| Tata's Infinity Retail, Future Group's e-Zone already have tie-ups with Microsoft for the same. | |
| | |
| Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail has entered into an agreement with Microsoft to launch the ‘connected homes’ concept.
Reliance Retail’s consumer durable and IT format, Reliance Digital, is planning to launch the concept at its upcoming store in Gurgaon in the NCR region. | |
| | |
| Tata’s Infinity Retail and Future Group’s e-Zone have already tied up with Microsoft to launch the concept as a pilot project at their stores. | |
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| Connected homes offers users the opportunity to connect all their consumer durables, electronic and IT products at home with their personal computer or laptops through Microsoft software such as Windows Vista and X Box, among others. The computer and the products are connected through wireless technology. | |
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| Reliance Digital will showcase the Microsoft products in a 500 sqft area in the store. Initially, it will be a pilot project and, depending on the success, the company is planning to open many such kiosks at Reliance Digital stores, which is eyeing revenues of Rs 20,000 crore by 2011, according to company sources. | |
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| At present, Reliance Digital has three stores and will have two more by March and aims to have nearly 50 stores by the end of the next financial year. | |
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| “If the pilot project succeeds, we will have the connected homes concept in all our stores,” said a Reliance Retail executive. | |
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| Reliance Retail has also tied up with Apple to open iStores in the country. | |
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| iStores sell Apple products such as Macintosh, i-Mac, iPod, and software and support services. Reliance Retail has three iStores and plans to launch 40 more in the next 18 months. | |
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| Tata’s Infiniti Retail has tied up with Microsoft to launch MS@Retail, a ‘connected homes’ concept at Croma outlets from October 2007. It was envisaged as a shop-in-shop pilot kiosk at Croma’s Juhu outlet. | |
| | |
| “After the launch of the concept, we have seen a huge surge in our laptop sales. We are also planning to take it to our other stores,” said Ajith Joshi, CEO, Croma. | |
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| Croma has nine stores now and plans to add nine more in the next couple of months. | |
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| “The connected homes concept has gained popularity in the US and it will catch up in India, too, as users are benefiting from its usage,” said Joshi. | |
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| Future Group’s e-Zone, which tied up with Microsoft in January 2008 for its Hyderabad store, is taking the concept to its 28 other stores across the country, starting with a 30,000 sq ft store it is planning at Bangalore. | |
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| According to Manoj Kumar, CEO, e-Zone, “After the launch of the pilot, the sale of Microsoft products have gone up by five times. We are planning to take it to all our stores soon,” Kumar said. The company is planning to set up nearly 110 new e-Zones in the next 18 months. | |
| | |
| After the success with Croma and e-Zone, Microsoft is believed to be taking the concept to all the major cities of India and ensuring its presence in major outlets. |
Showing posts with label relaince retail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relaince retail. Show all posts
Monday, 11 February 2008
Reliance Retail to sell connected homes concept
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Bharti eyes Big Apple as starter for retail feast
Bharti Enterprises, slated to start its retail business in the first quarter next year, may acquire Big Apple — the Delhi-based supermarket chain with 65 stores. Bharti’s acquisition blueprint in the retail sector may be a replay of its telecom business, where the group built up a pan-India mobile presence by acquiring telcos such as JT Mobile in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Skycell in Chennai and Hexacom in Rajasthan.
A senior source said the Bharti Group and Big Apple are at fairly advanced stages of negotiations and if price expectations match, the deal could be sealed as early as next month. He also said Big Apple has quoted its price and Bharti has given a revised offer. “Talks will resume after Christmas vacations,” he said.
Bharti plans to start retail operations in March by opening its first small format retail store in North India while the cash and carry business in partnership with Wal-Mart will start in the third quarter of next year. Acquisition of regional retail chains is likely to give Bharti a headstart in terms of locations, a readymade supply chain and operations.
Bharti plans to invest $2-2.5 billion in retail by 2015. It is planning pan-India operations and is looking at approximately 10 million square feet of retail experience across all cities in India with a population of over one million.
As western-style supermarkets take off in India and large companies enter the business, a consolidation is likely. Small regional chains, unless backed by a large group, have limited funds to expand and scale up, and will look for joint venture partners and buyers.
The process has already started. Wadhawan Retail, which runs Spinach retail chains in the west, took over Delhi’s Sabka Bazaar and Home Store as well as the management contract of Maratha Stores in Mumbai. Similarly, AV Birla group’s retail arm took over Trinethra stores in the south. Reliance Retail took over Adani Retail in Gujarat but steep valuations in other states kept it away from acquiring more.
A senior source said the Bharti Group and Big Apple are at fairly advanced stages of negotiations and if price expectations match, the deal could be sealed as early as next month. He also said Big Apple has quoted its price and Bharti has given a revised offer. “Talks will resume after Christmas vacations,” he said.
Bharti plans to start retail operations in March by opening its first small format retail store in North India while the cash and carry business in partnership with Wal-Mart will start in the third quarter of next year. Acquisition of regional retail chains is likely to give Bharti a headstart in terms of locations, a readymade supply chain and operations.
Bharti plans to invest $2-2.5 billion in retail by 2015. It is planning pan-India operations and is looking at approximately 10 million square feet of retail experience across all cities in India with a population of over one million.
As western-style supermarkets take off in India and large companies enter the business, a consolidation is likely. Small regional chains, unless backed by a large group, have limited funds to expand and scale up, and will look for joint venture partners and buyers.
The process has already started. Wadhawan Retail, which runs Spinach retail chains in the west, took over Delhi’s Sabka Bazaar and Home Store as well as the management contract of Maratha Stores in Mumbai. Similarly, AV Birla group’s retail arm took over Trinethra stores in the south. Reliance Retail took over Adani Retail in Gujarat but steep valuations in other states kept it away from acquiring more.
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Croma: Electronics MegaStore: Tata group's Infiniti Retail
Owned and managed by Infiniti Retail, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons, Croma receives technical and strategic sourcing support from Woolworths India, a subsidiary of Woolworths. The latter is an Australian retail giant with over 2,000 stores in 12 different formats in Australia.
The above 20,000 sq feet chain at Juhu in Mumbai retails products in eight categories. These are white goods, home entertainment, small appliances, computers and peripherals, communication, music, imaging and gaming software. In each of these categories, the buyer is spoiled for choice, with nearly 6,000 products and 180 brands to choose from.
Currently organised retail is only 3 to 6 per cent whereas the total retail turnover in India was 250 million dollars last year. But organised retail is growing at a speed of 40 per cent. The pie is large enough." These facts were disclosed at an AT Kearney summit held in Mumbai recently.
There are other measures that he hopes to use to attract the customer. These include job-related training and motivational programmes to ensure that the sales staff is able to give optimum service to customers, and extended warranties on products from Tata AIG General Insurance. These measures help give further credence to Croma's claim of "We don't sell, we help you buy."
http://www.tata.com/infiniti_retail/articles/20070305_croma_electronics.htm
Ties-up with Microsoft: MS@Retail
The joint initiative of the two companies brings for the first time networking solutions for every room of a house.
The technology available at Croma, Juhu, will showcase Microsoft connected homes which bring together music and movies, thereby enriching and enhancing the lifestyles of consumers, he said. The MS@Retail shop in shop pilot project kiosk at Croma Juhu would showcase technology that will create homes where everyone is connected to everything.
The technology will help in assisting to connect camera to a Xbox and put up a show for the whole family, watch movies by connecting Xbox to the LCD, as also convert the PC to a gaming machine, thereby providing the unique technology for a completely networked home.
Presently, there are nine Croma stores in India.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Tata_groups_Infinity_Retail_ties-up_with_Microsoft/articleshow/2491094.cms
The technology available at Croma, Juhu, will showcase Microsoft connected homes which bring together music and movies, thereby enriching and enhancing the lifestyles of consumers, he said. The MS@Retail shop in shop pilot project kiosk at Croma Juhu would showcase technology that will create homes where everyone is connected to everything.
The technology will help in assisting to connect camera to a Xbox and put up a show for the whole family, watch movies by connecting Xbox to the LCD, as also convert the PC to a gaming machine, thereby providing the unique technology for a completely networked home.
Presently, there are nine Croma stores in India.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Tata_groups_Infinity_Retail_ties-up_with_Microsoft/articleshow/2491094.cms
BPCL Retail Outlets: 'Ghar'
Indo-Asian News Service
In a bid to expand its presence in the expanding Indian retail market, the state-run oil major Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) said that the company will invest Rs 6 billion in retail over the next five years.
The BPCL plans to set up about 250 retail outlets called 'Ghar' to sell its fuel
products. These outlets would also offer customers non-fuel facilities like shopping, entertainment and eateries.
"We are planning to open around 250 outlets, each having a 'dhaba' kind of ambiance, offering shopping and entertainment experience," said Subankar Sen, BPCL's senior manager of allied retail business.
"At present we have 16 such outlets across the country, each with 40 per cent fuel-based business and the reminder comprising non-fuel activities like shopping, entertainment and eateries," Sen added.
"The company is primarily focusing on urban areas, keeping in view the increasing number of people traveling on highways, and travelers becoming more demanding," said the BPCL retail chief. The outlets will mostly be built on highways and land requirement for each unit would be about five acres.
This is in continuation with BPCL's In & Out stores which stock medium-high premium grocery products with efficient visual merchandising. While IOC's retail unit is setting up shop in rural India, BPCL's model seems very practical for a highway-urban scenario.
http://fmcg-marketing.blogspot.com/2007/10/kisan-seva-kendras-ioc.html
In a bid to expand its presence in the expanding Indian retail market, the state-run oil major Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) said that the company will invest Rs 6 billion in retail over the next five years.
The BPCL plans to set up about 250 retail outlets called 'Ghar' to sell its fuel
products. These outlets would also offer customers non-fuel facilities like shopping, entertainment and eateries."We are planning to open around 250 outlets, each having a 'dhaba' kind of ambiance, offering shopping and entertainment experience," said Subankar Sen, BPCL's senior manager of allied retail business.
"At present we have 16 such outlets across the country, each with 40 per cent fuel-based business and the reminder comprising non-fuel activities like shopping, entertainment and eateries," Sen added.
"The company is primarily focusing on urban areas, keeping in view the increasing number of people traveling on highways, and travelers becoming more demanding," said the BPCL retail chief. The outlets will mostly be built on highways and land requirement for each unit would be about five acres.
This is in continuation with BPCL's In & Out stores which stock medium-high premium grocery products with efficient visual merchandising. While IOC's retail unit is setting up shop in rural India, BPCL's model seems very practical for a highway-urban scenario.
http://fmcg-marketing.blogspot.com/2007/10/kisan-seva-kendras-ioc.html
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Private Labels: Big Retailers
Few examples:
Big Bazaar: DreamLine, Kryo, Pure, Premium Harvest, Tasty Treat, Clean Mate and Care Mate
Reliance: Reliance Select
Subhiksha, Spencers, Food World : Same label
[The Ecomonic Times Oct. 4:]
Private labels serve many purposes.
According to a Euromonitor study, the global private label market was estimated to be worth $1,411 billion in 2005, and is growing at 6 percent per annum. Organised retail currently forms only about 3.59 percent of total retail in India, but its share will leap to 28 percent by 2017, according to a study by Technopak Analysis. And a 2007 study by Technopak says that overall, private labels already form 19 percent of the total market share in India.
Future's private labels account for 20 percent of the food category, while overall, the share of private labels for the group is pegged at about 10 percent.
Given the nascence of retailing in India, one would assume that players are looking only at generic private label brands. But segmentation is already taking place even within own labels -- from pure generic brands to premium brands being retailed on the shelves. For instance, Big Bazaar has four different private labels strategies -- opening price point labels, promotional labels, trade-up labels and even deep-discount labels.
In clothing, it is 100 percent for players like Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, says George. "Starting from a pure 'value' play, it has now become 'quasi branded' like Tesco Value, Tesco Finest," he says, adding that the private label product hierarchy in Tesco is being managed like a brand, with sophisticated analysis being put into space, pricing, promotion and strategies.
The emergence of private labels is giving smaller brands -- especially in functional driven categories where emotional connect plays a negligible role -- a chance to compete with the big boys. For example, Food Bazaar has 'adopted' labels like Wow Premium sanitary napkins and insecticide spray Quit, manufactured by Asian ITG, a manufacturer for brands like Mortein.
Subhiksha has recently moved to third party brands, which include brands sold exclusively at Subhiksha and made to quality specifications approved by the retailer. This covers groceries sold under the Subhiksha name as well as other products typically sold by national FMCG companies.
Retailers are looking at ethnic merchandising depending on the demographics of a store location, and bringing non-national brands into right ethnic catchments. For example, Spinach retails Kolkata-based Zarna Ghee (manufactured by Sunderman Dairy) and Kerala-based Curry Milk in Mumbai. Subhiksha retails south Indian pickles in RK Puram at Delhi.
There is hardly any special advertising created for own labels, except for the odd leaflet or two. Most retailers rely on shelf space and signages, and techniques like sampling and active merchandising at the store, for promoting their brands. Subhiksha and Spinach believe the key is inducing trials, though the store can only influence trial, but the product has to take over and deliver. He also feels it is essential that the packaging and look and feel are as good as if not better than national brands so customers don't have reason to view the products with suspicion.
The real challenge, however, will be for retailers to take own labels outside their stores and make them national brands -- something that Future Group has announced it will do. DreamLine and apparel brand Buffalo are the two labels it has mandated for national roll-out, and the responsibility of taking these labels across various other channels rests with Future Brands. Malhotra says the rollout will be a learning experience, given that the brands will move out of the protected environment of the stores. "It will give us an understanding on whether private labels can stand on their own," he explains.
Another trend on the anvil is exclusive co-branded labels in the form of joint venture between manufacturers and retailers. "Co-branding is evolving, though more work needs to be done before the level of comfort is arrived at," says Shahra.
Retailers, however, know that a balance needs to be struck between private labels and branded products from traditional marketers.
Big Bazaar: DreamLine, Kryo, Pure, Premium Harvest, Tasty Treat, Clean Mate and Care Mate
Reliance: Reliance Select
Subhiksha, Spencers, Food World : Same label
[The Ecomonic Times Oct. 4:]
Big Bazaar isn't alone in this display of bravado. Almost every retailer in India that has acquired a certain size and scale has private label brands, which allow them to enter new categories faster than traditional marketers. And as organised retail grows in scale, Indian retailers are leapfrogging ahead, experimenting with various kinds of private label strategies.
Private labels serve many purposes.
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.- Exclusivity and Differentiation to retailers.
- Plugging a need gap -- for instance, Big Bazaar's label DreamLine is aimed at providing shoppers the entire gamut of home improvement solutions under one brand.
- Retailers are also spurred to launch private labels given the low penetration of most categories in India.
- Then there is the aspect of supply chain efficiencies.
- Private labels also help in cutting down on intermediaries
- Dropping cost
- Better margins for retailers
- More customer discounts
According to a Euromonitor study, the global private label market was estimated to be worth $1,411 billion in 2005, and is growing at 6 percent per annum. Organised retail currently forms only about 3.59 percent of total retail in India, but its share will leap to 28 percent by 2017, according to a study by Technopak Analysis. And a 2007 study by Technopak says that overall, private labels already form 19 percent of the total market share in India.
Future's private labels account for 20 percent of the food category, while overall, the share of private labels for the group is pegged at about 10 percent.
Given the nascence of retailing in India, one would assume that players are looking only at generic private label brands. But segmentation is already taking place even within own labels -- from pure generic brands to premium brands being retailed on the shelves. For instance, Big Bazaar has four different private labels strategies -- opening price point labels, promotional labels, trade-up labels and even deep-discount labels.
In clothing, it is 100 percent for players like Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, says George. "Starting from a pure 'value' play, it has now become 'quasi branded' like Tesco Value, Tesco Finest," he says, adding that the private label product hierarchy in Tesco is being managed like a brand, with sophisticated analysis being put into space, pricing, promotion and strategies.
The emergence of private labels is giving smaller brands -- especially in functional driven categories where emotional connect plays a negligible role -- a chance to compete with the big boys. For example, Food Bazaar has 'adopted' labels like Wow Premium sanitary napkins and insecticide spray Quit, manufactured by Asian ITG, a manufacturer for brands like Mortein.
Subhiksha has recently moved to third party brands, which include brands sold exclusively at Subhiksha and made to quality specifications approved by the retailer. This covers groceries sold under the Subhiksha name as well as other products typically sold by national FMCG companies.
Retailers are looking at ethnic merchandising depending on the demographics of a store location, and bringing non-national brands into right ethnic catchments. For example, Spinach retails Kolkata-based Zarna Ghee (manufactured by Sunderman Dairy) and Kerala-based Curry Milk in Mumbai. Subhiksha retails south Indian pickles in RK Puram at Delhi.
There is hardly any special advertising created for own labels, except for the odd leaflet or two. Most retailers rely on shelf space and signages, and techniques like sampling and active merchandising at the store, for promoting their brands. Subhiksha and Spinach believe the key is inducing trials, though the store can only influence trial, but the product has to take over and deliver. He also feels it is essential that the packaging and look and feel are as good as if not better than national brands so customers don't have reason to view the products with suspicion.
The real challenge, however, will be for retailers to take own labels outside their stores and make them national brands -- something that Future Group has announced it will do. DreamLine and apparel brand Buffalo are the two labels it has mandated for national roll-out, and the responsibility of taking these labels across various other channels rests with Future Brands. Malhotra says the rollout will be a learning experience, given that the brands will move out of the protected environment of the stores. "It will give us an understanding on whether private labels can stand on their own," he explains.
Another trend on the anvil is exclusive co-branded labels in the form of joint venture between manufacturers and retailers. "Co-branding is evolving, though more work needs to be done before the level of comfort is arrived at," says Shahra.
Retailers, however, know that a balance needs to be struck between private labels and branded products from traditional marketers.
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