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September 20, 2021
Written By Sharleen Dsouza
Cosmetics and skin care brands have been borrowing from a decades-old affordability play, but for a different reason.
Makers of premium cosmetics and skin products have been borrowing from a decades-old affordability playbook—the sachet revolution. But for a different reason.Estee Lauder to Sugar Cosmetics are increasingly coming out with lipsticks and serums to cleansing butters in tiny sizes. More than ever during the pandemic.Selling things in bite-sized helpings isn’t new. Consumer goods makers offer everything from shampoos to chips and cereals…
Source: bqprime
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September 20, 2021
Written By ET Now Digital
Tata UniStore, which owns e-marketplace Tata Cliq, has received Rs 102 crore in two tranches as part of its plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore, as per the latest regulatory filings.
KEY HIGHLIGHTST
The group has infused Rs 5,100 crore so far in two group entities, the highest-ever fund infusion done in a year by the salt-to-software conglomerate
When it comes to ecommerce, Tata is still at a nascent stage compared to its rivals.
Tata Digital has raised the funds from its parent Tata Sons. Tata UniStore is raising capital from its two joint venture promoters — Tata Industries & Trent Ltd.
New Delhi: The Tatas have pumped in Rs 5,025 crore till now this fiscal into its flagship ecommerce entity Tata Digital as the salt-to-software conglomerate plans to roll out the SuperApp and has been taking controlling stakes such as in e-grocer BigBasket and digital health company 1 mg. It has also invested $75 million in fitness company CureFit. The group has infused Rs 5,100 crore so far in two group entities, the highest-ever fund infusion done in a year by the salt-to-software conglomerate in the digital commerce business, the Economic Times mentioned in a report.
Tata UniStore, which owns e-marketplace Tata Cliq, has received Rs 102 crore in two tranches as part of its plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore, as per the latest regulatory filings.
Analysts said this investment signals the Tata group’s intent. “When it comes to ecommerce, Tata is still at a nascent stage compared to its rivals. This recent massive infusion of capital into the company with a commitment of almost $800 million is a declaration of intent by Tatas that they will not be on the sidelines in the ongoing ecommerce war,” the publication quoted as saying Mohit Yadav, founder, business intelligence firm AltInfo.
Co Plans to Scale Up Online Presence
Tata Digital has raised the funds from its parent Tata Sons. Tata UniStore is raising capital from its two joint venture promoters — Tata Industries & Trent Ltd — by issuing unsecured, unlisted, redeemable, optionally convertible debentures on a rights basis, the financial daily mentioned.While Tata Digital did not give any reason behind the funding, Tata UniStore has said in the filings that the infusion will help in “capital expenditure, working capital requirement/operating expenditure and other general corporate purposes of the ecommerce business of the company”.
In FY21, Tata Digital had raised Rs 400 crore while in FY20 it had raised Rs 100 crore from its parent. Tata UniStore had received a funding of Rs 30 crore in FY21, Rs 311 crore in FY20, Rs 292 crore in FY19 and Rs 224 crore in FY18. The group has ambitious plans to expand its presence in the ecommerce business and compete with the likes of Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart, and Reliance Industries.
“The Tatas have been fairly conservative in putting capital into businesses like retail and ecommerce until the last couple of years as the market shifted significantly to online shopping. Tata Cliq has been a much smaller player as compared to Amazon, Flipkart or even Reliance for that matter, all of whom have invested significantly higher capital,” the publication quoted as saying Devangshu Dutta, founder of retail consultancy Third Eyesight.
“However, more recently the Tatas decided to focus actively on this segment, including acquisitions and organic investments. Success still depends on multiple factors, since the market is hyper-competitive, with well-established incumbents,” said Dutta.
Source: timesnownews
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September 2, 2021
Written By DEVIKA SINGH
Pune-based Agarwal Business House, the largest franchisee of Crossword Bookstores, acquired the book retail chain from Shoppers Stop this week. It plans to expand the bookstore’s retail footprint and focus on the omnichannel play.
Crossword Bookstore In Panjim (PC: Wikimedia Commons)
Agarwal Business House (ABH) has set an ambitious growth plan for Crossword Bookstores it is acquiring from Shoppers Stop and is optimistic about turning around the loss-making venture despite concerns about the industry-wide decline in sale of books.
The company, while expanding the retail store chain to new geographies including tier-II cities, also plans to push higher from the digital channels.
However, the focus of its strategy to revive the loss-making venture is making it again a book-first brand, Akash Gupta, Managing Director – Agarwal Business House, said.
“The focus is going to be back on books and we are going to be a books-first brand catering to the real reader as that’s what consumers expect out of Crossword Bookstores,” he added.
The bookstore chain currently draws about 60 percent of its revenue from book sales and the rest from toys, stationeries, and other accessories. ABH plans to reduce the share of other categories to 30 percent in the next two years while increasing book sales.
ABH, a family-run business, is the largest Shoppers Stop franchise for Crossword Bookstores and operates 40 stores of the brand across the country, more than the parent company’s tally of 26. Including all other franchisees, Crossword Bookstores presently operated 70 stores.
“We have reached a size where we are even bigger than the company in terms of store count. Considering that we have been in this business for the last 20 years, and are passionately involved in the whole book trade, hence, it was a natural transition for us to acquire the brand and take it ahead,” said Gupta.
Founded in 1992 in Mumbai, Crossword Bookstores was acquired by the departmental store chain Shoppers Stop in 2005. The retail chain has been operating in red for a while now and its losses had been piling up year on year. According to the Shoppers Stop Annual report for FY21, the company reported a net loss of Rs 12.91 crore in the financial year 2021 (FY21) as compared to a net loss of Rs 12.45 crore in FY20. The pandemic further hit the business and the company had to close down 12 stores during the year. The sale of the business is part of Shoppers Stop’s strategy to focus on its core business.
The departmental store chain sold the business to ABH at a gross valuation of Rs 41.6 crore. Shoppers Stop will initially divest a 51 percent stake in the retail chain (expected to be completed within 15 days) and another 39 percent in the next 12 months.
The turnaround strategy
Despite Crossword Bookstores’ underperformance over the years which reflects the industry trend, ABH is confident of reviving the business within a year. The company has set out an ambitious chart for the retail chain going ahead which involves foraying into new geographies and building an omnichannel presence.
“We are confident that we will be profitable within a year given our experience of over 20 years in this segment,” said Gupta.
Its dismal performance in the last few years does not faze the new owner, who says “book stores require passion and entrepreneurial structure and cannot be run out of a corporate structure”.
“The most important thing is that it requires people who are passionate about books,” he adds.
Gupta claims that the 40 stores run by them as a franchisee were profitable at EBITA level (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) as well at the net profit level, and hence, they have the expertise to revive the sinking ship.
Under this strategy, ABH plans to launch about 20-30 stores this year, half of which will be in its current locations while the rest are in tier-II cities. The company will launch these stores in its three formats – flagships stores, brand stores, and express format which are smaller stores of 1,000 square feet.
As part of its digital initiatives, the company plans to increase sales from e-commerce which currently contributes 5 percent to its business.
“We are targeting 10-15 percent from the digital channel in a couple of years,” Gupta said.
The company plans to “build a truly omnichannel experience” for readers.
“Whether consumers visit our store, our website or app, they should get the same Crosswords Bookstores experience,” said Gupta.
Riding into headwinds
Although ABH is optimistic about the newly acquired business, experts said odds were stacked against the company, given the industry-wide trend.
“There are two big trends in the industry. Book reading culture has declined very rapidly as people spend more time on screens. While the number of publishers and books being published has risen in India of late, the business has also moved to the online channel,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder and CEO of Delhi-based retail consultancy Third Eyesight.
Owing to these two trends, the sale of books has declined in recent years. Even large corporations such as Reliance Industries and Future Group tried their hands at the book business but exited quickly. Reliance Industries had introduced its chain of bookstores TimeOut in 2008 but eventually closed down the stores. Future Group, similarly, had experimented with Depot.
Gupta, however, stresses that these businesses failed because of the corporate structure, and a more ‘ hands-on approach’ is needed for books. He cites recent Nielsen data to prove his point about increasing readership.
A survey by Nielsen Book India conducted just after the lockdown was lifted last year showed consumers were spending more time reading books. Both reading and audiobook listening were up, increasing by a substantial seven hours weekly on average to as much as 16 hours per week, according to the survey report.
Dutta agrees. “To make a success out of this business, a brand has to become an authoritative source on the books for the customers. It is about what it can add to the customer experience besides selling books,” he said.
Salespeople, Dutta said, were an important part of this journey and have to be knowledgeable about the books as it is a very “involved purchase”.
Source: moneycontrol
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August 24, 2021
Written By ET Now Digital
The app will also be integrated with Facebook-owned WhatsApp on the lines of WeChat—China’s most popular social commerce platform which has more than 1 billion users–according to sources.
New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries is reportedly planning to creating a super app by integrating the offerings of local search engine Just Dial, which it had acquired recently, as it aims to be the number one player in the ecommerce space.
Currently, it offers Jiomart for online grocery retail and mobile apllication App, My Jio and the one stop super app is likely to be a marketplace of services and offerings, delivered via in-house technology and through third-party integrations, the Economic Times mentioned in a report citing executives. The final contours of the product are being sharpened and will be launched as soon as the government announces clarity on the ecommerce policy, the people cited above told the publication.
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) acquired a majority stake in JustDial for Rs 3,497 crore last month.
The app will also be integrated with Facebook-owned WhatsApp on the lines of WeChat—China’s most popular social commerce platform which has more than 1 billion users–they said.
Executives close to Reliance Industries said the conglomerate has been clear that it has to reach consumers for every possible requirement in the products and services space. “Super app is just a fancy term. Whatever one calls it, it is about touching consumers and meeting their every single requirement, ” the publication quoted an unnamed executive as saying. “Nothing is done adhoc in terms of planning or strategy to access consumers. Jio had begun the journey years back with telecom and is now scaling it up and tapping every route that accesses consumers.”
Another executive told ET, “The directive is clear that Reliance should be the number one player in the ecommerce space and acquisitions and partnerships have been long planned to achieve that. We are investing accordingly.”
Top executives close to the development said Reliance is pumping in several thousand crores of rupees into its ecommerce strategy with a clear directive to pre-empt competition and be a No.1 player in the space, which is currently dominated by Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
In July 2020, Chinese super-app WeChat officially stopped operations in India after being banned by the country over privacy fears.
“Reliance has been aggressive with growth of communications and retail businesses, and their partnerships and acquisitions are consistent with the move to build the overarching bridge presence of the dominant super app,” the financial daily quoted as saying Devangshu Dutta, consulting firm Third Eyesight’s chief executive.
Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries has been able to attract some of the best global companies as strategic partners. Facebook and Google have bought strategic stake in Jio Platforms and the company has collaboration with Microsoft on SME offerings and cloud. Apart from being a cellular entity, Reliance has built more than 20 consumer apps under its umbrella app MyJio.
“While the app acts as an access point to other Jio apps, it is predominantly used mainly for recharges. In our view, the app does not yet have a strong value proposition that every customer would use. Overtime, if two to three of these apps gain traction, then RIL has a potential of creating a similar impact that of a super app,” said a recent report by BofA Securities. “However, the traction would be similar to that shown by Google in the US – where apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, etc. are standalone apps.”
However, the report said none of the Indian tech companies are currently at the point where China and ASEAN apps are in the super app journey, and that Indian companies are still some time away – both from customer value proposition as well as the MOAT in the fiercely competitive Indian market.
Ambani had recently also announced a set of integrations between WhatsApp and JioMart on a trial basis. “Our joint teams are actively developing the full new commerce solution, linking merchants and consumers, and we plan to progressively launch these over the next few quarters,” he had said.
Source: timesnownews
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August 6, 2021
Written By Upmanyu Trivedi And Saritha Rai
The two behemoths, owned by two of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani, are fighting for a bigger slice of the Indian market.
Supreme Court said Reliance cannot go ahead with a $3.4 billion deal to buy Future Group’s retail assets.
Mukesh Ambani’s planned $3.4 billion purchase of an indebted retailer suffered a blow after Amazon.com Inc. won a court battle to halt the transaction, disrupting the tycoon’s ambitions to take on the US e-commerce giant in the $1 trillion local market.
On Friday, a two-judge bench of Supreme Court ruled that an emergency order by a Singapore arbitrator last year, which stopped Reliance from proceeding with the deal, is legally binding. Amazon had approached the arbitration court, and the parties will now have to wait for the deliberations of that body before a final decision.
The court’s verdict is the latest episode in a bitter battle over the cash-starved Future Retail Ltd. — the nation’s second-largest supermarket chain — which both Jeff Bezos-founded Amazon and Mr Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. want to control. The two behemoths, owned by two of the world’s richest men, are fighting for a bigger slice of the only billion-people plus consumer market that’s still open to foreign firms.
Reliance dropped as much as 2.6% in Mumbai on the ruling, the biggest intraday decline in two weeks. Future Retail plunged by its daily limit of 10%, the most in more than four months.
Reliance shares dropped as much as 2.6% in Mumbai after the ruling today.
For Seattle-based Amazon, adding Future’s Big Bazaar brand of stores to its assets would help expand its brick-and-mortar footprint across the country. Mr Ambani announced his plans to buy Future’s assets almost a year ago to help aid his retail push. His oil-refining conglomerate has identified e-commerce and conventional retail as two focus areas, and roped in investors including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in 2020.
“The court verdict puts a speed breaker on Reliance’s retail dominance in India,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder and chief executive officer of the Delhi-based retail consultancy, Third Eyesight. “It balances the competition with the larger American players, and gives Amazon a much-needed presence in physical retail.”
Future Retail’s 5.60% $500 million January 2025 notes plunged 5.7 cents on the dollar to 66.3 as of 2:45 p.m. in Hong Kong. That’s the lowest level since Aug. 27, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The feud highlights the importance of the Indian consumer market. Amazon has pledged $6.5 billion of investment, while Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart recently mopped up $3.6 billion in the country’s largest fundraising at a valuation of nearly $38 billion.
Amazon owns a stake in an unlisted Future unit and has argued that it contractually has the first right of refusal to buy Future. It went to the Singapore arbitration court last year, accusing the Indian retailer of Future Group of violating that contract when it agreed to sell its wholesale, warehousing, logistics and other retail assets to Mr Ambani’s conglomerate.
Source: ndtv
