Priyanka Pani, Businessworld June 11, 2011 Anyone remember Ranger Farms? In 2007, Reliance Industries' subsidiary Reliance Retail launched its cash-and-carry retail format by that name. A year later, RIL 'merged' Ranger Farms into Reliance Fresh, its food and grocery business. Readers may also recall that in 2009, RIL put together a team of top officials it had hired from several wholesale players, including Gwyn Sundhagul, the chief marketing officer and director at Tesco Lotus, Thailand, to spearhead its cash-and-carry plans. But it appears that after a year and a half, that team has been disbanded. On 3 June, at the…
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Pallavi Srivastava New Delhi, June 2011 The jeanswear brand, Levi's had been losing its premium image with the launch of Signature, which was launched in 2006. Making ammendments, Signature has morphed into Denizen. Is it a mere name change or are there any cosmetic changes as well? And more so, will the new branding pull the brand back into the premium league? While Denizen carries the price tag of Signature (between Rs. 799 and Rs. 1,499), Denizen is being positioned as a youth brand targeting the 18-28 male and female. Signature, meanwhile, was positioned as a mass brand. Also, Denizen…
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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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