Friday, March 26, 2010

Nirvana Opens its first jewellery store in Hyderabad, South India.

Following its plans on big scale retail expansion in India, fine jewellery franchise retail brand Nirvana has opened a store in Hyderabad, in the plush lifestyle store Inorbit, reports say. This being its first steps into South India’s diamond jewellery ,market, it plans to make a stronger mark in the region in the years ahead, and is considering Bangalore and Chennai as its next destinations, reports add.

The retail brand is part of the portfolio of Fine Jewellery India Ltd.

Nirvana's retail expansion will involve fully owned stores and franchise outfits. At present the brand has five stand-alone stores and 110 stores in different formats. It has a major presence across large format lifestyle stores.

The current domestic demand for diamond jewellery is on the increase, and the brand is simultaneously growing its portfolio, targeting the working women category, reports add.

Source:Diamond World News Service

Monday, March 8, 2010

Groversons To Open 50 More Stores across South India

Monday, 08 March 2010 06:52
Groversons spreading its reach in south IndiaGroversons the popular lingerie brand which holds 23 per cent market share in the organized bra segment is working on a blueprint to open company owned stores across India. The brand which has only two company-owned stores now plans to open 50 exclusive stores across India. “We are aiming for 300 per cent growth from exclusive brand outlets (EBOs). Initially, the plan is to open 10 stores and then scale it up to 50 EBOs,” says Rakesh Grover, MD, Groversons Group. Incidentally, they already have 12 EBOs, these are run by franchisee and go by the name Poem. They also have two company-owned stores for more than 20 years. “We are planning to invest about Rs 10 lakh per store for an area of about 250 to 500 sq. ft.” Groversons is best known among women for brands like Paris Beauty, Sparsh, Miss-T and Poems to name a few.Groversons spreading its reach in south India
Meanwhile, the Groversons is also planning to spread to three states where they are not present at the moment. Their focus will be on the South Indian market where they have a relatively small presence. “We are aiming to be the number one lingerie brand in the south in the next few years. The north-east too has given us an overwhelming response,” says Grover.
At the moment 40 per cent of their revenues come from the north. Groversons is also present in large formats like Reliance, Big Bazaar and Max among others. The brand contributes 40-45 per cent of sales in large format for this category. However, it’s the EBOs which rake in the moolah. In fact, sale in EBOs is almost three times that of large formats. The brand is also present in 15,000 to 20,000 MBOs, which also gives the most revenue.
Grover says, unlike in Europe, in India fashion is a not priority when it comes to buying undergarments. Nearly 70 to 75 per cent of bra sales come from basics. However, buying habits are changing and people are asking for more colors and styles. Fashion is in demand but its moving in a more modest way. He says the Indian lingerie market is undergoing a transformation. Ten years ago, the organized sector had only 25 per cent share of the market. Today, it has increased to 33 to 35 per cent. “The growth of organized market is much faster than the unorganized one. Now the customer is aware of a good quality product and that can only be given by a brand,” he says. With a turnover of a little less than Rs 100 crore this year, Groversons is looking for a 30 to 35 per cent growth.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Max Hyper Markets To Add 25 Hypermarkets By 2012

NEW DELHI: After a phase of consolidation, billionaire Micky Jagtiani-owned Max Hypermarkets, which operates Spar-branded superstores, plans to
expand its presence to new geographies and open 25 hypermarkets by 2012. This will result in a 10-fold increase in the company’s retail space—from 120,000 sq ft currently to 1.2 million sq ft.

Managing director Viney Singh said the company is expecting revenues to rise proportionately, from Rs 150 crore currently, to Rs 1,250 crore by 2012.

The company, currently, operates three large-format stores—two in Bangalore and one in Hyderabad—and is set to open its flagship property, a 90,000 sq ft store, in Bangalore next week.

Mr Jagtiani, who controls the Landmark Group, one of West Asia’s largest retail chains, owns fashion retail chain LifeStyle and Max Hypermarkets in India. Max is the licencee for the Spar franchise in India. A Dutch brand, Spar International, is one of the world’s largest retailer of food, with presence in over 33 countries.

“We will now open 6-7 stores each year through 2012. These are all large-format stores with an average size of 50,000 sq ft,” Mr Singh said.

India’s organised retail industry has been treading cautiously after many players had to shelve aggressive expansion plans as poor consumer sentiment slowed sales through 2008 and 2009. At least one player—Subhiksha—went bankrupt while another—Vishal Retail—is going through a corporate debt restructuring process.

Resurgent sales in the first months of 2010 have inspired greater confidence among large retailers such as Reliance Retail, Future Group and Spencer Retail, which have variously forged joint ventures, rejigged top management and undertaken other initiatives in a sign that the $37-billion industry might be gradually gaining momentum once again.

Max’s Singh said the company is investing Rs 400 crore, of which, about Rs 250 crore will be equity and the rest debt, to fund the expansion.

Max Hypermarkets will open 6-7 stores each year till 2012. While most of the stores will be in tier-2 cities in south India, such as Mangalore, Mysore, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Coimbatore, the company will also be opening large stores in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.

In many new malls opening in these cities, Max has signed on as an anchor client. “Being a hypermarket, we are naturally an anchor client for malls,” Mr Singh said, adding that his company works on a revenue sharing basis with mall owners. “It varies obviously, but on an average, the cost of occupancy works out to be 3-4% of revenues,” Mr Singh said. Rent and salaries are typically the largest cost overheads for retail operations.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Lingerie Industry and the growth of its franchise in India.

The existence of lingerie is as old as the existence of women who wear it. In the Middle Ages things were easier to live as women wore corsets various alternatives such as coats, the bliaunt and surcoat, which move more easily on their dresses and keep breasts firm. Wearing underwear / corset has been practiced since the ancient civilization of Egypt and Greece, where women wore corsets to support their breasts.Bras have been worn by all ages to support women's breasts and make them look fashionable.

18th century: it is believed that the history of underwear began in the 18th century. The padded silhouette with a flat stomach, slim waist and cone-shaped bust was a style. The corset, a vital element of any kind of women's clothing at the time, gave the body of a typical form, the crushing of internal organs and make them feel comfortable. Extreme use of satin, silk damask and adorned with embroidery,ribbons and lace gave the effect of art.

19th Century: The women wore corsets, crinolines and turns. The S-shaped silhouette trend began at that time. The women wore underwear like panties, corset, jacket and pants size.

20th century: Lingerie proved to be simpler and more convenient. Corsets have been replaced by a bra more flexible modern belt. The pastel colors for lingerie came into existence. In 1910, the figure became a youth trend. The bra first have a patent,which has been largely accepted, a bra was invented by a young New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob in 1910. Femininity in the 1930s became a fashion phenomenon. A woman has been covered by the parts known including bras, corsets and curves pointing bust and waist with suspenders. But a brace each have been widely accepted and panties have been reduced in size and finally obtained the shape of bikini briefs.

21st century, the era of intimacy-intimatewear: At this time the mode ispushing women to show the underwear as outerwear that relates to the sensory pleasure of a partner. Lingerie is considered the second skin of many women. In the current era, women have more choices than ever in terms of style, design, fabrics, etc. For many years of fashion at to lingerie styles was switching between the feminine and masculine , and painful practice. In recent times, lingerie is the most attractive, luxurious and feminine clothes that are wornintimately and respected for its convenience and comfort.

Forecast market growth in the world of Lingerie

Today, the main concern about the marketing of products of lingerie is the fight for share between global brands and local labels for retailers worldwide. It also focuses on consumer choice and acceptance of the brand. With its unmatched combination of fashion and function, lingerie is a product category that crosses the fine line between necessity and luxury. Besides these features, it has, An increase of $ 30 billion-a-year industry and has set for continued growth over the next five years.

For the lingerie market worldwide, it is necessary to verify not only the competition between brands, but also separate bra wars taking place between local brands and retail labels. The leading player among the lingerie brands in the world are the U.S. manufacturer Sara Lee, which has a large market share in its home country and the European market. AfterSara Lee, there are companies like Warnaco, Fruit of the Loom, VF and Maidenform, Triumph in Europe also have a significant market share. The most comfortable La Perla, meanwhile, is at the top of the high-end lingerie market worldwide.

In the retail sector, the American chain Victoria's Secret, Knickerbox the United Kingdom and northern European retailer Hunkemoller provide the specialized market, but the vast amount of lingerie is negotiated by clothing retailers such as Marks & Spencer and hypermarkets like Wal-Martand Carrefour. However, the tendency is to be robust on the statements that the bras, and repeatedly sell these items in multiple packages. While major retailers and brands to keep propelling the market, the singular nature of the claims that there is also a push to smaller, more labels in the marketplace that offers a little niche.

Of the total world market for lingerie, amounted to 29.5 billion dollars annually in 2003, bra calculated at 56 per cent of total sales, while memory and wear body / daywear / wear formcategory added 32 percent and 12 percent in that order. From about 6.4 billion bras and panties were purchased worldwide in 2003. The report shows that the average woman buys two bras and five pairs of pants per year. Sale lingerie in the developed world are to be seen how basic leads, with the average of six women with bras and eight pairs of briefs in his wardrobe – more than it usually requires.

The purchase of these products is usually determined by factors related to style, like whatstyles (g-string bra padded) look better in certain types of clothing, or what colors look best. In the past, this picture was not good for developing countries, where lingerie is bought more by necessity than desire. Although population growth, demographics unstable and the emergence of consumers more disposable income to change buying habits in these regions, and the lingerie market is expected to gain an advantage of this opportunity.
According to a research report,the lingerie market worldwide was estimated at 29.15 billion dollars (U.S.) in 2004 and should increase (at a rate of about 9 per cent) to $ 31.6 billion in 2012. And the product that will have the fastest growth is "underwear, daywear and shapewear.

Despite this significant growth, the demand for lingerie in the developed world has been observed to increase approximately five percent (based on a low population growth, aging and saturation of products), while that ofrest of the world should grow by nearly 20 percent.

Although this appears to be a fairly steady increase of 7 percent in worldwide volume of 6.8 billion units, it also amounts to a massive growth in developing countries. This will go together a remarkable surge to manufacture abroad in countries like China and India, the continuous improvement of technology and communications offer such alternatives more profitable than the national alternative. The markets are expectedto develop in the future include the Indian subcontinent, China and Southeast Asia. India and China should increase their international market share of approximately U.S. $ 100 million each, while South Asia, already a leading market for lingerie will increase from U.S. $ 350 million in value.

Given that price levels in these sub-regions are a little weak, which shows an expected growth in the quantity huge opportunity for companies to lingerie. The products that form the body and provide a smooth curveare seen as a key area of growth for buyers of baby boomers lingerie. New and innovative fabrics like Lycra and microfiber will continue, with many in this segment.

Price to maintain constant

With a tone of lower prices to a level of detail offsetting any attempt to increase manufacturers' costs, prices are not expected to have a significant impact on growth of lingerie market in the developed world until 2010. However, value growth in the developing world is more complicatedestimate, because of the vast trading on the gray or black markets and, therefore, not to normal retail prices.

Nevertheless, Sara Lee is expected to maintain its market dominance of developed countries and make significant inroads into other markets over the next five years – even in challenging financial problems faced by competitors such as Warnaco and Maidenform. With her low profile and hence companies with low debt as European Triumph Wolford and keep surviving. It isunderstandable that the strong volume growth of leasing for players of lingerie come from emerging markets, while in an area where discrimination is important, businesses will also benefit organized by marketers niche. Fortunately for all subjects, lingerie is driven by consumer loyalty to the brand, fit and comfort, making it one of the financially strongest segments of the apparel market.

China

China exported 4.2 billion pieces of underwear for women in 2004, 30 percentto increase from 2003. In China, Shantou is a hub for manufacture of underwear for women with well-developed systems and good management of the plant, providing a fast and efficient chain system of supply. This port city in Guangdong Province exported women's underwear worth $ 650 million in 2004, being the third of outbound shipments from China of the product. Shantou has more than 1,500 suppliers, about 150 of which export directly. Cities of Shantou associated Gurao,Xiaoshan, Chendian Liangying and are areas of advanced manufacturing. Gurao, the largest center, has more than 440 manufacturers of underwear. The annual sales reach 260 million, including $ 564 million bras and 180 million pairs of underpants. Shantou is famous throughout China as a major producer of knitted underwear. Xiaoshan and Chendian each produce more than 100 million worth of underwear women per year.

Suppliers in Shantou range from small businesses with 50 workers to large manufacturers with 1,500 employees. However, small and medium suppliers are large companies. Many suppliers have vertically integrated production of fabrics with internal knitting, dyeing, finishing and printing, tailoring and sewing, embroidery and packaging capacity. Bra City and suppliers panty models target mid-range, but high end models are also made by them. About 90 percent of production is for OEM orders.

Bras and panties are seamless fashion modelswhich are better now days. Hanzina Underwear Co. Ltd, a leading supplier of these products, has invested huge sums in 20 Santoni circular knitting machines from Italy, two systems of warp knitting and 350 sewing machines. The company produces 200,000 units per month. The use of lace and embroidered fabrics is also well-liked among suppliers Shantou. Underwear Knitting Factory makes Chengtai sets bra and panties with lace trim, embroidery and prints.

The midsize company makesunderwear Wal-Mart and the Oren Donna. Hongjie Underwear Industrial Co. is also a leading producer with 1,500 employees and fully integrated production that covers the fabric knitting and sewing. The company provides bras and panties Invented in knitted fabrics, prints and embroideries complex. The company also produces items such as push-ups and convertible bras.

Many companies are making efforts to reduce their lead and delivery times. Port of Shantou, one of 20 leading ports inChina, transportation of cargo to many countries and regions. This helps suppliers to provide convenient delivery to foreign buyers and supports the continuation of transport fares cheaper.
India

The lingerie market in India is still in its infancy and, until recently, the accessibility of high quality apparel intimate was limited to irregular or gray imports sold under the counter. Because of limited products and lack of sufficient specialized and organized distributionatmosphere, the achievement of fashion and quality awareness of the Indian consumer for intimate apparel is yet to achieve.

India is also one of the markets more dispersed retail worldwide. The products have so far been marketed primarily as a commodity and are price and margin driven. Till today huge quantities of bras are sold to end users by male sales in mom-and-pop shops. Most shops do not provide even a trial chamber.

Accordingly, major consumerbase are not sure of the functional characteristics of a bra or even their own sizes. When Gokaldas Intimatewear began developing enamor their first goal was good business. Enamor respondents across India and measured 4,000 women. They found that 80 percent of Indian women wore equipment underwear uncomfortable. In India, the bras were made only in cup sizes B and C, but enamor research has revealed that most Indian women needed cup sizes A or D.

In India, Triumph, Lovable Lingerie, enamor, Celebrities, JulietteAmul etc. are major players in the lingerie market. Today, 70 per cent of the lingerie market in India is unorganized. But this can not be replaced by the increasing number of malls and consumers concerned about the quality. For example, Lovable growth of 20 per cent last year has been sustained by new businesses and there has been a increased need for lingerie franchise enquiries across the country.

The contribution of combined market of the top five retailers in India are less than two percent. Although the lingerie sales rose 12 percent over the past five years due to anew awareness of intimatewear. Women's innerwear industry in India is worth Rs. 2000 crore and growing at an average rate of 12 per cent.
Turkey and Bangladesh have already seen the potential and aggressively promote its innerwear industry. Many Asian countries are India, defeating the United States, the world's largest importer of clothing. According to the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel, in 2002 the country imported 198,094,426 dozen pieces of underwear made of cotton. Contribution of India to this was a meager 2.36 per cent. In bras using material of human origin, the United States imported 37676800 dozen pieces. While China was 32 per cent of them, Indonesia had 10.5 percent. Even Bangladesh has 1 percent. However, India has exported a meager 0.65 percent. Although there is great potential to be recorded if approached in an organized manner with a good introduction.

Ready to wear women: the most profitable segment

The Rs.28 ,375-crore segment womenswear garment covers 32.1 per cent of sharesThe Indian apparel market in value terms. In terms of volume, market share of womenswear is one percent higher than men's fashion, but in terms of shareholder value is five percent lower than men's clothes because segment brand in ready to wear women was virtually nonexistent until a few years ago. Currently, the most profitable segment for investment. In 2005, volumes rose 5.5 percent while capital gains were as high as 15 percent.
Women's trousers and skirts categoryobserved a stronger growth in 2005, nine per cent of increasing volumes and value appreciating over 23 percent from 2004 levels. Western Wear, such as suits and jackets and lingerie are the two other categories where progress has been excellent, the volume and value growth is 10 percent and 21 respectively in the western wear and 6.8 and 18.1 per cent in lingerie.

At first Indian women to the most trusted foreign products or run their tailors corner embroidery friendly form fitting bodice,which were worn under dresses. But now the scenario is different. The movement first fashion for men and women was considered if associated Apparels Pvt Ltd, manufacturers of shirts Liberty, introduced the famous Maiden Form Bras, Jockey underwear and swimwear Jantzen in 1962 India.

It was a lean period for the shirts of Liberty with the complexity of imports and the opening of export markets, if the late Bhawandas Wadhwani approached the lingerie industry with technical expertise of theUnited States. The marks obtained a realization of their optimal level of style and quality. But because of restrictions imposed by the government for foreign brands, Wadhwani discontinued the overseas tie and changed the names to Libertina for lingerie and freedom for men's underwear in the late 70s. 80 to 90 company focused on the underwear. Even today Libertina and freedom are always one of the major players in the lingerie market.
With the triumph of Libertina and Liberty, other IndiansBusiness has also moved on the lingerie market. In the 70s Peter Pan of Dawn Mills entered the lingerie market with styles of the West. The brand was popular among Indian women, but two decades later, he disappeared from the market.

In 1971, VIP has entered the market for underwear for men with a big bang and became the most talked about brand because of its advertising featuring model Dalip Tahil. Since then, VIP is a leading player in the market men and women's underwear. VIP launched Petals, a molded bra with Lycra memorandum which was well accepted at this time, but was subsequently abandoned. But by introducing Loveable in 1996 was a huge success because they brought in a foreign brand, but it was made in India. Lovable was followed by feelings, and domestic VIP Daisy Dee another foreign brand. The very ultra Vanity Fair was introduced in 2004 and a mark Try to Korean men and women in 2004. VIP innerwear fashion new men called Frenchie X wastargeted to meet the challenges posed by foreign brands.

Another leading brand in the lingerie market is Rupa & Co founded in 1985. The variety of men, women and underwear for children in place, it is the largest Indian innerwear manufacturer and seller. Besides these two brands are other labels produced by them. Amul, Lux Cozi, Dollar are certain brands catering to a particular segment of the lingerie market for men, while the lingerie segment has its own localofferings as Neva, body care, Softy, Lady Care, Little Lacy, Red Rose, Sonar, Feather Line and many others.

In restructuring Jockey-90s entered the Indian market followed by Calida and Blu Liberti. Then the very haute couture Gossard existed for a limited time. In the 21st century, enamor, another foreign brands entered the Indian market through exports Gokaldas and the chic French brand Aubade began its only outlet in Mumbai. La Senza is the foreign brand next is set to enter themarket while Hanes already has a very unconventional campaign with a targeted ad to the trust for the Indian male.

One of the main players on the Indian market is the Triumph lingerie. They have a presence in 150 countries worldwide and a turnover of 2 billion dollars with an output of over 200 million units per year, producing 6000 new styles fashion designed by year by 200 designers in 11 countries. Triumph started its operations in India in six metros, and is now distributed in the45 cities. Regarding the lingerie is concerned, India is still in its initial phase. India has to wait to become a mature market compared to other Asian markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Vietnam. Over the last three years there has been strong growth in the company, but the retail lingerie and distribution channels are limited. Triumph markets through retailers, MBO, and two franchises in Mumbai and Kolkata, and even they will grow in the nearfuture. From 300 outlets in India, we target to cross 1,000 points of sale in three to five years. With all the raw materials imported from Europe, Triumph is produced in Chennai and has acquired a 50 percent sales increase since entering the country. Although Triumph is the only international brand managed, it also aims to meet the Indian buyers and the ability of the source of smart fabrics are not available in India. Triumph was the first to introduce the tissue hydration with Aloe Vera andOne piece bra, which is produced by a piece of cloth. Sizes and styles are very special for Indian consumers. Triumph, which began production in India in 1998 started exporting to the United States before its entry into the local market. With 80 percent of exports and 20 per cent of local sales in India, Triumph adds new products and concepts for the styles of 5-10 each year.

Recently, well-known brands International Lingerie – Aubade – the fashion capital of France held at Indianmarket.


Although the prospects for international lingerie franchise is just as exciting and bright as outerwear and one the India's growth in that sector may be called almost negligible. Body and fashion shows of beach are presented twice a year around the world showing the latest trends in fashion innerwear. Fabrics new underwear with an "anti" as anti-stress, anti-smog, anti-static, anti-allergic, anti-bacterial, anti-moisture and anti-odor pamper the body. Top European products such as BrunoBanani, Excellent, Schneider, Louis Feraud, Calvin Klein, Gianfranco Ferre, DKNY, La Perla, Gossard, and Schiesser are some brands that set their inspiration to the ultimate test. Thank you to implement new outerwear made by designers from around the world and India, lingerie is published with the renewed fascination in India too.

It may be shocking that there are 1000 brands in the Indian market, but only 200 are active nationwide. Others are aimed at markets in the vicinity of their production. Many of these brands have continued until the advent of MNC labels for the last decade and should continue to do so.

The lingerie industry is progressing in India because of domestic demand combined with higher export potential considerably. She will soon get a position early. On a cottage industry can be transformed into an increase in trade. Indian brands have experienced that they should be more quality conscious and work harder in branding, promotion, packaging and innovation. Only the state of mind to make the lingerie world class fails. Small countries like Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh are major producers in this segment. Indian companies have recognized the importance of innerwear for men and women and the competition is hot as new and more players are able to offer that many Indians called the lift mode.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

IF Brands (HURTADO) To Open Fendi Store, Young America In India

International Furnit­ure Brands, a retail chain for luxury home products earlier known as Hurtado, plans to open a store for the Italian furniture brand Fendi in India. The brand recently launched the Fendi Casa collection in its existing store in Delhi.

IFBrands is also looking for a tie-up with Armani Casa, another Italian bra­nd, to open a mono store.

Samvit Tara, director, International Furniture Br­ands (IFBrands), told Financial Chronicle, “We are in talks with Fendi to open a mono store in India.”

IFBrands also plans to soon launch children’s fur­niture collections. Said Ta­ra, “We have tied up with Young America, an Ame­rican children’s furniture brand, to open concept st­ores here. The first store would be launched in Delhi in the next six months.”

Started in 1989, the br­and represents 30 intern­a­tional designer furniture li­nes, furnishings, lighting and accessories from high-end brands including Fergson Copeland, Christopher Guy, Fendi Casa, Kenzo Ma­ison, Donghia, Ipe Cavalli and many others. The company imports the furniture from Europe and the US.

Though it originally sta­rted with classical furnit­ure, IFBrands now has a mix of traditional and contemporary furniture.

With a presence already in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, IFBrands plans to open stores in Hyderabad and Kolkata this year and add two more stores in no­rth Mumbai. “We want to be present in each and ev­ery major city in India. Later on we will go to Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana. We might also get into franchising after a year,” Tara informed. IFBrands claims it has no competitor in the market. “We represent all the top 30 global luxury brands for furniture, lighting and accessories,” said Tara.

With prices starting from Rs 50,000 and going up to Rs 25 lakh, IFBrands targets niche customers. “Our clie­nts like to buy top-end stuff. May be we are serving only just one per cent of the market but still we count it as a big number. Our business has grown over the last four years and we hope to be doing a turnover of Rs 70-100 crore soon,” said Tara.

Source:By Manisha Yadava Feb 15 2010 , New Delhi

Saturday, February 13, 2010

2000 Spa's By End Of 2010 : Get Your Pie Of The Wellness Industry

The country is likely to have more than 2,000 spas by the end of 2010, up from just 200.

The wellness industry is alive and kicking in India and nothing demonstrates this better than the hyper-activity in the spa business.

Consider this: Hyderabad-based O2 Spas, which has set up shop at the Delhi and Mumbai airports, is now delivering spa therapies to offices. Weight loss and beauty specialists Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves (VLCC) is developing a residential medical spa in Gurgaon at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Delhi-based Spas India Private Limited, a subsidiary of Canadian Spas Worldwide, wants to expand from its single spa in Delhi to 10 more cities, Bangalore and Mumbai among them. First off the expansion block is Guwahati, on which Spas India is spending nearly Rs 10 crore.

Meanwhile, Vallée de Vin Private Limited, is planning a unique “wine spa” by next year. And, Bharat Hotels’ Lalit Resort and Spas in Kerala, will invest Rs 70 crore in a 40-cottage spa. Recently opened in Pune, Mumbai’s Rudra Spa, whose cash registers ring up Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh every month, has plans to expand to Mumbai’s suburbs through a franchise model.

What’s prompting all this healthy activity is sheer demand. Although there are no industry figures, it is clear that expanding incomes are encouraging affluent Indians to explore more expensive health solutions. A study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) suggests that the wellness industry is growing at close to 20 per cent annually and currently stands at Rs 1,500 crore.

According to O2’s founder and CEO, Ritesh Mastipur, India has 200 registered good-quality spas. “By the end of this year there will be 2,200 spas in India,” predicts Rajesh Sharma, president, Spas India.

O2 Spas is a case in point. Mastipur says his airport spas in Delhi and Mumbai get close to 30 customers a day. “It’s all about convenience,” he explains.

His mobile spa, which offers services to companies, is also getting a good response, says he. The companies have to tie up with the spa and Rs 2,000 is the charge per “chair” for a 10- to 15-minute treatment. O2 Mobile Spas provide basic spa services like massages such as foot reflexology, head-neck-shoulder and so on to employees at their work places.

Vallée de Vin, which recently launched its wines in the Indian market under the brand name Zampa, is looking at an early 2011 opening of its novel wine spa on top of a hill in Sanjegaon, Nasik in Maharashtra at an investment of Rs 7 crore.

Ravi Jain, director, says, “Nothing is on paper so far but we have started work on it. We have the wine so we thought why not the wine spa? Different kinds of therapies using wine will be offered to our customers.”

Given the rate at which the spa industry is expanding, the Spa Association of India is planning two academies, one each in Delhi and Guwahati, to tackle the biggest problem the industry faces today: lack of trained staff. “Ranging between six months and one year, the academies will have international and local staff,” adds Rajesh, whose spa is also the founder member of the association.

Apart from this, the association, which does not want to disclose its membership, plans to ask the government for accreditation facilities that will require all spas to be listed and certified by it based on a set of regulations. “Since skill sets is a problem, we have started hiring support staff like nurses from the health industry as that’s the closest we can get to wellness,” says Mastipur. “They are hospitable and sensitive towards others. We hire them and train them to become skilled masseuses. It is a win-win.”

Nine-year-old Lees Beauty Center and Spa in Pune, run by Leena Khandekar, has started hiring trained professionals to conduct in-house training sessions. “This is a competitive niche area where well-trained staff is important. Like guest lecturers, skilled people come over to train my staff and keep them abreast of new trends,” she says. Lees is planning to open in Mumbai soon.

Given its growth, it is natural for the industry to require IT support. India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has plunged in with a spa management solution and brought its IT offering for players to manage spas better. Says Venguswamy Ramaswamy, SMB global head, TCS, “The wellness industry is growing at 18 per cent year on year in terms of IT spends and that’s why we have entered this sector. We have supported global ayurvedic spa chain Kairali Spas to manage their systems more efficiently. Our software helps clients store and retrieve customer data, make a pattern from customer therapy history, suggest therapies and help them come up with better promotional offers.”

Source:Pravda Godbole / Pune February 10, 2010, 0:52 IST

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Retail In India:Has it Arrived.Are We Ready For The Biggies.

THE EXUBERANT AGE OF RETAIL IN INDIA



Abstract

India has stepped in the exuberant age of retail. It ranks second after Russia as the most alluring destination for retailers among 30 emerging markets, according to the Global Retail Development Index developed by AT Kearney, a consultancy. The 10-12% increase in the economy’s disposable income can be seen clearly by the way goods and services are being brought and sold. Retail Trade contributes 10-11% of India’s GDP and currently employs over 4 crore people.


THE DRIVE FOR RETAIL :

The reason for the boom in retail is the gradual increase in disposable incomes of the middle and upper class household. Countries like US, Japan, U.K. have started out sourcing business activities and are willing to pay a handsome package to those who deserve. The out sourcing will create 10-24 million jobs by 2020. The Indian youth is zealous, Intelligence and has the will to work hard. This is attracted foreign business organizations in the country where by increasing the income levels and the purchasing power of consumers. The Indian consumer has a great amount of disposable income which has increased demand level of the country. This demand is accompanied by the desire to get the best quality. In India over 65% of the population is below 35 years of age and 54% are below 25 years. They have enough to pay for all their dream desires. Moreover there is a switch from joint family to nuclear family and DINK segment is making its presents felt. Driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favourable demographic patterns, Indian retail is expanding at a rapid pace.


Mall space, from a meager one million square feet in 2002, is expected to touch an estimated 60 million square feet by end-2008, says Jones Lang LaSalle’s third annual Retailer Sentiment Survey-Asia.

The Indian consumer wants the best . This has increased demand for exclusive brands . Now Nike has over 100 outlets and Reebok has over 400 outlets. Thus the increase consumption pattern is having a direct bearing on the growth of retail sector. The consumption in 2005-06 was Rs. 2124000 Crore (Approximately 480 billion.)


THE INDIAN RETAILERS:


1. RPG:-It was the first to get into retail Business in India.Foodworld began as adivision of Spencer& Co., a part of RPG Group in May 1996,with supermarket in Chennai.Today Foood world is a separate company: a joint venture between Spencer & Co. and Dairy Farm international.


2. The TATA Group It has signed a joint venture for a new subsidiary, Infiniti retail, a large format multi brand chain for consumer durables. For lifestyle and the food and grocery segment, it operates through its retail arm Trent. Trent forayed into the hypermarket business with Star India Bazar.


3. Pantaloons Retail: The Company’s value retailing includes includes Big Bazar which is a hypermarket, Food Bazar which is a supermarket and Fashion Station, popular fashion stores. Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is part of the future Group. The Future Group operates through many verticals viz Future retail, Future Capital, Future Space, Future Logistics and Future Group.


4. Vishal Retail Group: The store has spread over 25000 Sqft. It offers fashion accessories, grocery product, apparel & Electrical gadgets. The Group entered the hypermarket segment with its first such store in Udaipur.


5. Reliance Retail: It has set a revenue target by 2010-11 which is about double of the present revenues of all organized retail business in India. Reliance operates Qwik Mart, quick transaction stores offering the convenience of buying household food and non-food merchandise, music, take-away café and convenience-oriented ancillary services without a price penalty.
 

6. Nilgiri’s: The Company’s strategy is backward integration with an increase focus on fresh fruit and vegetables.The Nilgiris franchise also is gaining momentum and stores are being added regularly.


7. Trinethra:- It is a South based grocery chain. The stores in Kerala to have a bakery attached for which the Company has tied up with Ann’s Bakery.


A LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT RETAIL FORMATS


1.Department Store : This represents retail outlets that stocks a wide range of merchandise. Stores often provide customers with exclusive membership cards on purchases up to a certain value. The major players are Ebony, Globus, Life Style, Shoper’s Stop and Westside.


2.Super market : They are self service stores which concentrate on the prize aspect to attract customers like Food Bazaar, Subhiksha and Fab-mall. Supermarket is a self-service store offering a range of food and household articles.


3.Hyper market : It is a department store combined with super market although in India the hyper markets are not well developed still we have a few player like Reliance retail, Big Bazaar and a few more. The latest to make a big splash in the retail scene is the Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL), the retail arm of the $24-billion Aditya Birla Group, which plans to invest between Rs 250 and Rs300 crore for setting up a dozen hypermarkets under the brand name ‘More Megastore’ in the country. The hypermarkets will offer 60,000 products sourced through over 500 suppliers say company officials. The group also plans to open ‘Family Stores’ stocking apparel from Madura Garments, the owner Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England brands and also distributes the international brand Esprit in India.


4. Discount Store : It is a department store except that it sells products at a lower prize for example The Loot and US Dollar Store.


5. Specialty Store : They offer a large range of selections within a single merchandise category for example The Gold Souk in Gurgaon and the Music World and Planet M.


6. Convenience Store : The stock most essential and FMGC products like food items and several products of daily use. The major players are Red Shop and My Mart. Although world wide they are open through out the day and night but this is not so all the palyers within this format in India.


7.Kiosk : they are small retails outletswhich are open on all sides and sell consumer goods like edibles and snacks, newspapers and so on. emphasis is on designing the kiosk façade-thet sport attractrive colour schemes. Some of the players are Mr. Orange , Cookie Man, Corn Man ,Kidz on Wheelz and so on.


TIE-UPS IN RETAIL


Indian retailers are trying to tie-up with global brands through franchise and licensing agreement because they benefits both the partners. The global companies have funds expertise and goodwill while the Indian companies have the right feel of the domestic market.

India has global retail giants like Bharti-Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s (the world’s biggest retailer) tie up with Bharti Enterprises for cash & carry operations, seems to have encouraged French retailer Carrefour, to enter the Indian market through the wholesale route.


Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail is entering into talks with UK fashion retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) to float an equal joint venture for apparel, gourmet food and cafes. The gourmet food format may be integrated with Reliance Fresh wherever possible. This would help M&S attain immediate scale in food business as Reliance Fresh has 491 stores selling foods, fruits and vegetables, and may be scaled up to 1,400 stores by the end of next fiscal. Marks & Spencer is present in India through a franchisee arrangement with Planet Retail since 2001 and operates more than 20 stores in India out of its 760-strong global network. Within four months of rolling out its first store in November 2007, Reliance Retail opened 500 stores in various formats, spanning 3-million square ft of occupied space in various cities.


Home Solutions Retail India (HSRIL), a part of the Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group, will soon start retailing lightings and electrical products under the Bijli Ghar brand. This is the first time a major corporate retailer has unveiled plans to enter the unorganised Rs80,000 crore lighting market dominated by small and medium city and region-specific players across the country. The company already has a joint venture with Asian Electronics and Idiom Design & Consulting to launch the products. The lighting stores will open in 80 Big Bazaar outlets across the country and, in the next six to nine months, the company is planning of opening standalone stores, targeting revenues of Rs100 crore in the first year of operations.


FUTURE AHEAD IN RETAIL

Merrill Lynch which is a an advisory firm, expects the Indian Retail industry to grow to US$300 billion by 2010.

• Spencer’s is planning to set up 500 more stores by June 2008 with an investment of nearly US$ 125.89 million.

• Hypercity is planning to set up 250 Expresscity stores in the convenience store format across the country in the next five years.

• DLF plans to invest US$ 4.02 billion over four years to develop about 20 large shopping malls across the country.

• Israeli mall developer Plaza Center NV plans to invest US$ 1.25 billion over the next five-seven years to set up 50 malls in India.


The domestic retail sector is picking up pace with more and more Indian companies entering the sector either on their own or in alliance with foreign retailers to set up premium or niche outlets.


While Indian companies such as Bharti, Reliance Retail, Essar, Future Group, Shoppers Stop and the Aditya Birla Group are still trying to consolidate their markets, others such as Mahindra & Mahindra, realty groups like Parsvnath and DLF, two-wheeler maker Hero Honda, chemicals and foods firm Jubilant group and brokerage and realty firm Indiabulls have announced plans to enter the retail sector.


Tobacco major ITC is planning to set up more of its Wills Lifestyle, John Players and Miss Players stores across the country. The company plans to increase the number of Wills Lifestyle stores from 250 to 400 by the end of 2008-09. These stores will come up on the lines of the concept store, designed keeping cultural context and customer profile in mind.


Kishore Biyani–owned Future Group, India’s largest Retailer has planned to investRs. 3,600 crore in 100 stores in 30 cities.


ORGANISED RETAILING

According to industry estimates, the overall size of the retail sector in India is expected to touch $427 billion by 2010 and $637 billion by 2015 with the organised segment expected to account for 22 per cent by 2010. An additional 700 million Sqft of quality retail space over and above what is currently available will be required by 2011. Consulting firm Ernst & Young predicts that the organised retail market in India will touch approximately $30 billion by 2010.


Presently the share of organized retailing in India is abysmally low .The bulk of retailing is carried out by 12 m kirana which are mostly family owned. According to McKinsey, a consultancy about 96% of these kirana have 500 sq ft or less space


The advent of foreign rivals is viewed with some trepidation by India Retailers


The small retailers fear being wiped out while the large ones feel their shared eroded. It is definitely true that Foreign retailers can help improve efficiency among local organized retailers. The entry of foreign competition can lower prices. We cannot, in fact should not hurt the interest of the local retailers We need to size up the retail market into segments and then decide as to which segment can be organized and which one need to be left unorganized for the time being.


FDI in Retail will destroy employment in the kirana stores and create retail monopolies.

India has the highest shop density in the world with 11 shops per 1000 persons, much higher than European and other Asian countries.


We need to think of these small retailers before trying to enforce organized retailing in the country. The giant organized retailers may start using their monopoly and stampede the unorganized small retailers. Acceleration in organized retailing would make business unviable for the several such retailers. As there is great unemployment in the country and the small scale retailing provides livelihood security to about 20 million urban workers and 12 million rural workers, we cannot afford to put an end to it. The introduction of organized retailing would snatch the bread and butter and jeopardize the livelihoods of the millions in our country. We cannot encourage the entry of large retailers unless we have planned a livelihood for the vast majority.


KEEP THE RETAIL GOING

There is great competition in the retails sector. Thus arises the need of competent work force accompanied by Technology. Employees in the Retail Sector should be given proper training to deal with the customers. Those working in the retail sector should have a cheerful disposition because they may have to encounter short tempered customers.

• Store Employees should be empowered so that they are under no pressure to deal with the customers.

• All retailers should have consumer advisory boards.

• There should be customer research . Those employees who provide good service should be rewarded .

• Indian retails should follow the example of JC Penny whose sales associates give questionnaires to shoppers which are later analyzed to improve service.

• Retailers should always be ready to devise innovative ways to over come the problems of customize.

• Retails brands get built by developing personal relationship with consumer the important and frequent customers should be recognized and should be given free gifts and guaranties.

• The retailer should be able to display their product very beautifully in order to attract the side of the customer.

The Indian retails sector is in a state of evolution. The Indian retailers should understand that retailing has to be taken as a brand in a self. More than 99% of the Indian retailers function in less than 500 Sqft of shopping space. It is a challenge for the Indian Retails Industry to create a scenario making job exciting to the younger generation so as the attract them. It is difficult but not impossible to satisfy the culturally diverse consumers of the country.


CONCLUSION:-

India is an enormous market, of which we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg. If the changes which are taking place in the metros retail start to percolate in the all the urban settlements then there will be a real revolution in the Indian Retail. Indian Retail market is worth a mammoth 350 billion dollars. Such is the underlying potential for Retail trading in the country.


A single large retailer should not be allowed to capture the large market share. The Indian Government should not make haste in inviting the foreign retailers instead it should wait to see the great power of the Indian retailers. Indian retailers have to learn both the art and science of retailing by looking at the way the giant retailers are organizing and managing their activities . Indian retailer needs to be innovative and needs to understand the regional variations in consumer tastes


We Indians can celebrate our spending power and also channelise our spending towards healthy consumption for overall development of the country.


REFERENCES:-

Books:-

• Retailing Management,5th Edition, Michael Levy and Barton A Weitz, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company

• Retail Management – A Strategic Approach ,9th Edition, Berry Berman and Joel R. Evans, Prentice Hall

Links:-

• www.imagesretail.com

• www.indiaretailforum.in

• www.retailindia.typepad

• www.ibef.org

Source:*Rizwana Atiq – Lecturer,Department of Business Administration, Integral University, Lucknow