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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Malini Goyal The Economic Times, May 15, 2011 Beaten on its home turf Delhi, the $1-bn Mother Dairy is crafting a new strategy to win back its base and go national. But the pre-reforms milk co-op faces a unique constraint: a social mandate that means it can't cut costs or hike prices with the same freedom as competitors. When you don't have bottom-line pressures, when you are a virtual monopoly in an industry where new big competitors find it difficult to enter, what do you do? Most company managers would sit back, contented to see the business inch ahead. Till…
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Vishal Krishna Businessworld, May 7, 2011 Billionaire NRI Micky Jagtiani, chairman of the $3.8-billion Dubai-based Landmark Group, has not forgotten his roots. Whenever he visits his corporate office in Bangalore, he is generally driven around in a Hyundai Accent — a sedan meant more for the aspiring manager than the multi-millionaire. This low-key businessman is reported to have said that he wants to open a small retail shop in India and retire. Actually, he now has quite a few retail shops in India. From a single retail outlet in Bahrain in 1973, Jagtiani’s retail empire comprising a host of brands…
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