There have been complaints from consumers that the firm has increased the base price of products and then charged the lower GST rate, thereby keeping the MRP of products the same in pre and post tax rate cut.
The growing margins suggest that the belt tightening is paying off. For example, the margins of Pantaloon Retail, the country's largest listed retailer, have gone up from 9.2 per cent in June last year to 10.6 per cent in June 2009.Others such as the Raheja-owned Shoppers Stop and Tata Group's Trent, Reliance Retail and Spencer's Retail aren't far behind.
Reliance Retail follows Future Group in online foray
The Amul girl is still synonymous with branded butter and the iconic billboards continue to be conversation starters.
While start-ups are making it easier to borrow, one needs to choose carefully.
It took the Aditya Birla group four years to make up its mind on entering the the burgeoning e-commerce market in the country.
Who says fancy footwear is only for the dry weather? We bring you some styles that will not only look good, but will see you through the monsoon as well.
Who says fancy footwear is only for the dry weather? Ladies, we bring you some styles that will not only look good, but will see you through the monsoon as well.
Consider this: Kishore Biyani's Future Group, which owns the country's largest retailer Pantaloon, is converting the standalone stores of book and music chain Depot into shop-in-shops within Big Bazaar. While the number of Depot shop-in-shops has risen to 123, that of standalone stores has come down to nine. Same with UK-based footwear brand Lee Cooper.
TV moghuls are ramping up the home shopping segment as it sees 35 per cent annual growth. While shopping on TV has been available for years now, a majority of Indian shoppers still prefer to touch and feel before buying a product.
Food inflation is high. But it is possible to beat it by being a smart food shopper. Here are the tips that can help...
The printer, displayed at Science Museum in London, can create objects including a pen, a light and an orange squeezer from pieces of metal and plastic.
With the rains pouring down upon us, predictably, we're going to need plenty of additions to our wardrobes this season. Today, we bring you a selection of waterproof bags that will keep your essentials dry, and see you through the monsoon without falling apart.
A 26-year-old Indian origin youth working as a clerk in a convenience store was allegedly shot dead by robbers. Gurjeet Singh of Merriville, Indiana who worked in his uncle's gas station was shot dead by four armed robbers on June 14. Singh was in the store when four men approached the store, one of them shot him in the neck.
Subhiksha Trading, the 11-year-old retail chain which once prided itself on providing value to the shopper, has run out of cash. R Subramanian, 43, managing director of Subhiksha Trading, speaks to Business Standard on the 'pain and continuous struggle' to run even the retail chain's daily operations. Subramanian, however, maintains he is committed to the business and is not ready to walk away.
In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, Britain has stepped up security in hotels across the country. Speaking before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Tuesday said security guidance has been issued and training given, in response to fears that hotel guests and shoppers in London were being left vulnerable from possible atrocities.
The retail king is back to what he does best: Expand. Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani is planning to add two Big Bazaar stores every month and open 15 hypermarkets over the next six months.
10 malls expected to go off business this year
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder & CEO, Info Edge (India), and B S Nagesh, CEO, Shoppers Stop, say hiring is not taking place in companies the way it was happening two to three years earlier.
Billing errors are common in supermarkets, says Sonia Kohli, a shopper. She was charged Rs 86 for a toothpaste under a 'super saver' offer on which the maximum retail price printed was just Rs 50. In a similar case, the billed price was Rs 80 when the actual price of the product was Rs 73.
Several malls and retailers downed shutters in the commercial capital city of Mumbai. Kishore Biyani's hypermarket chain Big Bazaar closed two stores its stores in Mumbai Central and Parel, which are half-an-hour's drive from South Mumbai.
Prices of agricultural commodities have risen 23 per cent so far this month.
What's the mantra for reviving ghost malls? Most important, a right mix of products. They also need to transform into community spaces.
A year ago MG Road, the bustling main thoroughfare of Mumbai's historic business district of Fort, was full of shoppers haggling with street vendors over everything from replica Prada sunglasses to underwear.
E-tailing, or online retailing, is catching up in India with major retailers setting shop online.
Indian retailers are an optimistic lot when it comes to deciding on expansion plans for 2009. Retailers such as Spencer's Retail, Future Group, Shoppers Stop, Westside, Wills Lifestyle, Bata India, and Raymond find the 30-40 per cent drop in retail rentals a reason to cheer.
Almost all the big mall developers/investors - such as Raheja-owned Inorbit Malls, Xander-APG joint venture Virtuous Retail South Asia (VRSA), property developer Prestige Estates Projects, and Blackstone-owned Nexus Malls - are looking to double their space in a year or two.
Feel the pinch of predatory pricing by e-tailers
Apparel, fast-moving consumer goods and healthcare retailers are all moving to their own brands to ease the squeeze on their profit margins. Till not so long ago, only a handful of retailers like Shopper's Stop had their own labels. Now, private labels have become core to every retailer's strategy.
Check out the Ultimate Guide to Smart Shopping!
'The only good thing that has come out of our current situation is that it has brought communities closer.' NRIs describe the impact coronavirus is having on their lives.
According to the report from the European Information Technology Observatory, Britons spend more on electronic equipment than shoppers in any other country in Europe, The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday. Consumers in Britain are expected to spend more than 11 billion pounds this year on electronic gadgets, making them bigger spenders than those in Germany (9.3 billion pounds), France (7.2 billion pounds) and Italy (4.3 billion pounds).
ONQI is a new rating system designed to evaluate foods from the healthiest (100) to the least nutritious (1).
My only request to the finance minister is to allow retailers to adjust the service tax on all inputs such as rent and telephone against the sales tax we collect from consumers. We will be relieved to that extent, says BS Nagesh.
Meet the designers who made summer a fashionable affair.
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Shoppers in the country will be able to shop across 7,000 plus products from over 180 brands with the help of Amazon.in, Amazon said in a statement in Bengaluru.
Franz Giovanni, Mario Zignotti, Richmond and Ascot. Foreign brands for menswear? Not really. You could pick up these designer clothes from a Westside or a Shopper's Stop. At affordable prices too. It's not only for apparel that retailers creating their own lines; whether its for air fresheners or 'atta', they're putting out their own brands.
The Page Three and pullouts of leading newspapers, dealing with the good life of the rich and famous, have a new set of readers -- the customs officials. Recently, customs officials at the Mumbai international airport found that wife of a business tycoon, who had arrived from Europe along with a few friends, had failed to declare items which included mink and fur items and expensive purses.
As a sign of things to come, Future Media, the media arm of the group, recently launched a women's magazine, My World, priced at Rs 25, given away as gratis to shoppers at Future Group stores (Pantaloon, Big Bazaar, etc) spending over Rs 1,500. The company plans to launch a magazine each quarter.
In a move aimed at checking the revenue loss stemming from Indian shoppers purchasing luxury brands abroad, the government on Friday said it could rationalise import duties."India has high tariffs and we recognise that if you go abroad and buy, then it is a revenue loss for India. So we are working on both duties and countervailing duties," Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.
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