By Raghavendra Kamath BUSINESS STANDARD Mumbai March 2, 2009 Raheja-owned department store chain Shoppers Stop Limited (SSL) is pulling out of unviable new ventures and shutting loss-making stores to conserve cash for the company in the ongoing economic downturn. The retail firm had announced on Friday that it has closed three of its book stores ‘Crossword’ – one at Mumbai Airport, and two others in Chennai and New Delhi. The company also closed its airport retail store ‘Stop & Go’ at Mumbai Airport. “They were not profitable. We open new stores without much information but, when we close them, we…
There's some speculation that salespeople in luxury stores are being asked to become more friendly, so as not to turn away and turn off potential customers. But I think it isn't just them. I think as the economy slows, possibly everyone might become less abrasive and nicer to each other - less business around so you don't want to turn off the spenders no matter how they're dressed - "a king dressed as a beggar" is a good simile. Actually that reminds me of a story someone told about 20 years ago about an Indian farmer walking into a car…
Delhaize and Unilever may not yet have felt the need to visit a relationship counseler, and of course, the jury's still out on who (if anyone) will actually win in their battle. For now, Unilever has lost shelf-space for around 300 of its brands at Delhaize stores. Delhaize may potentially lose some of the sales that those brands got for it, in case consumers want a specific brand rather than a private label or a substitute brand. The consumers lose not just in terms of their choice being reduced, but perhaps also in becoming confused about the specific value /…
Luxury has its ups and downs. Assuming that the economy will look up at some point of time in the near or distant future, luxury brands will shine again, even if they've muddied themselves slightly in the puddles of discounting. Public (and industry) memory is short, especially in fashion, where you might be as good/bad as your last collection. There are plenty of luxury brands which had once been pushed to the dustiest back shelves, that have come back into fashion in recent years. So I'm sure many of the brands will be forgiven their current trespasses. And, as a…
By VISHAL KRISHNA Businessworld 20 Feb. 2009 Lesser stock on display racks in your neighbourhood Subhiksha, and may have started going elsewhere instead. One fine day, you may have even noticed that the shop was shut. What happened was this: Chennai-based value retailer Subhiksha Trading Services, neck-deep in Rs 600 crore of debt (plus Rs 180 crore raised internally as shareholders’ funds) accumulated over the past three years, could not pay its vendors as all its earnings was going to service the debt. So, over the past six months, it temporarily shut all 1,600 of its outlets in 110 cities.…
Brands are ready to roll the red carpet for consumers this festive season. But for #India's #jewellery brands this #Diwali will likely be a tad different from previous ones.
Reliance Retail & 7-Eleven ending 5-year franchise deal in India @SagarMalviya_ET
@devangshu:"convenience stores pressured by q-comm; family-kiranas survive with lower overheads & different margin expectations than corps"
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
