Devina Joshi, Financial Express Mumbai, 8 September 2015 Recently, there was news of restaurant reservation site EazyDiner expanding operations to Mumbai from the National Capital Region, having secured Series A funding worth $3 million led by existing investor DSG Consumer Partners, and Saamna Capital. As per a PwC analyst, investors have pumped more than $150 million into companies like Grofers, TinyOwl, Swiggy, LocalOye, Spoonjoy, Zimmber and HolaChef, among others. Judging by the patronage showered upon them by customers and investors alike, it would appear that hyperlocal start-ups are all set to create the next big boom in the Indian retail…
Devina Joshi, Financial Express Mumbai, 8 September 2015 E-commerce, as we know it, is old news. Hyperlocal is the hot new buzzword in retail hallways, going by the recent spate of well-funded launches in this space. There is already a wide range of services on offer, from grocery delivery to home, office and personal care services. Hyperlocals, services-based or inventory-based, are largely an urban India phenomenon. Services are hyperlocal by their very nature, driven by locality or communities. When moving into a new city, for example, people would like to stabilise as quickly as possible and here, such services step…
Deepti Chaudhary, Forbes India Bengaluru, 7 September 2015 One look at Dilip Kapur and you will know he wears his brand proudly on his sleeve: Or, in his case, carries it on his arm. “It’s like carrying a story, an emotional bond,” says the 67-year-old, pointing to his Hidesign handbag which, he tells us, is at least 20 years old. The promoter’s sentiment also speaks of the Rs 160-crore company’s ultimate goal—to emerge as a lifestyle brand that touches all aspects of a customer’s life. And its efforts over nearly four decades have been trained towards that. The last two…
Writankar Mukherjee, The Economic Times Kolkata, 3 September 2015 Mahindra Retail will rename its maternity and childcare stores as 'Babyoye by Mahindra', dropping the name 'Mom & Me' in favour of shopping website Babyoye. com, which it acquired earlier this year. This is the first time that an Indian retailer is adopting the name of an online entity for its brick and mortar stores, indicating the bigger pull of e-commerce in certain segments. The retail arm of Mahindra & Mahindra had been operating its 115 maternity and childcare stores under the name 'Mom & Me' for six years. The company…
Rashmi Pratap, The Hindu Businessline Mumbai, 28 August 2015 As online shopping grows more popular by the day, Kishore Biyani, the man who catapulted brick-and-mortar retail to new heights in India, found himself scouting for the next big idea. The founder and chief executive officer of Future Group has now identified a new frontier to conquer — customers at Rajasthan’s public distribution system (PDS) outlets. This group of buyers includes those below poverty line and beneficiaries of various food programmes of the state government. All of them get a monthly quota of sugar, wheat and kerosene at subsidised rates. Biyani…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
