From the Editors Desk

Customer oriented service is particularly important to creating success in the retail industry. Retailers today are aware that customers expect more than just quality products and value offers when stepping into their stores. In today's competitive landscape, customers have become more discerning on the quality of shopping experiences that they want within a retail store. Aside from the products, it is the quality of interactions with the retail staff that keeps bringing them back into the stores.

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Week At a Glance  News - Headlines, Apparel, Specialty.. At Rs 4,200 crore, Pantaloon's debt is in danger zone Big retailers put up August show; month's sale worth more than a crore RIL readies for big retail expansion Reliance Retail to merge private label subsidiaries Madura eyes Rs 1100 cr from Van Heusen; plans increase in non-apparel products Shoppers Stop wins Creative CIO 100 Awards Retail trade body opposes FDI Reliance Digital opens outlet in Moments Hall, Delhi Future Group ties up with Kenwood Tommy Hilfiger showroom opened in Kochi News - Food, QSR .. Metro Cash & Carry Distribution Center opens at Ludhiana ITC to set up 32 pop-up stores across India High rentals eat into restaurants margins CookieMan draws up a plan to quicken growth McDonald's to place calorie info on menu Capital Foods eyes 40% rise in revenues AskLaila's CTO quits to launch grocery e-com site Danone goes slow on dairy plan Analysts cautious on Tata Global growth plan You can't monetize all your investments just on cash-and-carry: Walmart's Raj Jain Trends The footwear market in India: A peek E-commerce firms Flipkart, Infibeam, LetsBuy brace for Amazon assault Around 90 percent of retail in India remains unorganised Malls are building more than brick and mortar structures Understand your catchment area, if you want to deliver outstanding customer service Textiles, clothing exports to touch $32 bn in FY12: Sharma Relaxo Footwear: Temptation for investors Cotsyn's Rs 950-cr expansion by Dec Economic woes could hit Indian festive spending Beyond Squarefeet to help Chaudhary Group venture into retail Insight Improving The In-Store Customer Experience Preparing Retail IT for A Flatter World Retailing Prospects In The Rural Market An Overview of the Indian Retail Scene The Evolution of Online Shopping   News - Headlines, Apparel, Specialty ..  At Rs 4,200 crore, Pantaloon's debt is in danger zone Financial Express Delays in opening the retail sector to foreign direct investment, the burden of rising interest, and a looming economic slowdown are causes for concern for Pantaloon Retail, the flagship venture of the Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group. Saddled with a Rs 4,200 crore debt at the end of June 2011, the company's debt-equity ratio has touched 1.3:1. Though Future Group plans to trim its rising debt-equity ratio by selling its stake in non-core businesses like Future Capital, the opening of the sector to FDI would enable them to sell stakes to foreign retailers and make themselves debt free. Analysts, however say that all retailers will face problems if GDP growth slows further and the consumption cycle slows. Big retailers put up August show; month's sale worth more than a crore Economic Times In a high point in the current economic scenario, organised retailers reported their highest-ever monthly sales in August. Analysts and company officials estimate that Future Group, Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Reliance Retail put together, sold goods worth Rs 1,100-1,300 crore last month, 20-25% more than the year-ago period. The reasons attributed for this were that consumers were waiting for prices to fall so that they could buy their favourite brands, as well as an addition of stores and an extended end-of-season sale period. RIL readies for big retail expansion Hindustan Times The second phase of Mukesh Ambani's multi-brand retail business plan is ready for take-off on a much bigger scale. The plan will involve a mix of retail and wholesale cash-and-carry trade housed in single mega stores averaging 1,50,000 sq ft each. In the first leg of Reliance Retail's expansion plan, 14 such stores will be set up in cities including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhatinda, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala, Rai, Hissar, and Panipat among others. These will be branded under Reliance Market. In some cases, the existing hypermarkets will be expanded to be later merged into the new business model. Reliance Retail to merge private label subsidiaries Hindu Business Line Reliance Retail is likely to merge its subsidiary companies, floated for its various private label categories, with itself, to bring about operational efficiencies into the business. The streamlining of its operations with their vendors would ensure a tightening in their strategies. Additionally, Reliance Retail is exploring alternative distribution channels. It has initiated a direct home delivery project through housewives, for its private brands such as Dairy Pure, Good Life, Mopz, Expelz, Extern and Calciden, in Navi Mumbai. Madura eyes Rs 1100 cr from Van Heusen; plans increase in non-apparel products Business Standard Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, the Aditya Birla group firm, is targeting a turnover of Rs 1,100 crore from its premium apparel brand Van Heusen, by FY13, with its retail expansion across India, including small cities and towns. The brand is set to add up to 60 new outlets every year, most of which will be franchisee-owned. Van Heusen Brand Head Ajay Ramachandran said that by the end of this fiscal, the brand would be available at 150 exclusive stores, besides its multi-brand stores and conventional trade outlets. Madura Fashion & Lifestyle is also planning to increase its product range in the non-apparel segments. Shoppers Stop wins Creative CIO 100 Awards India Infoline.com Shoppers Stop has announced that the company, and its 51% subsidiary HyperCity Retail India, have won the Creative CIO 100 Awards at a ceremony held in Pune. This was the 4th consecutive award for Shoppers Stop and the second in 3 years for HyperCity Retail India. Further, the CIO Hall of Fame 2011 award has been conferred upon Arun Gupta, the Group CTO of the company. Retail trade body opposes FDI Business Standard While foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail awaits Cabinet approval, traders say they are gearing up to serve customers better. Addressing a national workshop on retail, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which has always opposed foreign direct investment in the retail spaces, urged retailers to upgrade and modernise. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT, said that in this connection, they are initiating various schemes such as starting retail schools in 60 cities to educate traders on various subjects dealing with retailing and customer service, getting into talks with banks to provide easy loans to traders, how to use value-added benefits to woo consumers and compete with big stores, and introducing modern accounting and management best practices in their companies. Reliance Digital opens outlet in Moments Mall, Delhi GroundReport India's popular electronics retail destination, Reliance Digital, has opened its latest store at Moments Mall, Delhi. This is Reliance Digital's fifth store in the capital city. Reliance Digital has put in place exclusive launch offers, which range from price-offs and discounts to easy EMIs and exchange offers, as a part of the company's 'Mismatch Exchange' scheme. With a gift on every purchase, and a Reliance resQ customer support system, Reliance Digital is all set to woo its customers this festive season. Future Group ties up with Kenwood IBNLive British consumer durables firm, Kenwood, has tied up with the Future Group-run EZone and HomeTown, to sell its products in Mumbai. Excited about its entry into the Mumbai market, Kenwood India Head, Operations, Kishore K K said that the company has plans to expand its reach throughout the country. Kenwood has a product line of over 200 consumer electrical products. Tommy Hilfiger showroom opened in Kochi IBNLive.com Tommy Hilfiger, a joint venture of the Murjani group and Arvind brands, launched its first showroom in Kerala, in Kochi recently. The 1,500-sqft store on MG Road is home to the latest menswear, womenswear, footwear, accessories and denims. The brand's range of accessories includes watches, eye wear and leather goods. The brand has over 1,000 stores around the world and over 75 showrooms across India.   News - Food, QSR ..  Metro Cash & Carry Distribution Center opens at Ludhiana FranchiseIndia Metro Cash & Carry India, the global leader in self-service business, recently announced the opening of its Ludhiana wholesale distribution center. The Ludhiana center, spread over 4 acres and with a selling space of approximately 60,000 sq. ft., will be a one-stop-shop that will meet all the needs of business customers in Punjab. ITC to set up 32 pop-up stores across India Economic Times Diversified business conglomerate, ITC may set up 32 pop-up stores under its 'Choupal Fresh' division across the country. The pilot project, after being run in Chandigarh and Pune, is currently underway in Hyderabad. According to S Sivakumar, Chief Executive Officer (AgriBusiness), ITC, the response to the company's pop-up stores in 50 gated communities and apartments in the city has been good, as these temporary stores are considered to be cost effective for both the consumer as well as the company. High rentals eat into restaurants margins Economic Times Restaurateurs, especially those who run stand-alone restaurants, are not having it easy. With rentals for restaurants going up 40-45% over the last year-and-a-half and food prices spiralling, the margin is getting thinner. Larger restaurant chains have kept their real estate costs low by going in for a revenue-sharing model with landlords. According to Riyaz Amlani, Managing Director of Impresario, which operates brands like Smokehouse Grill and Cafe Mocha, this is a more sustainable model. In a typical revenue-share model, the landlord gets 80% of market rental or 15-18% of top line, which ever is higher. CookieMan draws up a plan to quicken growth mydigitalfc.com Australian CookieMan feels that the Indian market is now ready for its premium freshly-baked cookies. After a lull of two years, the 42-store chain targets 200 outlets by 2015, including a presence in tier II and tier III cities. CookieMan has been witnessing 20 percent year-on-year growth in volumes, and is experimenting with locations like high streets for its new stores. as well as, of course, its outlets in malls and airports. McDonald's to place calorie info on menu News Tonight McDonald's, the world's biggest chain of hamburger fast-food outlets, established by Ray Kroc in 1940, will shortly help its consumers figure-out the amount of calories in their favorite salad, burger, happy meal, and milkshake. Other corporate restaurant giants, including JD Wetherspoon Pizza Hut, Pret a Manger and KFC are expected to follow suit. Capital Foods eyes 40% rise in revenues Livemint Capital Foods which markets Ching's instant noodles, Swad brand of ready-to-eat paranthas, frozen fruit, Smith & Jones ketchup, and masala noodles, said it would enter South Africa, Kuwait, and Australia by November. Capital Foods' Founder-Chairman and Managing Director, Ajay Gupta said that the next three years would see the company entering a whole new range of categories like beverages, spices, and a range of frozen foods. Capital Foods and Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon Retail are also in the process of setting up two mega food parks in Maharashtra and Karnataka. AskLaila's CTO quits to launch grocery e-com site VC Circle Bal Krishn Birla, Chief Technology Officer of local search portal Asklaila.com, has resigned from the company to establish an e-commerce company in Bangalore, called ZopNow Retail Pvt. Ltd. The website allows you to order from the neighbourhood local grocery stores, and ensures delivery to your doorstep in less than three hours or at a pre-defined time specified by the customer. Customers can place their order either by telephone or via the Internet. Danone goes slow on dairy plan Hindustan Times French food giant Danone, which owns fresh dairy brands such as Cremix and Danette and which has a limited presence in India, says it plans to expand slowly and steadily. Post its split with Britannia, the firm decided to go solo and in the last eighteen months has established its presence in Pune, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. Danone intends to go forward with its expansion plans only after testing its success in the current cities. Analysts cautious on Tata Global growth plan Financial Express Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) has rolled out a growth strategy where the Rs 6,000-crore beverages company will grow both by expanding across the globe, as well as by buying similar companies, a senior official said. But analysts who track the sector say the plan could be challenging in a highly competitive market. The strategy which involves leveraging its two international joint ventures, aims to achieve a turnover of $5 billion (around R22,500 crore) in five years. With Starbucks, TGBL will jointly explore the development of Starbucks retail stores as well as the sourcing of roast coffee beans in Tata Coffee's Coorg facility in Karnataka, and with NourishCo, it is planning to launch a slew of new energy drinks. You can't monetize all your investments just on cash-and-carry: Walmart's Raj Jain Daily News & Analysis Raj Jain, President of Wal-Mart India and Managing Director and CEO of Bharti Wal-Mart, sees huge opportunities for growth in the food and grocery sector, which is largely their focus area. Talking about the opportunities for Wal-Mart in the event of FDI opening up, Jain believes even with the best will in the world and the best resources that large companies can bring in, it cannot go to more than 10% over the next 10 years, mainly because of the size of the country, and the enormity of the challenge. He sees the main problem as being in the back-end supply chains, and feels that this will have to undergo significant change. However, unless foreign companies know that they can monetize their investments over a period of time through retail and not just cash-and-carry, they may shy from entering the Indian market: Excerpts from an interview   Trends  The footwear market in India: A peek Business Standard The Indian footwear market is estimated at about Rs 19,900 crore with a growth rate of 8-10 percent. The category covers casual, formal, semi-formal, and sports shoes along with sandals for men and women. The men's segment accounts for 59 percent of the market, while women's segment contributes 41 percent.The overall share of organised retail is expected to reach 25-30 percent by 2015. With the penchant for branded products on the rise, key brands in India such as Bata, Woodland, Khadims, M&B Footwear, Da Milano, Puma, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Lee Cooper, Converse, and Nine West among others, are looking at EBOs in malls. E-commerce firms Flipkart, Infibeam, LetsBuy brace for Amazon assault Economic Times Amazon's India debut could increase pressure on profits for incumbent e-commerce firms in the country. The two areas where e-commerce companies are most vulnerable are retaining of their key staff and strengthening their back-end supply chains. While Indian e-commerce firms are light years away from the Seattle-based firm's valuation, which stands at $95 billion, Raviprakash Vora, Marketing Head, Flipkart, says that they are scaling very fast and also planning to introduce new features like replacement guarantee and payment through monthly instalments. Around 90 percent of retail in India remains unorganised Financial Express Even after the rise of big retail chains such as Big Bazaar, Spencer's, Reliance Retail, etc., as well as specialised consumer electronics retail chains such as the Tata Group's Croma, Chhabria Group's Jumbo Electronics or Future Group's eZone, in the last decade, around 90% of retail in India remains unorganised, controlled by small-time dealers. While consumers may lament that they are deprived of a wider choice, better bargains and a more enjoyable shopping experience, for the consumer electronics brands it has been a double whammy. Even as dealers dictate what margins they should get, the consumer electronics makers helplessly watch their brand exclusivity getting lost. Malls are building more than brick and mortar structures Hindu Business Line The Indian retail market has witnessed a metamorphosis with regard to choices, affordability and convenience. The new vocabulary for customers is clearly 'brand', 'comfort', 'style', 'luxury', and 'convenience'. For mall developers and mall managers, 'tenant-mix', is the new mantra, and they cannot afford to go wrong here. With people increasingly taking to malling as a pasttime and family destination, malls have to offer something for everyone. Understand your customers and catchment area, if you want to build loyalty Business Line A retailer who is aware of his customers - what they shop for and what their needs are - will go a long way in building loyalty. Consider the following scenarios: A fish store organises fresh hilsa fish from Kolkata for its Bengali customers in Chennai; or, a store that does not stock what a customer wants gets it for him from another store in the neighbourhood. These are instances of retailers being aware of their customers, understanding their needs, and learning about the catchment area in which they function. They are not only leveraging this knowledge directly through marketing initiatives but also using it to help customers and deliver outstanding customer service, thereby building loyalty to their store. Textiles, clothing exports to touch $32 bn in FY12: Sharma Moneycontrol.com The country's textiles and clothing exports are expected to touch USD 32.35 billion in the 2011-12 fiscal. Textiles Minister Anand Sharma said that the size of domestic textiles industry was expected to reach USD 65 billion by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12). He added that there was an increase in the production capacity in the sector. Relaxo Footwear: Temptation for investors Economic Times With a production of 90 lakh footwear per year, North-based Relaxo Footwear is a good investment for investors with a medium to long term investment horizon. Its brands Relaxo, Sparx, and Flite are retailed through a distribution network of 130 retail outlets, mainly in North India. Other plans in the pipeline are to add 15-20 retail outlets every year, expand into South India, and export the comnpany's products to Europe, Africa and other Asian countries. With the prices of rubber softening and the company working towards bringing down its working capital cycle, an improvement on profitability is expected. Cotsyn's Rs 950-cr expansion by Dec Business Standard Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn, the Kanpur-headquartered Rs 1,800 crore integrated textile company, will complete its over Rs 950-crore expansion plan by this year-end. While the promoters and strategic investors will bring in Rs 299 crore, the balance was funded through a term loan from a consortium led by Central Bank of India said Rakesh Srivastava, Company Secretary and Finance Controller. The move will see a sharp increase in the company's technical textiles and denim fabric capacity. Economic woes could hit Indian festive spending AFP India's retailers look set for a tough annual religious festival season, traditionally a time for exuberant spending, as high inflation and interest rates force consumers to tighten their belts. Ajit Joshi, Chief Executive, Tata Group's Infiniti Retail, described the current market as "challenging." Rajesh Mehta, Chairman of Bangalore-based Rajesh Exports, India's largest jewellery maker and exporter by volume, said that the demand for gold would continue till the end of the wedding period in late December, though sales were not as robust. Beyond Squarefeet to help Chaudhary Group venture into retail FranchiseIndia Beyond Squarefeet, a boutique mall advisory company, which provides end-to-end solutions in the specialized areas of mall conceptualization and management, is set to advise the Chaudhary Group, one of the leading conglomerates of Nepal, on its entry into the retail sector. As Chaudhary's looks to setting up a chain of supermarkets, Beyond Squarefeet will help them develop various strategies and business plans.   Insight  Improving The In-Store Customer Experience Touch Revolution The economic downturn has permanently changed the way consumers shop. Shopping trips begin online or at in-store kiosks, and price comparisons and coupon searches are increasingly commonplace. Post-recession consumers are looking for trust relationships with retailers. They are guarding their resources, and have changed their shopping paradigm to be more selective and targeted. While it is generally the "brand" that brings retail consumers to the shopping environment, it is the retail "experience" that builds loyalty and keeps them coming back. Social media and mobile shopping initiatives may lure consumers into a retail environment, but digital in-store engagement must be at the heart of a retailer's strategic cross-channel-execution. Preparing Retail IT for A Flatter World Infosys The rules of retail are changing. As growth in their traditional markets turns sluggish, retailers are looking to expand into newer geographies that offer better opportunities. Technology can be an effective enabler in this strategy, helping drive revenue across countries. To realize the promise of a global marketplace in the flattening world, retailers need to align their IT organization with business requirements. This is easier said than done. This paper examines the challenges that retailers face in fashioning an IT set-up for a flattening world. Retailing Prospects In The Rural Market IJCSC This paper describes retailing aspects and prospects in the rural market. It covers the present scenario and the changing trends of retailing in the rural sector. The analysis shown in the study is based on a survey conducted in the rural market, which describes the factors effecting retailing in rural market. An Overview of the Indian Retail Scene Mckinsey Retail is an extremely important sector in the economy, but has been overlooked by India's policy makers. The sector, with reforms, is capable of creating eight million jobs in the next ten years. Further, as the sector develops, prices of goods will fall, thereby raising the standard of living of people across the economy. To unleash the potential, three reforms are essential. First, FDI should be allowed in the sector. Second, land market barriers that create an artificial scarcity of land should be addressed. Third, constraints in upstream sectors should be removed, to allow retailers to create efficient supply chains. The Evolution of Online Shopping Hub With online retail currently growing at rates three times faster than overall market and supercenter rates, the path to growth has clearly shifted from new store openings to e-commerce. According to a report by MasterCard Advisors, e-commerce sales increased 15.2 percent year-over-year in June 2011 - the eighth straight month of double-digit growth and the 23rd month in a row that online purchases have grown. Such rapid change can lead to extinctions... It is important to remember, however, that shoppers are shoppers, and that while the number of online transactions per buyer is increasing, the number of online sites visited and the average value of an online purchase has declined.

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