admin
March 11, 2012
Malini
Goyal, The Economic Times
New
Delhi, March 11, 2012
Satish
Kumar used to hate shopping. The 43-year-old techie from Delhi
found the crowds intimidating and the haggling tiresome. The fickleness
of his mother and wife jangled his nerves. Kumar would come back
from shopping in a foul mood.
To keep things simpler, the Kumar household divided its shopping chores a few years ago. His wife took care of shopping for veggies, clothing and household items. Kumar had the job of lugging the groceries from the kirana shop, even though Mrs Kumar prepared the monthly list of items to buy. And finally, Kumar called the shots on big ticket purchases like a TV or a fridge.
Of late though, things have changed. In January, Kumar stepped out with his family on an impromptu shopping spree in which he ended up splurging Rs. 50,000 at the Great India Place, one of the largest malls in the country. The shopping list: shoes, a warm jacket for the next winter and three formal shirts that he didn’t need but liked. While at it, the Kumar’s also bought new curtains and changed their mixer-grinder.
"Modern retail format is changing the way men shop," says Adrian Terron, VP, Nielsen India. "Traditionally, they do not succumb to sales, stick to their favourite brands and do not indulge in impulse buys. No longer so in India," he adds. Retail watchers contend that a combination of factors – better shopping environment, a wide variety of products and brands, nuclear households, better disposable incomes and a growing breed of metrosexual men – is making middle class Indian men shop like never before.
From apparels to accessories, gadgets to grooming products, their shopping list is expanding.
Why Do They Shop?
Damodar Mall, president, Food Bazaar, sees more and more men shopping. At least 40% of the shopping carts that are wheeled into the billing counter of Future’s high-end food retail chain, Foodhall, have a man paying the bill. With multiple shoppers from a family, bill sizes are typically 25% higher than a single shopper. "Self service modern store with comfortable environment is luring more men into the stores," says Mall.
The rising footfalls of male shoppers can be gauged by looking at the ever increasing display space for male grooming products at shopping malls. Companies like Garnier and Emami are tapping the fast growing market. In 2009, Garnier entered the male grooming segment with Garnier Men. Within three months, it became the second largest player in the men’s skin care market.
FMCG company Marico recently paid $100 million to acquire the male grooming products of Paras Brands from Reckitt Benckiser. Emami’s Fair & Handsome, targeted at men, is growing at 23% and Emami’s revenues from the product were Rs. 162 crore in 2011.
Bling Bling
Jewellry is another area that is doing brisk business. In an interview with ET last year, R Radhakrishnan, MD of GRT Jewellers said male jewellery accounted for 20-25% of total sales. Kolkata-based Shree Ganesh Jewellery has launched a men’s jewellery range under the brand, Gaja.
Not surprisingly, a Euromonitor 2011 study reports that India has overtaken the US to become the third largest men’s luxury jewellery market.
So, what has made the Indian man fall out of love with the couch and take to the shopping cart? The biggest reason: modern retail.
Malls today have everything under one roof. "It is no longer so physically exhausting. It has become lot more fun," says Kumar. With a range of stores and activities – from gadgets to furnishings to clothes, accessories, food and game zones – all available under one roof, solo shopping trips are fewer. "Earlier a man had to tag along and bear the drudgery if the store was not relevant to them. Today in a mall, there are options all under one roof which is making the difference," says Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors.
What Men Want
Remember the old Surf detergent campaign and the almost shrewish Lalitaji? Well, before modern retail started off in India, women shoppers ruled the shopping space, thanks to their better bargaining skills which mattered so much while dealing with mom and pop stores.
Today, "discounting is a lot more formalised," says Terron. From the end of season sale to 26th January bonanza, bargaining is no longer ad hoc and random. It is lot more structured, transparent, more pervasive and hence more acceptable for men today. Devangshu Dutta, CEO, Third Eyesight, says because the buying process is becoming complex and information led, deals and bargains are becoming a lot more mainstream.
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admin
March 9, 2012
Shilpa Phadnis, The Times of India
Bangalore, March 9, 2012
Titan
Industries, which started as a watch brand in 1984, is taking
a fresh gamble-to turn into a full-scale lifestyle company. The
firm’s youth brand Fastrack will drive this transformation, an
effort partly to ensure that the parent brand Titan is shielded
from any risk. Fastrack is already into watches and eyewear, and
now it is looking at categories like bicycles, helmets, shoes
and apparel.
Titan’s play in the lifestyle category is similar to what US watch and accessory brand Fossil did — diversifying into eyewear, handbags, jewellery, shoes and apparel (in some geographies). Fastrack started as a sub-brand of Titan in 1998 targeting early jobbers, but is now a separate business unit. "Fastrack is the logical vanguard to present a range of lifestyle products since it targets the young — not only is this a large and growing population, they have a propensity to experiment with style, where Titan’s design advantage can be leveraged," said Devangshu Dutta, CEO of retail consultancy Third Eyesight.
Titan has picked categories where the market is fragmented and design is a key differentiator. It is betting on its marketing expertise that has built brands in categories where brands did not exist before, the best example being the Tanishq brand in jewellery. "Over 1 million two-wheelers are bought every month in India. With unorganized players currently driving the helmet business, we see large business potential. We are looking to launch helmets in the next financial year," said Ronnie Talati, VP and business head for Fastrack and New Brands.
Design leads fashion, so Fastrack will do the design and marketing in-house, and outsourcing manufacturing. "We want to source helmets from China. We still have to work out the logistics for bicycles," Talati said. Talati wants to make Fastrack a Rs 3,000 crore brand in the next 5 years.
admin
March 7, 2012
Priyanka
Golikeri , Daily News & Analysis (DNA)
Bangalore,
March 7, 2012
There
was a time when ready-to-eat and ready-to-make edible products
relating to India’s traditional cuisine were available only
at neighbourhood provision stores. Now, they are careening their
way into ultra-modern supermarkets / hypermarkets across India,
as if to give company to Western foods like Dutch Gouda and Edam,
and the Italian Parmigiano.
Take the Big Bazaar at Malleswaram in Bangalore for example. Right opposite the entrance, a wheel-cart, emblazoned with the Hinglish term “Banana Mandi”, sells traditional bananas like yalakki (yellow-skinned finger-sized bananas), nendran (big- sized plantains used in making crisps), red banana and poovan (small-sized). This mandi (Hindi for market) is run by the husband-wife couple Baburaj and Jyothi.
Four paces ahead, another kiosk — it is operated by Bhagyalakshmi Butter and Gulkand Store, a popular Bangalore outlet of 1953 vintage — sells bottles of syrupy-sweet gulkand (dried rose petal jam). Next up: a 30-square-feet kiosk run by Murugan Ghee and Butter, another well-known local store of 60 years’ standing,now peddling avakai (spicy mango pickle of Andhra Pradesh), puliogare mix (tamarind-and-lemon-flavoured rice), gongura pacchadi (herbal pickle), bisi bele bhaath (rice savoury) and vangibhaath powders, all stocked in transparent glass jars.
Step out and saunter a few hundred metres across to the Spar
Hypermarket. A similar sight greets you. Glass jars laden with
murabba and chunda (both mango pickles), pudina (mint) and putani
(fried chana dal) chutney powders enliven the food section. Trays
full of nipattu (disc shaped crispy snacks), dink (edible gum)
laddoos, and sakarpare (flour and sugar snacks) jostle for space.
There is a simple reason why mega-retailers stock traditional Indian food. It expands the customer base and builds loyalty, say retailers. And by absorbing well-known local stores into their fold, retail chains hope to ensure goodwill. Good PR, if you will.
While some neighbourhood vendors open kiosks within retail outlets, others supply their food items to retailers who then display them beside FMCG mainstays like noodles, chocolates and biscuits.
Thus, the outlet becomes a destination for wide-ranging grocery from pickles to international foods, says Venkateshwar Kumar, Big Bazaar’s vice-president in charge of south India operations. Gaurav Gupta, director, Deloitte India, says that local food items act as an additional product category for existing customers while bringing in new customers.
Furthermore, with the growing number of migrants in metros, outlets look to provide a “taste of home”, says Devangshu Dutta, CEO of Third Eyesight, a consulting firm. “This extends market share as new shoppers are targeted,” says Mohit Kampani, chief of merchandising and operations, Spencer’s Retail.
At the Spencer’s outlets, which vary from 2,000-50,000 square feet in size, the food-and-beverages (F&B) section occupies 60% of the floor space. Local fare like mathri (spicy and savory crackers), pinni (sweet dish from wheat flour), tapioca chips and sorpotel (non-vegetarian delicacy) started treading in over a year ago. “This is already making 3% contribution to the overall F&Bbusiness,” says Kampani.
Likewise, at Spar, F&B is a key category covering nearly one-third area in hypermarkets measuring 50,000-60,000 square feet, says Ponnu Subramanian, senior vice-president, merchandising (foods). “Traditional items are stocked on different shelves across the section.”
For local vendors, on the other hand, a presence within modern retail ensures wider reach. Since opening a 120-square-feet kiosk at Spar two years ago, U S Mahendar, managing partner of Hatti Kaapi, a chain serving South Indian filter coffee and snacks like bisi bele bhaathand khara bhaath, has seen a 40% growth in business each year. “Hypermarkets guarantee footfalls,” says Mahendar, adding that their Rs7-8 pricing for a cup is “minuscule” in a mall set-up and helps in pooling people.
Today, the Hatti Kaapi kiosk sells an average 1,500 cups on week
days; the count zooms up to 3,000 on weekends.
Jyothinathan, who mans the Murugan Ghee kiosk, says monthly sales
always exceed Rs10 lakh, with the average bill per customer exceeding
Rs200. “The footfalls are about 500 on week days and double
that on weekends.”
It’s not hunky dory all the way. Local vendors say often the rentals at retail chains are exorbitant and prevent their entry into newer malls. Going to every big retailer is not viable, says Mahendar. Why? Some retail chains, he says, demand a 30-40% share in profits “which is impossible for players like us who sell each cup for Rs7-8.”
For retailers, sourcing local food items has its own set of challenges. Traditional food processing industry is highly fragmented, say experts, with 75% of the units belonging to the unorganised sector. Moreover, some units neither have trained manpower nor clean manufacturing facilities to generate quality produce.
“This makes procurement of products tough. We have a team of trained manpower who visit and give guidance on food quality and new product lines,” says Spencer’s Kampani. Kumar says Big Bazaar has tie-ups with specialists in community food from where they source the products. “Most products are sourced locally which helps in keeping costs to a minimum. We also stock products from women entrepreneurs,” says a spokesperson from Bharti Retail which operates Easyday (neighbourhood stores) and Easyday Market (compact hypermarkets).
admin
March 5, 2012
The
Times of India
Bangalore,
March 5, 2012
Prepaid
cards have become the latest retail tool to keep consumers hooked
to brands. They offer convenience and safety, because customers
don’t have to carry cash, and they often come with a variety of
offers , including discounts.
Brands like Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, Provogue, Kaya, Fastrack, Gili and a host of others have launched prepaid cards. A prepaid card works like a debit card with a PIN number that can be redeemed at the brands’ outlets. The cards in India are based on the closed loop model – that is, they can be redeemed only at the brand’s stores. "When I have money loaded on the card, the tendency to come to the same place is higher," says K Ramakrishnan, marketing president at Cafe Coffee Day. The brand’s card Cafe Moments , launched this month, offers a 5% bonus on cards with a value of Rs 100 to Rs 499, 7% on Rs 500 to Rs 999 and 10% on Rs 1,000 and above.
A prepaid card obviates the need to pay cash every time, and it also enables faster accumulation of bonus points or other offers . Prepaid cards in India are currently being used more as gift cards. Some brands have used it to launch a promotion or a service. What the prepaid gift card did for Kaya was to generate incremental walk-ins ," says Suvodeep Das, marketing head at Kaya Skin Clinic. In Kaya prepaid cards, currency can be reloaded in multiples of Rs 500 to up to Rs 2 lakh. Kaya sells about 250-300 gift cards a month.
Global Prepaid Exchange recently estimated that the size of the organized prepaid gift card and gift voucher market in India is Rs 2,000 crore and would grow to Rs 8,000 crore by 2015. "The acceptance of gift cards in proportion to vouchers has increased significantly," says Pratap T P, chief marketing officer at QwikCilver Solutions , a provider of prepaid card solutions.
However, Devangshu Dutta, CEO of retail consultancy Third Eyesight, says growth in prepaid cards would be restricted by the fact that they can be used only at a particular brand’s outlets. "Also, a customer cannot claim the minimum residual value in the card. He will have to top it up to redeem it," he says.
admin
March 2, 2012
Sarah
Jacob , The Economic Times
Bangalore,
March 2, 2012
Apparel
and home products retailer Marks and Spencer’s has appointed Venu
Nair as head of its India operations, replacing CEO Martin Jones
who is moving back to the parent company.
Nair takes charge as managing director, the London-headquartered company said. Sources said Jones was moving back for personal reasons. Nair was head of sourcing for the £9.7-billion British retailer in South Asia and director of buying operations for India.
M&S operates in India through Marks & Spencer Reliance India, a joint venture with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, selling clothes and home decor but not its food products. It has 24 outlets across the country.
"Unlike an expatriate, Nair would have stronger understanding of the Indian market and his being involved directly in sourcing will play to his strength," said a senior executive of a rival firm. M&S has been to work towards sourcing 70% of its merchandise from India and Jones had been driving this change.
"While other international companies look at India as an interesting and emerging market, M&S clearly identifies India as a market of importance," said Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of management consultancy Third Eyesight.
