National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, the central government's procurement agency for non-cereal crops, is in talks with leading retail companies to serve as a back-end supply chain in agri-commodities.
While some like RPG's Spencer's and Wadhawan group's Spinach say it will encourage them to invest more in cold chains, others such as Aditya Birla Retail and Future Group said the announcement has come too late and helps fresh produce and chilled product suppliers more than retailers.
Anand Raghuraman, partner, The Boston Consulting Group, said it is extremely tough to make money on small food and grocery stores.
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.
Though end-of-season sale is common in the first week of February, what is interesting this time around is the quantum and timing of the offers. Retailers are giving away 20-25 per cent additional discounts, compared to the last year. Also, they began giving discounts at least three weeks before the ususal timing.
The disclosure comes within days after Kishore Biyani-owned Pantaloon Retail said that same store sales in December dropped for the first time in four years. Analysts were more surprised at the drop in value retailing, which indicated that value retailers were not benefiting from downtrading.
Camera makers are getting bullish on Indian markets as the consumer base here is increasing. Major camera brands are banking on retail sales in India. For this, Nikon has tied up with consumer electronics retail chains such as Croma, while Sony India has exclusive retail store network. Samsung has tie-ups with Reliance Digital, Croma, and other multi brand outlets. But all the brands face stiff competition from grey markets that are canabalising the brands' share in retail.
With an epic battle of billionaires for supremacy in one of the world's most prolific markets and a pandemic-propelled surge in online shopping in the background, India's nearly trillion-dollar retail market is hoping to touch 85 per cent of the pre-COVID business in the first half of the New Year. In a year when the COVID-19 carnage ripped apart the retail business, circa 2020 will best go down for the unravelling of the war between Jeff Bezos, the world's wealthiest man, and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani for pre-eminence in the booming market that is estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. It all started with Ambani's Reliance Industries agreeing in August to buy assets of the nation's second-largest retailer for Rs 24,713 crore, just a year after Bezos' Amazon purchased an indirect stake in the indebted Future Retail.
Just days after entering into a joint venture with Marks & Spencer, Reliance Retail has joined hands with Office Depot, a leading international office products and services provider with annual sales of $15.5 billion, for another joint venture. Office Depot will hold 51 per cent stake in the venture with Reliance holding the rest.
The ban, although described as temporary, is being seen as a knee-jerk reaction by the state government following the attacks on Reliance Fresh and Spencer's stores and has raised several questions over its farm policy.
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.
With his Mumbai sojourn,Wal-Mart Vice-Chairman Michael Duke gave enough signals that Wal-Mart is testing waters before it actually enters the organised retail in India.
Big chains such as Star Bazaar, Future Group and D Mart have set up separate shelves to sell products of Patanjali.
Large retail chains like Reliance Fresh, Subhiksha and Spencer's have not been able to do sourcing of their entire farm products directly from the farmers.
While the talks are still at a preliminary stage, sources said major retail players had held discussions with Amazon
The sale of Nature's Basket, Godrej's chain of food stores in west India, is the second exit by a big group in a year in the category
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.
While Reliance has the clout to negotiate prices with suppliers for its e-commerce, not to forget the cost advantage of integrated warehouse and supply chains, Amazon and Walmart are no pushovers, they too have deep pockets.
M&S may hold a majority stake in the venture and the final contours of the partnership are being finalised. India allows 51 per cent foreign direct investment in single-brand retail and 100 per cent in cash-and-carry operations. Multi-brand retail is barred for foreign companies and investors. M&S may hold a majority stake in the venture and the final contours of the partnership are being finalised.
Retailers and mall developers have seen 35-50 per cent growth in the first two weeks of the end-season sale.
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The company, which sells luxury products, including brands like Cartier, Piaget, Panerai and Montblanc, has also sought few clarifications from the government on conditions for selling sub-brands from the same stores, according to sources.
Recent easing of restrictions does not address the pain in the sector.
Its success script: Investing more in local content ecosystem; growing its partnership footprint.
Shashwat Goenka of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group plans a high-decibel campaign around its young apparel brand 2Bme.
Radhakishan S Damani, investor and promoter of the D-Mart supermarket chain, has broken into the elite club of the top 100 global billionaires. Damani, who grew up in a single-room apartment in Mumbai, is now ranked 98th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with $19.2 billion as his net worth. The index is a daily ranking of the world's richest people. The other Indians on the top 100 rich list ahead of Damani are Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar, and Lakshmi Mittal.
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.
In the early part of 1800, a 30-acre plot next to Fort Gloster on the banks of river Hooghly in Howrah district of Bengal was the nerve centre of industrial activity; it housed India's first steam-powered cotton mill, Bowreah Mills, which was set up by a British merchant and went on to become a hub of factories - a rum distillery, foundry, cotton yarn factory, an oil mill and a paper mill, et al. Spearheaded by Dwarkanath Tagore, the industrialist grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, the commercial complex was possibly the first of its kind in the country. Close to 200 years later, after much ebb and flow of history, the hub is set for a resurgence of sorts.
Reliance Retail follows Future Group in online foray
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The blonde bombshell has launched yet another intimates line for high street retailer Marks & Spencer.
Victoria state sports minister Martin Pakula said the government would develop a plan with Cricket Australia and the MCG to allow the famed 100,000-seat stadium to be at one-quarter capacity for the Test starting on Dec. 26.
Almost eight months after Noel Tata stepped down as managing director of Trent, retail arm of the Tata Group, the company said it had appointed Philip Auld as chief executive officer.
The retail revolution in Kolkata is gearing up to house some of the biggest, most globally renowned brands.
Naukri.com's Hiring Outlook Survey for 2020 reveals the jobs and sectors that saw a surge in demand during the pandemic.
"Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board in its meeting held on June 24, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has approved 28 proposals of FDI, said a finance ministry statement. The approved proposals relate to ministries and departments of chemicals & petro-chemicals, industrial policy & promotion, information & broadcasting, urban development, tourism and economic affairs.
Dowdy wine and liquor shops are making way for swankier alternates.
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