(This piece appeared in 'The Strategist' supplement of the Business Standard newspaper, on 2 July 2012.) Modern retail is equated with a more structured and systematised organisation, hence the term “organised retail”. This term is weighted with expectations of greater capability, better competitiveness and greater benefits for industry and society. However, if we take organised to mean better for the consumer then, often, our age-old corner shop and the local cloth-merchant-turned-fashion-retailer appear more organised and better at delivering more relevant products to us at lower prices with superior services than most of the new corporate chains. Over the last two…
There was time when there were two choices for the middle-class Indian male of all ages—(usually) Bata or (occasionally) the Chinese guy who made shoes to order. Over the years, other brands also entered the market. Things have changed. While it may not reach the scale of an all-consuming obsession, there’s now a strong enough market in India for several upscale overseas and local brands to think it worth their while to vie for custom here, as Paromita Banerjee of Mint discusses in this video. The article from Mint by Sapna Agarwal & Byravee Iyer is available here.
Sapna Agarwal & Byravee Iyer, MINT Mumbai, 26 June 2012 Women love their shoes. The attachment defines leading ladies as varied as Imelda Marcos—widow of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and star of her own soap opera—and Carrie Bradshaw, the narrative lead in Sex and the City, who famously has a thing for her Manolo Blahniks. Countless devotees of Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin are also testament to the passion. As for men, time was when there were two choices for the middle-class Indian male of all ages—(usually) Bata or (occasionally) the Chinese guy who made shoes to order. Over…
Nandita Bose and Matthias Williams, Reuters Mumbai/New Delhi, 22 June 2012 Swedish retailer IKEA , the world's largest furniture maker, is opening up in India, marking a crucial step for the Indian government whose policy flip flops related to foreign investment have damaged market confidence. The company, known for huge stores selling flatpack furniture and accessories, said it would invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to open 25 stores in Asia's third-largest economy after initially balking at India's sourcing requirements. IKEA's plans, announced by the Indian government after a meeting between the company's CEO and India's trade minister in Russia,…
Asit Ranjan Mishra, Vidhi Choudhary & Sapna Agarwal, MINT New Delhi, 22 June 2012 Swedish furniture retailer Ikea will invest as much as €1.5 billion (around Rs. 10,740 crore today) in India, chief executive Mikael Ohlsson told trade minister Anand Sharma, signalling an endorsement of the country by a high-profile investor, something that’s been rare of late. Sharma said in a government press release on Friday that Ikea will initially invest €600 million and subsequently an additional estimated €900 million “for initial establishment of 25 retail stores in a wholly owned subsidiary”. Ohlsson and Sharma met in St Petersburg, Russia…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
