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.
As advertising reaches a cacophonous pitch, as it does every year around this time, brands say they are finding newer and more effective ways to reach their audiences.
Real estate companies such as Unitech, Peninsula Land, HDIL and Future Capital, the financial services arm of Future Group, are in talks with investors including some leading private equity funds for raising investments for their projects, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, whose third party fund had promised investments in these property companies' projects, according to industry sources.
Sales grew only 5-10% last year on weak consumer sentiments
Indian retailers put cash & carry on backburner
Kishore Biyani, who owns the Future Group and its associated retail chains, is seeking support from rival retailers to challenge the might of Hindustan Unilever, Cadbury, Britannia and other confectionary, food and fast moving consumer goods companies (FMCG) to bargain for higher margins.
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.
Three years after launching Big Bazaar Direct, Future group CEO Kishore Biyani's enthusiasm for online ventures has been tempered by growth concerns
The JV, Voltbek Home Appliances, aims to take on LG, Samsung as well as home-grown players such as Godrej among others head on with a slew of products that hopes to combine the best of both worlds -- European technology and design, with Indian pricing and delivery.
According to sources in the Future Group, it plans to tie up with international retailers in different segments. "We can certainly look at bringing in foreign capital to our subsidiaries now," said a group official, who did not wish to be quoted. Under the new guidelines, downstream investments by an Indian company that has foreign investment but is owned and controlled by Indians will not be considered as FDI.
The infectious swine flu, is now impacting retail sales, with the Future Group subsidiary Pantaloon Retail witnessing as much as 20 per cent fall in sales, at its Pune and Mumbai stores, the regions which have come under severe grip of the pandemic.
Kishore Biyani, the retail baron, seems ready to smoke the peace pipe with suppliers with whom he has been at loggerheads for the past few months. The move comes at a time when some of his recently launched private-label product categories are outselling those of multinational rivals such as Nestle.The founder of Future Group of retail chains including Food Bazaar and Pantaloon recently launched a series of in-house value-for-money consumer products.
'The idea of modern retail is to drive consumption and grow the economy. If international retailers can do that and add new categories, why not?' asks Kishore Bayani of the Future Group.
Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon Retail India (PRIL) will invest close to Rs 250 crore within the next year-and-half for setting up 10 Central malls in the country.
E-tailing, or online retailing, is catching up in India with major retailers setting shop online.
Real estate developers like Indiabulls, DLF, Peninsula and even retail giant Future group are all considering converting space reserved for malls and hyper-markets to office space to meet heavy demand from financial institutions, investment banks and large companies.
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.
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group company Pantaloon Retail is hiving off four of its business divisions, including Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, into independent subsidiaries, keeping the option open for listing them in future. The Board of Pantaloon Retail on Tuesday approved setting up of wholly-owned subsidiary companies for Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Speciality Retail Business Activities and Property and Mall Management Division.
The announcement comes in the wake of the consolidation of Future-Axiom's other mobile brands under the brand name 'One Mobile'. The company plans to open 1,500 stores and touch points in the country by December 2009, giving it a reach in 58 cities.
Reliance Retail has tied up with Microsoft to launch the concept of connected homes.
Shoppers Stop is looking to open four new stores this year and plans to invest Rs 120 crore.
Future Capital Holdings has decided to venture into the hedge fund business in the next three months.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting unveiled the 'Future Cup', the symbol of supremacy in the seven-match One-Day International series, beginning in Bangalore on Saturday.
ITC, Godrej Agrovet, DCM Shriram and other companies expanding in rural areas may eclipse the growth of their urban counterparts, including Reliance Fresh and the Future Group-owned Food Bazaar chain, helped by higher farm income that is spurring a boom in sales of fast moving consumer goods, consumer durables and apparel.
Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani says he takes immense pride in the fact that he is a miser. As a slowdown towers over the economic landscape, Biyani says the biggest worry for retailers these days is the increasing cost of doing business, and passing on the costs to your customers is no longer a feasible solution. Biyani's company has distributed thousands of T-shirts among his employees with the inscription: Garv se kaho ham kanjoos hai (Say with pride that you are a mi
ETAM, the French lingerie brand that has a joint venture with Kishore Biyani's Future Group, recently pulled out of Palm Beach Galleria mall in Navi Mumbai, together with six other retailers such as grocery chain Foodland Fresh and Manoranjan sarees.
At a time when most retail firms have either gone slow in opening new stores or closed down some to beat the ongoing slump, the Future Group has opened nearly 150 stores across all its formats over the past three months. This month alone, Biyani is opening 15 stores, mainly selling electronic and lifestyle goods.
The company would venture into khadi products and animal feed this year, Ramdev said.
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.
Future Capital Holding disclosed its plans to enter asset management and retail broking. A credit card tie up with ICICI bank is also in the pipeline.
Starbucks Coffee International, the world's biggest coffee chain is finally entering India.
The tables have turned. Organised retail, which used to cite real estate as its first constraint, is being wooed by developers as there is a sudden surplus created by completion of pending projects and new construction. According to an industry analyst, the rental for a retailer used to constitute 4-5 per cent of its total revenue in the years 2001 and 2002, rising to 7-7.5 per cent in the later years. Industry analysts believe a retailer's profit would get eroded
From crisis leaders to future Goliaths, India Inc saw them all in 2017, says Shailesh Dobhal.
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.
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies is organising its annual business convention Strategym 2006.
Future Group will retail lightings and electrical products under a new brand - Bijli Ghar.
Today's Writing Products is entering retail of office supplies and stationery products with 500 retail outlets.
Regulator seeks clarification on transfer of convertible debt after merger
Manoj Kumar, CEO, e-Zone and Electronics Bazaar, said,"The Mega e-Zone, measuring 25,000 sq ft and above in area, is being developed as a destination store for electronics purchase. The store will offer seamless space for brands to retail their own merchandise."
The battle lines are drawn between Saawariya and Om Shanti Om.
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