Its tie-ups so far have been with international brands, either through licensing agreements or joint ventures, to get them into India.
The Raheja-owned Shoppers Stop, which was so far an up market department chain, is becoming a full service retailer soon. It is increasing its stake in the promoter group's hypermarket chain Hypercity from 19 per cent to 51 per cent.
As part of the arrangement, products from Timberland's portfolio will be available through various premium department stores across the country, besides its own outlets. "With rapidly-growing fashion and retail sectors, we believe India will become a key market for us," Timberland president and chief executive officer Jeff Swartz said in a statement.
With retailers downsizing operations, many senior executives from fast-moving consumer goods and telecom who had jumped on the retail bandwagon a couple of years ago are making a quiet comeback.
Kishore Biyani's Future Group is getting its act together on supplying its private labels outside the group's 1,000-odd outlets, even as Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail has already marched ahead by starting to sell some of its private brands to kiranawalas (independent stores).
Anand Raghuraman, partner, The Boston Consulting Group, said it is extremely tough to make money on small food and grocery stores.
Big retailers are openly talking of plans to harness the power of big data, even reporting those in annual reports as part of a long-term strategy.
With retailers downsizing operations, many senior executives from fast-moving consumer goods and telecom who had jumped on the retail bandwagon a couple of years ago are making a quiet comeback.
Players such as Food Bazaar, Reliance, More and Vishal have already launched their private labels in this category. Names such as Tasty Treat, Disney, Ching's, Smith & Jones from the Future Group stables and Reliance Select from Reliance Retail among others are challenging the market dominance of Maggi in terms of in-store purchases in these retail formats.
Indian retailers put cash & carry on backburner
With confidence creeping back into the market place and rentals down up to 50 per cent, large retailers are back to drawing up aggressive growth plans. In the next one year, Aditya Birla Retail, Bharti Enterprises, Reliance Retail, Trent, Mahindra Retail and others hope to open new stores spread over five million square feet.
Kishore Biyani led-Future Group has filed a caveat before the Delhi high court requesting it to be heard if any plea is filed by e-commerce major Amazon over its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Mukesh Ambani-led RIL. Anticipating a move by Amazon, which had got an interim arbitration award in its favour, putting the announced deal on hold, the Future Group firm has moved the Delhi high court.
The fixed line broadband will offer "ultra high-definition entertainment on large screen TVs, multi-party video conferencing from your living room, voice-activated virtual assistants, virtual reality gaming, digital shopping, immersive experiences," Ambani said.
All major markets, daily haats, shopping malls and roadside shops were closed in response to the call given by Rajdhani Byabasai Jibika Bancho Samiti, police said. Even fish and vegetable markets were closed in protest against the government's permission to Reliance Retail Limited for opening its outlets, they said.
The JV was expected to open 56 exclusive high-end stores for the four focus brands, Miss Sixty, Energie, Killah & Murphy&Nye, in the top 10 cities in the first three years. As per the original plans, Darshan Mehta president and chief executive of Reliance Brands, was to spearhead the JV with separate business heads for each of the four brands.
The Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune, invites industry delegates and management students to attend its annual business seminar 4Thought--Khsitij ke Par.
Betting on higher margins from private labels, Reliance Digital, the consumer durable chain of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail, is planning to introduce its own brands of home theatres, LCD televisions and digital cameras. The brands, according to a source, will be called Rldigi. Reliance Digital is planning tie-ups with domestic and international consumer durable and appliance companies. These private labels are expected to contribute 12-15 per cent of Reliance Digit
Apparel makers are hopefully eyeing the Indian womenswear and lingerie market in the New Year.
Close on the heels of the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail's possible entry into the second-hand car market, Tata Motors, the country's second largest automobile major, is planning a similar foray.
Marks & Spencer Reliance is the joint venture between the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail and the British department store chain, Marks & Spencer group. The first store would have around 40 employees and would offer men's, women's and children's garments besides various household items.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have already announced plans to enter the milk-based beverages segment in the country. Reliance Retail, which has entered the diary segment with Dairy Pure, its milk brand, may also expand into niche categories. Industry observers believe that Bharti Retail may also be working its way towards marking an entry into the dairy space.
Reliance Digital, the consumer durables information technology arm of Reliance Retail, on Wednesday announced opening of 'iStore' in Hyderabad to offer a range of Apple products in professional and consumer segments.
The Kurkumbh unit, which manufactures MEG from industrial alcohol, has 90 employees on its rolls and another 250 contract labourers.
Fitch, one of the largest design consultancies in the world that has designed stores of Wal-Mart, Target, Marks & Spencer, Best Buy and Tesco among others, is betting big on India's organised retail sector. Already in the country to serve clients such as Aditya Birla Retail, Reliance Retail, Tatas and so on, Fitch plans to treble the number of staff and open new offices in the country.
Amendments to the Agriculture Produce Market Committees Act have opened floodgates for private companies and online commodity exchange in Gujarat.
Nashik district, an Agri Export Zone (AEZ) for onion, grapes, keshar mango, pomegranates and flowers, is fast becoming the source of agri goods for retail companies such as Subhiksha and Reliance Retail.
The store segmentation approach that Shoppers Stop is taking is intended to improve its hit rate at a time when local and international fashion retailers are crowding the market with new merchandise across price points.
World Gold Council to double investment in India, views organised retail as a boon to industry
Jio's global partnerships took shape this year when Jio Platforms, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Jio which has invested in various digital platforms, was able to woo a bevy of marquee investors: Facebook, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, and a numerous PE funds.
Beginning with the festive season, the company expects to open at least one store for each of these products by the year-end.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is in talks to acquire an equity stake in Haryana-based Modern Dairies, which would strengthen its presence in the high-volume, low-margin liquid milk market.
The country's fruits and vegetables retail segment has caught up the fancy of international companies even as domestic companies such as Bharti and the Tatas tie up with global firms for supply of farm produce.
German retail giant Metro Cash & Carry and India's emerging retail venture Reliance Retail have roped in the property services group of ICICI Bank for identifying retail properties for its proposed pan India expansion.
Dutch consumer electronics major Royal Philips is in talks with major retail players in India, including Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail and Tata Group company Trent for a tie-up, as it looks to shore up volumes in the country.
India's retail giants, including Kishore Biyani's Future Group, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail and Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti group, have started negotiations with the railways for leasing land for retail development.
The UK's Marks & Spencer (M&S) has plans to position itself as a mid-market mass retailer in India and is eyeing a chunk of its revenues from India in the next few years. M&S has severed its partnership with Planet Retail and has entered into a deal with Reliance Retail. Its existing stores will be absorbed in the current partnership eventually. M&S will be positioned as a mid-market retailer in India. It chose Reliance as it moves quickly in its line of businesses.
The roll out of Reliance Retail's fresh food format stores has hit a wall in West Bengal, where a key constituent of the state government is against big businesses entering agriculture and allied fields.
Even in the face of protests from trade groups, escalating real estate costs and pressure on margins, the march of domestic retail chains continues unabated.
The way the story went, customers would get dramatically lower prices for everyday groceries (something that takes up 45 per cent of the household budget) and farmers would earn at least a third or more as big retailers began procuring from them directly. But none of this has really happened, and may not either.
The potential of India's retail sector may be huge and growing, but soaring rentals, salaries and interest rates could make the journey a bumpy ride for retailers in the near term.
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