(Published in "BusinessWorld SME Handbook 2012-13", released on Oct. 29, 2012 in New Delhi, and "Indian Management", the journal of the All India Management Association in January 2013, published by Business Standard.) There are parallels between Christmas and the growth of modern retail. At Christmas much of the attention is fixed on Santa Claus, while the elves labouring away behind the scenes barely get any air-time. So also in the retail business, the focus very much is on the retailer; the bigger the better. The Indian retail sector’s sales are estimated at about Rs. 26 lakh crores. Of this, more…
Vishal Krishna BusinessWorld, 28 July 2012 When you have Rs 7,846 crore in debt, that takes centrestage and everything else is pushed to the sidelines. And that is exactly what was happening at Kishore Biyani’s Future Group over the past few years. However, after selling a majority stake in Pantaloon Retail to the Aditya Birla Group, managing a private placement with Bennett, Coleman & Company (BCCL), and getting private equity giant Warburg Pincus to acquire a majority stake in Future Capital Holdings (FCH) resulted in Biyani raising nearly Rs 2,500 crore in the last couple of months. Further, with Warburg…
Pallavi Srivastava, Pitch New Delhi, 27 July 2012 In the last few years, coffee consumption has kicked off exponentially in the Indian market and the latest player to offer the cuppa is Swiss brand Coffee World. The company, which is buoyant about its performance amidst the clutter of brands, is confident of staying ahead of established players like Café Coffee Day. Will it deliver? Pitch finds out. If market estimates are to go by, approximately 200 coffee outlets have been opened in the country every year for the last five years. This increased caffeine love of Indian consumers has resulted…
REUTERS / Businessworld New Delhi, 19 July 2012 The government appears set to relax heavily criticised sourcing rules for retailers, anxious not to scare off IKEA - one of the few big name firms that has said it will invest in the country - or any others willing to follow. India kicked open the door to foreign retailers in January when it removed an investment cap for single brand chains to set up shop but then shot itself in the foot by imposing a requirement that companies had to source 30 per cent from small local firms. IKEA and others…
Raghavendra Kamath, Business Standard Mumbai, 13 July 2012 Just one sentence in the IKEA website sums it all up: “We design the price tag first and then develop the product to suit that price”. The $30 billion (over Rs 165,000 crore) furniture powerhouse with 330 stores worldwide obviously doesn’t like to mince words: it’s an out and out price warrior in all the 41 countries (India will be the 42nd) it operates in. That obviously would be a cause for concern for the four to five organised players, which account for 6 per cent of the total furniture market in…
Reliance Retail & 7-Eleven ending 5-year franchise deal in India @SagarMalviya_ET
@devangshu:"convenience stores pressured by q-comm; family-kiranas survive with lower overheads & different margin expectations than corps"
Speciality Restaurants expanding into high-margin QSR and cloud kitchen spaces - @devangshu shared his perspective on the opportunities and realities of managing a diverse "house of brands" in the food service sector #India #strategy #diversification
