The internet seems to be as much alien territory for bricks and mortar retailers as catalogues are. Bricks and mortar retailers seem to struggle with the medium - most of them try to graduate from their corporate web brochures to transaction sites, and end up doing injustice to both. Many of them are not able to figure out how to create the traffic to their online store, how to create the excitement and liveliness to convert their traffic into transactions, and how to take the transactions to their final closure in terms of payment and delivery in a delightful way. Of…
In the last few months, I’ve interacted with retailers and their suppliers from a number of countries in North America, Europe and Asia and, except for a handful, the conversations have not been happy. In November-December companies in France, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom were dealing with a season where there was as much red on the P&L statements as in the Christmas shop windows. In January 2009, the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York had participation that was somewhat thinner than in past years, but the gloom in the atmosphere was thick enough to slow everyone…
Business Standard BS Reporters Mumbai February 11, 2009, 0:31 IST Kishore Biyani-owned Pantaloon Retail's same-store sales in January grew at the second slowest pace in five years as consumers curbed spending and the retailer struggled to survive the downturn by offering discounts. The slow growth comes after the retailer's value and lifestyle same-store sales registered a negative growth in December. Pantaloon's same-store sales in the value retailing segment climbed 4 per cent in the month of January after dropping 4 per cent in December. Lifestyle sales grew 12 per cent in the month after declining 14 per cent in the…
Reuters Tue Feb 10, 2009 Indian textile manufacturers have sought a two-year moratorium on repayment of term loans, withdrawal of excise duties on man-made fibres and waiver of service taxes on exports as well as taxes on textile machinery. The embattled textile industry, reeling under a slowdown in demand and high input costs, also seek to bring domestic cotton prices at par with international prices, an industry body told Reuters, ahead of the interim budget on Feb 16. Textile firms such as Arvind Ltd, Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Co and Gokaldas Exports posted losses in the Oct-Dec quarter. The Confederation…
Business Standard Thursday, February 05, 2009 New Delhi: For the first time, Bangladesh has garnered more market share than India in garment exports to the US, the largest importer of garments. Recession-hit retailers in the US and Europe are increasing their purchases from Bangladesh as it is able to supply garments at a relatively less price due to low labour cost and better economies of scale, experts said. Data collected by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), the body for the promotion and facilitation of garment-manufacturing and their exports, show Bangladesh overtook India after August 2008. While Bangladesh’s share increased…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
