Retail Mantra

Bottomline is a must for any business, however in the retail business, it is the consumer experience that will directly determine the bottomline and the long term business proposition.

In order to help SMEs, Showrooms and Franchisees in the retail business, we interacted and brainstormed with several professionals in the Industry and Consultants and put together a list of Elements that determine the ultimate consumer experience. Based on this list, you can design a variant (more…)

The initial euphoria on retailing in India has calmed down in the past 12 months as retailers slowed down and even shut down non-viable stores. To survive and grow, retailers are now looking for cost cutting measures from controlled staff spending to rationalized property rentals of showrooms. Even after a healthy 30% correction on retail rentals, retailers are still finding it difficult to run the show (more…)

This is the part two of the two post series [ Read Part-1 here]. The two chains that I had hinted and none of you were able to get it was Ethnicity by Biyani and Mom & Me by Mahindras.

The other 6 concepts that made to the Innovators list areas follows.

Ethnicity: Kishore Biyani promoted retail giant launched its first store in October-2008. The central idea behind these stores is to retail Indian Ethnic and fusion wear, jewellery, handicrafts, home decor, beauty products and accessories. The stores are fairly large and their are 3 in operation [Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Indore] with (more…)

Innovative business practices are a must to sail over recessionary period. Recently the veterans of the Indian industry were asked to rate on some interesting concepts unfolding in the sector which started mainly in the past 12 months. The criteria for choosing the same was

• Paradigm shift from unorganized to organized and should be convenient and customer friendly
• Should contain some ethnicity of Hindustan driven by self efficient model revenue
• Meets cost, wide choice (more…)

We all know that Cinema and Cricket are close to the heart of millions of Indians. Companies don’t take too much time to realize this and have encashed upon the India consumer sentiment.

Banking on this trend, the range of Kurtis worn by Deepika Pudkone (more…)

French sports goods manufacturer, Decathlon, has informed us that the company has launched first Store in Sarjapur, Bangalore as a cash and carry business, on the lines of German retailer Metro.

Decathlon has 500 stores across (more…)

ITC promoted Wills Lifestyle, a well known brand with 12% Lifestyle market share is all set to enter the Affordable DesignerWear market. The company has hired designers who are already creating special collections which will be displayed and marketed (more…)

Here is an excerpt on the study of Key Emerging Trends in Indian Retail Sector.

Focus on private labels:
Companies are looking to focus on increasing their private label sales. They are similar in quality [not all, we agree] compared to branded products but offer higher value as they are 15-20% cheaper than national brands. Industry players are looking to increase the sales mix of private labels (more…)