India has been consistently rated amongst the top destinations for consumer businesses year after year. While international fashion brands had earlier entered India at a steady pace, there was a greater surge of the global brands in the Indian market since 2002. Interestingly many international brands opted to choose the franchise route for their entry into India. There were changes in the market environment and government policies that made the business environment favourable for growth through franchising. Firstly, as a signatory of the WTO, India reduced import duties consistently. Consequently products could be sourced from other countries at more competitive…
Diwakar Kumar Indiaretailing.com, March 2, 2010 It is an every day challenge for a retailer to satisfy the diversified demands of discerning customers. The further challenges are to reel in more customers, assure their loyalty, drive in more footfalls and the ensure the conversion rate. In order to gain more profits, retailers try to lure the customers with in-store signages, advertisements and customer-loyalty programmes. No matter how unique these strategies may be, they do not guarantee a success rate. Thus, to ensure a minimum return on investment, the retailers need to ascertain that the format, product assortment and the location…
Who knew that a mere vegetable – the humble purple, shiny brinjal, eggplant, aubergine – could create such an uproar? And why retailers and consumer product companies should be concerned about genetically modified (GM) crops is a complicated story with multiple twists and turns across political, economic, social, scientific and philosophical landscapes. At their basic level, brinjals have so far been possibly equally hated and loved for their flavour and texture across the world. But their newest avatar – Bt Brinjal – is now being viewed on the one hand as an evil alien transplant that will kill everything good…
Sapna Agarwal MINT, Mumbai, February 18, 2010 Grocery supermarket chain Spinach appears to be caught up in a slide that has seen a number of Indian retailers, particularly from low-margin food and grocery industry, down shutters in the wake of the economic slowdown. Empty shelves and aisles greet you at the chain’s flagship store in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. Its branch in Juhu, known for its prime location and suburban Mumbai clientele, presents a similarly dismal picture. Fresh stock hasn’t arrived for past three months at any of the Spinach stores, owned by Wadhawan Food Retail Pvt. Ltd, a Wadhawan…
According to The Daily Telegraph, Asda has devised a system for customers to "buy fabric conditioner from a vending machine which pumps the liquid from a large vat in the stockroom directly into a pouch". The project aims to cut packaging costs and help reduce prices for consumers. The scheme is partially funded by the UK government's anti-landfill agency Wrap. A lot of debate was generated on retailwire.com ("Do it yourself all over again"). A number of people who were underwhelmed by the whole concept and questioned the value, including labelling the initiative "anecdotal" and "one-off" with "limited appeal". I feel somewhat differently.…
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
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
