When I am at the receiving end of expectations, business plans and such like, of companies that are looking to ride the current retail boom in India, one thing stands out, and scares me the most: the opening slides, paragraphs or pages that are devoted to the "opportunity presented by India's booming middle class and its rising income". In the previous part to this column ("The Case of the Missing Millions", 27 April 2006), we concluded that for most international companies looking at India, the potential target market was in the region of 18-19 million people, or over 3 million…
By Devangshu Dutta (Coulmn in The Financial Express on 18 May 2006) When I am at the receiving end of expectations, business plans and such like, of companies that are looking to ride the current retail boom in India, one thing stands out, and scares me the most: the opening slides, paragraphs or pages that are devoted to the "opportunity presented by India's booming middle class and its rising income". In the previous part to this column ("The Case of the Missing Millions", 27 April 2006), we concluded that for most international companies looking at India, the potential target market…
With the possibility of 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in India opened up to foreign retailers, one of the questions arising frequently is whether this means the death (or at least a slow-down) of franchising in India. After all franchising, in most people's mind, has these alternate images of unscrupulous franchisers ripping-off the life-savings of the small retailer on the one hand, and shady landlords in the guise of retail franchisees gouging at the pockets honest businessmen who are trying to build national brands. There also haven't been too many sustained success models in India where both franchiser and franchisees…
By Devangshu Dutta (Full version of a Guest Article that appeared in The Financial Express on 5 May 2006) With the possibility of 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in India opened up to foreign retailers, one of the questions arising frequently is whether this means the death (or at least a slow-down) of franchising in India. After all franchising, in most people's mind, has these alternate images of unscrupulous franchisers ripping-off the life-savings of the small retailer on the one hand, and shady landlords in the guise of retail franchisees gouging at the pockets honest businessmen who are trying to…
In my previous column ("Deal Ya No Deal", 9 March, 2006), I raised a point about unrealistic volume expectations on the part of many marketers launching new products and brands in India. In some part these are due to the marketer believing his or her own hype. However, a more insidious influence on the expectations are the unrealistic assumptions - a big factor being the incorrect assumption about the size of the market. Back in the early days of economic liberalisation, during 1993-94, I remember figures being thrown about that talked about the 200-300 million middle class. Multinational and Indian…
As legacy retailers balance speed with customer experience, is near-instant delivery a sustainable goal for fashion, or will the costs outweigh the rewards?
@devangshu
#Retail #SupplyChain #Strategy #India #Fashion #SupplyChain #Omnichannel
Ikea has been around in India for about eight years. and has taken a long-term view on India with product and format customisation, and future investment plans of over $2 billion.
Modern retail, consumption, brand building, M&A, balance of power between brands & retailers/platforms, sustainability vs growth and more; tune in if you're building for the long run
@vishalkrishna @devangshu
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