Neha Tyagi & Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times Mumbai, 3 January 2017 Leading Indian womenswear brands bucked the slowdown trend on the back of mostly younger consumers shifting from tailor-made to ready-to-wear stylish designs at affordable rates and discounts. Makers of ethnic brands in the country — TCNS Clothing (maker of W and Aurelia brands), BIBA, House of Anita Dongre (AND and Global Desi brands), and Ritu Kumar — all posted 14 per cent-64 per cent year-on-year jump in their revenues last fiscal, even as the overall Indian apparel market slipped to single-digit growth at 8 per cent. Sales of…
Shipra Srivastava, Retailer New Delhi, 30 December 2016 The Gurgaon-based cashback and coupon website CashKaro.com which has raised Rs 25 crore in its Series A funding round from Kalaari Capital in November 2015, and a very small amount of investment from Ratan Tata in January this year, is very close to achieve its break-even. In an exclusive conversation with indianretailer.com, Rohan Bhargava, Co-founder, Cashkaro.com, said, “We are very close to our break-even. In fact, we should be profitable in next 18 to 20 months.” The raised funds are being utilised to ramp up marketing, technology and expanding the human resource. …
In 2016, brick-and-mortar modern retailers seemed to have begun recovering their confidence, and cautiously investing in expansion. However, currency shortage has significantly dampened demand at the end of the year. The hangover would continue into the first half of 2017, and consumers could be muted overall on discretionary purchases, including fashion, mobile upgrades and out-of-home dining. On the other hand, while digital transactions introduce a note of caution (friction) in the consumer’s purchase decision, for e-tailers they do reduce complexity, cash-handling costs and potential returns which could provide significant unexpected wins. I’ve written about this for years, and don’t tire…
Alnoor Peermohamed, Business Standard Bengaluru, 28 December 2016 The year 2016 will go down in history as a tumultuous one for India's new economy companies that utilise the reach of the Internet to do business. The year started off on a low in terms of funding and valuations of start-ups, carrying over a sentiment of excessiveness from the previous six months. It was a contrarian 12 months, with every expert under the sun saying that the fundamentals of the market — growing Internet penetration, increasing per capita income, a strong economy compared to a weak global market — remained extremely…
When American fast food standard bearers McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza stepped into India in the mid-1990s, the market was just ripe enough for take-off. McDonald’s and later Domino’s Pizza can be credited with not just growing the consumer appetite for fast food but also for fostering an entire food service ecosystem, including fresh produce, baked goods, sauces and condiments, and cold chain technology. India has been typically difficult for business models driven by scale, replicability and predictability. The customer is price sensitive, operating costs are high and non-compliance of business standards is a frequent occurrence. In this environment, these brands…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
