Retail

home

This tracker has been compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company. Links provided will take you to the full articles appended at the end of the file.

© 2008 Zenith Optimedia.

 

home

Full Articles

 

39. Retailers Adopt New Techniques To Improve Sales

7 June, 2008

 

Anonymous shoppers are becoming passe. As domestic retailers expand, they are adopting newer techniques to unravel the mysteries behind people’s buying patterns. As a result, investment on tracking consumer behaviour is at an all-time high for almost all the top-line chains, including Future Group, Reliance Retail, Landmark, Raymond, Shoppers Stop and Koutons Retail.

 

Big retailers are experimenting with a host of newer methods — IT solutions, RFID, factory visits for customers, monitoring surveillance system footage, point-of-sales system and appointing trained researchers for front line sales positions — to tap consumer behaviour. Such data is used to improve the store layout, merchandise range and service quality, all of which ultimately translate into improved sales.

 

“Mystery shoppers mainly generate information on service-related issues. But as retailers grow in scale, that alone is not enough. Hence, the need is now felt to initiate a direct touch with consumers through newer methods,” says Landmark COO Himanshu Chakrawarti. In Landmark’s case, such research has already paid off. Based on consumer feedback, the chain has introduced personal technology products like MP3 and MP4 players, which are doing very well.

 

Adds Raymond president (retail & FMCG) Aniruddha Deshmukh: “Besides mystery shopping, we use footage from surveillance cameras, which is a very useful indicator for observing customer behaviour. We also get useful feedback from our specialised premium circle programme. There’s also a point-of-sales system, which captures transactions and billing, and shows us the patterns of purchases by customers.”

 

The chains have undertaken a lot of innovations. “Shoppers Stop, for instance, does a preview of new collections to loyal customers to see their reactions. Similarly, Kirtilals, a jewellery player, flies down a group of customers to its factory units in Coimbatore for a day. Pantaloons does a lot of focus groups, as does Shoppers Stop. A direct interface with key customers elicits information and helps gauge their preferences,” Retailers Association of India CEO Gibson Vedamani told ET.

 

While global biggies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco have adopted radio frequency identification (RFID), the likes of Future Group and Reliance Retail are in the early stages of RFID adoption. “RFID has high implementation cost. But several Indian retailers have tested such RFID solutions and this will now pick up,” said Dharmesh Lamba, country manager, Checkpoint Systems, an US-based retail technology solutions provider.

 

Till lately, there have been instances when senior management officials of retail stores used to frequent shop floor to get a first-hand view of consumer feedback. But with expansion now becoming the mantra across the sector, the chains are adopting newer solutions on the lines of their Western counterparts.

 

 

 

40. Big Retailers' Share In India To Quadruple: Report

26 May, 2008

 

The share of big retailers in India's retail industry is expected to quadruple to 16 percent by 2011/12 from 4 percent as they lure consumers through competitive pricing, a government think-tank said on Monday. 

 

"Low-income consumers save more than others through shopping at organized retail outlets. This is a result of targeted discount shopping," the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) said in a report.

 

"It is also seen that farmers gain considerably from direct sales to organized retailers, with significant price and profit advantages as compared with selling either to intermediaries or to government regulated markets," it said.

 

India's retail industry is dominated by "mom-and-pop" stores, and modern retail faces political obstacles because of concerns million of jobs may be lost in the fragmented but fast-growing industry.

 

ICRIER said there was no evidence of a decline in employment because of big retail chains.

 

"The retail sector, left entirely in the unorganized and informal segment of the economy, could well emerge as a major bottleneck to raising productivity in both agriculture and industry," it said. Indian laws ban foreign multibrand retailers from entering its fast-growing grocery market. Germany's Metro AG and Shoprite Holdings have wholesale centres which operate on a "cash and carry" model.

 

Indian retail industry should grow by 13 percent annually to $590 billion by 2011/12 from the present $322 billion, ICRIER said in the study that surveyed family-run retailers, consumers, farmers, large and small manufacturers and intermediaries.

 

Sales of "mom-and-pop" shops are expected to grow by 10 percent every year to $496 billion in three years from $309 billion, it said.

 

 

 

41. Westside Plans Franchisee Model

10 June, 2008

 

Westside, a leading chain of lifestyle retail format of Tata group’s Trent Ltd, is planning to establish its presence in the city through the franchisee route. “We are trying to be part of the economic boom that is spreading to Tier-II and Tier-III towns through franchisee model while seeking to expand rapidly in the metros and Tier-I towns. While analysing our customer base in our 30 stores across 19 cities in the country, it was found that many were from Tier -II and Tier-III towns and were frequent buyers,” said Ms Neeti Chopra, Head- Marketing, Trent Ltd, addressing a press meet here on Monday. During the set up period, Westside will help the franchisees in the recruitment, marketing and promotional support to boost sales, replenishment of stocks, IT and merchandise support and project assistance besides investing in training the franchisee and the store workforce to adhere to the brand philosophy and standards, she added.

 

 

 

42. Elvy Launches Store In Jalandhar

16 May, 2008

 

Catalogue shopping retailer Elvy Lifestyle on Friday launched its store in Jalandhar and said the company plans open exclusive stores in major cities of northern India.

 

"We are delighted to open our new showroom in Jalandhar and fully committed to bring joy and pleasure to every aspiring consumer in Punjab," Elvy Lifestyle Managing Director Lovy Khosla said, adding the company would open their retail stores in strategically located cites.

 

He said Elvy is successful in creating a completely new channel in the Indian retail segment since its inception as catalogue shopping was quite unknown in India and has now become a new way of buying products.

 

"We offer a unique collection of lifestyle and home decorative products, which includes outdoor, serving, kitchen, bar, dicor, office, games, bedroom, junior and travel gear so what customer gets is exclusively well co-coordinated collections, good taste and lasting value.  

 

 

 

43. Future Group’s Apparel Brands To Spend Rs 25 Crore On Marketing

9 June, 2008

 

In its recent TV commercial, the Big Bazaar brand ambassador, cricketer MS Dhoni, is shown taking the fashion quotient of the brand forward.

 

The film opens with a girl parking her car in front of her house. Just then a maid quitting her job comes out cribbing from the house. As they come face to face the maid hands over the broom to the girl taking her as the new maid.

 

Just then a guy comes and says, “kachra ho gaya na madam?” He says, “Aaj kal kapde dhang ke nahin, toh izzat bhi nahin.” Cut to a shot of her transforming and coming out as a well-dressed, confident girl.

 

Impressed, the guy says, “kya baat hai madam.” He declares, “desh badla, bhes badlo. Fashion at Big Bazaar.” The ad ends with the Super: A future group idea.   

 

home