Retail Mantra

The ongoing Retail slowdown has made retailers think twice about their High Street and Mall strategy. Retailers are seeing lower footfalls and hence their plans to enhance the factory outlets. United Colors of Benetton – UCB is all set to open (more…)

We participated in the Conference Call of Shoppers Stop and here is an excerpt from the discussion with the management.

• During the quarter company closed one crossword store at Vizag and 7 F&B Stores were closed. Operations of 16 (more…)

Our Analyst has tracked the tenancy of malls and main street in various Tier-I cities in Q1-2009 and here is the excerpt. These were high valued transactions and unfortunately we can’t disclose the amount.

Ahmedabad:
Brand Factory at Shyamal Char Rasta – 30,000 sft
Reliance Footprint (more…)

Reliance Fresh the largest retail chain of Reliance Retail will rediscover itself and open a new sub-format discount store Reliance SuperValue.

In order to fight the slowdown, the company is planning to convert existing Reliance (more…)

Indian Retailers who jumped into the bandwagon of introducing their own private labels to beat the MNC brand competition has paid off well. Latest data from various retailers suggest that Private Labels of Retailers have either beaten the market’s leading brand or giving them a tough fight in organized retail stores.

More Retail Chain from the AV Birla Group has Feaster Private Label which sells more than the iconic brand Maggie (more…)

We have listed major Retail formats operational in India and players operating them. To achieve optimum business efficiency, major Retail players usually operate multiple formats to cater to consumers according to location, size and assortment. Here is a summary of Formats Operational in India.

• Departmental Stores – Extensive (more…)

This is the second of the two post series on fighting the retail slowdown[first post here]. We will touch upon three core areas- Alliances, Consumer behavior and focus on Private Labels.

Alliances:
In the current scenario retailers should be on lookout for opportunities to partner with foreign retailers as it could possibly bring in the much needed capital and expertise. The relationship could involve joint contribution by parties with shared control /ownership and has some degree of exclusivity attached to it. Retailers can also consider entering into an alliance with
A retailer from the same channel, A retailer from a different channel, Vendors, Back-end service providers like third (more…)

Earlier we covered about the facts and issues worrying Indian retailers. Today we cover the strategies suggested by Retailers to cope the slowdown. This will be a two part post and we are covering the first of the two parts.
Toughen internal efficiencies – If you are reading our blog regularly then you have already heard of the term “Garv Se Kaho Hum Kanjoos Hey” from India’s Retail King – Kishore Biyani.

• Cost Cutting – Should not happen where it is easy for the retailer but the most effective strategy should be one that identifies the costs least important to delivering what the customers value which can (more…)