A lively discussion / debate took place on Retailwire.com about whether retailers were using chargebacks as justifiable penalties for poor performance by vendors or an unjustified means of generating income for the retailers. The fact is that fees, discounts and chargebacks are becoming more common, and in private conversations - when no retail customer is within earshot - vendors will verify this. Retailers say that such chargebacks are only compensation for vendors not complying with processes that have been clearly laid down and agreed to, since non-compliance creates extra costs for the retailer, or loses the retailer margin. But is vendor…
Sapna Agarwal & Gouri Shah Mint, Mumbai, May 18, 2010 Across Mumbai, New Delhi and Gurgaon, children’s apparel and accessories store Okaidi has been inviting customers for happy hour sales over the past week. No, the French chain hasn’t suddenly started selling drinks; it’s offering a flat 20% discount on the purchase of its usual T-shirts, chemises and other items between 10am and noon, Monday through Thursday. The marketing mantra may sound incongruous outside a bar, but retailers from a range of sectors have started borrowing it to push sales in traditionally lean hours—betting that everyone loves discounts. “It’s definitely…
Vishal Krishna Businessworld, May 17, 2010 The outskirts of Bangalore, home to many large hypermarkets, see a lot of frontier action in retail. Recently, the Raheja Group’s hypermarket, HyperCity, opened a store in Mahadevapura, where the likes of Future Group’s Big Bazaar and the Jubilant Organosys-owned Total already enjoy a loyal clientele. But nobody was more anxious about fresh competition than the manager of More, which also has a store here. As it turned out, “Our sales were not affected in the weekend in which the new store opened in our catchment,” says Kapil Agarwal, More’s vice-president, operations hypermarket (south),…
REVIEW: BEATING THE COMMODITY TRAP: Richard D'Aveni (Harvard Business Press) In his latest book, Professor Richard A. D’Aveni focusses on a topic that most businesses should be acutely concerned with: the problem of commoditization. In interviews he has accurately described commoditization as “the black plague on modern corporations” and “a deadly disease that’s spreading like crazy”. Certainly, if one had to pick the ultimate nightmares to keep CEOs awake at night, commoditization would definitely be among the top of the list. Specifically, given the economic uncertainties around the world in the last couple of years, business leaders who are…
Pradipta Mukherjee / Kolkata Business Standard, April 15, 2010, 0:26 IST Cigarettes to hotel major ITC entered the consumer products business in 2007. In three years, it has managed to corner a two per cent market share. But ITC feels that's no mean achievement for a late entrant. The consumer and personal care products market is highly competitive, dominated by well-entrenched brands from companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Procter and Gamble, L'Oreal India, Dabur India and Cavinkare. The lion's share is with HUL, whose brands - Lux, Dove, Sunsilk and Clinic Plus - have about half the market. Some…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
