OnePlus to cash on 'touch and feel' experience of customers

AIGNER Watches, a brand renowned for its iconic designs, high-fashion styling, craftsmanship, and Swiss-made precision, has officially entered the Indian market. Rahul Shukla, Vice President and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of Titan Watches Division expressed his excitement, stating, “We are thrilled to introduce AIGNER Watches to the Indian market. The premium watch market in India is on a high growth trajectory, where a growing number of consumers are seeking high fashion, accessible luxury. AIGNER Watches offer their rich tradition of German heritage, combined with Swiss precision, and iconic designs to cater to the needs of the discerning customer in India.”

AIGNER’s Heritage

AIGNER, established in 1965, has captivated fashion enthusiasts worldwide with its exquisite watches and signature leather goods. The brand's iconic horseshoe monogram, symbolizing luck and elegance, adorns each creation, adding sophistication and timeless appeal. With its entry into the Indian market, AIGNER aims to bring its legacy of craftsmanship and luxury to discerning Indian consumers, blending tradition with modernity in every timepiece.

Tony Harris, Sales Director of Jacques du Manoir AG, shared his enthusiasm, “It brings me immense joy to announce the launch of AIGNER Watches in India, marking a significant milestone in our global journey. Entering the vibrant and dynamic Indian market allows us to share our legacy of craftsmanship and luxury with a new audience. This marks the beginning of a fascinating journey where we aim to offer the discerning Indian consumer the opportunity to engage with the AIGNER brand.”

Target Audience

AIGNER Watches is targeting the burgeoning upper middle and affluent segments of the Indian market, which are increasingly consuming luxury products and services. These consumers are drawn to the brand’s promise of Swiss precision, German heritage, and iconic craftsmanship. The collections include the distinct and iconic Trapani and Fermo for men, and the Massa Due and Matera Diamond for women, offering a variety of styles from high-fashion to classic pieces.

Shukla emphasized, “The key is going to be the right product range selection which meets the needs of our consumers and at the same time curation of a luxurious experience befitting the brand’s aspirational positioning.”

Selective High-Quality Distribution

AIGNER Watches will be available across a selective set of 50 doors in top metros from Titan’s vast distribution network. These include Helios stores, large format stores, and premium watch specialist outlets. The focus is on delivering the luxury experience correctly at these doors, understanding consumer preferences, and then expanding reach.

“Our objective is to get the delivery of the luxury experience on point at these doors, understand the consumer preferences, and then expand our reach,” said Rahul.

Marketing and Promotion

To create buzz around the brand launch, AIGNER will invest significantly in marketing, including collaborations with credible celebrities like Randeep Hooda. The brand plans to ensure a befitting brand experience at the point of sale and create awareness among relevant consumer segments.

“Given that it’s a new brand, there will be a relatively higher share of marketing investment on the brand to ensure that a befitting brand experience is delivered at the point of sale to the consumers,” explained Rahul Shukla.

Unique Features and Design Elements

Each AIGNER watch features the hallmark AIGNER horseshoe logo, launched in 1965, representing the brand’s values of naturalness, elegance, strength, dynamic power, beauty, and good luck. All AIGNER watches are Swiss-made, a category experiencing huge interest among audiences, promising Swiss precision coupled with German heritage and iconic craftsmanship.

Shukla highlighted the collections, stating, “We are happy to bring the distinct and iconic Trapani and Fermo collections for men, and the Massa Due and Matera Diamond for women as part of the initial range. These collections boast a variety of styles, from high-fashion and dress-sport designs to bejeweled, contemporary workwear, and classic pieces for both men and women.”

Expectations and Future Plans

In its initial phase, AIGNER aims to get the delivery of the luxury experience correct at all consumer touchpoints within the first year. By the end of the first year, the goal is to make AIGNER synonymous with accessible luxury in India. The future plans include scaling across geographies, channels, and stores in the luxury space.

Shukla outlined the expectations, “The focus is to get the delivery of the luxury experience correct at all consumer touchpoints in the first year. By the end of the first year, we aim to make AIGNER synonymous with accessible luxury in India.”

A New Era of Accessible Luxury

The entry of AIGNER Watches into the Indian market with Titan marks a new era of accessible luxury for discerning Indian consumers. With its rich heritage, iconic designs, and Swiss-made precision, AIGNER is poised to capture the hearts of luxury watch enthusiasts across the country. The brand's commitment to delivering a luxurious experience, coupled with strategic marketing and selective distribution, ensures that AIGNER Watches will become a significant player in the Indian premium watch market.

As Harris aptly said, “Where tradition meets innovation, luxury finds its home. Our partnership with TITAN Company, the market leader for watches in India with the immense width of distribution & retailing across various formats gives us a fantastic platform to reach out to the large and fast-growing market of discerning customers. We are committed to making AIGNER’s approachable luxury available in selected high-quality retail stores across the country.”

Perpule, an Omni-channel retail-tech company and announced the launch of its next-gen Point of Sale (POS) billing solution called UltraPOS. Perpule’s UltraPOS is a platform independent, form factor independent POS billing system which can enable anytime, anywhere billing. It is a cloud-based SaaS product which eliminates the need of bulky servers and computers in the store. UltraPOS will enable offline stores to reduce billing counter size by up to 40% and help increase sales and revenue through an AI/data-driven approach to dynamic offers, cross-sell and upsell. It is currently being used by retail brands such as Vishal Mega Mart, Big Bazaar, Foodhall and many more.

Perpule UltraPOS can render traditional billing systems obsolete with in-built features such as analytics, inventory and staff management tools. Retailers can update product prices, stocks, offers, etc. consistently across platforms. The cloud-based solution seamlessly operates in online as well as offline modes which is perfect for India where connectivity is still a challenge. This solution also gives omni-channel players a platform to manage order and inventory for both e-commerce as well in-store sales from the store itself. The UltraPOS solution can work with any device such as handhelds, mobile, desktop and tablets. It allows cashiers to scan barcodes, generate receipts and accept payments without any hassle. Retailers can also opt for the accompanying hardware (a handheld device) at no additional cost and a flexible monthly rental fee. Retailers can also opt UltraPOS for their existing infrastructure or try out a combination of both handheld and traditional billing modules.

A major challenge for retailers is the lack of display area and suboptimal customer flow. UltraPOS tackles this by reducing the size of billing counters, allowing for more space to showcase merchandise and increase footfall. Due to the mobile nature of the device, users can save significantly on IT capex, opex and manpower costs. Retailers will be able to get more than 50% reduction in POS technology spend (eg. store server, computer, printer, scanner, EDC/payment, networking, etc) and 95% reduction in paper saved from digital receipts. Perpule also provides value-added services for retailers to increase revenue such as bill payments, recharges and ticket bookings.

Poshampa's collection is based on the designs we see around us in daily life. Some quirkiness is added by giving them a new look which looks funky, and there is a play of different colors & shapes. 

Warm up this winter with a perfect cup of coffee according to your taste. Select the variety of coffee, cup size and operating mode – service or self-service – individually. With Faber coffee machine making coffee, cappuccino, latte macchiato and hot chocolate is wonderfully easy. Faber's built in coffee machine is extremely simple to use: a single touch is all it takes to serve up wonderful coffee, milk creations etc. The quick and easy preparation is unbeatable in self-service operations.

Faber’s Coffee machine comes in a black glass finish with fully electronic control ,TFT fully electronic display and adjustable coffee grinder

TheNykaa Ultra Matte Lipstick range is a tribute to the most iconic beautiful women that inspired the world with their original blend of grit, grace, glamour, and gravitas that echo far beyond the ages. Dedicated to all the women who changed the world with their enchanting beauty, sparkling wit and appeal, this collection speaks for women who are their own version of perfection. 

Nykaa Ultra Matte Lipstick collection is an ode to the iconic women down the ages, from mesmerizing Cleopatra, to chic Diana, golden Helen, gracious Venus, glamorous Noor, or the ever charmingNefertiti, the classic beauty of Audrey (Hepburn), or the oomph of Marilyn (Monroe), to the everlasting smile of the Monalisa and the style of Princess Grace. Each of these women have created a lasting appeal and are personifications of the many facets of beauty. These classic matte formulations reflect this glory in a fabulous colour pay-off and old world charm.

Beauty brand Lotus Herbals has  unveiled Ikkai, a premium organic skincare brand at the Lotus Makeup India Fashion week in New Delhi.The entire IKKAI range employs potent organic formulations, that administer higher concentration of active ingredients in each product to provide safe and natural care effectively.

Speaking at the unveiling of IKKAI, Nitin Passi, Director, Lotus Herbals, says “It has been our endeavor to provide the Indian consumer the finest natural care products since we launched Lotus Herbals in 1993. IKKAI is a premium organic skincare brand  that caters to the emerging skincare needs of  today’s  millenials  and contemporary women .We are confident that our range of organic face masks, scrubs and , soufflés  packaged  in one time use packs will appeal immensely to our target consumer”.

Ikkai offers an innovative range of skin care products that are made with naturally sourced ingredients and enzymes.

 With exorbitant price tag  USD 17 million these are the most expensive pair of shoes of the world. The luxury footwear, made from diamonds and real gold, was designed and created over a period of nine months as reported by leading media agency.

The pair, created by the UAE-based brand Jada Dubai in collaboration with Passion Jewellers has been launched at the world's only 7-star hotel, Burj Al Arab last week. 

 

CaratLane -a Tanishq partnership announces its foray into silver jewellery with ‘Shaya’, a brand that is imaginative, bold, fierce and for a women of today! Shaya aims to be a brand that redefines contemporary design and turn it into wearable art. The designs are a testimonial to great craftsmanship along with a unique aesthetic.

On the thought behind the launch, Mithun Sacheti, Founder and MD, CaratLane said, “We started Shaya because we realized that there was a huge gap in the market. Although gold and silver jewellery co-exist side by side in the Indian woman’s wardrobe, most of them feel that when it comes to silver, the options are fairly generic or too expensive. It was a natural fit for us because CaratLane’s mission is to democratise jewellery, and design differentiation is core to our brand DNA’’.

Sportswear retailer Nike has become the first brand to launch hijabs for women in many international markets. With light fabric and tiny holes for breathability, the new product is meant to make sport comfortable for Muslim women.

Although sporting hijabs have been around for several years with smaller brands introducing them first, Nike is the first major brand to enter this market.

Femina FLAUNT, the retail brand by Femina (owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.), launched their Fragrance category at the India Licensing Expo (ILE) 2018, with Urvashi Rautela (Miss Diva Miss Universe India 2015) as the face of the range. Femina FLAUNT’s fragrance line follows Femina FLAUNT’s successful foray into the consumer products space with Shoppers Stop across core fashion categories – Apparel, Footwear, Bags and Accessories. Femina FLAUNT’s fashion range is currently available across 60 Shoppers Stop stores, in over 20 cities and its eyewear range being sold from across more than 300 retail touchpoints across India. The range has been developed in collaboration with Sterling Parfums in Dubai and is being distributed offline in India by SaiHira Distributors.

The Femina FLAUNT fragrance range has been created around different moods and facets of an independent modern Indian woman. The range offers four different fragrances - Mystique, Bold, Chic and Allure. The range  celebrates the complexities of today’s woman’s duality – her boldness and sensuality, her moods and determination, her timeless elegance and fierceness, her diehard romance and fearless independence. On the packaging aspect, the highlight of the range is the luminous bottles, designed in glass with cut facets on the sides, to give it a sharp, yet elegant look. The content of the bottle stand out with their unique colors – Exotic green, radiant purple, sparkling gold and peachy blush. The Femina Flaunt EDPs (100ml) are competitively priced at INR 1799, and the range will be available across Shopper’s Stop outlets, Nykaa.com and Flipkart.com, apart from key modern as well as conventional retail.

Speaking about the range, Sandeep Dahiya, Director & Business Head – Brand Extension, BCCL, said, “Fragrances is today an ‘essential’ category for the Femina FLAUNT woman and is an expression of her personality and mood. We’re confident of the Femina FLAUNT fragrance range resonating well with the consumers, given its unique packaging, competitive price point and long-lasting fragrances.”

New Delhi: Leading German refrigerator manufacturer, Liebherr has launched range of refrigerators in the mass premium segment for India market today. They will be available across its dealership network in major Indian cities spanning across south, west and north regions of India. The price range for these refrigerators begin from ₹ 23,500 for the basic model to ₹ 1,50,000 for the top end models. The refrigerators are manufactured at Liebherr Appliances India’s Aurangabad Factory which was inaugurated last month, the company said this in a statement today.

For the current range, Liebherr has put in place a distribution network of around 500+ showrooms across 50+ cities in various regions. This includes partnership with organised retailers and local organised players in the country to retail the products.

“Liebherr has always focussed on creating solutions that puts the contemporary customer’s needs at the forefront. Our refrigerator range for India has been designed keeping this in mind – bringing the best of German technology customized to suit the Indian audience, with features like specially designed SpiceBoxes, ultra-protective VarioSafe, convenient Vegetable Sorter System and Unique CoolPack etc. Along with achieving customer satisfaction, our objective is also to provide products that use energy more efficiently,” said Radhakrishna Somayaji, Chief Sales Officer, Liebherr Appliances India Private Limited.

Elaborating on the brand’s Indian journey, he said the company started the project “Liebherr Appliances India” in 2014. This project was from the very beginning inspired by the idea of “Engineered in Germany, designed for India”. 

The products will be available at retail outlets across the country from 2^nd week of June’2018.  The new launch across segments will be promoted through a holistic 360-degree marketing activities that includes a press campaign supported with a digital marketing campaign and region-specific outdoor, BTL activities. 

To maintain its global service standards, in India Liebherr has already set up service partners at all the locations where they are going to sell and the customer care helpline 1800 2333 444 is already operational to cater to any sort of customer queries.

The Liebherr Group consists of over 130 companies, in more than 50 countries covering every continent and employs almost 44,000 people. In 2017, Liebherr achieved a consolidated turnover of more than 9.8 billion euros. This decentralised group of companies is divided into operatively managed and autonomous business units.

The Group's central holding company is Liebherr-International AG, whose shareholders are exclusively members of the Liebherr family. Liebherr-International AG is located in Bulle, Switzerland.

On many counts, athleisure is the defining fashion trend of 2018. Form-fitting, athletic-inspired clothes have become the ‘new casual’ and changed the way we dress up for the gym, for casual and social occasions, and even for work. Growing on the back of increasing health and fitness awareness, the industry is estimated to be USD 6-7 billion in India.

As industry experts put it, athleisure or activewear is expected to be the next big thing in apparel. According to some estimates, athleisure wear is the fastest growing category in apparel, growing at a rate of 20-25%; menswear is growing at a rate of 8-10%, while women’s and kids’ wear is growing at 11-15% annually. The segment is gaining the highest traction with various brands launching and expanding their collections in a bid to cash in on the growing opportunity. For instance, the latest entrant in the race is Danish sportswear major Hummel, which has recently launched its collection in India.

As Allan Vad Neilson, CEO, Hummel International, puts it, “India ranks very high on our list of priorities. With rising sports and fitness consciousness among Indians, it is our mission to introduce the best sportswear apparel in India.” Other companies such as Arvind Lifestyle Brands, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. (ABFRL), Monte Carlo, Van Heusen and Numero Uno have all ventured into the activewear segment over the past 1-2 years. “Today consumers have become more fashion-conscious while earlier they were more price-driven,” says Puneet Kumar Malik, COO, Innerwear Business, Aditya Birla Fashion, and Retail. The brand entered the athleisure market in 2016 and is present across more than 1,700 outlets so far.

Driven by Celebrity Power
A market trend to take note of is that even celebrities are embracing casual outfits while some of them are going so far as to launch their own athleisure line. For instance, celebrity-driven brand company Mojostar has partnered with actors Tiger Shroff and Jacqueline Fernandez to launch their own brands, Prowl and Just F, respectively. However, Shroff and Fernandez are not the first celebrities to introduce activewear brands. Bollywood actors Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor and her sister Rhea Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli have also launched their athleisure wear brands.

In 2013, Hrithik Roshan teamed up Myntra.com to launch a lifestyle brand called HRX, which primarily operates in the active wear and casual wear space. Industry veterans are sure that the growth of athleisure as a lifestyle choice will only fuel the demand further. “Athleisure is not a fashion trend but a way of life and is here to stay,” believe experts.

Big is beautiful and big size sells. But for decades, plus size fashion has been the most neglected segment, with rather abysmal brands making fashionable clothes for this group. Although the plus-size segment in India alone is estimated to have about $5-6 billion market by 2020, a handful of brands have come to life in the last few years. With rise of e-commerce and dedicated fashion portals, this segment is gradually evolving.

Oversized, wide and broad are features that are often neglected in fashion, with skimpy clothes mostly advertised and sold through slim models. It’s conveniently forgotten that big is beautiful and big size too can sell. In a welcome change, however, a new breed of online retailers is now venturing into adding more labels in plus-size fashion. From just kurtis and other ethnic Indian wear to now adding Western clothes, the plus-size segment has come a long way.

For instance, understanding the growing popularity for this segment, fashion brand Lifestyle introduced Nexus, plus-size clothing, two years ago. Srinivasa Rao, Sr. Vice President (Marketing), Lifestyle International, says, “The plus size fashion segment has immense potential but is currently under serviced. Our plus-size brand Nexus addresses the growing segment and offers contemporary fashion choices. The collection is trendy, globally inspired and embodies our belief that real fashion is not limited by size.”  

Easy connect on ecommerce
While not many brands have launched an exclusive plus-size line, brands like Mustard, Gia by Westside aLL and PlusS have been a big hit among buyers. With the advent of online retail, more e-tailers found the opportunity to expand on e-commerce. FabAlley, a popular fashion brand introduced Curve, a plus-size segment, on noticing that many of their customers demanded trendy plus-size clothes.

“As we continued to add more designs and collections, we noticed an interesting development. Many customers were demanding for the same styles in plus-size clothing because the options were limited to Indian ethnic wear in plus-size segment. As the demand grew, we decided to launch Curve,” says Shivani Poddar, co-founder, FabAlley.

Also, the ease of trying, buying and returning has helped more customers in this segment shop on e-commerce marketplace. Rao, observes, “E-commerce contributes to the growth of plus-size fashion primarily because of ease of access, size availability and convenience that it provides.”

He further says that plus-size fashion is no longer confined to boring colours and loose silhouette and many brands are helping this evolution by bringing global trends to the segments like cold shoulders, off-shoulders, ripped denims and bright prints, among others. 

Personalization boosts demand
“I did not have serious plans to launch an exclusive plus-line clothing until requests kept increasing, and now doubling. As I started taking more and more requests to personalize designs in this segment, I am thinking to launch a new collection. People in this segment want more variety in terms of collection and sizes and this will be the next trend,” says Ranu Bathwal, founder of online pop-up store Pop Up Galleria.  

While one size does not fit all and standard sizes for all is one of the major challenges to the segment, retailers have understood the importance of personalization which is further leading to the success of many brands.

More brands join the bandwagon
Although the India plus-size market may not be as big as the US market, which is estimated to be $25 billion market, the demand is not any less. Larjjosa, Amydus, Revolution Plus Size, ASoS Curve are some of the recent etailers that are steadily gaining popularity. NeceSera founder Riddhi Jain who has recently launched lounge wear clothing says that the demand for this segment has made her reconsider to launch an exclusive line. Even though NeceSera does not have a full line of plus-size clothing, 

She says, “As a retailer you have to go along with the trend because there is demand and many international designers are also launching plus-size clothing. A few years ago the scenario was completely different but now the customers have changed, and so have the demands. Keeping this mind, in the next few months we are preparing to bring out plus-size products.”

Riddhi adds that NeceSera products don’t focus on the collection for millennials and it is made for all age groups, and this will continue with plus-size clothing as well. 

Bike Rental Services is now getting organized in India. The unorganized service concept that started in Goa is now functional across leading major metros and semi-urban locations across India with nearly a dozen of startups organizing this unique service space along with leading investor groups who are betting big on the growth potential of this alternate emerging public transport model.

The public transportation system in India is hardly able to match its current requirement, radio cabs are an expensive model in comparison and the three wheelers-on-call is facing acute shortage due to growing high demand. Similarly, tourist locations also garner high demand during peak seasons with public and private sector service providers not being able to cater to the year-on-year growing demand. An additional model like BRS, which is efficient and affordable, can prove to be highly beneficial for promoting tourism and managing public grievances.

Efficient and Affordable Transport System:
Though there has been strong support from government bodies into incorporating BRS as an additional transportation model to ease out the existing over burdened models, even private players, apart from investor groups, are keenly investing into this model understanding the huge gap and opportunity between the current requirement and the existing delivery model, especially in Tier I & II locations in India. Non metro locations in India are heavily dependent upon existing public transport system for intra-city travel with a small number of three wheelers and private cabs.       

Two wheelers are most preferred in non metro locations for various reasons like low cost of acquisition, high mileage, low cost of servicing and road conditions and access.

Rapid Urbanization & Migration:
India is a developing nation and the rapid infrastructure development in progress across its Tier I & II locations has prompted the emergence of new residential and commercial spaces, thereby, creating additional burden on the existing public transport model. Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune are good examples that saw their rapid transformation into IT cities. This development alone in Bengaluru led to an increase in its population by nearly 75% from 7 million to 12.3 million people between 2007 and 2017.  

Student migration:
As per available data (2011 census), over 80 lakh people migrated to various states for the purpose of education and this provides a huge opportunity area for BRS providers as most students are used to riding two-wheelers and prefer it to any other forms of transport vehicles. Many leading BRS providers are already offering long term rentals to students in the form of ‘Rent-to-Own’ models, wherein, the student gets vehicle ownership after a specified period.      

E-Commerce and Corporate Houses:
The growth of ecommerce has been phenomenal in India with the market size expected be around $63 billion by 2020 growing at CAGR of 44%. India is expected to become the second largest ecommerce market in the world by 2034. A huge demand for products come from Tier II & III locations where people have limited or no access to leading brands or products of their choice. BRS providers have actively tapped into this growing model by providing vehicular access for last mile delivery by partnering with logistic service providers.   

Corporate Houses have also seen the potential in the BRS model as a mean to save company cost during outstation travels for its mid and lower category workforce and also an employee benefit program through leased ownership of two-wheelers for its deserving candidates, especially in newer developed commercial locations that do not have proper public infrastructure facilities in place.  

Smart phones and Internet penetration:
Technological advancements in the last one decade have redefined our lifestyle and our service expectations. Availability of affordable smart phones and data packets has further propelled our dependency on smart phone usage for every personal and professional aspect of our lives. India has over 70% of its population in the working class category and the number of smart phone users is bound to grow exponentially in the coming years with an estimate of over 530 million smart phone users with nearly 360 million internet users by the end of 2018.  

While the growth of BRS in India can also be attributed to the growth of mobile telephony (online travel services / online hotel bookings / online travel planning / Online food services / Online vehicle bookings), other important factors that drove this business concept was the need of an alternate system that was efficient and affordable for the masses.

Incredible India:
Most of India’s tourist destinations are located in tier I & II locations and a majority of these locations witness high demand during peak season. Tourists only have the options of Cab and Bus services and of three wheelers in select few locations. These services cannot cater to the high growing demand and also create a load on the existing infrastructure apart from becoming more expensive year on year due to high demand on low supply. BRS can play a very important role in such locations especially with couple travelers who prefer efficient and affordable travel options. This will also reduce the load on existing public transport system with many travelers having an alternate option at nearly the same cost. Many BRS providers are also evaluating e vehicles (e-bikes) for deployment at World Heritage locations.    

Though this is a nascent stage for BRS in India, the BRS landscape has seen the rise of many players in the last one year with strong funding support from domestic and global investors. There is an equal opportunity of growth for BRS across metro and non-metros in India as the existing public transport system cannot match up to the rising demand in metro locations and other services like radio cabs and three-wheelers are expensive in comparison. Also, the growth of these existing services has led to huge load on the prevailing infrastructure. The non-availability of many of these services, especially in the peak seasons, creates a huge window of growth opportunity for BRS in the non-metro locations. In both scenario’s and taking a cue from the success of this service from Goa, BRS is going to one of the most preferred services in the coming few years.         

This article has been authored by Namit Jain, founder, ONN Bikes.

When we talk about FMCG, the first thought that lingers in our mind are products that are consumed on a daily basis. The steady rise in income and growing youth population are propelling the Indian FMCG sector at an accelerating speed. Apart from this, increasing brand awareness among the consumers has also contributed to the growth of this sector. But what do we understand by the term FMCG? What category of products are we referring to? Let’s brush our minds before getting into further details.

Introduction
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold swiftly and generally consumed on a daily basis, as compared to durable goods like kitchen appliances that are bought over a longer period of time. The FMCG industry mainly engages in the production, distribution, and marketing operations of consumer packaged goods. This category comprises of the following.

- Food and dairy products
- Pharmaceuticals
- Consumer electronics
- Household products
- Packaged food products

The FMCG sector is a vital contributor to India’s GDP, being the fourth largest sector in the economy it creates employment for more than three million people. Its main elements are household care, personal care and food and beverages. The market is predicted to maintain a steady growth rate as the population, primarily the middle class and rural segment are increasingly consuming branded products. According to a recent study, in 2016, retail e-commerce sales in India generated over USD 16 billion. This figure is expected to increase to over USD 45 billion by 2021.

Let’s have a look at the below-given statistic that shows the revenue of the fast moving consumer goods market (FMCG) in India from 2007 to 2020. In 2015, India’s FMCG market generated revenue of about USD 47.3 billion, with revenue project to reach USD 103.7 billion in 2020.

Indian FMCG market: An Insight
According to a report shared by Indian brand equity foundation, India’s consumer spending is expected to increase to US$ 3.6 trillion by 2020 and India’s contribution to global consumption is expected to more than double to 5.8 percent by 2020. Many players are expanding into new geographies and categories and tier II and III cities are witnessing faster growth in modern trade. In fact, modern retail share is expected to triple its growth from US$60 billion in 2015 to US$ 180 billion in 2020.

- It is observed that with an investment of US$254.50 million, Wipro is diversifying and expanding its product range in energy drinks, detergents, and fabric conditioners.
- On the other hand, Patanjali will spend US$743.72 million in various food parks in Maharashtra, MP, Assam, Andra Pradesh, and UP.
- E-commerce companies like Amazon are strengthening their business in FMCG sector by positioning their platform pantry as front line offering to drive daily product sales.

The Indian advantage
According to the same report, following are the advantages bared by the Indian FMCG market:
- Low penetration levels in rural market offers room for growth of this sector.
- Disposable income in rural India has increased due to the direct cash transfer scheme.
- Export is another growing segment.
- Investment approval of up to 100 percent foreign equity in single brand retail and 51 percent in multi-brand retail.
- Initiatives like Food Security Bill and direct cash transfer subsidies reach about 40 percent of households in India.
- The minimum capitalisation for foreign FMCG companies to invest in India is US$100 million.

Main segments of FMCG
There are three main segments of FMCG as described below:
- Food and beverages – It accounts for 19 percent of the sector and this segment includes health beverages, staples/cereals, bakery products, snacks, chocolates, ice cream, processed food, and vegetables.
- Healthcare – It accounts for 31 percent of the sector and this segment includes OTC products.
- Household and personal care – It accounts for 50 percent of the sector and this segment includes oral care, hair care, skin care, cosmetics, deodorants, perfumes and paper products, fabric wash and household cleaners.

Conclusion
Today, fast moving consumer goods have become an essential part of consumer’s life. Because this sector is recession free and has created huge employment opportunity in India, it has become one of the key pillars of the Indian economy. It is advisable for the FMCG companies to encash opportunities like increasing consumer income, changing consumer lifestyle, aspiring rural consumer and consistent economic growth by utilizing its strengths. The competition from unorganized sector can be addressed by increasing brand awareness and by reducing cost through sharing resources such as distribution network. It can be said that this sector has a bright future based on favourable development happening in demand and supply.

Affording luxury products has always been an expensive affair for a majority of people. However, living up to one’s aspirations is now easy since renting of luxury lifestyle products such as trendy furniture, high-end home appliances and consumer electronics has become quite common. Sharing economy now allows consumers to conveniently enjoy these products which could be way out of reach should one go for outright purchase.

Renting of lifestyle products like Home Appliances and furniture is in particular a good and practical option for young professionals who keep moving for work across various cities and get frequently transferred from one city to another for few months/years. Renting of lifestyle products is a highly evolved concept in the western world. However, in India, till few years ago, this industry was largely dominated by localized and unorganized players like neighborhood furniture shops, which offer little of no variety, quality or the convenience of online ordering and free, hassle free shipping, maintenance etc.

Market growth
Over the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of professional companies offering rental services for premium products such as designer furniture, home appliances, study tables and dining tables, high end DSLR cameras, water and air purifiers, bean bags, etc.

Renting is the new cool, especially for young professionals between 20 to 30 years of age. Renting saves the clients from the hassles of scouting for furniture and appliance shops, haggling for prices, transportation logistics, installation and finally saves them from spending the huge capital expense upfront. Thanks to professional companies like Rentickle, one can now enjoy these trendy and up market products sitting at home, at the click on the mouse, at just 2 to 3% of product costs as rentals with additional convenience of free home delivery, free maintenance and free pick up service once the rental tenure gets over. 

Apart from young professionals who find renting convenient and practical, other consumer segments like students away from home for higher studies or for professional courses, expats, newly married couples etc are also opting for renting like never before. Many companies are also offering baby products like cribs, baby cots and baby furniture on rent, hence adding the segment of young parents to the consumer base.

Behavioral shift
There has been a major shift in consumer mindsets from owning to renting of various products. While sharing economy has been made popular by large global companies like Uber, Air B etc, today the rented products categories has expanded to garments, accessories, high end motorcycles and even DSLR cameras. There are many budding photographers who don’t want to spend big money on buying an expensive camera for their initial practice. These camera rental services are a dream comes true for amateurs, students and home-makers etc., who have taken up photography as their passion and want to experiment and develop their skills.

Conclusion
Renting and shared economy in India is now getting evolved as a high growth industry which is being serviced by highly professional ecommerce companies like Rentickle which is creating a new wave in India, that of enabling clients to enjoy premium, expensive lifestyle products at the click of a mouse by just paying just 2-3 % of the value of these premium products as monthly rentals.   

This article has been authored by Vineet Chawla, Founder, Rentickle

 India is the world's second largest exporter of textiles and clothing. With readymade garments remaining the largest contributor to total textile and apparel exports from India, textile and apparel exports from India are expected to increase to US$ 82 billion by 2021. Among many growth drivers, increased penetration of organised retail, favourable demographics, and rising income levels have been the major causes of growth in textiles. However, the key highlights of the textile industry's big success have been:

Foreign Investments and FDI
The hike in FDI limit in multi-brand retail is a boon in disguise for the textile industry which will not only bring in more players, but even provide more options for consumers. Also, it will bring greater investments along the entire value chain. With global retail brands assured of a domestic foothold, outsourcing will also rise significantly. Interestingly, government's new initiatives to attract foreign investments in the textile sector through promotional visits to other countries have proven beneficial. FDI inflows in textiles sector, inclusive of dyed and printed textile, stood at US$ 2.68 billion from April 2000 to September 2017.

Retail sector offers growth potential
With consumerism and disposable income on the rise, the retail sector has experienced a rapid growth in the past decade with several international players like Marks and Spencer, Guess and Next having entered Indian market. The organised apparel segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 13% over a 10 year period. Future Group has robust plans to expand and this would also add to the increasing portfolio of the brand.

Private sector participation
Not only have the government policies and initiatives been growth drivers for the textile industry, private players also have significantly upped the ante for this industry. The Central Silk Board's targets for raw silk production is a key example and to achieve these targets, alliances with the private sector, especially major agrobased industries in pre-cocoon and postcocoon segments has been encouraged.

Global Demand
India's growing population has been a key driver of textile consumption growth in the country. Moreover, according to World Bank, urban population accounts for 32.7% of the total population of India. This also works as demand driver due to changing taste and preferences in the urban part of India. This trend has been complemented by a young population which is growing and at the same time is exposed to changing tastes and fashion. As a result, the textile industry has seen high volume demand not only within the country, but in exports too. The rising demand has been one of the imperatives for the steady growth of this industry.

The FMCG market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.6 per cent and is expected to reach US$ 103.7 billion by 2020.The growth in sales of major FMCG companies like Dabur, HUL, Marico, is signaling the revival of consumer demand in India. As the market continues to grow at a rapid pace, Indian Retailer takes a look at Porter’s five force threats that may affect the FMCG industry. 

Threat of substitutes
With high presence of multiple brands in the market, it is not a challenge for consumers to switch from one product to another. Strategic decisions like price point and quality play key roles in attracting consumers. With narrow product differentiation under many brands, it’s rather easy for a consumer to switch to another brand. The threat of substitutes is informed by switching costs, both immediate and long-term, as well as a buyer's inclination to change.

Competitive rivalry
Many players are expanding into new geographies and categories and modern retail share is expected to be valued $180 billion in 2020. The FMCG industry has been a highly fragmented industry as more companies enter the market. If Wipro is diversifying and expanding its product range in energy drinks, detergents and fabric conditioners, Patanjali will spend US$743.72 million in various food parks across the country. Also, launch of private label brands by big retailers, which are competitively priced with offers and discounts, will limitcompetition for weak brands.

Bargaining power of buyers
While rising incomes and growing youth population have been key growth drivers of the sector, brand consciousness has also aided demand.With low switching cost inducing customers to shift to other products, there will only be more demand for new products. Also, the availability of same or similar alternatives, backed by strong influence of marketing strategies will help the sector. India’s consumer spending is expected to increase to US$ 3.6 trillion by 2020.

Threat of new entrants
Any new competition in the market poses threat to the existing players in the industry. With investment approvals of up to 100 per cent foreign equity in single brand retail and 51 per cent in multi-brand retail, the market is expected to be crowded. Also, companies will be forced to spend aggressively on advertisement, which will only hurt the business in the long run. 

Bargaining power of suppliers
Big FMCG companies are often in a position to dictate prices through local sourcing from a fragmented group or key commodity suppliers. Suppliers can exert pressure on businesses and even buyers by raising prices, lowering quality or reducing product availability. Such decisions mostly affect the buyers. 

Traffic, space crunch and long queues- reasons for giving a miss to the nearest grocery store or a restaurant are aplenty. With buying food online becoming extremely convenient through digital payments and even cash on delivery (CoD), 2018 will be the year for a major shift in the food industry according to reports.  

Several recent studies have stressed that there would be more than a seven to ten fold increase in revenue generated through e-commerce when compared to last year, thanks to all branded apparel, jewellery and footwear becoming cheaper, while getting delivered at the doorstep. The key highlight is, however, studies now suggest that grocery and food industry will own the e-commerce this year! And if the recent trends are to go by, it may not be too far for these predictions to come true. If BigBasket has hit the Rs 100 crore sales mark and is in talks with Alibaba for more investments, Grofers has attracted Amazon’s investment interests and soon maybe clinching the deal. With Flipkart and Amazon also introducing groceries, it is no surprise that stakeholders believe that the food industry will play a big role in the e-commerce marketplace.

 According to a recent KPMG reports, E-commerce has deeply penetrated into many homes because people from various sections of society, age groups and geographical areas have embraced it for its convenience and affordability. Also, growing consumerism, disposable incomes and changing lifestyles have prompted the increased use of e-commerce. There is a large shift in the industry with customers not just buying mobiles or small-ticket items online, but even fashion and food.

Interestingly, homegrown e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has also given indication that more consumers will grow for fashion and grocery in 2018 and the unicorn startup was prepared to handle the surge in consumer demand.

Mobile shopping adds to the rise
Further, another report said that in 2017, 82 per cent of shopping queries were made through mobile devices, compared to 76 per cent in 2016, indicating the increasing mobile transactions. A market analysis shows that one out of three customers currently makes transactions through mobiles in tier-1 and tier-2 cities and this use could have an effect on the grocery shopping too.

Less than a year after Goods and Service Tax (GST) came into full effect, most FMCG companies in India have seen an improved revenue growth, while most of the trade channels are returning to normalize from the GST aftershocks, a latest report has highlighted. 

According to the HDFC Securities Report, many factors have helped boost the operating margins for the sector including pricing power and supply chain efficiencies.

According to the report, pricing power, lower commodity prices, supply chain efficiencies and cost optimisation have helped boost operating margins for the sector so far. However, this can further improve by about 150 bps in the next few years, led by higher revenue growth, rising premiumisation, GST-driven efficiencies and cost optimization.

While the sector saw an annual revenue growth of 13 per cent in the last decade, the last 2 years had been tough for the FMCG sector with just 4 per cent revenue growth.

However, a ‘mean revision’ is expected in the consumer sector with government shifting its focus towards boosting growth. The report also noted there there is significant scope for a mean revision towards its 10-year annual revenue growth of 13 per cent.

Did GST bruise the sector?
While many retailers and traders struggled to fall in line with the ‘one country, one tax’ rule in its initial stages, the report highlighted that the sector was bruised by unprecedented events like demonetization and GST in FY17.While retailers had now recovered from the GST shocks, the report further warned that macro indicators like rural wages, agricultural growth, minimum support prices (MSPs), job creation and RBI's consumer confidence index had not reflected a meaningful recovery.

‘Stable economy to improve the future’
The report said that modern trade and e-commerce will continue to grab share from general trade, leading to better traction in the urban market, thus placing the sector for accelerated earnings. According to the report an expected shift in government focus from stabilising the economy to accelerating growth will take the sector to better future.

Luxury has different meanings for different people. To some consumers, luxury goods provide a means to a better lifestyle, while others adapt luxury goods to their existing lifestyle. Riding on this wave, the luxury floral gifting industry has evolved with the ever-changing interests of the consumers.

From buying red roses at a nearest florist to handpicking imported lilies and delivering bouquets with personal messages at midnight, the floral gifting industry has evolved with the ever-changing consumer interests. Today, as occasions to buy flowers have multiplied, so has the spending capacity of a consumer, who wouldn’t mind spending as much as even Rs 10,000 for a bunch of flowers. And it’s no surprise that for a country which celebrates every special occasion with flowers, the luxury floral gifting occupies about 30% of the market share in the gifting ecosystem.

According to Brandzstorm India MD Ujjval Saraf, luxury is no longer a status symbol in India, but has become a viable lifestyle for a vast majority. And global brands need to evolve quickly and learn to adapt within the local environment.

“Luxury is the new-found love of the Indian retail sector. Aspirational consumers with disposable incomes are the target, and the sector is growing at a rapid pace, thanks to international luxury brands setting up their stores across the country. Over the last decade, the Indian luxury market has been in the spotlight for global luxury brands with a growing presence. The Indian luxury market, valued at about US$ 18.5 billion at the end of 2016, has the potential to cross US$ 100 billion mark over the next 7-8 years,” he says.

While luxury gifting has picked up pace in India, premium floral gifting alone is pegged at $3 billion, says India’s latest entry to the luxury floral industry Interflora’s CEO Tarun Joshi. He explains, “There are three key occasions for which people buy luxury gifts and luxury flowers- festivals, personal occasions like birthdays and anniversaries and corporate gifting. About 24 lakh people are online every day just to buy gifts for their near ones. Luxury floral gifting alone accounts to 30% of the total gifting ecosystem.”

Interflora, an international brand, recently opened its doors to Indian market and the online gifting portal is available in Delhi, Mumbai and soon in Bengaluru. While floral gifting has been a traditional market with a lot of importance given to touch and feel, the knowledge about flowers among consumers is changing, which is giving heels to the luxury floral industry, says Joshi.

“Earlier, bouquets in India meant roses, lilies and sometimes carnations. Now, the consumer is aware of international variety of orchids, imported lilies and others. Also, they are realizing the importance of the longevity of premium flowers. Most of our flowers stay for minimum 5 days and can live up to 12 days under suitable weather conditions,” he stresses. 

It’s not only the quality that these florists assure, but they also go an extra mile to ensure that the flowers are arranged the way you like them, with the combinations of your choice and at a given angle. Joshi highlights that although India has a largest consumer base, floral gifting has not been treated as lifestyle product and floral options are not available according to the seasonality, which is a major gap in the industry.

Buying trend
Joshi also highlights that the consumer who is willing to spend a minimum Rs 2,000 on a bouquet is more aware of life, colour combinations, high quality packing and vibrancy of flowers. “Red and white is no longer the preferred colour code for flowers and importance is given to packaging to make the flowers look like high quality product,” he says.

Taking the market forward, Interflora is all set to join hands with a grocery supply chain and will soon debut in retail markets and shopping malls.

Traditional stores flourish  
The floral industry is mostly unorganized and organized brands constitute to about less than 5 per cent. While Interflora is open for offline retailing in malls, another luxury brand FernsNPetals is content with traditional outlets in busy areas with high footfalls. “We are not present in any mall and we do not wish to also. Our stores are accessible to anybody who is on the road and just feels like picking up flowers. We have a loyal customer base and we deliver to their convenience,” said FernsNPetals VP ( Retail) Anil Sharma.

With increasing demand for floral gifting online, the industry experts believe that convergence of offline and online presence is the way forward for the luxury floral industry.     

City decked up with bright lights, glittery stars twinkling on every passing street, jingle bells outside every retail store and Christmas treats in almost every corner of the city. The celebratory season is right round the corner and people from all corners of the country are indulging in the festival spree. With just few days to go, the city malls have turned into a major Christmas and New Year destinations with all of them set to offer their customers with an extra dose of excitement through different events, activities, décor, offers and what not. Christmas fascinates all of us in myriad ways. We love the food, we love the decoration and we just love buying presents and celebrating with friends and family. Since Christmas this year has also brought with it the immense happiness of a long weekend holiday, many are heading out for vacations, while other stayed back to indulge in shopping or just visiting the malls with their family members. Shopping complexes in the city, adorned with Christmas elaborate decorations, is increasingly becoming mega-destinations for people, who get a perfect ‘selfie moment’ posing with the extravagant decorations.

Themes For The Season
Holiday decorations for malls have become a vital part and are just as much a time consuming task. With so many different options available, the task of selecting a décor program can easily overwhelm anyone. And so, malls these days have started going according to particular themes in order to save themselves from going all over the place. Salim Roopani, Centre Director, Pacific Mall (Tagore Garden), says, “This year, we have come up with a unique theme to celebrate Christmas and welcome the New Year. We have already decorated the atrium with an artificial Christmas tree, Santa giving gifts and toys. The entire décor, conceptualized by PPZ which is the international mall management company, is giving a feel of New York in the mall.” While greens and reds are the central theme every year for most of the decorations, High Street Phoenix Mall is going the untraditional way this year with white and champagne red. Rajendra Kalkar, President (West), The Phoenix Mills Ltd., informs, “The frosty theme is a reminiscent of the icy winter days. The tree at Palladium stands 8.5 feet tall and is an elegant turquoise shade that adds to the classy and sophisticated ambience inside the atrium. We also have the Bauble tree installation at North Skyzone and the frosty bottles installations at Grand West Zone.” While Korum Mall has lined up a mix of awe- inspiring activities with various shopping delights, amazing gifts, surprises and enchanting décor to bring in the Christmas spirit. The mall spokesperson asserts, “The theme this year is Santa Land where we bring alive the home of Santa Claus in white colour. Our own in-house team has conceptualized the décor and all the décor elements like The Castle, Atrium hangings, Façade elements, are all designed in white. This festive season, entire mall will be decked up with a larger than life size Christmas tree, exclusive Santa land setup, colourful and elegant décor with glimmering lights in the mall and on the service road adjoining to the mall.” Christmas is also a festival of sharing and gifting and getting together and keeping in line with the same, Inorbit Mall’s central theme is ‘gifting’. Naviin Ibhrampurkar, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communication, Inorbit Malls (India) Pvt Ltd., elaborates, “The idea is to welcome shoppers to our mall and give them surprises. Right from giant entrance arches to drop down elements like stockings and stars and special workshops, carol singing and meet and greet with toon characters and Santa Claus are the highlights this Christmas.” While many opt for in-house designing team for the purpose, Phoenix United Mall prepared the concept in-house and passed it on to the outsource agency to create options from where the best option was executed.

All Set For The Starry Affair
India and majority of western countries is all about bling and the city malls and markets are all covered in glittering decorations and glowing bulbs. It would not be wrong to say that the twinkle of Christmas lights in shopping malls have given an instant makeover to them. While mall owners go out of their way to make their malls look the most enticing one, they also do not refrain from organizing various activities in order to keep the customers engaged and excited. Sanjeev Sarin, General Manager, Phoenix United Mall, says, “The mall is well prepared for the upcoming holidays, by offering a perfect mix for every age group; it will house a handloom flea, Christmas parade and giant hot wheels activity among the other activities at the centre. The wreath tree displayed at the centre of the Atrium, connected through large size rings with Christmas tree foliage and crystals all around, which is 40ft. long and one of its kind initiative will catch many eyeballs.” While the High Street Phoenix Mall has a ‘Christmas Parade’ on 25th December that will be led by Santa Claus, followed by toy soldiers, elves, fairies, the musical band and some very fun mascots around the mall between 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. “We also have the Wish Circle where High Street Phoenix plays the role of a Santa. We create a set of carefully curated and highly-desirable gifts from select in-house brands, the pictures of which have been posted on social media along with some information. As a customer, one needs to make a wish and comment on why they would like that particular product this Christmas. The most deserving one will receive that product as a gift. One can also go to the mall, place #HSPWishCircle tags on their favourite products and brands shortlisted by the mall. Customers will have to find these products in the store and take selfies tagging High Street Phoenix and the brand they are wishing for,” elaborates Rajendra Kalkar.

Inorbit Mall, on the other hand, has planned an extravagant 10 day Christmas celebration for its shoppers. Naviin Ibhrampurkar asserts, “The excitement doubles with a plethora of activities and workshops around art, craft and puzzle games. Patrons can indulge in these activities and stand a chance to win attractive gifts and shopping vouchers. The shoppers will also be gratified with gifts, shopping vouchers and Christmas cookies. Inorbit has a larger than life giant stocking placed at the center of the atrium which will be called the ‘surprise gift zone’. Shoppers have to enter this zone to win a surprise and there are assured surprises for everyone. Another zone is the ‘sweet gift zone’ where a chocolate elf will be making chocolates and distributing them to kids. Last but not the least, we also have an igloo with a snowman which also is an experience zone and a photo point for shoppers visiting us.” While major celebrations have already kickstarted at Pacific Mall with outstanding performances like Shooting Star and CYR Wheel act by international artists that took place on the first weekend of the month. Other than these activities, the mall also hosted a 3-days Christmas Carnival “Pacific Late Nights” for the customers from December 15-17 which treated customers with the lip smacking food, live band entertainment and chic fashion shopping options. Salim Roopani maintains, “The décor at the mall is unique as always and this time we have installed a replica of Statue of Liberty inside the main atrium which is 45 feet taller and 9 feet at the bottom and the weight of the same is 1,000 kg. The décor has become very popular with the customers and especially children who are getting fascinated with the feel of visiting New York in Delhi.” Also, in line with the out-of-the-box decorations, Korum Mall has placed a White Castle full of gifts, and also a larger than life oversized Christmas tree beautifully lit up at the mall atrium.

Jingling All The Way
No party or no festival is complete without music and India is known for its love for music. While High Street Phoenix Mall has a music property Awestrung where music artists and bands perform at the festival square on every last Friday of the month, this month for the Christmas celebrations, the mall  is hosting two music bands – Parvaaz and Parekh & Singh on 22nd December 2017. “Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad is hosting an open air movie screening this month, where shoppers can enjoy classic movies sitting in an open arena under the moon and stars. There are other acts like standup comedy performance, carol singing etc.,” informs Naviin Ibhrampurkar. Korum Mall, however, have been organizing various musical shows and karaoke nights.

Santa’s Little Treats
And, what’s Christmas without the much awaited Santa’s little treats, or rather, the treats from our favourite shopping malls. Christmas and New Year is the time when all the fashion and lifestyle brands are offering irresistible offers and discounts. Also, offering international holidays is quite trending among shopping malls and is also a hit among consumers. “We are running the Shop & Win Campaign from 15th December 2017 to 28th January 2018. Anyone who shops for Rs. 5,000 from stores in High Street Phoenix and Palladium can get lucky to win a BMW X1! We also have other bumper prizes such as international holiday, domestic holiday packages and other gift vouchers available at High Street Phoenix and Palladium. Apart from this, we are also promoting the kids category in our mall from 15th to 25th December 2017. Shop for Rs.3,500 from any of the participating brands in the promotion (Mothercare, The Children’s Place, Hamleys, UCB Kids, Pepe Kids, Adidas Kids, Tommy Hilfiger Kids, US Polo Assn. Kids, Les Petits, Claires)and get an Orama World Card worth Rs.300,” asserts Rajendra Kalkar. While at Inorbit Mall, brands are going on an early EOSS this year; Korum Mall will gift one lucky couple a trip to Budapest during the Christmas festive season. Pacific Mall is also giving its customers a chance to win international holidays. “Customers can shop for Rs.15,000 or above from anywhere in the mall between 3rd Dec 2017 to 31st Dec 2017 and stand a chance to win the bumper prize of international holiday for a couple and they also stand a chance to win gift vouchers worth Rs.50,000 every weekend of the month,” informs Salim Roopani. Phoenix United Mall will also be running a special Shop N Win Festival at the mall.

For The Better Of Society
Apart from fun, frolic and all the glitterati, Christmas also calls for caring and serving others. Rajendra Kalkar informs, “We are currently hosting the ‘Digital Kitchen’ campaign between 29th November to 31^st December, an online game that lets you donate towards serving fresh and hot cooked meals for underprivileged children at the Smile Foundation. Choose from 4 different and simple recipes to cook digitally with the help of the user friendly kitchen assistant to stir up a quick meal. For every meal you cook virtually, High Street Phoenix will ensure that a child gets a freshly hot meal.” Inorbit mall hosts “The Tree of Smiles” campaign across its 5 locations. With this campaign, Inorbit gives its shoppers an opportunity to play Santa for underprivileged kids. Through this campaign, patrons can buy gifts like stationery, toys etc. and drop it in the giant stocking set up at the mall. Once the collection drive is over, the gifts are handed over to an NGO. Similarly, Pacific Mall takes the initiative to distribute free food to around 500 people in the nearby slums on the morning of 1st January. Meanwhile, Phoenix United Mall is tying up with NGOs at the city and will be showing the kids, latest movie at the cinema theatre and will give away goody bags from Santa.

Overall Investment: What It Takes
Of course Christmas is about giving and decorations and celebrations, but what exactly goes into these decorations and how are these helping shopping malls in gaining more footfall? Rajendra Kalkar from The Phoenix Mills Ltd., says, “We strive to bring the best visual experience during Christmas and New Year by adding décor elements across the various zones. It’s not just the mall décor but also the retail stores that showcase interesting visual merchandizing that blend in with the festivities.” For Inorbit Mall, the “investment varies anywhere between Rs.15- 20 lakhs per mall” which involves media spends, décor, on ground activations, manpower, special acts and giveaways to customers. For Korum Mall as well, the investment that goes into the overall Christmas celebration is “around a seven digit figure sum”.

Also, while demonetization and the implementation of GST had many adverse effects on retail market of India, Salim Roopani feels, “No doubt, demonetization did impact sales initially but then that was very short lived and our footfall was not affected, but it has only increased steadily. There has been a substantial growth over last year in all aspects and we look at creating a new benchmark in business again this New Year. In December, when the festivities hit the peak with Christmas and New Year and the winters at its peak, apparel retailing is at its best when people indulge in impulse buying. While others too voiced the same opinion, it would be interesting to see how Christmas and New Year brought in more or lesser sales this year. Till then, Merry Christmas and Have a Lovely New Year

They say the first thing that someone notices about you is your feet and your footwear, so why not invest in the best pair of footwear that would enhance your personality to the very best. Footwear has evolved from being just a mere necessity as a protection for your feet to an important accessory that ups your fashion game right away. According to Businesswire, India is the second largest global producer of footwear after China, accounting for 9 percent of the annual global production of 22 billion pairs. Presently about 90 percent of the footwear produce in the country is consumed by the domestic market and the rest is exported. The growing Indian fashion and lifestyle market has given an impetus to the footwear industry as well.

Market Scenario
Footwear industry in India is very optimistic right now with growing awareness about the latest trends and consciousness among consumers. Affirms Ishaan Sachdeva, Director, Alberto Torresi, “Be it men’s category or women’s, footwear have now become a necessary style statement for everyone. A lot of western influence can also be noticed these days where people are inclined towards styles like Oxfords taken from Europe and Brogues from Ireland.” This industry has seen a tremendous growth in the last few years. The demand for footwear products in India is increasing with each passing day. Harkirat Singh, Managing Director, Woodland, says, “Indian footwear industry is approximately between Rs.30,000 crores to Rs.40,000 crores. And this can grow up to 100 percent by next 5 years provided the right policies and tax structure. This market is shared between organized and unorganized segment. The organized segment caters to about one third of the market while unorganized players fetch the remaining 70- 75 percent market which essentially falls under micro, mini, small and medium enterprises.” With the rising disposable incomes of the customers, India’s domestic footwear market is booming. Rising incomes, advent of globalization, improved employment and living standards in the country has led to the expansion in the size of this market. Anupam Bansal, Executive Director, Liberty Group, agrees and says, “Also, consumer’s increased exposure to plastic money and imposition of GST is going to provide more organized retailing and trade transparency in long term. Government of India has already commenced the “Make in India” campaign which has been proving beneficial in boosting manufacturing in India. Secondly, due to the ever increasing internet penetration and adoption of internet and the overall ecosystem for e-commerce falling in place, the last decade has been the best for this industry.”

Evolving Shopping Behaviour
Instant awareness and aspirations for the latest global trends with the advent of technology has resulted in frequent shopping behaviour of consumers. According to Farah Malik, MD and CEO, Metro Shoes Ltd., demand for footwear is expected to remain strong over the forecast period. The category is anticipated to register a retail value CAGR of 7 percent at constant prices, with sales reaching Rs.778 billion in 2021. Farah Malik further elaborates, “The way consumers are spending their money on various items has changed in recent years. With the ever-increasing penetration of internet and social media, the purchasing behaviour of Indian consumers has changed dramatically. Urbanization is taking place in India at a dramatic pace and is influencing the life style and buying behaviour of the consumers. The factors that affect buying behaviour and draw customers to the shopping centers include space, ambiance and convenience and moreover an array of choice under one roof. The growth of integrated shopping malls, retail chains and multi-brand outlets is evidence of consumer behaviour being favourable to the growing organized segment of the business in the metros. Also, global fashion and lifestyle brands have suddenly started betting big on small cities of India.” Also, footwear now is an integral part of the outfit. It can make or break an outfit. The consumer in the present era is no longer the same simple, subtle and single- minded consumer he used to be a decade ago. Now, they prefer having a variety of footwear options. “The consumer has become more technological savvy, extensively prone to digital marketing and practices, fashion conscious, demanding the latest trends and contemporary styles and voguish in a certain manner. The growing footwear segment along with the rising brand consciousness, rising discretionary incomes which consequentially leads to higher propensity to buy along with rising fashion consciousness and increasing share of organized footwear market led to an enormous growth in footwear consumption,” maintains Anupam Bansal.

 There has been a shift from being constraint to only a few types of footwear styles to a craze of owning different types of footwear for different occasions. Harkirat Singh feels, “Unlike earlier times when people used to own lesser number of shoes because they preferred wearing the same pair to office, to parties, for tea, etc., people today need different kinds of shoes for different occasions. For example, a fitness enthusiast would need running shoes for jogging or exercising, formal shoes for office, trendy and stylish shoes for parties and casual shoes for a casual outing, etc. Secondly, with trends changing very fast, brands are offering varied collections for varied seasons. So, when people visit shopping centers, they see a wide variety of footwear from different brands and that induces them to buy more. Furthermore, promotional offers, discounts, etc. also contribute in making their shopping more easy and convincing.” He further maintains that the advent of footwear retail in apparel stores, the later being a bigger sector, has lead to a massive growth in sales of footwear and thereby growth in this industry. While Ishaan Sachdeva asserts, “With an increased contribution in household income and change in spending patterns, the footwear sector is experiencing a great boom. Footwear is not just a part of wardrobe but has become a huge status symbol these days.”

Furthermore, talking about different categories in footwear, Farah Malik asserts, “At present, men’s category contributes around 60 percent of sales in the footwear segment as against women’s share of 30 percent. Men’s footwear market is growing at a CAGR of 10 percent. The women’s segment, however, is growing at a much faster CAGR of 20 per cent.”

Growing Opportunities
Indian market, especially the footwear market, has a lot of scope. The Indian footwear industry is gearing up to leverage its strengths towards maximizing benefits. Resource strength of India in the form of materials and skilled manpower is a comparative advantage for the country, among other things. Ishaan Sachdeva says, “The increasing significance of footwear is leading to an upsurge in the demand of footwear day by day which is further leading to higher growth prospects of footwear industry. The easy availability of varied styles is also increasing brand loyalty amongst the customers. The advent of such huge varieties of footwear is growing the potential of footwear industry even in tier-II and tier-III cities as the people are becoming more and more brand centric in these cities as well.” As said many times, rural areas are where the real India lies. The organized sector has definitely realized that and is now moving towards the hinterlands of India. Anupam Bansal affirms, “India has a lot of potential in tier-II and tier-III cities and towns and therefore, Liberty is constantly entering these towns and tapping the potential market. Approximately two-third of the consumer market is dominated by the urban market and rest is located in the rural areas. It is something that needs to be worked upon.” Harkirat Singh from Woodland points that the Indian retail sector is set to grow substantially over the next few years, as the reach of organized retail would gradually spread to smaller towns and under penetrated areas. “Today consumers in tier-II and tier-III cities are aware about the domestic and international brands across categories. The market has evolved and there is a lot of potential. Currently, tier-II cities contribute a large percentage in the total sales; however, tier-III cities are catching up in terms of sales and are expected to grow exponentially by FY 2020,” he says. Furthermore, talking about online market share in the hinterlands of India, Farah Malik from Metro Shoes, apprises, “Mobile technology is revolutionizing the tier-II and tier-III markets and an online retailer must not ignore this segment. Women are the driving force in tier-II and tier-III online retail markets.”

Also, with a considerable rise in consumption of trendiest and most comfortable pair of footwear, consumers today do not mind paying higher for quality products as they now understand that ‘higher price definitely means better quality’. Harkirat Singh agrees, “India is a price sensitive market. But today consumers do not hesitate in paying more for quality, innovation and technology. We offer tech footwear which are water proof, anti- microbe shoes, non- skid shoes, etc. and people actually pay for these premium tech collections happily.” Apart from quality, people also look for good customer service which ultimately makes their store visit more satisfying. Farah Malik explains, “Customers remain loyal if the brand delivers on quality and a good customer service experience and are willing to pay extra for superior customer service. If you look at the millennials, they are the first generation who is willing consciously to spend more for better quality, for sustainability, for traceability. I think there is a change.  Moreover, delivering excellent customer service experience along with consistent quality is imperative for any brand to retain customers.”

Challenges Ahead
While the footwear industry is set for an exponential growth in the times to come, there are many challenges that are continuously erecting roadblocks in the process. “The industry is already working towards consolidating the growth. This has seen technology being the key element in making things possible to enhance growth. Many institutes have blossomed to provide retail professionals to the industry which will help in the long run. The government initiatives to taper down the real estate demands and make the pricing more pragmatic will also give a boost to the retail industry and push it to a higher growth path,” says Anupam Bansal. Talking about other challenges facing the industry right now, Farah Malik maintains, “The unorganised retail market is the most dominant and popular mode of retailing and purchase destination for the majority of India’s 1.3 billion population. Like food habits, footwear fashion changes every 100 kilometers. For example, the shortest heel preference in Chandigarh is the longest preferred in Kolkata. Hence, fashion footwear has always been dominated as well as successfully managed by local retailers. The unorganized footwear industry also enjoys the advantage of the passion and zeal of its business owners that is difficult to replicate across employees and store personnel. Also, footwear retailing primarily involves touching the feet of our customers as part of service and hence the front end does not attract the best manpower in terms of education, technical expertise and sophistication.” Apart from these, Harkirat Singh point out that product counterfeiting is another big challenge for the organized footwear industry. “Organised sector is something we cannot avoid because it’s the bigger chunk of the market. But the real problem lies in stopping the counterfeit products; its easy to sell fake shoes for the unorganized retailers but that ultimately hampers the brand image as consumers start associating the quality and performance of a fake product to the brand. We try to curtail that through legal processes where we conduct raids, seize counterfeits and apply to some suit in the court, etc. But that still possess as a big challenge for us, especially in a country like India where we don’t have too many laws against counterfeit, he asserts.

In-Trend And Forthcoming
Footwear trends as such are difficult to forecast as they tend to change frequently with every season. Furthermore, its also true that in fashion, trends have their way of repeating themselves over time and footwear sue is no exception. According to Ishaan Sachdeva, “A drastic shift has been witnessed from the mainstream lace-ups and slip-ons to styles such as monk straps, oxfords, brogues and tassels. Then plimsolls that are inspired by the British culture are another shoe style that have gained massive acceptance in the recent times. Not just by the younger generation but plimsolls are preferred by celebrities as well. Talking about the women footwear trends, boots are always preferred by them. Women are investing in stylish ankle and desert boots. Boots with block heels are also quite in vogue these days. Another shoe style, sneakers makes an ideal choice for daily wear.” In the past, comfort was the most important factor during the selection of footwear. However, with the advent of media and increased global travel, Indians have become style conscious. “Fashion footwear with comfort is now the trend in the market. Consumers have also started shopping for shoes that compliment and accentuate their clothes,” maintains Farah Malik.

According to Singh from Woodland, trends keep changing because every season now has new colours, features, etc. coming up and Woodland brings in trends from its fashion houses in Italy and Hongkong. For the forthcoming season, “Woodland is coming up with technology driven footwear and apparels”. While Alberto Torresi is soon launching its new collection which is a “sweet hybrid of Italian and Indian footwear”, Liberty’s Autumn/Winter collection is going to transform the idea of being elegant and sensational without compromising on comfort. Meanwhile, Metro Shoes have launched its new evening and bridal shoe collection.

The Way Forward
Going forward, with expansion in retail sector and technological advancements, footwear market is amongst the fastest emerging sectors in the fashion industry. According to Ishaan Sachdeva, “The demand for footwear products in India is to expand in the coming years as the customers do not compromise both with comfort and style.” Farah Malik further asserts, “I believe the footwear industry has been recognised by the Government of India as a focus sector in the ‘Make in India’ mission whether we do it for India or we do it for the world. The challenge for Indian footwear industry is lit large but anticipating India to become amongst top 5 superpowers by 2030, our consumption rates can reach as high as 7-8 pairs. In such a scenario, India would need to produce anywhere between 8-10 billion pairs considering yearly population growth. With global integration of Indian industry, rapid change in lifestyle, income growth at bottom of the wealth pyramid, footwear industry is expected to grow by leaps and bounds. For the Indian footwear to explode and deliver, favourable government policies, infrastructure, removal of high doses of taxation, infrastructural support in capacity building, skill education and technology up gradation, brand building exercise should be initiated expeditiously no later than now.”

Online to offline sales is a major transition point for any smartphone maker but this year has seen many biggies like Xiaomi, Vivo and Motorola take the offline route. Mobile retail stores are not only influencing buyers to make a better choice, they will also play a major role in capturing distributors’ margin in the long run.

Highlights

Phone makers vouch by touch-and-feel; say retail stores help connect with customers in comfortable environment
Number 1 smartphone brand Xiaomi targets 100 experience stores across the country in two years

It’s been a year of many firsts and new ‘experiences’ for giant smartphone makers in India as 2017 has been the year of experience stores.  Earlier in the year, if Xiaomi launched its maiden MiHome store in Bengaluru and followed it up with 20 more experience and service stores across India, recently Motorola and Chinese smartphone makers Vivo and Coolpad debuted with offline retailing too. While the touch-and-feel experience in mobile retail has won hands down time and again against online retailing, these smartphone makers only restated the obvious- a customer prefers experiencing a phone before making the buying decision.

Commenting about big players taking the plunge into mobile retail, Coolpad India CEO Syed Tajjudin said the experience stores create a comfortable environment for the makers to showcase their brand, allow customer interaction and create experiences for them before buying.

He says, “The smartphone industry is at its competitive best and of late it is more like a musical chair. No more than one brand has been able to sustain the No.1 tag for more than one or two quarters. A customer prefers human touch in the buying process and look-and-feel plays an important role than reviews and tech blogs. Hence, the experience or the retail stores play a key role in connecting with the consumers.”

Speaking about Coolpad’s retail strategy, Tajjudin maintains that Coolpad’s offline stores are not sale points and only focus on customer services. “We showcase newly launched products and upcoming models at these centres, but it is only to help the consumer make an informed choice. Our stores help buyers get a hands-on experience before they buy a product.”

As the tussle for the No.1 smartphone tag continues, Tajjudin stresses that they are building customer-centric models and have long term goals, and they are not doing anything different to capture the market share. “We don’t want to be the No.1 smartphone overnight but prefer steady growth,” he says. 

Coolpad plans to expand its experience stores and will soon launch 5 stores across India. It’s all set to announce its futuristic products shortly.

A dream ride for the ‘Apple of China’
While Coolpad believes in steady growth, over a little above three years since its inception, another Chinese brand experimented, bet on word of mouth and won the number game. Today, Xiaomi is labeled as the number 1 smartphone brand in India, and this journey has seen its own share of ups and down, but mostly ups. From a meagre 3% market share in 2015, the Chinese brand climbed up the charts in the third quarter this year with 23.5% market share. From shipping just 1,00,000 units in 2014, Xiaomi has sold 9.2 million units in just one quarter this year.

Target 100
As Xiaomi continues to crash all sale records in India, in May this year, it dived into offline retailing and launched Mi Home stores. Commenting about the retail strategy, Xiaomi India MD Manu Kumar Jain said, “Offline sales are about 10-15 per cent of our total sales and we expect this to grow to 20-30 per cent in the next few years. In the coming months, we will expand Mi Homes and ensure they are profitable before we add more.”

The company intends to set up 100 Mi Homes in India over the next two years, said Jain.

Moto Hub- tapping the potential market
While Motorola has undergone rejig and has reintroduced itself in the last couple of years, it has upped the ante with the launch of Moto Hub- a chain of mobile retail stores. The phone makers said that the stores were a key destination for consumers to experience the latest Motorola products, and get a hands-on demo of the entire product portfolio. These stores also house devices that are available exclusively online.

Speaking about the strategy behind Moto Hub stores, Sudhin Mathur, MD, Motorola Mobility India, said, “Strengthening the offline retail channel is one of the key priorities for us this year. The objective behind launching Moto Hub is to provide easy access of our products to consumers. They can experience the entire portfolio of Motorola products at convenient locations. Both e-commerce and retail play an important role in offering consumers’ choice and enabling meaningful experiences.”

Motorola has launched Moto Hub stores in Noida and Mumbai and plans to open 50 stores by the end of this financial year.

Commenting about what the phone maker is doing to capture the market, Mathur, said, “We are targeting top tier markets for our initial launch. Our endeavor is to reach as many key markets and TG clusters as possible with the current targeted 50 stores. We will plan the second phase once this roll out is complete.”

In numbers
Chinese brands including Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo have a combined market share of 54%

Sharing the top slot with Samsung is Chinese giant Xiaomi

Vivo, which is stronger in offline market, holds the market share of 13%

While Oppo holds 8% market share, Motorola stands at 7% market share

Sonam Kapoor is unquestionably India’s quintessential style icon. However, her uber chic appearances have been orchestrated and curated by a dedicated team of experts helmed by sister Rhea Kapoor. The fashion journey of the Kapoor sisters is globally discussed, locally inspired and homegrown in the truest sense.  Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the sisters have decided to build a high street fashion brand that embodies their style sensibilities. ‘Rheson’, aptly named after the stylish duo, is now exclusively available at India’s leading fashion retailer Shoppers Stop. The Kapoor sisters along with Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers Stop Ltd. showcased the Rheson collection at a press meet today in Mumbai. A short film on the making of the brand was also presented.

‘Rheson,’ is a combination of Rhea and Sonam, phonetically pronounced reason. With the pricing starting from Rs. 499-Rs 3599, Rheson is a high street fashion brand meant for the real Indian girl. The USP of this brand is that whilst the clothes are super fashionable - they have been curated by the most fashionable sisters in the country - they are also affordable without making any compromises on the quality as well as longevity of the garments. What’s more, Rheson will also be extremely easy to access since the brand will be exclusively available across Shoppers Stop stores in the country as well as on www.shoppersstop.com and the Shoppers Stop mobile app.

Speaking on the launch of Rheson, Rhea Kapoor states that, "Sonam and I wanted to create a brand keeping the Indian girl and her sensibilities in mind. It was also essential for us to have control over the quality, pricing and styles and provide attention to detail, which we have done. Since we are the customer, it was easy to cater to the customer. We have a strong understanding of what girls want. According to me, glamor should be accessible to you, no matter who you are. People want to wear clothes that are comfortable and stylish in nature, a combination that is hard to find. Rheson has been created keeping the Indian customer in mind, her body type as well as what she likes to wear to office, with her friends, for festive occasions, for glam night outs, there is something for every girl. Furthermore, our brand is priced in an extremely competitive fashion so that no girl has to think twice before embracing her stylish side"

Adds Sonam Kapoor, “We wanted to work on something that is owned by us and had our personal touch on every level. So finally, we got a true partner in Shoppers Stop, as they saw the potential in this and finally we are here. The key to the birth of Rheson was to give girls a platform wherein they do not have to spend money to look stylish. It’s like accessible, affordable glamour. While everyone loves high fashion, its high street that everyone wears. We did not wish to create a couture brand. Our forte lies in the fact that our clothes should become your best friends. They are the ones you reach out to again and again, irrespective of the occasion or the fitness level of your body. Rheson is for the real Indian girl.”

Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers Stop Ltd., added, “When India’s leading fashion retailer collaborates with India’s leading fashion icons, it’s a match made in heaven. We are excited to partner with Rhea and Sonam Kapoor for their much-awaited fashion venture ‘Rheson’. Their signature style has been perfectly encompassed across the entire range. Rheson hits the right spot of affordable glamour and we are certain that it will be a grand success. We are glad to announce that Shoppers Stop customers will have exclusive access to ‘Rheson’ across our stores, on our online store www.shoppersstop.com and on the Shoppers Stop mobile app.”

Rheson will make its fashionable debut with two main themes – Inspiration from the Nostalgic 90s and the Mogra collection. The Nostalgic 90s collection will immediately take you back to your childhood with elements such as sweet cigarettes, pop candy, stationery and retro influence taking centre-stage on t-shirts, cropped tops, button-down dresses, denim jackets and more. The Mogra collection is a chic and young indo-western collection inspired by the fragrant mogras. Monochrome prints inspired by the buds of the mogra add a soothing and refreshing touch to summer. The range has fun silhouettes such as palazzo saris and floral dresses that can be mixed and matched to create #insta-fresh DIY looks for special occasions.

Scaling and profitability in the Consumer Durables and Information Technology or Gadgets sector has to be understood from the lens of both vertical as well as horizontal e-commerce players. The rules of the game work very differently for both kinds of players and a similar approach and business strategy therefore would not apply across the sector.

Vertical e-commerce players tend to have a far more efficient and qualitative product focus as they are dedicated to a single or to fewer product categories. By virtue of their more skewed product focus, they are able to deliver a far superior consumer experience and their overall product approach is more affective in highlighting the features/USP of that particular category.

Businesses are established largely with two core purposes in mind – achieving scale and achieving profitability: the classic chicken and egg situation. Which one comes first?

For several years now, businesses have been chasing the top line revenue approach and it has been perceived to be as the most logical route to scaling up a business, i.e. to establish a strong cash flow by focusing on more and more sales. However it is imperative to understand that businesses will only become “successful” in the long-run with a more holistic approach: optimising operations, expanding margins and reducing the service cost, whilst building economies of scale. This holds especially true in the Gadgets sector, which makes this vertical extremely interesting to operate in, as one is not able to apply a standard top-line revenue approach and is compelled to drive growth, scalability and profitability more intelligently.

A player who sets out to achieve profitability in the gadgets sector will therefore have to devise a more creative approach in order to build a sustainable business. One way to do this would be to establish strong consumer trust, understand the needs of the consumer and ensure the delivery of a uniquely differentiated consumer experience. Simultaneously, one would have to still keep optimising overall costs and focus on driving efficiencies.

The CDIT sector is a brilliant sector to be in to drive scale, however it is important to understand that the only way to sustain the achieved scale is by efficiently managing acquisition costs. Otherwise one would establish a fast crumbling growth which would not withstand the test of time. So CDIT e-commerce players have to drive growth very strategically.

For achieving these objectives, a Hybrid Business Model approach becomes important. Such a model ensures higher consumer engagement whilst providing a better platform to cater to a wide array of customer requirements. Consumers are inevitably drawn to holistic qualitative servicing i.e. all their needs are fulfilled from one service provider. A hybrid model caters to exactly this - a visitor can consume all pre-purchase information about a product and complete the buying process by purchasing the product on the same platform, while availing the best available deal. Moreover, there is an opportunity to choose the best product as the same platform provides a detailed comparison of multiple products in the same category.

A portal of this kind will therefore provide the consumers with a ‘360 degree experience’ in terms of product information (pre-purchase), comparative research (in terms of features and prices), product demonstrations and expert as well as user generated reviews, purchase of the product as well as after-sale services; thereby encompassing the entire value-chain. The objective of such a platform is to help the consumer make the right buying decision and also guides them to optimally use their existing gadgets. This kind of an approach enables the player to build a strong and loyal consumer base using deep behavioural insights.

In today’s volatile business landscape, expectations of the consumer are ever evolving. One has to adapt an approach which aims at retaining existing customers by offering new and customised services, while at the same time attracting new potential customers by meeting their product and service requirements.

This article has been authored by Bhawna Agarwal, CEO,Gadgets 360. 

Tisva, a premium home decorative lighting brand from Usha International Limited launched its flagship studio in New delhi.

The studio is spread over 2500 sqft over 2 floors and is a tribute to the 'art of illumination'. Well-known interior designer Gauri Khan is associated with the brand.

The Tisva lighting studio has a customised experience zone which showcases automated lighting concepts like new age down lighters which work on bluetooth technology and elyisian lights featuring Japanese technology that creates light in a choice of color selection from warm white to cool daylight.

Vikas Gandhi, Business Head and VP- Lighting, Tisva said, "Tisva's range of artfully crafted luminaires is a signature of the latest lighting trends backed by international quality and service standards. We are delighted to open the flagship studio for the brand in the capital as the city offers huge business potential for us and is one of the biggest markets for designer lighting."

The wide range of products from Tisva include Ambient lighting concepts, LED designer range, Chandeliers, Table and Floor Lamps, Wall Lights, Pendants, Outdoor lighting  and Utility lighting products.

Aavantam.com, an e-commerce market place for fashion, has brought its European designs and make to India.

Aavantam claims to have a collection of covetable clothing and accessories that will highlight your individuality by enhancing your own unique sense of style.

Aavantam claims to offer trendy yet exclusive fashion wear making patrons standout from the rest of the High Street label consumers.

It is the one stop online store for a 20 something to a 30 something year old jet setter accustomed to travelling abroad with an empty suitcase. From lightweight smocks to statement dresses with sparkly details to smart tiepins, polos and cuff links, there are plenty of unique pieces to layer and mix-and-match here for men and women. Aavantam aims to bring new and original fashion to you, with great design and finesse at the heart of everything we create. With an Indian lens on global trends, the brand offers the best quality products and accessories in the segment to leave an everlasting impression. Unique delivery service – If placed an order deliverable anywhere in India before 4pm it claims to deliver it on the very next day itself on weekdays or within 2 days over weekends!

Payal Kothari, Founder, Aavantam has completed her post graduation degrees in MSC, Marketing Management from Aston University (Birmingham,UK) and MSC, Business Economics from Westminster (London, UK) respectively.

She is said to have decided to move back to India, to initially head the marketing team of her family run construction business at Avior Group and ultimately went on to start her own successful, online retail website. Her passion for fashion and super chic style drove her to run this brand with profound zeal and enthusiasm.

Sunny Kothari, Co-Founder, Aavantam is a graduate from the esteemed - Regent's College(London,UK) and has been since then working as the Director of his family run construction business, Avior Group. His love for technology and challenging businesses drove him to start his e-commerce, retail portal, Aavantam alongside his cousin, Payal Kothari. Sunny's vision for his successful start-up lies in efficient brand building and aiming to make it one of the most premium, multi-brand online portals in India.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Ministry of MSME, Government of India has inked a partnership with Raymond Ltd, one of India's leading Textile and Apparel Company. The initiative explores synergies between two Indian brands that boast of 'Make in India' legacy and represents the cultural heritages of India.

V.K. Saxena, KVIC Chairman, said, "Inking an agreement with Raymond for value added marketing of Khadi is an act of integrating rural industry with urban industry, which in other words is the socio-economic unity of nation's creative diversity. In line with the Prime Minister's vision, this agreement is going to bridge the urban-rural divide. This therefore is a humble gesture of KVIC in this direction."

Gautam Hari Singhania, Chairman and MD, Raymond Ltd., said, "In our quest to remain committed towards 'Make in India' initiative and aligned with Honorable Prime Minister's vision for Khadi, this is a defining moment as this association with KVIC will create multiple employment opportunities and will empower the artisans, especially women in rural India."

Usha Suresh, CEO KVIC said, "To promote khadi as a global and a fashionable fabric, this partnership with Raymond will provide khadi a niche among the fashion conscious global Indian who is also a genuine lover of hand spun fabric."

Sanjay Behl said, "With this association, it is our endeavor to position Khadi by Raymond as a true Indian fashion fabric globally. Raymond will offer a wide array of fabric blends and garments spanning across Khadi suits, jackets, shirts and trousers, in line with international design and quality trends."

In order to help offline merchants opt for cashless transactions ShopClues, one of India's largest managed marketplaces, has announced the launch of 'Reach' under its Business Edge initiative. 'Reach' will help brick-and-mortar stores across India process hassle-free cashless transactions for customers who prefer making payments digitally. Offering a seamless service experience to the retailers as well as customers, the easy-to-set up payment gateway demands neither of the transacting parties to download the application and can be used for payments of all scales and sizes.

The merchants can avail the facility of ‘Reach’ at a cost effective introductory rate of INR 99 per month. The SMS-based three-step payment mechanism also eliminates the intermediary digital wallet by directly transferring the payment to the beneficiary's bank account at an introductory rate of 0 percent TDR on transactions. 'Reach' can be subscribed to by ShopClues-affiliated merchants as well as offline merchants who are not associated with the platform alike.

'Reach' by ShopClues also assists the retailer in order management, inventory management, e-Billing, centralised inventory status for multiple stores, and merchant store promotion. ShopClues plans to reach out to offline merchants across cities in the upcoming months.

Sanjay Sethi, CEO and Co-Founder, ShopClues, said, "In the wake of the unprecedented demand for digital payments, the launch of ‘Reach’ will most essentially offer a level playing field to the brick-and-mortar retailers across the country, who at present, are bearing the brunt due to unavailability of PoS machines at their store.

Sethi further added, "The merchants can handpick packages as per their individual requirements, thus enabling them to create an optimal business model and garner maximum revenue for themselves."

Addressing the severity of the air pollution in the country and the critical effect of these increasing levels of air pollutant, Panasonic has come up with 7 models of specially designed air purifiers for the consumers to combat poisonous particles present indoors.
Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd, a leader in innovation and technology, has introduced its new range of Air Purifiers, expanding its promise to deliver a healthy life, a better life.
Equipped with Nanoe technology, the new range claims to enhance the quality of indoor air by filtering out harmful particles including PM2.5.
It also claims to minimize unnecessary operations by monitoring the daily life pattern of the user, creating a favorable environment for the members as well as pets.
Syed Moonis Ali Alvi, General Manager – Purifier Business, Panasonic India said, "Ahead of the winter season when smog in the cities will be at its peak, we have introduced 7 models of air-purifiers. Our new range of air-purifiers and its technology ensures that it monitors the indoor air-quality and improves it as per the requirement. Equipped with Nanoe technology, HEPA/Composite Air Filter and Econavi technology, Panasonic air-purifiers make sure to filter out harmful particles, including PM 2.5, out of the air and provide a healthy and safe environment to breathe in.”

Bangalore has launched a free service to help citizens find cashpoints nearest to them with CashNoCash.com. The crowdsourced site is supported by Quikr and Nasscom and has been conceptualized and developed by Manjunath Talwar and Abhijit Khasnis, Quikrites and co-founders of Hiree.

Based on crowdsourced information, the site helps users across India find the nearest ATM, bank or post-office to get insights on cash availability and waiting time in queues for cash exchange or withdrawal. It also offers users a chance to report this information back to the site thereby contributing to real-time updates at each mapped cash point.

"The scale of problem is humongous. The government and financial institutions are doing everything they can. This is our team's effort to help the cause by using technology and knowledge of the crowd. The support we’ve received is great, Quikr is a forward looking technology company and offers a stimulating and fertile environment for likeminded people", said Manjunath Talwar and Abhijit Khasnis, co-founders,  Hiree (a Quikr company).

Sharing views on the need for such an initiative, Atul Tewari, COO, Quikr said, “The sheer volume of transactions has led to long queues at banks and ATMs and CashNoCash helps citizens find the nearest cash point with the shortest waiting time. The site offers a simple technology based solution that empowers people with information and I’m excited that a team of Quikrites has helped make this happen! We have always focused on India specific innovations across our multiple verticals such as doorstep, jobs and auto to make things easier for our users as they shift to the digital economy”

Ashok Madaravally, Director at NASSCOM 10,000 Startups said, “We have always been supporting of technology startups especially startups that are solving India's biggest pain points. We are excited to know and support that the Hiree team, an alumni startup from the NASSCOM 10,000 Startups program is solving this temporary but nevertheless pressing challenge of limited cash being available in the market.”

PepsiCo India, one of the major beverages and snacks companies is going to launch up to five products by next year, mainly focusing on delivering more healthy products.

As reported by PTI, Deepika Warrier, PepsiCo India, VP-Nutrition Category, said, "We are moving as an organisation towards creating a healthier portfolio... we have been working on developing products after understanding the local food palette and need for whole grains and nutrition in the Indian diet."

She confirmed that the company is looking forward to launch 4-5 new products by the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017.

She added, "We believe in offering a range of choices to our customers... Clearly there is a ready category momentum (for nutrition backed products)... We have seen that nutrition backed products are growing much faster.. We need to tap that momentum."

Recently appointed Chef Vikas Khanna, who is also the brand ambassador of PepsiCo India, and the company together has launched two new flavors of oats, which are Chaat style and Curry Magic.

It already has nutrition division such as Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade.

Briefing about the benefits of oats, Warrier said, "The oats category has now reached a certain scale in the country but penetration levels are still low. Oats is the fastest growing cereal sub-segment and is really under-penetrated and there is a huge opportunity to grow."

She also explained that the company is taking steps to grow the segment. It has taken initiatives to make the product more appealing for Indian taste palette and low cost to fit in Indian family's budget.

Monte Carlo, premium fashion and lifestyle brand across the country recently launched its exclusive brand outlet in Jalandhar, Punjab. Spread over 2500 sq feet, this largest exclusive store in Punjab will help expand the company’s sales footprint in the city and aims to be a one-stop platform for the elite and fashion forward shoppers of Jalandhar.

“This is our largest store in Punjab and given its location at one of the city’s most popular & posh market, it will give us an unparallel presence and visibility. In recent years, we have worked aggressively on expanding our footprint across the country with twin strategies of adding stores as well as diversifying our product offerings to meet the varied needs of the customers. Our staff is also specially trained to deliver a pleasant, informative, and excellent shopping experience to our customers,” said Amit Maini, GM–Retail (North & Maharashtra Region), Monte Carlo.

This newly launched store is already regaling fashion-conscious customers with the splendid, trendy appeal of its AW16 collection, which includes latest range of jackets, sweaters, cardigans, sweatshirts, stoles, shawls, mufflers, fashion socks, and winter denims.

Monte Carlo, which has many exclusive outlets across the country, also sells through large format stores and e-commerce portals. Keeping pace with the latest fashion trends, the brand is coming up with a series of new collections including corporate, fusion and sportswear.

“We feel delighted to get such an enthusiastic response from all our patrons at this auspicious moment of the store launch. Our main objective is to stand up to the customers’ expectations and maintain quality and design innovation hand-in-hand. This new store is a vibrant gateway of an interesting fashion culture, and the new collection launched by the brand is seasonally customized for the upcoming winter,” added Maini.

Monte Carlo works with an experienced workforce, state-of-the-art machinery and quality raw material to deliver the best outcomes in the apparel industry every time. In the coming months, it aims to establish a larger foothold and brand value in the market through more exclusive outlets in tier 1 and tier 2 cities.

Monte Carlo’s products reach the end user through different channels like, Exclusive Brand Outlets, Multi Brand Outlets & Large Formats Stores. Currently, Monte Carlo is available through more than 225 Exclusive Brand Outlets & over 1500 Multi Brand Outlets in India and abroad. Monte Carlo has also marked its presence in Nepal & Bangladesh with its exclusive outlets.  

VelvetCase, a multi-brand jewellery destination, is going to introduce a month –long Big Festive Bonanza, which will offer a huge range of brands and designs for its customers.

It also offers custom-made jewellery with features like easy EMI, international lab certification and free insured shipping among others.

As per reports VelvetCase is offering up to 20% off on precious jewels made of gold, diamond & platinum. It is also offering up to 40% off on contemporary and traditional fashion jewellery. The sale is also open on a wide category of men’s fashion jewellery.

Apart from usual discounts, the key highlights of this bonanza, said to be offered by the company are interest-free EMI on jewellery and zero making charges on custom jewellery.

Abhishek Bhartiya, Director – Marketing, Velvetcase.com, said that the company has always tried to give value across all jewellery categories ranging from fine, fashion to custom to the customers.  

Kapil Hetamsaria, CEO of Velvetcase.com, said that the company intends to add to the celebratory fervour of the festive season, which has already begun.

Ekatrit, a multi-designer styling cafe, has opened its doors in Delhi

Richa Sachar, one of the brains behind this concept and also a fashion designer herself expressed her thoughts, "While putting together this concept we wanted to stock likeminded fashion maniacs and unconventional product designers. The clients can book a styling session with visiting stylists or our in-house stylist.

Balpreet Singh, promoter of Ekatrit, described, “More often than not, some of the best designers go unnoticed as the field is so capital intensive. With Ekatrit we wanted to create a platform for such designers and at the same time give a unique experience to our customers.”

It is said that the store is very unconventional with everything in house is on sale from the chairs and tables to the wall shelves, even the cake platters. The store claims to hold something for every fashionista hidden in everyone.

H&M, the international retailer known for fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way, is opening its first store at Phoenix Marketcity, Pune on 15^th October, 2016 at 11:00 am.

And to the first 3 fashionistas, who will reach the spot first are going to get H&M Gift Cards up to Rs.10,0 00 and next 500 are going to get H&M Gift Card of Rs.500 each.

Set in the city's most prestigious mall, the new H&M store will be situated in the heart of the mall building at Phoenix Marketcity.

Janne Einola, Country Manager, H&M India expressed her happiness in opening their first store in Pune’s one of the famous malls, which claims to provide an environment for customers to explore H&M’s offering of fashion and quality at the best price in sustainable way.

After a spectacular opening in Mumbai and Delhi, another H&M will be arriving at Pheonix Market City Kurla and Express Avenue Mall in Chennai later this year.

Swatch, world's renowned Swiss watch maker has opened its first corporate store at Phoenix Marketcity-Kurla in Mumbai. Radhika Apte, the Bollywood actoress inaugurated the store. The newly launched store showcases the latest collections of the brand including- Fall Winter 2016 and Sistem51 Irony.

Radhika Apte was seen flaunting her Swatch Collage watch as she commented, “I have always been a great fan of Swatch and it's a great honour for me to inaugurate its first corporate store. In fact I was given a choice from nearly 100 watches from the latest collection to choose one, which was presented to me today”.

Emerging from its roots as the automatic watch for everyone, the new Sistem51 Irony is for people who value clean, classic design, while the Fall Winter 2016 Collection explores six different themes in contemporary Swatch style. In coming years, Swatch plans to open its mono-brand boutiques in other major cities of India, alongside its shops in the important places of the cities.

One of the popular French luxury brands, Roche Bobois has opened the doors of its flagship store at The Gallery on MG Road in New Delhi. The luxurious store spread across 8000 sq ft has been designed to allow customers to experience the exquisite collections of furniture and accessories on offer. The store showcases its two collections Contemporary and Classic, respectively called Les Contemporains and Nouveaux Classiques

Elaborating on the launch, Samvit Tara, Managing Director, Roche Bobois India says, “Roche Bobois is the pre-eminent leader in the design-driven category of sophisticated furniture and accessories from France and offers an extensive selection of products designed by some of the most talented designers from Europe. We are excited about the launch of our Flagship store in New Delhi and are confident that Roche Bobois will offer design conscious consumers a beautiful brand experience by allowing them to explore new avenues in design”.

The Contemporains collection is an amalgamation of creativity and functionality and offers furniture crafted with new age materials in cutting edge designs that can be customised to individual needs in a riot of funky colours. Roche Bobois' Nouveaux Classiques collection blends classicism with modernism, where pieces of traditional furniture are reinterpreted, by marrying contemporary design with period styles. Company claims that it uses the best-quality woods, the most beautiful leathers and the most original fabrics are brought to life in this collection. Both collections offer exquisite furniture and accessories for living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and outdoor spaces. 

New York based footwear brand Steve Madden announced the opening of its first store in Gujarat Vadodara. Located on the ground floor of Inorbit Mall, this store showcases fashion-forward footwear, handbags and accessories for both women and men.

With designs inspired by rock and roll culture and heritage of New York City and fused with a jolt of fashion appeal and urban edge, Steve Madden offers products that are innovative and trendy.

Commenting on the launch Somdeb Basu, Business Head, Steve Madden, India said, “Steve Madden brand truly represents the international pulse of New York city. Innovative, daring and inspiring, the brand has always been amongst the front-runners of fashion. With the opening of our first Steve Madden store in Vadodara, we look forward to offering the trendsetters of the city a brand that they can truly identify with”

Steve Madden has entered India through a long term license agreement with Reliance Brands Limited. Through this association, Steve Madden products are available through exclusive monobrand stores and shop-in shop format across all major cities across India. Positioned as a bridge between hi-street and luxury, the brand offers a cutting-edge range of fashion forward, of-the-moment designs across footwear and a variety of accessories.

Steve Madden stores are located in over 80 countries worldwide. In India, Steve Madden stores are located in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida and Pune.

Tata Group owned Titan Co Ltd has recently announced its entry into the eCommerce space for its eyewear brand Titan Eye Plus. The company has also hinted an aggressive expansion to increase its market share despite a sluggish growth.

In its quarterly update to the BSE, the company said that the eyewear division is committed to increasing its market share further through aggressive geographical expansion and a calculated foray in eCommerce space.

Despite a few operators has gained market share, over the years, profit graph in the eyewear market has experienced a significant slowdown. Country’s eyewear market is largely dominated by local players with few organised retail chains like Lawrence and Mayo, Dayal Opticals and Titan Eye Plus.

Online retailers such as Lenskart are now aggressively setting up offline stores to eat into market share of traditional retailers. During the second quarter, Titan's eyewear division added 11 Titan Eye Plus and closed 9 Spexx stores.

Titan has been consistently shutting down its Spexx stores, which is a small-format eyewear store attached to a large multi-specialty hospital. In the first quarter of this fiscal it had shut 7 Spexx stores. Although the festive season is around the corner, Titan Co, which sells jewelery under Tanishq brand, said low consumer confidence in conjunction with volatility in gold prices continues to dampen the demand for gold as an investment class.

As per the company, the industry would have declined by an average of 15-20 per cent over the calender year, and the gold imports into the country are lowest since fourth quarter of 2013.

Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd., backed by the 'God of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar, is now looking to aggressively expand its market presence. The company has recent floated its third brand under the name 'Ms.Taken'.

With this development, company has marked its entry to explore the women's western wear market which is estimated to be a 19,000 crore sector currently. Speaking about the venture, Anjana Reddy, CEO, USPL stated that brand is the only homegrown Indian company with significant presence in the multi-billion dollar celebrity fashion lines business. Both Imara and Wrogn have built significant resonance and mind share with company's target customer segments. With Ms.Taken, the brand will cater to young girls and women, targeting the age bracket 20 to 30 and making fashion effortless for them.

USPL had a top line of Rs. 61 crore in the last fiscal. USPL already has men's wear brand Wrogn with Virat Kohli and women's ethnic wear Imara with another Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor in its portfolio of brands.

Future Group, led by Kishore Biyani, has continued its buying spree by acquiring Sangam Direct chain of grocery stores from Wadhawan Holding. This move can be marked as the company's effort to dominate the grocery segment of the country.

Wadhawan Holding, a company owned by the promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corp., has sold around three dozen stores network to Biyani through a lease transfer, revealed a source. However, Future Group's spokesperson has declined to comment anything on the development by stating that Group does not react to market's speculations.

Wadhawan operate the stores under Sangam Direct (that was earlier known as Sabka Bazaar stores) in Delhi NCR and in Bengaluru. The sources said Sangam Direct business has a revenue of about Rs 100-150 crore.

Prior to this acquisition, Future Group has acquired south-based Nilgiris Chain, Big Apple in New Delhi and Bharti Retail's Easyday and now, it has taken over Sangam Direct hence, making it group's fourth acquisition within a short span of time.

Future Group is in advance talks to acquire the retail business of Hyderabad-based Heritage Foods Ltd. Hyderabad-based Heritage Foods operates two flagship divisions — dairy and retail — and has interests in small businesses, including bakery and animal feed. Retail accounts for nearly a fourth of the overall business, with sales of Rs 583 crore, up 18 per cent last fiscal.

In a bid to strengthen its presence in food & grocery business, Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is now eyeing to acquire the retail business of Hyderabad-based Heritage Food Ltd. If things go as planned this will be Future Group’s second big acquisition in southern region of the country in a span of 2 years.

It is speculated that if the planned deal happens the company will get around 100 grocery stores in cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. As per a leading media house, the deal may also involve a share swap, besides a cash component.

Founded in 2012 by Andhra Pardesh CM, NaraChandrababu Naidu, Heritage Foods have five business verticals that include dairy, agriculture, bakery, retail and renewable energy.

According to the company’s stock-exchange fillings, the retail division operated 112 Heritage Fresh stores as of June 2016. The company faced a pre-tax loss of around Rs 13.8 cr on revenue and Rs 583 for the year through March 2016. Shares of Heritage Foods touched their highest level in at least a year on Friday of Rs 840.75 a piece, more than doubling from a one-year low of Rs 368 in September last year. 

Earlier this year, Heritage Foods took over some assets of Teja Dairy in Raichur district of Karnataka. It invested Rs 60 lakh to acquire the assets that include a dairy plant with a processing capacity of 20,000 litres on a daily basis.

Recently, Future Group was touted to be in talks to acquire Aditya Birla Retail Ltd’s megamarket brand ‘More’ eyeing to fuse its dominance in the offline retail space. 

Future Group, the second-biggest brick-and-mortar retailer of the country operates hypermarket chain Big Bazaar, supermarket chain Food Bazaar and electronics store eZone, among others. The company has acquired some big retail chains such as Big Apple, Nilgiri’s and Bharti Retail.

Currently the retail giant operates over 700 retail stores in around 200 cities of the country. The group has also forayed in online shopping segment with ventures like Futurebazaar.com and Bigbazaar.com. It has also acquired online furniture and home furnishing marketplace FabFurnish.com.

Toonz Retail, the homegrown retail chain that caters the needs of kids from 0 to 12 years, launched their new store in Haldwani city of Nainital district in Uttarakhand. The new store is spread over an area of 1500sq ft. offers premium experience to the customers.

Store is stocked up Toonz’s flagship brands Wowmom, Superyoung and Superyoung Celebrations along with a complete range of exciting kids' products including fashion, baby care, nursery, toys and school supplies amongst others.

Commenting on the launch, Sharad Venkta, Managing Director & CEO - Toonz Retail India Pvt. Ltd said, “We at Toonz, are always expanding our horizons and launching stores in new cities with latest collections to fulfill all the needs of parents & their kids. We are launching Wowmom and SuperYoung Autumn Winter 2016 collection. We will also be looking at widening the festive & ethnic range of apparels under SuperYoung Celebrations.”

Toonz Retail is having its business interests in India and various other countries such as Fiji, PNG, Mauritus, G.C.C., Nepal etc. The brand is successfully managing more than 100 stores in India. The stores are spread across 50 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur amongst others.

Metro Cash & Carry, leading wholesaler of Germany, is gearing up to expand its market presence in India. Recently, company has map down a suitable business model for the country and now, it is planning to stretch its leg across India. During the inaugural ceremony of its 23^rd store in Lucknow, company spill the beans about its expansion plan and commented that it is eyeing to take its store count to 50 stores by 2020.

Further shedding light on the expansion strategy, Arvind Mediratta, MD, Cash & Carry India stated that the company has conceptulised right model now and it is ready for rapid expansion across the country. It has now become the largest cash & carry store in the country.

However, he also revealed that presently company is not scouting for any new region and it is planning to work closely on the domains that it has already explored. Till now, Metro has floated six stores in Bangalore, three in Hyderabad, four in Punjab and two each in Delhi and Mumbai.

Metro’s strategy is not to get into a pan India presence but to make sure that it is able to expand and intensify its presence in these chosen markets. Company wants to invest in the big markets such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi NCR and UP.

According to Mediratta, a place like Bangalore, where Metro already operates six stores, still has potential of having two more. India is a land of opportunity and company  believes that there is lot of potential because there are at least one crore kirana stores and lakhs of hotels, restaurants and self employed professionals.

Entrepreneur, Ananya Birla, is all set to launch her second venture- CuroCarte. It is a global e- commerce platform that provides rare, handmade, high quality, high end, luxury products, curated currently from nine countries. The portal is an eclectic mix of design, beauty and lifestyle. The brand will be presenting 1500 products across 70 categories and will continue to grow. With the success of Ananya’s first venture- Svatantra Microfinance- her journey continues, consolidating her position in the startup ecosystem.

Birla envisioned that new age design put together with handmade talent can create magic. Her new venture will run on an inventory based model creating a space for itself in the premium sector. CuroCarte focuses on high quality. The brand has tied up with a renowned international laboratory which tests every product before the production starts.

Commenting on the new venture, Ananya Birla, Founder and CEO, CuroCarte said, “Through the brand, we aim to revolutionize the e-commerce space by bringing inaccessible aesthetically appealing products from all around the world to the people in India and also to a global audience. The charm of CuroCarte lies in the fact that we curate these products directly from the makers themselves from all around the world.” We are trying to organize the unorganized market through technology.

“It’s about bringing out what is there, but not seen before. There is so much love that goes into making products by hand, and that positivity comes through in each of our products,” Ananya further added commenting beyond just the business model of the new venture.

Hypercity Retail has strengthened its presence in the ‘It Hub of India’ by unleashing its fourth store in the city. Launched at the Orion Mall, this is company’s 20^th store across the country.

This mammoth store is spread over the area of 19, 500sq.ft. and it houses a wide range of products including grocery, fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, home and personal care, apparel, kitchen appliances and home decor.

The supermarket also has a different section for gourmet and regional foods. Speaking about the launch, Ramesh Menon, Chief Executive Officer, Hypercity Retail said that the company is delighted to launch ts fourth store in Bangalore, one of the top three markets for the brand. Offering variety and convenience to its customers is of paramount importance. Its focus on regional connect is seeing encouraging sales and its Bangalore stores contribute significantly to brand’s overall growth pie.

Founded in 2006, HyperCity Retail India Ltd. is a venture of the K. Raheja Corp. Group, a leader in the Indian retail sector. K. Raheja Corp helped create modern retailing in India with the Shopper's Stop, Inorbit Mall and Crossword chains in addition to its successes in realty and hospitality.

Peter England, international men’s apparel brand, today announced its successful foray into Sri Lanka. In association with ‘Softlogic’, the brand launched its first exclusive store in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Established in Ireland, Peter England has already installed itself as one of the prominent players in men’s apparel sector in India. Now, the brand is betting on the fastest growing retail sector in Sri Lanka.

Elaborating further on the Sri Lankan foray, Ashish Dikshit, Business Head – Madura F&L, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd.said, "Our in-depth market research revealed that Sri Lanka is also very similar in nature to the Indian market when it comes to menswear fashion. Peter England has been associated with contemporary English style, great quality and delivering the right value to the consumers. Our partnership with ‘Softlogic’ gives us the expansion support required to ensure that we provide contemporary English fashion to the customers. We look forward to the foray contributing significantly to our growth and profitability in the years ahead.”

Sri Lanka offers a huge potential in menswear fashion and the brand continues to offer quality clothing and distinct styling to the discerning man in the new market.

Ashok Pathirage, Chairman of Softlogic Holdings PLC, stated, “Peter England is a great menswear brand and we are very pleased on this occasion to open our new flagship brand store in a key location of Colombo. The demand for a quality all - encompassing menswear brand has been keenly felt among the urban male audience, a gap that we have wanted to fill for some time with the right brand. Softlogic, as a key player in the retail fashion landscape of the country has played a catalyst role in bringing in many world class international fashion labels to the country.”

Reliance recently revealed that it will be soon rolling out Reliance Jio to empower the country with fastest data connection and that too on the cheapest rate. This announcement has given sleepless nights to its competitors and many of them have been scouting a perfect resolution to tackle Relaince’s move. Walking on the same path, BSNL, state-run telecom provider, has chalked a plan which it feels can act as catalyst for its business.  The new plan will provide 1GB data/Rs 1 for unlimited broadband data and is called ‘Experience Unlimited BB 249.’

As per BSNL, the aforementioned move will further expand its reach and will also help in attracting some new subscribers. This development came right after Reliance’s announcement of rolling out Reliance Jio to map the entire country through its ‘Data-Giri’.  

Jio’s 4G service will offer free voice-calling to customers, and claims to have the lowest data rates in the world starting at Rs 50 per GB. The plans are starting at Rs 19 and with free voice-calling. However, there’s a lot of fineprint text one needs to read to fully understand what Jio is actually offering.

Providing the details of the plan, officials of BSNL commented that under this plan, customers can download unlimited broadband data without bothering about any data limit. BSNL shall offer 2 Mbps speed under this plan.

Currently, Vodafone, Airtel and Idea Cellular, the three big players of the segment, offer a data connection at an average rate of Rs 250 for 1.2 GB for 28 days. If reliance manages to pull this one of, then the big race of providing cheapest and fastest internet connection will begin and the subscribers will get benefited with this ‘Data-Giri’.  

Godrej, one of India’s leading brands in consumer appliances, is all set to cater the denizens of Goa with its newly launched store. Company decided to install its exclusive store in the state after seeing a surge in the demand of its products among Goans. Godrej has joined hands with Habib Sales Corporation to open its first in the state and 45^th all over India store.

Speaking on the occasion, Kamal Nandi, Business Head, Godrej Appliances said that Goa is an important market for the brand and company is looking forward to delighting its customers and persevere to give them the best shopping experience always. Godrej has always endeavored to be as close its customers as possible. With its own exclusive showroom, company has the opportunity to showcase its entire range of best-in-class appliances at a single location.

The newly installed store at Junta House, Panjim covers a mammoth area of 1200 sq/ft. This mega store will house home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, air- conditioners and microwave ovens. The store will feature the new Godrej NXW refrigerator and other electronic appliances that will mark the entry of Godrej Appliances into the premium segment.

In a bid of promoting LED products across the length and breadth of the country, Bajaj Electricals has floated a new sub-brand called ‘.nxt’. The newly added brand will upgrade customers and corporate clients into LED products. Bajaj has already started manufacturing of LED products in India through its manufacturing plants installed at various locations across the country.

Speaking about the development, R Sundararajan, Executive President and Country Head - luminaires segment, Bajaj Electricals said, the lighting division expects strong growth momentum with its new range of products and lighting systems that cover not just commercial and residential lighting but also street lighting systems.

The lighting business at Bajaj Electricals Limited ended financial year 2015-16 with total revenue of Rs 1,100 crore, growing at 17.2 per cent. The company is also focusing on solar power system is another key thrust area for Bajaj Electricals.

Samsung has taken its covers off from its first of its kind store at South Extension, New Delhi. Spread over 3,500 sq. ft., this is company’s biggest store of the country which is also equipped with 4D chairs. The store will not only showcase its product but will also going to take visitors to a roller-coaster ride of 4D motion pictures and immersive Gear VR experience.

4d chairs installed at the stores, work on simple mechanism that uses hydraulics for the movements that are shown in the Gear VR. This is the first Samsung store in the country to offer such an experience, claims company. The new Samsung Exclusive Store will also have a device unboxing and set-up area. The arear will provide personalised setup to users allowing them to Walk out Working (WoW). The store will offer pick up and drop, operator zones, and training workshops.

Elaborating further on the details of the store, Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President, Retail Operations and Marketing, Mobile Business, Samsung India, stated that the store will set a new benchmark in terms of enhancing consumers' experience and will further motivate them to invest in Samsung products and technology. This store is a testimony to company’s commitment to its consumers and partners, and its endeavor is to offer a boosted experience to everyone.

Samsung’s 2016 flagship Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note7, will be available at the store. The store will also have Gear VR, wearables and other accessories. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was launched in India early August, along with new Gear VR. The Galaxy Note 7 comes with high-end specifications like 5.7-inch Quad HD dual edge Super AMOLED display, 4GB RAM, 64Gb internal memory and iris scanner for security. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 comes with a new S-Pen.

Droom has announced the launch of its Orange Book Value (OBV) destination website along with its Android and iOS apps, multiple partnership and 3rd party web publishers’ widget. Orange Book Value assists the user to measure the fair market value for any used automobile.

It claims that OBV is the most comprehensive pricing engine, which is not limited to cars alone, but also covers a wide spectrum of vehicle categories including motorcycles, scooters, bicycles and planes - covering 24000+ products from 100+ makes, nearly 1000 models and 4000 variants for last 10-11 years.

With OBV, users can calculate the true market value of a used vehicle in less than 10 seconds. They can also download/share pricing report in no time. The US patent-certified OBV pricing engine is built on Droom’s proprietary computational infrastructure and real-time data science which analyses empirical evidences to give the final price value of any used vehicle. It considers various factors such as purpose (buying/selling), depreciation curves, margins and spreads with intermediaries as any vehicle changes ownerships, and dozens of factors that impact the valuation of an automobile.

Speaking on the new innovation, Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Droom, “Today is a historical day for the entire auto industry in India as we are launching Orange Book Value (OBV), India’s first and only algorithmic pricing engine to measure the true market value for any used automobile. For the last two years, we have deployed dozens of development engineers who have diligently worked and made this launch a great success. We have already managed to generate almost 72 million queries in the last seven months. Having spent millions of dollars on this innovation, the app is so convenient that a user can check the price of any used vehicle within ten seconds and can avail the pricing report free of cost.”

H&M, the international retailer known for fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way, has opened its store at The Connaught High Street on 26th August, 2016.

Set in the Capital's most prestigious retail district, the new H&M store will be situated in a heritage building in the inner circle of Connaught Place. The store is designed envisioning the vicinity's colonial character and glorious history. It spans across 2​8​,000 sq. feet and is spread over two levels to offer customers a distinct combination of heritage, fashion and design. 

“I am extremely proud that we are opening our first high street location at such a landmark destination in Delhi. The iconic buildings and city centre will serve as an exciting environment for customers to explore H&M’s offering of fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way”, elaborated Janne Einola, Country Manager, H&M India.

After a spectacular opening in Mumbai at High Street Phoenix, H&M will be arriving at Pheonix Market City Kurla, Phoenix Marketcity Mall in Pune and Express Avenue Mall in Chennai later this year.

American multinational computer technology firm Dell has recently launched its 10th exclusive store in North Bengal located on Haren Mukherjee Road, Hakimpara, Siliguri. The newly launched store offers a wide array of Dell’s consumer products including Laptops, A10S and desktops from the Inspiron, XPS and Alienware brands as well as related peripherals.

The company, with its exclusive store in Siliguri, aims at strengthening the overall purchase experience for consumers across the country. Addressing at the launch, Pankaj Kumar Dutta, Owner of the store said that the launch of 10^th Dell exclusive store in North Bengal is company’s effort to provide our customers an unmatched experience by making expert advice on the right.

Dell product available to them can also be customised as per their requirement. We intend to provide a unique shopping experience to our customers and enable them to browse, touch and experience Dell’s latest portfolio,” he added. 

IKEA India store has moved a step closer to reality in India with its ground-breaking ceremony in Hyderabad today. The ground breaking took place in Hyderabad in the presence of various dignitaries including Deputy Chief Minister, Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Chief Secretary to Telangana Government,   Rajiv Sharma, Mayor of Hyderabad,   Bonthu Rammohan, Head of Section for Trade, Economic and Cultural Affairs from Swedish Embassy, Josa Kärre, and many other distinguished guests from various state departments, IKEA suppliers, business partners and IKEA co-workers.

The store will be open by 2017, giving public access to affordable, good quality home furnishing products. IKEA will hire 500 direct co-workers and another 1500 engaged in providing services around the store. It will be about 400,000 sq. ft. large and will host more than 5-6 million customers every year. It will be equipped with nearly 7500 well designed, beautiful crafted home furnishing products, a supervised children’s play area for visitors, day care center for its co-worker’s children, 2000 parking spaces and a 1000 seat restaurant serving Swedish as well as Indian dishes.

To support the strong people agenda, IKEA Foundation in cooperation with UNDP, Xynteo and other partners yesterday launched the Hyderabad chapter of program called DISHA- the skill building project with the commitment to train 1 million women from India in coming 10 years. IKEA will participate as a partner and will employ women from this program for its store operations.

Talking on the sidelines of the ground-breaking event, Juvencio Maeztu, Chief Executive Officer, IKEA India, said, “This is a big milestone for us today and all of us are very proud that the first IKEA store in India seems very close to reality now! India is a very important market for IKEA and with Hyderabad, we find a perfect match with cities’ young, dynamic demographics, culture, values and history. We hope to bring our unique home furnishing products and solutions along with modern retail experience to the people of Hyderabad. We have committed to hire 50 per cent women in our workforce and we look forward to a big participation from the society.”

The Chief Minister of Telangana State, K. Chandrashekar Rao, said, “I congratulate IKEA on the occasion of the first ground-breaking in India. We welcome IKEA to Hyderabad with the confidence that IKEA will have a very positive impact and contribute to the overall development of young Telangana. IKEA will bring in best business practices, innovations, employment opportunities and boost the manufacturing and retail sector, which will help attract other global brands to Telangana. We are extremely proud that a value driven company like IKEA is getting ready to begin its operations in our state and we will extend full cooperation to enable ease of doing business every day in our state.”

IKEA is committed to being people and planet positive and sustainability will be an integral part of business operations whether in the store or the supply chain. In Hyderabad, the store will engage with the local community by creating job opportunities and work with social entrepreneurs as part of next generation projects. 

Big Bazaar (Future Group), India’s retail giant has partnered with the top brands - Nivea, Prestige, Milton, Unicharm (Mamy Poko Pants),K, Paper Boat, 3m, MTR, Rasna and Delmonte for ‘Maha Bachat’ sale. This partnership will be in the form of a campaign ‘Hum Taiyaar Hain’ which will feature the CEOs and MDs of the respective brands communicating to the audience. The motive behind the campaign is to mark the efforts of the brand partners who invested an equal amount of enthusiasm and dedication to make the sale possible. The sale will be held from the 13th till 17th of August 2016 across all Big Bazaar stores in India.

The ‘Hum Taiyaar Hain’ campaign will principally revolve around the CEOs and MDs making it loud and clear to the customers on how they’re well in advance prepared for the upcoming ‘Maha Bachat’ sale. Different print and other advertorials will showcase the brand heads giving out the message of the campaign. The sale will offer heavy discounts on over 300 brands across all cities.

Speaking about the move, Big Bazaar’s spokesperson said, “Maha Bachat which is in its 11th year, offers incredible discounts on every product and every brand, is an unparalleled opportunity for customers to save on everything they buy. A sale of such incredible proportion is impossible without our partners just like us, they too prepare for it months in advance and work towards the success of ‘Maha Bachat’ every year.”

aLL: The Plus Size Store in association with Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive, 2016 will host the first ever plus-size show for men and women styled by designer Shilpa Chavan of Little Shilpa.

This plus-size show will be a part of the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2016 to be held at The St. Regis, Mumbai from 24th August – 28th August 2016, jointly organized by Lakme and IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd.

The creations showcased on runways are meant for the everyday consumers who seek high-fashion designer-wear but are often restricted by available size options. Bearing this in mind, aLL – The Plus Size store has collaborated with Lakme Fashion Week to break thought patterns, by presenting a unique collection that will be showcased at the upcoming Winter/Festive edition.

Manish Aziz, Business Head , aLL said, “From being the first brand to delight and excite customers with plus-size fashion, we are now poised to achieve yet another milestone - The first ever plus-size fashion show in a mainstream fashion event like Lakme Fashion Week! We are very thankful to Lakme, IMG Reliance and Little Shilpa for beinging our partners and lending their support to what promises to be a game changer in the Indian fashion industry.”

Purnima Lamba, Head of Innovation, Lakme said, “Fashion and beauty in India must reflect our diversity. At Lakme Fashion Week, we are very excited to present our first plus sized fashion show in association with aLL & Little Shilpa.”

Central Retail Store, part of Kishore Biyani’s - promoted Future Group has launched its 33rd store across the country and the 4th store retail outlet in Mumbai at Growel’s 101 Mall, Kandivali. With this launch, Central continues to widen its imprint as a one stop shop for all things stylish.

The store brings in the best brands such as Van Heusen, Only, Jealous 21, Latin Quarters, Scullers, Global Desi, Cover Story, Biba,  AND, W, Louis Phillip, Wrangler, Jack & Jones, Lee, Vero moda, Pepe and many more at one stop for all the customers.

Speaking on the occasion, Urvi Vira, Sr. Marketing Head, Growel’s 101 Mall expressed happiness on the entry of this new retailer in the mall. “We have witness such huge participation of shoppers recently when we had organized Midnight sale. This is a special day for us to witness such gathering once again at a store on very 1st day”.

“There are many retail brands available at the store and additional spaces are created to highlight the categories and visual merchandise which gives a premium look and comfortable shopping experience to the visitors” said added.

Central has outlets in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Cochin, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik, Mangalore, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Vadodara, Gurgaon, Indore, Nagpur, Patna, Jaipur, Surat, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar.

Kalyan Jewellers, one of the leading jewellery retailers of the country is now eyeing to dig dip into the jewellery market of Saudi Arabia. Kerala-based jeweller is planning to open its stores in the coming 6-8 months to further penetrate the jewellwery market of Middle East, brand has already marked its presence in Dubai, UAE, Kuwait and Bahrein. This move will certainly going to propel the company’s revenue to about US $2 billion in 2016-17.

Elaborating on the move, Ramesh Kalayanraman, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers said that Kalyan Jewellers would foray into Saudi Arabia in the next 6-8 months as part of an expansion drive that would push the Kerala-based jewellery major's revenues to about $2 billion (13,000 crore) in 2016-17. Kalyan is aiming to grow revenues by 30 per cent in 2016-17.

There is a huge shift from the unorganised jewellery to the organised sector. People are brand as well as quality conscious now, adds Kalyanraman. The jewellery retail giant who recently scored a tone by opening 100 stores in India and abroad, will be inaugurating five stores in Gulf region by the end of this financial year.

Company is investing 700 crore for expansion in the country and 200 crore for the overseas expansion. At the time of Diwali, kalyan Jewellers will be launching its own online retail portal to explore the online market; currently it sells its jewellery online through Flipkart.

Gifting jewellery is a huge business segment. The portal would help us in growing our presence in the segment. The portal would offer gold, silver and diamond gifting items, states Kalyanraman. 

TCL is all set to explore the Indian electronic market as the company has recently launched smartphone and TV sets in the country. The Chinese global consumer electronic brand, TCL has unveiled its new smartphone called ‘TCL 562’ and TV models in P1 series - one curved and one flat Ultra HD -- and two TV models in D2900 series for Indian consumers. The new launched products will be soon available at Amazon. 

Speaking about the launch, Praveen Valecha, Regional Director, TCL India said that company’s entry into the smartphones and television category in India is a strategic move that reinforces its commitment to lead technology and innovation.

The Rs 10,990 TCL 562 smartphone features 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, octa-core Helio P10 MT6755M processor, 3GB RAM and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. The device has 32GB internal memory, 13MP auto-focus rear camera with LED dual tone flash and a 5MP front camera with wide view angle and houses 2960mAh battery.

The Rs 37,990 48-inch Curved full-HD smart TV comes in a sleek design and has functions like screen mirroring, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi direct and App Store. TCL D2900 series includes two models one in 40-inch (priced at Rs 20,990) and another in 32-inch (priced at Rs 13,990) screen sizes, and are equipped with ASIC processor, two USB ports and HDMI port.

The Italian premium brand Versace Collection joins hands with OSL Luxury Collections Pvt. Ltd. to mark its presence in India this year. The agreement was signed between OSL Director Chandan Mishra and Stefano Sechhi (Global wholesale Director, Gianni Versace).

OSL Luxury Collections Pvt. Ltd. announces Versace Collection’s retail presence at the upcoming DLF Emporio 2 mall in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. Offering men and women wear, the store will be spread over an area of 2200 sq ft area on the 1st floor. Along with apparels, it will also house exclusive collections of Shoes, Fragrances, watches, eyewear and other accessories ranging from Rs 6000 to Rs 60000 upwards. OSL Luxury Collections Pvt Ltd plans to expand the brand in India in the coming years and is considering suitable locations for stores in Mumbai and Bangalore as well, post the Delhi store launch.

Speaking on this association, Salesh Grover, Business Head, OSL Luxury Collections Pvt. Ltd. said, “We are happy to announce that Versace Collection will be marketed and sold by us in India. We are extremely excited about its primary store launch in Delhi and have big plans for its growth in the country.”

India is becoming a hot bed for international brands and over the past few years, many foreign brands have ventured in the country and have already started minting profit. Seeing the potential of the Indian market, another international brand, Longchamp is in the move to add six more stores in the country. The French luxury leather goods brand is chalking its plan to expand its reach in the country with its CEO Jean Cassegrain confirming development.

The brand forayed into the Indian market last month and launched its first store in Delhi. After receiving positive response from the customers, the brand has decided to grow its reach. DOIT Retail Brands has the master franchise rights for Longchamp in India. Longchamp owns more than 300 exclusive stores globally and retails from another 1,500 points of sale and has a workforce of around 3,000.

The brand excels in making high quality and exquisite leather handbags, luggage, shoes, and other fashion accessories. These products are sold globally either through its retail stores such as Selfridges and Bloomingdale's or through its own stores.

Longchamp arrived late in India as the brand was looking for the right partner. Another reason was the difficulty in finding good store locations. It's not easy to find the store locations in luxury because the options are very limited. In future, brand may look at more stores in Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru, told Cassegrain. 

Poney, a Malaysian kidswear brand has continued its expansion spree in India by opening another store in Noida. Launched in ‘The Mall of India’, this is the third store of the brand in the country. Confirming the launch, the company stated in an official statement that this is brand's third store in India which is located in ‘Mall of India’. It will unveil its 'Poney Enfants' luxury range.

Speaking about the launch, Rajat Kapoor, MD and Partner, Poney India said that company wants to capitalise on the denizens of NCR (national capital region) as it has a judicious space in the mall. The concept of the store is such that the premium and the luxury range are hosted under one roof hence it is a perfect store for the brand.

The brand was jointly founded by Albert Tan and Madam Sharon and it offers high quality apparels for children less than 12 years. All pieces are designed exclusively in Spain by Magda Sola, its Spanish Head of Design. The brand has expanded its international presence in countries like Singapore, China, Indonesia and the UAE, among others.

After the success of its flagship store in Bangalore, Zivame, lingerie and e-commerce brand has announced the launch of its three new stores in Pune, Gurgaon and Chandigarh this month followed by Delhi in the month of August. Zivame plans to open 100 new stores in premium malls and high streets across India by 2019.

The store allows its customers to discover, try and experiment the exclusive creations in a comfortable space. Brand’s each store is designed to suit the lingerie needs, dreams and desires of every woman, offering a personalized shopping experience.

Customers can book their appointment on the website or can simply walk into the store to get aware about their unique shape and fit, learn more about the lingerie styles suitable for their body, explore exclusive collections and create their lingerie wardrobe. Zivame also offers the convenience of placing an order at the store and having it delivered to their doorstep. These new Zivame stores will also offer shoppers multiple payment options, including cash on delivery.

Speaking on this occasion, Richa Kar, CEO, Zivame said, “We are really excited to expand our retail footprint in India with the launch of our new stores. At Zivame, we have always believed in pushing the boundaries in terms of our product offerings and the shopping experience we provide. Through our stores, we aim to revolutionize the process of lingerie shopping in India. We look forward to offer an exclusive space for women who wish to explore lingerie without hesitation.” In the next two months, the brand would be opening few more stores across Bangalore, Kochi, Jaipur, Chennai and Mangalore.

Valentino, Italian fashion house is making a positive move to partner with IDFS Trading and it is in final talks with DLF Luxury Retail for its retail presence in the country, according to the source. Brand is all set to explore the Indian market, adding one more in the list of international fashion brands that recently ventured in the country to tap buoyant consumer sentiment. In order to make its launch successful, Valentino is not leaving any stone unturned.

Though the email sent to the fashion house didn’t elicit any response, but speculations of the market suggest that brand is in the final stage of its launch. Over the past few months, brands like French luxury leather goods maker Longchamp, Italian bespoke menswear brand Isaia, and Swiss watch brand Bovet have been launched in India.

Sharing his thoughts on the development, Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak Advisors opined that the slowdown in China, better economic growth and retail facilities here and the possibilities of an omni channel strategy are some of the factors leading these brands to launch in India.

Adding further, he stated that while the biggest luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel have been present here for a while, as the market matures, the other niche tier II luxury brands are warming up to the possibilities here. 

IKEA, one of the leading furniture retailer brands is eyeing Mumbai as its next hot destination to explore the Indian market. According to the company’s official, Ikea is investing Rs 1,500 crore here as part of plans to have 25 stores across India by 2025 and its first store is likely to come up within 18 months in Navi Mumbai.

This makes IKEA one among several foreign companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Owens Corning and Emerson which have committed investments in Maharashtra. Speaking on the development, Apurva Chandra, Principal Secretary - Industries, Maharashtra Government said that Ikea is starting to invest now. Company has bought a big piece of land for Rs 400 crore in Navi Mumbai for its store. Ikea plans to build a 400,000 sq ft store on the land. It is investing almost Rs 1,500 crore in the financial capital of India. This will be the first retail store of IKEA in India. Now, since the company had acquired a land, it will be launching its mega store in the city within a year and a half.

The company is expecting around five million footfalls annually at its Mumbai store. Apart from Mumbai, brand is also searching land in other metro cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi and the NCR region. Recently, many American companies such as Amazon, Owens Corning have shown their interest to open their workplace in Mumbai. Amazon is launching its first web services from Mumbai. On the other hand, Owens Corning has taken approval for Rs 1,000 crore and already scouted a huge piece of land to start its operation.

The aforementioned developments clearly indicate that the financial capital of India, Mumbai is becoming the hot bed for the foreign companies. It will be very interesting to watch their business proceeding in the coming years. 

One Friday, one of the leading kids-wear brands has ventured in Varanasi and has launched its first outlet in the holy city. The apparel brand that provides fashionable outfits for kids aged between 1-12 years has opened its concept store that showcases a huge range of garments for kids.

The store marks the brand's first physical outlet in the city and its fifth across India till date. Customers in Varanasi can now access garments and accessories that reflect international style aesthetics to bring them on par with their global peers.

All fabrics are mill-made and are tested in the in-house labs for chemical as well as physical properties like shrug-bearance and tearability; thus assuring highest quality garments for the children. From tees to shirts, pants to jackets, tops to skirts and dresses, the outlet serves as a marquee for all kids' essentials with the promise of unsurpassed quality and affordability.

Speaking on the occasion, company’s spokesperson commented that the launch of the One Friday outlet in Varanasi strengthens brand’s presence in the Tier 2 markets of the country. Being one of the oldest cities in the world, Varanasi, exemplifies an exquisitely preserved culture alongside modernism throughout its existence. Soon to be a smart city, its inclination towards the new ideas gives the company immense scope to explore its business potential in the fastest growing segments in the Indian market.

The brand will be further spreading its wings by opening 10 new stores within a month and adding another 20 by the end of this year. One Friday will now be focusing on venturing into metro cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Pune etc. 

As it was reported earlier that online grocery store BigBasket is ramping up its operations to remove the middleman from its supply chain so that it can trade directly with farmers (Indian Retailer). Adding one more update to its plan, now the company has decided to spend another 90 crore to rope in more farmers on its platform. Company’s this move can be considered as one of its major plans to strengthen its supply chain before the corporate giants like Walmart and Amazon enter in this business.

Speaking on the subject, Hari Menon, Chief Executive, BigBasket said that the investment, which follows a US $150 million (about Rs 1000 crore) fundraise in March, will be directed at building networks of farmers who will primarily supply fruits and vegetables, which account for about 20 per cent of BigBasket's revenue. He added further that as per the profit graph of the company, its business is growing well with a monthly growth rate of 10 per cent.

The company has already invested Rs 80 crore to build supply chain. Tying up directly with farmers will allow for better profit margins and control over quality for BigBasket. Forging tie-ups with (fast-moving consumer goods) companies may be an easier task but repeat and loyal customers are won by keeping the quality and stock of fresh products including fruits and vegetables consistent. A significant portion of this growth will come from becoming a supplier to hotels and caterers and using the company's existing network of 1,800 neighbourhood or 'kirana' stores to sell its own brands of staples and fresh fruits, quoted Menon.

Currently, the company procures fruits and vegetables from framers through its 21 collection centers that are installed around the country. It sells around 60 per cent of fruits and vegetables that are directly collected from the farmers, however, now it has made it clear that it will increase that slab to 80 per cent in the coming months. 

The renowned global electronic brands, Sharp and Toshiba, once leaders in the global electronic market, are once again gearing up to re-enter the Indian market with a mega launch. Both the Japanese brands have been recently acquired by the two Chinese firms Foxconn and Skyworth Electronics, with Foxconn taking over Sharp and Skyworth Electronics acquiring Toshiba.

As per the new business plans of Sharp, its Chinese owners have decided to re-launch the brand in India with smartphones, televisions, air purifiers, air-conditioners and other appliances in the next two months. On the other hand, Toshiba is also chalking its map and strategies to re-enter and explore the vast Indian electronic market.

One of the senior industry executives said that both the brands are inactive with no supplies of inventory in the Indian market for the past few months. But both will enter the market before the festive season. Foxconn is already in talks with a distributor and Skyworth too is formalising its plans.

According to the market experts, the duo might give a tough run to the leaders of the electronic business in India. Companies such as Samsung, Sony, LG which are right now at the driving seat, might revamp their marketing strategies to tackle the two new entries. What's interesting is that these brands are going to play the pricing game on their return, mirroring a strategy which the Chinese smartphone makers have done in the Indian market to gain share. Currently, Samsung, LG and Sony control around 80 per cent of the Indian Television market and now, since the two new companies making their way in, it is expected that market will see some major turnarounds. 

ASICS has announced the opening of its eighth store in India. The high street store showcases the latest collection along with the proprietary ASICS FOOT ID system. With an area of 1700 sq ft, the company claims that this is one of the biggest stores of the country. The store will showcase the complete range of running and training shoes. The design is in sync with the global standards to present easy to browse displays to the customers.

Speaking about the launch, Rajat Khurana, Director, ASICS India Private Limited, said, “This will be our second store in Mumbai and I am extremely pleased about it. Since this would be our first high street store, we are very excited to launch it at the right time. In the last one year, we have launched eight stores across Indian metros. As a brand, we will continue to expand aggressively to reach out to our discerning audience. It is our constant effort to provide the highest quality products that help in enhancing the performance.”

As a part of the inaugural ceremony, ASICS had also organized a morning run in association with Mumbai city’s runner club on 26^th June, 2016. The event saw the participation from hundreds of runners who pulled their socks to run extra mile.    

To provide the best suited shoes for each individual, the new store features the ASICS FOOT ID system, with staff on site to perform the analysis. ASICS FOOT ID static measures the foot shape, and ASICS FOOT ID dynamic analyzes the wearer’s running gait. It helps runners find the most suitable shoes to draw out every ounce of their performance.

One of India’s leading integrated textile corporations, Sangam (India) Ltd., has decided to spread its wings to tier I and tier II cities. The company is on the move to open around 10-15 stores in these cities by 2017 and to back its initiative, it has already floated 100 per cent subsidiary.

These stores will offer more than 100 exclusive ranges to its customers. Till date, the company has appointed 700 MBOs (Multi Brand Outlets) all over India and intends to take this network to 1,000 by the end of this fiscal.

Elaborating on the idea, RP Soni, Chairman, Sangam (India) Ltd. said that the company plans to set up 10-15 EBOs (Exclusive Brand Outlets) by the end of this financial year. In order to scale up its operations, the company has already opened its online retail venture c9fashiaon.com and apart from going online, it has also joined hands with several online retailers of the country.

Commenting further, Soni informed that 100 per cent subsidiary - Sangam Lifestyle Ventures - has been floated for its retail business. It has received an encouraging response to the company’s recent foray into seamless garmenting. What enthuses the firm is that this response is despite the fact that it is yet to fully roll out our brand and marketing campaigns. Sangam is hopeful of a much higher revenue contribution and better operating margin from this segment.