Raghavendra Kamath & Nivedita Mookerji, Business Standard Mumbai, June 4, 2011 Three years after its experimentation with cash-and-carry retail fizzled out, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) plans a strong comeback. At its annual general meeting today, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Reliance Retail would soon relaunch this format, so far dominated by companies such as US major Walmart in joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, German giant Metro and French heavyweight Carrefour. With its re-entry into the cash-and-carry segment, Reliance Retail aims to bargain harder with producers and vendors and, in turn, improve margins of its chains, pointed out a company executive. According…
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Sapna Agarwal, MINT (A Wall Street Journal Joint Venture ) Mumbai, May 26, 2011 Major Brands (India) Pvt. Ltd, the local franchisee for fashion apparel and accessories brands such as Mango, Aldo, Charles & Keith and Nine West, will form a joint venture with French womenswear retailer Promod. This changes the existing franchise agreement between the two. Both firms will raise their investment in the brand locally, said Kamal Kotak, country head, Major Brands. Promod will hold a 51% stake in the venture and Major Brands the rest. India has nine Promod stores, and contributes less than 3% of the…
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Vishal Krishna , Businessworld Mumbai, May 21, 2011 Six years ago, when B.S. Nagesh, the then managing director of Shoppers Stop (SSL), started mentoring Govind Shrikhande to become the next head of the company, the world was a different place. SSL, which revolutionised organised retail more than a decade-and-a-half ago, ruled. Competition from new kids on the block — Westside, Lifestyle and Pantaloon Retail — was little, while the company’s healthy profits were simply the icing on the cake. Nagesh had the luxury of taking things slow. As the company catered to the premium segment of society, it made sense…
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Suneera Tandon Businessworld, May 20, 2011 The buzz at Dabur is Real this summer. It has just roped in Zlata Creative Design, a brand consultancy from Down Under, and spent close to Rs 18 crore to give a booster shot to its two fruit-juice brands — Real and Real Active. Krishna Kumar Chutani, vice-president for marketing at Dabur, says fatigue was the trigger: “Consumers have been looking at the same juice packs for over 10 years now.” It has also added Real Fibre for that nutritious zing. Now, there’s nothing to beat nimboo-paani (lemon juice) when it comes to matters…
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Pallavi Srivastava New Delhi , May 2011 If one has to look for a classic case of excellent branding without spending a penny on advertising, Spanish fashion brand Zara will surely fit the bill. Inditex (Zara's parent company) has formed a 51:49 joint venture with the Tata Group's retail business, Trent and opened the first Zara store in India in May 2010. The brand made a big bang entry in the Indian fashion battleground. More than 500 women visited the first store (in Select Citywalk mall in New Delhi) within the first few hours of its launch. Going by reports,…
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