilst continuing to provide unmatched affordability, guaranteed quality and a choice of products and service. HyperCITY Thane will also help customers save money by providing a “Free Bus Service”, which will pick & drop customers from their doorstep to HyperCITY & back. 2010 will see us launch more stores in Amritsar, and Bangalore.”

Spread across 1, 00,000 square feet of shopping area, the new HyperCITY store will provide Thaneites an international ambience where they can shop in comfort in a large, modern and exciting environment. HyperCITY Thane will carry a range of over 45,000 branded products catering to needs of the entire family. Shoppers will have the option to choose from a wide array of products in every category ranging from Fresh Produce, Food & Grocery, Home Care Products, Electronics & Home Appliances, Home-ware, Furniture, Apparel and Accessories, Lifestyle Products, Footwear and much more. At HyperCITY, one can get a taste of a scrumptious selection of breads, gourmet meats, seafood and foods from all over the world.

At HyperCITY, customers can ‘discover’ something new and exciting every time they walk into the store. The furniture section offers a range of stylish and contemporary furniture for your home at great value. Fully fitted concept rooms offer home solutions and ideas to customers. Sports enthusiast and health fitness conscious will find an exhaustive range of sports equipment from leading brands. With its wide selection of fashion clothing, accessories and footwear, HyperCITY offers everything that the customer needs to step out in style.

HyperCITY houses well-acclaimed international brands like Waitrose and Raleigh. The store has developed a suite of exclusive brands across all categories viz; Fresh Basket in Food, Ebano and Avorio in Home-ware, Maxit in Sports, Technix in Appliances, City, RiverInc in Fashion among others. They are available exclusively at HyperCITY which delivers increased value to customers by offering quality, uniqueness and price.

HyperCITY will provide ‘Free Bus Service’ to ferry interested customers free of charge from nearby residential societies in Thane to the store. The customers can avail of this Free Bus Service to the store for shopping and will be duly dropped back to the pickup point at set intervals of time, thus also contributing towards the eco-friendly initiative of ‘car pooling’ and helping the customers save money.

Now customers from Thane and beyond will have Discove

Vision Express, the 50-50 Joint Venture between Reliance Retail and Pearle Europe, expands its base nationally on the occasion of its first anniversary, by foraying into Mumbai. The opening of the first Vision Express store in Mumbai is in sync with the brand's aggressive retail expansion strategy which has helped Vision Express establish a formidable presence with 41 stores across 18 cities in the country within the first year of its operations.

The Mumbai outlet is the 41st Vision Express outlet store in the country and reiterates the reputation of Vision Express as one of the fastest growing eyewear retail chains in the country.

Having embarked on the retail journey in December 2008, Vision Express has been changing the landscape of the eyewear retail industry in India by opening world-class optical stores across the country. Within a short period of time, the company has established a sizeable geographic presence and introduced unique services, stylish international products and exacting quality standards, at very sharp prices unparalleled in India's eyewear industry.

The Mumbai foray is part of an overall aggressive expansion strategy by the format which will see wide-spread expansion in terms of cities and number of stores in existing cities in its aim to achieve numero uno optical retail chain in the country.

On the occasion of the launch, Mr. Guillame Brouwet, CEO, Vision Express said, "We are proud to complete a great and successful year of our presence in India. The phenomenal customer response to our stores has helped us bring the best of optical retail experience to the Indian consumers through our network of 41 stores across 18 cities within the first year of our operations.

With the thought of extending the unique Vision Express experience further, on our first anniversary in India we have launched our first store in Mumbai and will expand to several new geographies in the months ahead. Through our ever expanding network we promise to bring international quality and several first-of-its-kind essential and compelling services at very competitive prices to the Indian consumers."

The new store is located at Shop No. UG 33A, Next to Westside, Korum Mall, Near Cadbury Compund,Thane (West) - 400 606, Thane, Mumbai. Like all other Vision Express outlets this outlet too will offer a wide variety of fashionable and trendy optical products at affordable prices. Vision Express, Europe's largest optical retail chain will present its global optical retail expertise through this store to the consumers in Thane and surrounding areas.

With its experience in more than 25 countries, Vision Express aims to provide shoppers across India a never before experienced shopping delight through the expanding network of Vision Express stores. The core of Vision Express, "We see it your way" reflects the brand's mission to optimize customer experience and satisfaction.

The store launch in Thane will be supplemented by special 1st anniversary celebrations targeted at bringing additional benefits to the consumers including its highly popular free eye test for all customers. The free eye test at Vision Express is a

TOUCHMATE M.E Free Zone Co., a Group comprising of 32 companies, established in 1988, the largest manufacturer & distributor for TOUCHMATE range of computers, accessories, peripherals, household appliances, mobile phones and software products, today announced its entry into Indian market, expanding its global presence even further.

TOUCHMATE which has over 1100 technology products under its brand has formed an Indian subsidiary by the name TOUCHMATE India Pvt. Ltd., to oversee and manage its Indian operations.

TOUCHMATE has heavily invested in R&D and has factories in China and Taiwan which enables it to develop innovative products and market them worldwide. It has recently opened an office in Hong Kong which shall handle its household appliances business. Besides, it has two state of the art PC assembling units that have a collective capacity of approx. 6000+ PCs per month.

Over the years the brand has established presence in 60 countries across the globe. It has sales office in Shenzhen, China to serve bulk order shipments.

TOUCHMATE is initially introducing its exciting range of media players; digital photo frames; HDMI Hard Disk Movie Player; DVD Boombox with LCD display & TV and Radio; designer notebook skins; fashionable notebook bags; Designer USB drives; Unique Internet multimedia optical mouse; Stylish web cameras; USB stereo headsets; and Bluetooth headsets in India.

According to Mr. Vasant Menghani, Founder & CEO, TOUCHMATE M.E Free Zone Co., “Indian market has impressed the world with its statistics and business potential lately. Technology usage and adoption has increased significantly in the recent past not just in metros but even in B & C class cities. This is primarily owing to a significant increase in disposable income of not just the upwardly mobile but middle-class population as well which has led to decent traction for technology products in all spheres of life across the country. The overall economic scenario in India presents a lucrative opportunity for us to be here.”

Mr. Alok Gupta, a veteran technology industry professional and a successful businessman in the domain has an equity stake in the Indian subsidiary and shall be heading the Indian operations as its Managing Director.

“Our first priority shall be to identify and align with channel partners and thus create a formidable network of distributors and resellers. We shall cohesively work with our channel partners and support them through our marketing and promotional schemes along with aggressive advertising and PR campaign nation-wide.

Besides this we shall tie-up with major brands in large format retail (LFR) i.e. chain of stores across cities, as well as successful individual retail brands Another important aspect on our priority list of Indian operations shall be to create a strong after sales support network,” explained Mr. Gupta.

GS Home Shopping, South Korea’s largest and the world’s third largest home shopping network, has picked 15% stake in Network I8 promoted Home Shop 18 for $18.5 million. Home Shop 18 is a 24-hour shopping channel. Under the agreement between the two, GS Home Shopping will lend its expertise in the areas of sourcing, merchandising, broadcasting and logistics to scale up HomeShop18’s business in India.

Sundeep Malhotra, CEO, Home Shop18 told FE, “Home Shop 18 has raised $23.5 million as growth capital to fund the exceptional growth and rapid expansion of its business. GS Home Shopping earlier known as LG Home Shopping has invested $18.5 million while Network18 Holdings Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Network18 Media and Investments Ltd, has pumped in $5 million.”

Network18, the parent company, will remain the majority shareholder in Home Shop18 with 51% stake whereas SAIF Partners, a private equity firm that provides growth capital to companies in Asia, has 31% stake.

The remaining 3% will be held with the employees in the form of employee stock options.

Haresh Chawla, group CEO, Network18, said, “We set up the business in April 2007 with SAIF Partners, which has been pioneering investors in home shopping in India and China, as an anchor investor. It is gratifying to see that one of the world’s largest home shopping companies has come on board as a strategic partner.”

Tae Soo Huh, CEO and president, GS Home Shopping, said, “Both HomeShop18 and GS Home Shopping are the pioneers of integrating media and retail in their respective countries and this partnership will be truly formidable. We aim to employ a collaborative approach to grow the home shopping segment in India with the HomeShop18 management team.”

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail has devised a new business model, under which it will open small outlets at the premises of large corporates.

The company, which is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, will soon approach big corporate houses with this proposal to implement the novel business plan, a top Reliance Retail Official said.

"We will approach big corporate houses, where thousands of people work, with a proposal to open our small retail outlets there," the official told PTI.

Elaborating on the new business model, the official said RRL envisages an employee-friendly retail format. It will provide price discounts to employees in these stores.

In the first phase, RRL plans to open Reliance TimeOut Stores, engaged in books and music retailing business, in Mumbai and Delhi.

"Our initial plan is to start this with our TimeOut stores where we sell music, books and gifts.

Canon India, which recently slipped to third position in the digital camera category, announced its aggressive strategy for the year 2010 to target Rs 450 crore revenue in camera division.

The company plans to invest Rs 55 crore in the marketing of the camera business. Canon is also announcing new campaigns such as 'Canon on Wheels' and 'My IXUS, My Style' to tap a wider audience and reposition the category this year.

"Camera industry is growing at the rate of 35 percent per annum in India and Canon wants to replicate its success stories of the world in India too. Canon is rolling out aggressive marketing plans to touch Rs 450 crore revenue in camera division out of a total of Rs 1,100 crore in 2010," said Kensaku Konishi, president and chief executive officer, Canon India.

"To continue the momentum further, we will provide our consumers expanded portfolio of stylish and next generation digital imaging products. We are happy to launch the campaign 'Capture Mumbai' in the city of Mumbai to take our market share from 20 percent currently to 30 percent by June 2010," added Konishi.

The 'Capture Mumbai' campaign begins in January 2010 with mall roadshows at four prime venues within the city of Mumbai, where the company will showcase a wide range of cameras on display for the consumers to have a "hands on" experience. This will continue till June 2010. In Mumbai, Canon will roll out 100 roadshows during the next six months.

Across eight cities, Canon plans to reach out 50 lakh customers through a mass contact programme. To further enhance its presence in exhibitions, Canon plans to participate in 35 exhibitions across 35 cities to reach out to another 5 lakh visitors.

'Canon on Wheels' - Canon Image Mobile Express is a concept to create a wider touch and feel for Canon products and to connect with not just its customers in the metro, but also in Tier II and Tier III cities, said the company. Canon on Wheels will be a caravan of four vans that moves in a city to set up 'Canon Image Fest' mini expo that provides touch and feel experience. This will travel to cover 50 cities across India and target over 5 lakh customers.

Canon India also announced the launch of its soon-to-be launched television commercial, "My Ixus My Style". The new commercial, focused on youngsters, will be aired from 10 February 2010. The company will also be creating IXUS corners with a total of 500 outlets, out of which 150 will be available in Mumbai from today.

With the organised retail boom in India, Canon has introduced the concept of Canon League retail stores and partners and will target 150 Canon league points by providing cameras for demo to create experience points in retail stores. The Canon League programme for channel partners is to connect, develop and build a strong distribution channel.

Additionally, Canon is creating photo culture by building an online photo community of Canon camera users in India. In 2010 Canon is looking at expanding its members to 200,000 from the current 80,000.

Canon Edge, a one-stop informative website for all Canon buyers, can register and get information, discuss or share interesting tips on photography. Canon has created a panel with 12 famous photographers and six expert trainers to apply their experiences and knowledge about the nitty-gritty of photography.

Canon's camera and photo products business grew by 32 percent in 2009, the company claims. The company reported an overall revenue of Rs 840 crore in 2009, registering a 27 percent growth over 2008.

Last week’s online holiday sales has once again convinced people about the prosperity of ecommerce in the 21st century. Bill Gates, CEO of the software giant Microsoft expressed his recognition with the bright future of online sales by praising Ma Yun, CEO of the largest Chinese B2B company Alibaba Group, to be the richest man in the world in 21st century. And Microsoft is moving. It has started its exploration into ecommerce by launching the Bing Cashback Search. It’s far from clear what the Bing Cashback Search will come off. But something interesting is taking place.

India’s businessmen are flocking onto eBay to sell beads for belly dance, African sellers are offering their unique ivory jewelry online, and Chinese merchants are selling low-priced electronic products to the world on the Internet.

All these are transforming the world we are familiar with, particularly Chinese low-priced electronics. In the past, Chinese electronic manufacturers made a slim profit by providing products through OEM to international giants like Walmart. And now they are making profits by selling directly to worldwide consumers at much lower distribution cost while consumers get what they want at lower price. This win-win online trade pattern is changing the conventional way of trading and foreign-trade-oriented online market places and trading platform have sprung up like mushrooms. For example, the emerging ChinaBuye.com. This Internet-based market place features electronic gadgets at the lowest price in the world with free worldwide shipping. “Our sales have more than doubled during this Christmas,” said Rose Green, Sales Director of ChinaBuye.com, “and we notice that international buyer prefer gifts costing less than $10, which is our speciality. Obviously, we’re on the right way.”

Made-in-China is now not only a word. It has become a brand. Many European and American consumers are logging onto International market places for bargains since they are no longer satisfied with the limited options provided by traditional retailers like Walmart and Dollar Shop.

Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd, which claims to be the market leader in India’s packaged water industry, is in talks with beverage makers and bottlers in countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman and the United Arab Emirates to franchise its brand name “Bisleri”.

“We are in talks with several players and would finalize some of them very shortly,” said Anjana Ghosh, director, Bisleri, which recently began exporting packaged water to Singapore. She said she was eyeing markets with large Indian diaspora to cash in on the 45-year-old brand’s recall value. “Water is a bulky product...so the best thing is to make it locally. But the most important thing is to find the right partner.”

As per industry research body Beverage Marketing Corp.’s 2008 estimates, Asia consumes 26.2% of total packaged and mineral water produced, while West Asia consumes 3.5%.

Retail consultants said going international was the ideal growth model for a company that expects a turnover of Rs600 crore for 2009-10 fiscal, “Getting the right international partners and franchising is a good way as it does not even require capital investment,” said Purnendu Kumar, associate vice-president of retail consultancy Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd.

Bisleri is also looking aggressively at domestic growth After launching mineral water brand Vedica recently, it is test marketing flavoured water in Mumbai. “It should be in the market this summer,” Ghosh said.

When radio frequency identification first began penetrating the retail industry, I thought the jewelry sector would be the first to adopt this technology, as jewelers were well positioned to justify the tag cost, and to use RFID to provide valuable reports and increase efficiency.

But RFID did not make a significant mark in this segment—at least, not in India. The primary reason may be that the industry is largely owned by traditional business groups averse to any changes in the processes they have been following for many years.

This aversion has resulted in the repulsion of any new technologies. The second major reason could be that the technology itself was not considered mature or reliable enough to handle expensive items like jewelry, for even a little flaw in the system could be catastrophically expensive to a jewelry firm.

Despite these hurdles, the acceptance scenario for India's jewelry companies has also evolved principally because people have seen or heard about successful deployments of RFID within that industry, and about the associated positive return on investment (ROI).

I very much understand and accept the fact that the advent of any new technology in India lags behind the West by two to three years. Keeping this timeframe in mind, I believe it's high time for the Indian market to adopt RFID extensively. The new generation, even of traditional business groups, is becoming more tech-savvy and enterprising in its approach.

This progressive group of businesspeople now wants to be informed, and to know how well they are competing with peers in other parts of the globe.

To support the wishes and expectations of jewelry merchants, the technology has also evolved to a much higher level. Now we can expect anti-collision capabilities in high-frequency (HF) RFID, thus enabling interrogators to read multiple RFID tags simultaneously.

Some RFID hardware vendors have enhanced the hardware to a level at which tags can be read even when stacked one on top of another. Currently, reading tags close to a metallic environment is not a challenge. We can now expect a longer read range, allowing HF RFID to be used in security gates.

Thanks to these advancements, systems integrators in India are feeling more confident and encouraged to deploy successful solution in the jewelry industry.

In general, RFID implementation in the jewelry domain is restricted to the two most serious applications: stock taking and security. At little extra cost, however, the technology can enable additional solutions that can provide visibility to decision makers in a great way.

For instance, RFID can be useful in tracking the performance of salespeople, in terms of time and the actual business he or she gets. Real-time inventory management and the movement of stock can provide some crucial data that can very useful for production management, shelf management and stock management.

With a few changes in processes, we can also keep track of an item's movement from one group of objects to another—and, in the event of any unauthorized item clustering, we can raise desirable alerts.
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Consumers' growing access to technology is leading retailers to become more creative in how they personalize promotions and sales as the industry continues to adopt to new technologies, according to findings by International Business Machines Corp (IBM).

Shoppers are increasingly using technologies to interact both with retailers and with other consumers, a trend even more pronounced in emerging markets. Consumers in India, China and Brazil are almost twice as willing to use multiple technologies for shopping, said IBM, as new technologies often grow faster in emerging countries.

The shift in high-tech shopping comes after research firm IDC said last month the number of mobile Internet users is expected to more than double over the next four years to more than one billion.

An IBM study, which surveyed more than 32,000 consumers globally, found 79% want to use Web sites to access and print coupons. Nearly as many want to use their mobile devices to find where stores are located, and 66% want to see what goods are in stock before going to a store.

But giving consumers real-time information about inventory can be challenging, especially when inventory is tight, according to Jill Puleri, an IBM retail executive. Puleri said IBM is looking to provide software that can instantly show consumers what is available in stores.

But she warned that if that information wasn't accurate, it could hurt a retailer's relationship with the consumer. The survey found 43% said that if an item wasn't available at a store, they would go elsewhere to find it.

The survey's results come after shopping by mobile phone jumped during the 2009 holiday season. For example, e-commerce giant eBay Inc. (EBAY) said last month the number of items bought on its site through mobile devices tripled from a year ago. Some notable purchases included a 23-foot deck boat and a Boston grand piano.

"Retailers cannot afford to sit still as this digital revolution happens," said Puleri. "They must engage plugged-in consumers in new and different ways, on their terms, and with more bi-directional feedback and dialogue."

That need can be met through various smartphone applications, like the coupon application called Yowza, which is available for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone. Yowza allows consumers to pull up coupons on their phone to be scanned in stores.

Additionally, Puleri said the notion of "co-creating" was a surprising finding of the survey, as consumers reported they were very willing to collaborate with retailers. Puleri said retailers are also looking to reach out through social networking sites--like Facebook and Twitter--but added those interactions were most successful when consumers felt they were given exclusive offers.

Imaging and printing solutions provider, Kodak India plans to open 100 Kodak Express stores in the country over the next two years, with an estimated investment of Rs 15 crore, a company official said.

"We plan to open 100 Kodak Express stores by 2012 with an investment of Rs 15 lakh per store. Our main focus will be major metros and tier II cities," Kodak India's Vice-President (Marketing) P N Raghuvir said here.

Presently, Kodak has 12 such stores in the country.

Kodak is the market leader in retail printing and recently became the second largest player in digital cameras category with 21 per cent market share in India, he said.

He pegged the total digital camera market in India at 1.5 million units.

Kodak, whose C140 was the highest selling model in 2009, saw a 35 per cent year-on-year growth last year. It hopes to continue the growth momentum this year as well, Raghuvir said.

Kodak enjoys a 29 per cent market share in the digicam segment, priced below Rs 10,000, which has been the major driver for its growth in the country, Raghuvir said.

The company also launched its solar chargers and a pocket size Digital Video Camcorder Zi8, which has a built-in USB arm that can be connected to personal computers directly without any cables, he said.

NEXT Retail India Ltd. is India's largest Electronics Retail Chain. Established in 2003, NEXT is amongst the giants in organized retailing of Consumer Electronics, Home Appliances, IT, Imaging, Accessories and Small Home appliances. With an overpowering presence in Tier 1 ,2 & 3 cities, NEXT is all geared up to expand its reach in Tier 4 cities now with the engagement of Franchise India. Franchise India is Asia's largest integrated Franchise and Retail Solutions Company that specializes in providing innovative solutions to its global clientele.

NEXT was incorporated to tap the immense potential of the retail industry. It has opened up a world of choices for shopping enthusiasts and homemakers, across all demographic and psychographic segments. NEXT is a multi-product showroom, stocking an entire range of electronic items right from Air-conditioners, LCD/Plasma TVs, Home Theater systems, Washing Machines, Refrigerators, Microwaves to small home appliances. NEXT retails some of the most popular brands such as LG, Samsung, Sony, Electrolux, Kelvinator, Whirlpool, Onida, Philips, Kenstar, Videocon, Sansui, including its own brand! NEXT also has a collection of Microsoft X-Box, Computers & Laptops of Acer, HCL, Lenova, HP.

Synovate India Retail Brands Survey 2007 rated NEXT as "All India No. 1 in Consumer Satisfaction" in the Consumer Durables category, which was established in the well-read Mint. The company is independently managed by the board of Directors currently operating over 500 showrooms across 16 states with a presence in 187 cities & towns spanning metros and large towns under the brand name of "NEXT".

Combining the best in quality, service, convenience and price, NEXT is also foraying into Apparel and lifestyle segments shortly.

Commenting upon the association, Mr Vijay Bhandari, Business Head, Key Accounts, Franchise India said, "We are delighted to be associated with India's Largest Electronic Retail Chain enabling Indian consumers to achieve their aspirations in a modern and enjoyable shopping atmosphere. With aggressive growth plans, NEXT enjoys a market share of 60% currently and is aiming for 75% by 2012-13 of organize electronic retails. Franchise India will strategize a robust marketing & franchise recruitment plan.

Franchise India successfully close many franchise & real estate transaction for next as per expansion plans across India with in a short span 3 months, we have the mandate of preparing an elaborate strategy for the successful implementation of its franchise program to stable its No.1 position as a promising brand. For investors looking for long term investments and stable returns NEXT is the best power brand opportunity!"

Mumbai-based home appliances manufacturer Jaipan Industries said it will foray into retail industry by opening 200 stores pan-India, to sell lighting accessories starting next month.

"We plan to enter into retail lighting industry by opening 200 stores starting next month, which would run through franchise operations. The company also plans to raise more capital (by way of rights issue) in the period ahead to fund our new ventures," Jaipan Industries Managing Director J N Agarwal told PTI.

Jaipan plans to invest Rs 10-crore in the first phase of retail expansion but will increase the investment size in later stages, Agarwal said, adding that shops will be opened across major cities.

Besides, the company is also mulling rights issue sometime over the next two years, to mop up funds that will be used to fuel its expansion plans, Agarwal said.

Mr Kishore Biyani is getting ready to unleash his mobile services.

The business model is likely to be based on the MVNO platform( Mobile Virtual Network Operator) platform whereby a mobile operator does not own its own spectrum and usually does not have its own network infrastructure.

Instead, MVNOs have business arrangements with traditional mobile operators to buy minutes of use (MOU) for sale to their own customers. ``We should be ready with the telecom services within the next six to eight weeks,'' stated Mr Kishore Biyani, Chairman of the Future Group.

It was at the IRF (India Retail Forum) last year that Mr Biyani had disclosed his plans to enter the telecom space with plans of making Rs 1000 crore on the project. Currently, the telecom project is being handled by Mr Biyani himself and the services are now on the threshold of being launched soon through his retail outlets.

“There are many thoughts on generating revenues, but it our telecom project which will be unleashed within a matter of weeks,'' added Mr. Biyani.

Virgin Mobile model

Currently it is the Virgin Mobile brand which has entered India through a franchise arrangement with Tata Teleservices. The Future Group is expected to be based on a business model similar to that of Virgin Mobile.

According to sources, there will be SIM cards based on the GSM platform from the Tata DoCo o brand which will provide the back-end for the Future Group's foray into telecom.

However, there are no plans to tap into the synergies which might exist in the hardware market considering the group already has a joint venture under Future Axiom Telecom which is into sourcing and wholesale distribution of mobile handsets.

Hospitality plans

The Future Group is also keen to enter the hospitality industry with its own chain of hotels. “It is just a thought at the moment and nothing has been formed up as yet,'' added Mr Biyani.

Besides, the Future Group is also planning to upgrade its loyalty and direct marketing programmes. There would be new loyalty card which can be used across the group companies.