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May 14, 2018
Tony Fernandes’s apology may not undo the damage
Written By ASHWINI PHADNIS
AirAsia promoter Tony Fernandes’s video message on his Facebook page apologising for his decision to do a campaign video in the run-up to the May 9 vote in Malaysia in favour of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has since been ousted, has created a storm on the digital media.
Razak was defeated in the polls by the 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad.
In the latest video, posted on Sunday, Fernandes explained that he was under immense pressure, adding that it was not right (for him to side with one candidate) and that he will forever regret this decision.
In the same video, he says that AirAsia had announced 120 extra flights at lower-than-usual prices especially for the election, which would have carried 26,000 people home to vote.
“I knew it wouldn’t be popular with the government, but I felt as an airline we had to serve the people,” he said.
However, within 24 hours, the airline was summoned by the Malaysian Aviation Commission and told to cancel all those flights.
AirAsia X Chairman Rafidah Aziz acknowledged in a Facebook post that Fernandes had made a “bad judgment” when he tried to “please and placate” Najib and the previous administration.
She said Fernandes “did not have to go to that extent to placate” the previous government. However, he did it because he needed to stop the administration from “tightening the screws on where it would hurt most — AirAsia and AAX (AirAsiaX).”
Political minefield
Experts from the marketing industry believe that Fernandes’ experience also shows the importance of ensuring that brands do not openly side with any political affiliations.
Devangshu Dutta, Chief Executive, Third Eyesight, points out that no matter how top executives vote, most large businesses in diverse democracies are careful to maintain neutrality in their statements when it comes to political choices.
“Tony Fernandes made a very strong, visible and clear political statement — whether out of conscious choice or under compulsion, only he knows.”
Fernandes’s decision to promote the former PM will likely have a fallout. Says Dutta, “In the short term, AirAsia may take a hit. Corrective PR action is already under way, with the apology Fernandes has issued.
However, whether that will be enough for customers, or more will be expected, remains to be seen.”
Dutta also feels that given the size of the airline today and its importance for travellers, “I think AirAsia would recover in due course.”
Others agree and say that AirAsia’s current problems were unlikely to affect its operations as the airline enjoys near-monopoly in Malaysia, but the going could get difficult if the new Malaysian government decides to start awarding routes to other airlines in Malaysia. Interestingly, it was Mahathir Mohammad who had given the licence for AirAsia to Fernandes for a nominal one ringgit in 2001.
Harish Bijoor, brand strategist and Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, adds that brands must be politically neutral basically because when you indulge in politics or political comments, there are two sets of constituencies — one which will support and one which will oppose the comments.
“When there are two sets of constituencies, it is best not to irritate any of them. The personal expressions and views of business leaders must be kept personal,” he points out.
‘Brands must be neutral’
Jagdeep Kapoor, Managing Director, Samsika Marketing and a 40-year veteran of the industry, says that brands must be neutral and that the only god whom the brand should serve is the customer.
Another marketing guru, who did not want to be quoted as he is not allowed to talk to the media, said that it seems that Fernandes backed the wrong horse in the recently concluded elections in Malaysia and was now trying to retrieve the situation.
Source: thehindubusinessline
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May 9, 2018
Written By Athira Nair
The US retail giant’s has had a tumultuous journey outside its home turf. There are many lessons to be learnt in its foray in Germany, the UK, Japan, and Korea in the past.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past month, you already know of American retail bigwig Walmart acquiring India’s e-commerce leader Flipkart. The deal – biggest e-commerce deal in history – has gained attention for multiple reasons. The two players are taking on their common rival Amazon. The Arkansas-based 56-year-old retailer entered India in 2007, but has not been able to make the best of it.
The two players are taking on their common rival Amazon. The Arkansas-based 56-year-old retailer entered India in 2007, but has not been able to make the best of it.
Since FDI regulations restricted Walmart from retailing in India, it had joined hands as a wholesaler with Bharti Group and opened 21 ‘Best Price’ stores. Walmart played the B2B role, while Bharti took care of the front end (B2C). The affair, however, did not last long; they parted ways in 2013. Walmart has since continued as a wholesaler in the country.
But with Indian retail expected to touch $1 trillion by 2020, Walmart wants a slice of the pie, and its first step is to go online – for the market worth $80 billion by 2020 from the current $20 billion . With growing internet penetration, online shoppers in India are estimated to be 200 million by then.
Currently, the average annual ecommerce spending per consumer in India, which is $120-140, is expected to drop to $92 by 2020. This is where Walmart can bring in its USP – Every Day Low Prices (EDLP) – and build economy of scale.
Walmart had lost to Amazon in ecommerce in the US, and Flipkart is the only player that has given the 24-year-old company a run for its money. Walmart may not fight the Reliances and Birlas of the country yet, but Amazon is an enemy worth its salt.
But Walmart has a long history of failing to make it outside North America. Their biggest disasters so far were in Germany, Korea, and Japan, where the company could not make it due to multiple reasons – culture, competition, supply chain and, of course, Amazon. The latest to join the list is the UK, where Walmart is selling hypermarket chain ASDA to Sainsbury’s, 19 years after its acquisition.
So what went wrong for Walmart in these countries? What have they learnt from the failures and how will their strategy in India be different? YourStory digs in.
When Walmart entered Germany in 1997, having acquired offline retailers Spar Handel and Wertkauf, it was the biggest retail market in Europe. Both players’ stores were rebranded as Walmart’s, and they went on to implement efficient operations and EDLP. Yet, by 2006, the company had to sell off all 85 stores to Metro Group at a $1-billion loss and leave Europe.
The most obvious reason was that Germany does not allow price cuts. Every retailer had matching prices, and Walmart could not offer anything which others are not offering.
With home-grown players like ALDI and LIDL having established themselves already, Walmart’ USP of lowest prices could not penetrate the saturated industry. In India, EDLP is expected to hurt the online sellers but ultimately benefit customers who do not have such options now.
Retail is rarely a winner-takes-all game. In Germany, the top five players accounted for 63 percent of market share in retail, but Walmart was not one of them.
The two companies they had acquired were minor players – which together had a mere three percent market share. Analysts see this as Walmart’s biggest mistake to date, which happened due to lack of due diligence.
Another reason that is believed to have brought Walmart down in Germany was the cultural friction between the US management team and existing German on-ground team. Flipkart will have to see how this will turn out in India.
After tasting success in North America, South America, Europe and the UK, Walmart took its first step in Asia through Japan in 2005. By acquiring one of the largest retail chains in the country – Seiyu, founded in early 1960s – Walmart was hoping to exploit the online grocery sector through Seiyu’s offline stores.
But the online market was only less than two percent of the total grocery sector. A few years ago, though, prices of food items were rocketing, as were taxes. For the non-food items, Walmart offered EDLP, but could not reach out to Japanese consumers, who were more interested in quality.
Enter Amazon Fresh in early 2017, and Walmart felt the heat. With its rival providing fresh fruits and vegetables, gourmet products and other FMCG items at a much lower price, Walmart had to take action. In January 2018, they partnered with Rakuten, Japan’s largest e-commerce site, to provide online grocery delivery. Users can order grocery on Rakuten, and Walmart will fulfill the delivery from its warehouses.
Also, Walmart now provides e-books via Rakuten’s Kobo (e-book device) to fight Amazon’s Kindle. While Walmart continues its presence in Japan, it is obvious that they are struggling to fight its rival there too.
When Walmart entered South Korea (as an independent entity) in 1998, the country’s largest discount-retail store E-Mart already had a 30-percent market share, followed by HomePlus, a localised version of Tesco. By 2006, Walmart sold all its 16 stores to Shinsegae Group, which ran EMart, for $882 million.
Mike Duke, then Vice-Chairman of Walmart Stores, had said, “As we continue to focus our efforts where we can have the greatest impact on our growth strategy, it became increasingly clear that in South Korea’s current environment it would be difficult for us to reach the scale we desired. We have decided to sell our business to the market leader as we believe this is the best option for our associates, customers and shareholders.” All Walmart stores in the country were thus rebranded as E-Mart stores.
With the market growing tougher, 70-year-old French retailer Carrefour also sold all of its 32 stores to Korean fashion retailer E-land for $1.85 billion around the same time.
In fact, South Korea is a market where a lot of biggies failed in – including Nestle and Nokia. Korean consumers tend to prefer their local brands – almost everyone has a Samsung phone.
Their shopping preferences were also drastically different from their American counterparts. For instance, American consumers tend to purchase in bulk for long-term storage, and they are comfortable with packaged foods. But Korean consumers are more particular about the freshness of the food. They are willing to make frequent trips to supermarkets, corner stores, and traditional wet markets to buy smaller volumes of fresh produce.
Understanding this consumer behavior, E-mart had aggressive discounts for smaller quantities. But, Walmart became a store for Koreans to visit when they needed to purchase large non-food products and to see a variety of products, including foreign products. They prefer to visit local domestic supermarkets for food purchases and daily use items.[1]
Given its experience in Asia so far, Walmart is playing it safer in India, as the Flipkart acquisition is more of a backend buy.
As Harish Bijoor, Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults, says, the consumer-facing impressions would be unchanged. “In terms of branding, they’d retain the distinct imageries of Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and Ekart. Walmart would do everything to keep these brand identities distinct,” he adds.
When Walmart bought British hypermarket chain ASDA in 1998, the latter held a 31-percent market share, while Tesco had 28 percent. The relationship survived all odds until recently, when grocery became a battlefield for retailers, online and offline in the UK.
Last year, Amazon UK tied up with the online grocery group Morrisons for their Prime and Pantry services, and tech was their main weapon. Consumers can place orders on Morrisons using Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa, integrated into Amazon Echo devices.
Add to this, the entry of Germany players Aldi and Lidl. Not wanting to fight anymore, Walmart sold ASDA to its rival Sainsbury for $4.3 billion and a 42-percent stake last week. This is another instance of Amazon taking over the world, and why Walmart cannot give up on the next big market – India.
Now that Flipkart is going big on grocery in India, Walmart can emulate the model of Amazon-Morrisons here. Instead of local stores, their wholesale division can provide the grocery through dark stores.
Walmart had also had its gains from ASDA. It had absorbed great practices in fashion and introduced them in the US too. ASDA’s apparel brand George is the second in apparel sales in the UK. Now Walmart is planning to sell the brand on wholesale, reportedly for Seiyu.
It is easy to draw parallels in India, where fashion is the highest margin category in online commerce. Flipkart has been building its private label in fashion for men and women, which Walmart can now scale up for offline sales as well in India and abroad.
According to Harminder Sahni, Founder and MD at retail consultancy firm Wazir Advisors, Walmart is not investing in what Flipkart is today. “Walmart is investing in what Walmart wants to be tomorrow. They couldn’t have allowed Flipkart to go to Amazon. They also know that Amazon would scoop up one of the Indian offline retailers soon,” he says.
Walmart has also acquired Vudu to fight Netflix, online grocer Yihaodian against Alibaba in China, and Parcel against Amazon Prime (in the US), but it is yet to see results.
Walmart does not have direct retail experience in India, but Flipkart has scaled rapidly in the last five years with deep understanding of customers and building a good ecosystem. As Devangshu Dutta, Chief Executive at Third Eyesight, a retail and consumer sector consulting firm, says, they have survived the many shutdowns in ecommerce.
“Flipkart’s tech and service are efficient and they are a powerful business. But this is not sustainable in the long term. Walmart’s alliance with Flipkart is a win-win for both as they can expand the customer base.”
Unless they have to end up selling off Flipkart to another player like Reliance after 10 years, Walmart’s previous disasters will not be a repeat in India. Although it is a saturated market in offline retail, it is only a matter of time before Flipkart and Amazon open customer-facing offline stores. If Walmart gets its steps right in India, the acquisition of Flipkart will be a golden page in the history of Indian retail.
Source: yourstory
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May 9, 2018
Written By Mayu Saini
The U.S. retailer has taken a 77 percent stake in Flipkart for $16 billion and becomes the market leader in India.
NEW DELHI, India — After years of negotiating for a toehold in the $700 billion Indian retail market, Walmart Stores Inc. has finally made a strong entry by taking a majority stake in the country’s biggest e-commerce player, Flipkart.
Walmart will invest $16 billion in Flipkart, for a 77 percent stake in the company, which has been value …
Source: business-news
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April 30, 2018
Digital category contributed 54.74% or Rs 37,880 crore to the overall retail vertical’s revenues of Rs 69,198 crore for FY18
Written By Ashish K Tiwari
Reliance Retail clocked revenues of over $10 billion or Rs 69,198 crore during the fiscal 2018 on the back of a strong performance in the digital category comprising consumer and connectivity business. In fact, more than half of the revenue clocked in by Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail vertical is contributed by this category alone.
As per segmental revenue figures (approximate) for fiscal 2018, shared with DNA Money, at Rs 37,880 crore the digital category is the largest contributor at 54.74% to the overall retail vertical’s revenues.Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of management consulting firm Third Eyesight, said, “The digital business, given its thin gross margins, only makes sense at a large volume. The growth of Reliance Digital and the Jio telecom push should be seen as strategically linked – it is a two-pronged approach: pushing devices into consumers’ homes and hands, while boosting the connectivity at prices that are incomparable worldwide. Reliance has created a pricing disruption not once, but twice in the telecom market, the first being Reliance Infocomm in 2003.”
Food and grocery retailing category under ‘value and others’ registered revenues of Rs 13,869 crore contributing 20.04% while ‘brand, jewellery, fashion and lifestyle’ stores category stood at Rs 7,173 crore or 10.36% taking the fourth position.
The third position is held by ‘petro retail’ category with 495 owned outlets as of March 31, 2018. This category had revenues of Rs 10,276 crore or 14.85% of the total revenues. In fact, the petro retail number is set to grow at a very fast pace. RIL said in the results statement that the company continues to re-commission its retail petroleum network and that approximately 1,313 outlets are now operational.
In its results statement last week, RIL said that its consolidated revenue of Rs 430,731 crore for fiscal 2018 was boosted by robust growth in Retail and Digital Services business. While Reliance Retail recorded a 105% surge in revenue, RJIL’s Wireless Telecommunication Network recorded revenues of Rs 23,916 crore in its first year of commercial operations.
And with 3,837 stores across 750 cities, RIL said its consumer facing business vertical – Reliance Retail – is India’s largest player.
While the overall revenue numbers look impressive, industry experts believe it cannot be considered for a like to like comparison with the peer group because Reliance Retail is also including revenues from its digital business and petro retailing vertical to claim the largest player positioning in the market.
“Collectively, the retail business revenue numbers are huge but that’s also because of contribution from digital and petro retailing verticals. There is no doubt that retail revenues would be significant. Same could be true for the other two categories too. In such a scenario, it will be difficult to make a peer group comparison,” said an analyst from one of the leading brokerages requesting not to be quoted.
Echoing the sentiments Harminder Sahni, founder and managing director, Wazir Advisors, said, Reliance Retail is definitely a significant player in the market. “However, the strong revenue growth is also due to other business categories that are part of the retail vertical. The company is aggressively expanding physical store network while also building their e-commerce business across various categories. It’s only a matter of time for the offline-online to start playing in a big way,” said Sahni adding that revenue numbers will see significant growth in the coming years.
RIL’s retail business mainly operates across three categories viz. value and others, digital and brand, jewellery, fashion and lifestyle stores. According to a post result company note by brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd (MOSL), a chunk of the stores i.e. 2,379 outlets are in the digital category. The second largest is the value and others category with 1,113 stores and 345 outlets in the brand, jewellery, fashion and lifestyle stores.
On the overall performance of the Reliance Retail vertical under RIL, industry experts said, the group had clearly demarcated retail as a strategic sector from the beginning. According to Dutta of Third Eyesight, Reliance has a stated goal of touching every home in the country, and that objective would be achieved through the retail and telecom verticals.
“Retail, being a strategic sector, has been pursued aggressively as the numbers are showing. The business has been growing steadily for several years on a strong foundation. Events like demonetization and the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) is favouring the growth of modern retail chains and their channels. Going forward, structured and organised businesses will stand to significantly benefit. Reliance, with its footprint, both offline and online, will also majorly benefit,” said Dutta.
Source: dnaindia
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April 30, 2018
Written By Jonathan Eley and Jim Pickard
Walmart to take 42% stake in combined group and £3bn in cash for selling British arm
MPs and analysts have warned of the prospect of thousands of job losses and the closure of scores of supermarkets as Britain’s competition regulator gears up for an extended investigation into J Sainsbury’s plans to take over Asda.
The UK’s second-biggest food retailer announced on Monday that it would take control of the Walmart subsidiary in a deal that would create Britain’s biggest grocer by market share.
US-based Walmart will receive almost £3bn in cash and 42 per cent of the combined business in return for selling Asda, whose equity is valued at £7.3bn under the terms of the agreement announced on Monday. It has agreed to hold no more than 29.9 per cent of the total voting rights in the combined business.
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Shares in Sainsbury’s rose 14.5 per cent to 309p on Monday. But politicians queued up to question the two groups’ commitment to close no stores and for no jobs to be lost.
Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, said the pledge did not mean there would be no redundancies in the Yorkshire city where Asda was based, while Rachel Reeves, another Leeds MP and chair of the business select committee, said staff would be “incredibly concerned” about their future.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow business secretary, said the CMA should examine the potential impact on suppliers “as a matter of urgency” and warned about the prospect of an “emerging monopoly”.
The two groups’ official position is that they do not expect to have to sell or close any stores as a result of the combination. Both brands will be maintained, as will Asda’s headquarters, and price cuts of up to 10 per cent on everyday items have been promised after completion.
The CMA said on Monday it was likely to review the combination and that “pre-notification” talks with the companies could last “a number of weeks” before the start of an initial “Phase 1” investigation.
Analysts were split over the prospect of enforced store disposals. “This deal could easily unravel acrimoniously if the CMA sticks to its old rules and parameters,” said Bruno Monteyne at Bernstein. Patrick O’Brien, research director at GlobalData, said his analysis showed at least 75 stores might need to be sold.
“I would hope they have taken good legal advice,” said one big shareholder in Sainsbury’s. “They clearly think they will get through. You would have thought they [the companies] would have been all over this [competition concern] like a rash.”
Sainsbury’s biggest shareholder, the Qatar Investment Authority, has publicly supported the takeover.
The deal marks an ambitious attempt to reshape the UK retail market, in which the traditional big four retailers — Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Wm Morrison — have come under pressure from German discount chains Lidl and Aldi in food, and from homegrown rivals along with internet retailers such as Amazon in general merchandise.
Based on their market shares, the combination of Sainsbury’s and Asda would control almost a third of the UK grocery market, putting it ahead of Tesco. The combined business will be chaired by Sainsbury’s chairman David Tyler and led by its chief executive Mike Coupe and chief financial officer Kevin O’Byrne. Asda will continue to be run from Leeds, with its own chief executive.
The transaction also reflects a rethink of UK strategy on the part of Walmart, which bought Asda for £6.7bn in 1999.
“We’ve been clear that we are going to be thoughtful and look at different ways of operating internationally. We no longer always need to be in control,” said Judith McKenna, president and chief executive of Walmart International.
Sainsbury’s brought forward its full-year results announcement from Wednesday. Underlying pre-tax profit for the year to March 10 was £589m, with the total dividend lifted 8 per cent to 10.2p. Profit expectations for 2018-19 were £629m, in line with current consensus forecasts.
It said the integration of Argos, acquired in 2016, was ahead of plan, with 280 Argos stores expected to be open in Sainsbury’s by the end of the current financial year, against a plan of 250. The £160m of expected synergies will be delivered six months early.
Source: ft
