Global online shopping giant Amazon.com today launched a new service for Indian consumers, claiming to offer 1.2 crore products from both local and international retailers.

“We are announcing a new online shopping service for consumers in India. It is an aggregation service that offers 1.2 crore products along with product information, reviews, pricing and shipping time details that help consumers to make purchase decisions,” Amazon.com Vice-President Amit Agarwal said.

Amazon.com ties up with Junglee.com

He said the service will be offered under the brand Junglee.com, which will also provide a platform to Indian sellers to list and showcase their products and services and also generate traffic.

“With the new service, consumers in India will find it easier to find what they are looking for. When a customer decides to make a purchase, he or she will be directed to either amazon.com or to the website of a seller. The ultimate purchase will happen on the seller’s website,” he added.

Junglee.com will offer products from other online retailers including Amazon.com

Agarwal, however, did not comment on initial customer target and the investment made by the company on the launch of this service.

The company claimed that Junglee.com will offer options from hundreds of online and offline retailers, including Homeshop18, Hidesign, Gitanjali, Fabindia, Bata India, Dabur, Microsoft India Store, Reebok, and Amazon.com.

It will have more than 90 lakh books and 30 lakh products from more than 14,000 Indian and global brands across more than 25 product categories, including mobile phones, cameras, toys and games, baby products, books, music, movies and TV, clothing, and jewellery, it said.

With the new service, consumers in India will find it easier to find what they are looking for. When a customer decides to make a purchase, he or she will be directed to either amazon.com or to the website of a seller. The ultimate purchase will happen on the seller’s website

amazon.com

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Forget Superbowl Sunday. In fashion terms, it has been rechristened David Beckham in His Pants Day – the moment when the world gets to see the entire video featuring the 36-year-old footballer stretching and arching an eyebrow as he spins around on a giant turntable to the strains of the Animals’ version of Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Of course, this is no art project. Filmed in black and white, David Beckham is wearing only a pair of £7.99 pants from his new David Beckham Bodywear for H&M collection.

According to the footballer, his sons responded to the semi-naked advert with a groaning “not again, Daddy”. But widespread reaction – if YouTube views are to be trusted – is overwhelmingly positive. Hearteningly for H&M, it suggests that the reported $3.5m (£2.2m) that the high-street brand spent on securing the Superbowl ad break slot was money well spent.

This latest foray into briefs and long johns is by no means the retail giant’s first brush with celebrity fashion. With a recent history that includes collaborations with Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Comme des Garçons, Lanvin and Jimmy Choo, H&M has done for high-street shopping what Simon Cowell once did for Saturday night television, masterminding a shopping recipe that mixes mass appeal, blockbuster designer names and credible and unexpected fashion talent.

Hyped to a perfect pitch and in the main a sellout, this roll call of collaborations has put H&M’s so-so main line of jersey dresses and bargain tailoring firmly in the shade.

Reaction from within the industry to the David Beckham underwear collection has been kind. Suzy Menkes, respected fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, summed up the general feeling: “Lots of people have worked with H&M, so why not David Beckham? I think it’s a really good idea. It means now everybody can have a bit of him.”

David Beckham the real thing

If shoppers present at the London launch of the collection last Wednesday – where David Beckham held babies, kissed fans and signed briefs – were an accurate barometer of sales, then the pants are set to be a massive commercial hit. Paul Taylor, a 38-year old-shopper from London, summed up the appeal: “There’s something very real about him. Despite being a global superstar, everyone in this queue believes you could have a good chat with him.”

For designers, the attraction of the H&M machine lies in its democratic reach. Alber Elbaz, of the high-end label Lanvin, remarked of his collection of cocktail dresses for H&M in 2010: “It’s like if I was living in a palace and opened some doors and said, ‘Have tea with me, taste the food.’”

For Donatella Versace, the much-hyped collaboration proved so successful that it partly motivated the brand to return to the rarified world of haute couture after an eight-year hiatus. The designer told reporters after her show in Paris last month that in the aftermath of the H&M project: “I didn’t want people to forget that Versace is a haute couture house.”

H&M and David Beckham – The right mix

The H&M formula is very simple. The brand searches out either a household name, a designer brand whose aesthetic is so strong that it can take being watered down with cheap fabrics without losing its punch, or an insider fashion name that adds kudos to the brand.

The juicy financial details of H&M’s latest venture are a closely guarded secret at its Stockholm HQ. Within 48 hours of David Beckham and his business partner Simon Fuller revealing their plans for the underwear market, H&M had convinced Beckham to sign with them in a two-year partnership.

But the success of this approach does not purely rely on a fat wallet. Clever signings are as much a part of its svengali-like approach as financial power. Next month it will follow Versace and Beckham with a fleeting collaboration with Marni, a quieter Italian label, known for its quirky prints and beloved of fashion editors. Hype is already growing online as the first pictures were leaked this week.

As for David Beckham, his future plans for his underpants are ambitious. As shoppers queued to buy his pants, the footballer declared: “I want to be as big as Calvin Klein.”

David Beckham

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Retail rentals of  in malls in Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad have softened by a up to 30 per cent. “There was a market correction in select mall developments in micro markets of Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad,” stated a recent study by CBRE South Asia, a global property consultant.

The report on the Indian retail market between July-December 2011 points out that the key reason for drop in retail rentals compared to the same period in 2010 has been due to the falling sales and declining footfalls. The drop in sales has been largely attributed to an unfavorable tenant mix and poor infrastructure facilities in these malls.

Retail rentals falling because of downward pressure on margins

According to Cushman & Wakefield, Ahmedabad has seen retail rentals depreciate by 7 per cent compared to those that existed in October-December 2010. “The retailers are the ones putting a downward pressure on the rents. Every retailer wants to enhance their profitability, and more so in tough economic conditions,” says Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd.

In contrast to Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, retail hot-spots like NCR and Bangalore witnessed an appreciation in retail rentals that were as high as 15 per cent.

Retail rentals in micro markets increased

Certain micro-markets in Mumbai saw retail rentals rise as high as 20 per cent between July-December 2011, stated the report. On the other hand, Pune saw rental values dip by 5-6 per cent across the Eastern corridor of Nagar Road, Koregaon Park, Bund Garden Road.

This was evident in operational as well as upcoming mall developments.

Certain micro-markets in Mumbai saw retail rentals rise as high as 20 per cent between July-December 2011, stated the report. On the other hand, Pune saw rental values dip by 5-6 per cent across the Eastern corridor of Nagar Road, Koregaon Park, Bund Garden Road.

This was evident in operational as well as upcoming mall developments.

retail rentals

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Tesco: Being switched to special operations is often the corporate equivalent of being sent to Siberia. In some cases, however, it’s the opposite: the recipient can become the chief executive’s enforcer, a roamer who can’t be given a proper job title because that would put too many noses out of joint.

Which description applies to Noel “Bob” Robbins? He used to be chief operating officer of Tesco‘s UK stores and was, in effect, the deputy to Richard Brasher, boss of the UK stores. Now he will be reporting directly to Tesco‘s head honcho himself, chief executive Phil Clarke.

Subscribers to the Siberian theory will note that the shuffle comes less than a month after Robbins sold £200,000 worth of Tesco shares just eight days before a profit warning. The company, which insists Robbins did nothing wrong by flogging the shares to meet “necessary family expenditure,” says the episode is “entirely unrelated” to Wednesday’s announcement.

At Tesco what will his new role entail?

OK. But what will Robbins do in his new role? “Bob will work for me on a number of initiatives which will leverage the skill and scale of Tesco and allow even greater investments to be made for customers,” said Clarke in his internal memo. In other words, it’s as clear as mud.

Tesco has confused it?

If Tesco’s UK operation were a football team, one might say the midfield is starting to look crowded. Brasher is the chief executive and has a new chief operating officer in Chris Bush, who has been recalled from Thailand. Robbins will now also chip in with his leveraging initiatives. Meanwhile, Tim Mason, running US chain Fresh & Easy, is Tesco’s chief marketing officer, even though he is based in California, about 5,000 miles away from the nearest store with “Tesco” over the door.

Maybe so many senior hands will make light work of reversing Tesco’s slowdown in sales in the UK. But it’s a struggle to identify the formation they’re playing.

Tesco

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Blue Star, Air conditioner maker in India, which is targeting Rs 1,000-crore revenues from its residential segment by 2014, plans to open exclusive large format stores to hawk products across all segments, following the success of its exclusive small outlets.

“We have about 25 Blue Star display centres and we plan to open bigger ones. We have shortlisted some locations and will have first such store within the next six months. We hope to start with Mumbai and want to have one in each metro to begin with,” Blue Star President (Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Products) B Thiagarajan said.

Blue Star will also have a factory outlet for room ACs at Thane near here by the festival season this year. On the revenue side, Thiagarajan said the company is eyeing Rs 1,000-crore revenue from the residential segment by the turn of 2014 on the back of growing demand.

“We will continue to grow in this segment. We had a turnover of Rs 535 crore last year and this calendar year our expectation is Rs 605 crore. Our plan is to reach Rs 1,000 crore by 2014 in room air conditioner segment.”

The firm, which claims to enjoy 7 per cent market share, plans to sell 2.65 lakh units of ACs this year compared to 2.35 lakh units last year, Thiagarajan said.

Next year, he said, the commercial business would account for 40 per cent of revenues and the balance 60 per cent would come from the residential sector. At present it is equal from both the sectors.

According to Thiagarajan, the penetration of room ACs is only 3 per cent and hence there is huge untapped potential in the segment.

Blue Star estimates domestic AC Market is growing leaps and bounds

The domestic AC market is worth 31 lakh units annually and it is expected to be 70 lakh units by 2013-14. The company has earmarked an advertising budget of Rs 20 crore this calendar year, with Rs 15 crore being allocated for the summer, Thiagarajan said.

It will spend Rs 25 crore on R&D and also plans to export products to North African countries in the near future, thus extending its overseas market from West Asia, he said.

Blue Star to open stores in additional 60 locations

Thiagarajan further said the firm will expand its presence in 67 locations this year from the seven last year and is aiming to capture a bigger share of the market.

“We entered the room AC market through the retail route last year and have already captured 7 per cent market share. This year it should be 9 per cent.”

He said Blue Star has 25 percent market share in refrigeration and cold storage segment.

Blue Star

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IKEA, Scandinavian furniture retailer, which has been waiting to set up shops in India independently, today said the 30 per cent local sourcing clause applied for 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail might be difficult to live up to.

“We have found that the conditions applied to local sourcing from SMEs might be difficult for us to live up to,” the Group’s spokesperson in the country told reporters.

Earlier this month, government had notified 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail paving way for global retail chains like IKEA and others to have full ownership and control of their India operations.

However, in respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51 per cent, the mandatory sourcing of at least 30 per cent would have to be done from the domestic small and cottage industries.

Just two months back, the company was almost on the verge of announcing its foray into the Indian market but had deferred it following uncertainties due to political opposition to the government’s decision to relax FDI norms in retail, including 51 per cent in multi-brand retail.

IKEA has not shelved it plans

When asked if IKEA had shelved its India entry plans, the spokesperson said: “No, India is still a very interesting potential retail market for the IKEA Group but we need to understand what the guidelines will mean for us.”

IKEA is, however, optimistic and hopes to be able to present more information shortly about its possibilities to establish retail operations in the country once the conditions are right, she said.

“India is since long a strong and growing purchase market for IKEA,” she added.

IKEA to operate on its own

The furniture retailer has been adopting a wait and watch policy to open its stores as it wanted to operate on its own.

The firm also supports Unicef’s water and sanitation programme in India and funds programmes in the carpet and cotton regions in India.

In 2010, IKEA’s sales increased to 23.1 billion euro, an increase of 7.7 per cent compared to the previous year, with Asia and Australia contributing about 6 per cent.

The Group has operations in 41 countries with 29 trading service offices in 25 countries, according to its website.

IKEA

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Starbucks Corp, the world’s largest coffee company, is finalizing its retail partnership with India’s Tata Coffee Ltd and hopes to announce the deal by the end of this month, a senior official of the Indian company said on Thursday.

In early 2011, the Seattle-based company signed a pact with the Tata group firm to buy coffee from India and explore opening retail stores in the country.

“We are close to finalizing it and are working on the final details. We hope to make an announcement very soon,” MD Kumar, chief financial officer of Tata Coffee told Reuters.

Tata Coffee plans to open a Starbucks coffee shop by the end of this year, Managing Director Hameed Huq told reporters on the sidelines of the International Coffee Festival in Delhi earlier in the day.

In India, where tea has long been the beverage of choice, an increasingly affluent and urban population with westernized tastes is embracing cafes, paying much more for a cup of coffee than at traditional restaurants.

The two companies had planned to open the first Starbucks outlet in India by mid-2011, but the plan was delayed on account of difficulties in acquiring real estate, Tata Coffee Chairman R.K. Krishnakumar had told Reuters in August.

Starbucks and Tata: Instant Coffee Expansion

Tata Coffee, which makes and exports instant coffee and plantation coffee, plans to invest $10 million to increase its instant coffee capacity by 2,000 tonnes from the 6,500 tonnes, Kumar told Reuters.

“We will be adding capacity at our existing plant near Madurai… It should be operational by the third quarter of the next financial year,” he said. Madurai is in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu, near where they also have plantations.

Starbucks the right fit?

Tata coffee exports 60 percent of its instant coffee to Russia and the rest to Singapore and Japan. Instant coffee division contributes about 50 percent to its revenues and the company expects robust demand for instant and plantation coffee in FY13, despite sluggish consumer demand globally.

India, the world’s fifth biggest producer, accounts for only 4.5 percent of the world’s output, but exports 70-80 percent of its produce.

“Our orderbook for the fourth quarter is full and we have been receiving good orders for the first quarter of next year,” Kumar said. The nest fiscal year stars in March, 2012.

However, Tata Coffee sees demand for its U.S. coffee brand, Eight O’ Clock Coffee, which has been hurt by rising raw material costs in the current quarter and the last, to improve as commodity costs have begun to ease.

Tata Coffee on Wednesday saw its consolidated net profit fall 34 percent to 215.1 million rupees ($4.27 million) in Oct-December

Shares of the company ended 0.97 percent up at 865.95 rupees in a firm Mumbai market on Thursday that closed at a 6-week high.
Starbucks

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Peacocks, the budget fashion chain, has fallen into administration, putting 9,600 jobs at risk, after a management buyout deal collapsed at the last minute.

The collapse of Peacocks, which boasts designs by singer-songwriter Pearl Lowe, is the biggest retail failure since Woolworths went bust in 2008 with 27,000 redundancies.

Richard Kirk, chief executive and 30% shareholder, had been attempting a rescue deal with the backing of a mystery figure described as “one of the biggest names in British high street retailing”, but the deal fell apart early on Wednesday morning.

It is understood the deal would have forced Peacocks’ 18 lenders, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, to forgo most of the roughly £600m the retailer owed them. Peacocks had been fighting for survival since talks on a complex debt-for-equity swap broke down at the weekend.

Peacocks stores to remain open

KPMG, which was appointed administrator on Wednesday night, said all Peacocks’ 611 stores and 49 concessions would be kept open while it looks for a buyer. Richard Fleming, joint administrator at KPMG UK, expected “considerable interest” and was “hopeful a big chunk of the business” would be sold. There will be no immediate redundancies, but Fleming said there would “inevitably” be big job losses to come.

“Peacocks is a brand with great heritage, and it is with deep sadness that we have been left with no other option but to place the business into administration. We have worked tirelessly over the past year to agree a new financial structure to take the business forward in the current tough retail environment, including seeking new investment for the business,” he said. “This is a hugely sad development for all of our stakeholders, especially our employees who have shown total commitment to the business over an uncertain and difficult period.”

Peacocks still in talks to sell

RBS and Barclays said they would continue to support Peacocks. A spokesman for RBS said: “We supported the proposed transaction and are disappointed the deal could not be concluded. Since the bid came in on Sunday night, we have worked around the clock to try to achieve a positive outcome.”

Peacocks is still in talks to sell its plus-sized womenswear business Bonmarché, which employs 3,800 people, to private equity firm Sun European via a pre-pack administration. Bonmarché filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Monday but this allows 10 working days to secure a deal before the appointment of administrators.

Peacocks

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Premier Australian fast-food chain ‘Country Chicken‘ launched its first outlet in India here today and it is expected to become fully operational in the middle of next month.

With 300 such outlets planned across India by 2015 – 80 per cent in tier II and III cities – including franchisees, the company (Country Chicken) would invest nearly Rs 200 crore for expansion over three years, Country Chicken (India) CEO Ramakrishna told reporters here.

Stating that Star Quick Service Restaurant (SQSR) (P) Ltd, the partner for Country Chicken in India, will provide the processed products to outlets in India, he said the processing plant in Chennai will supply products to the Coimbatore outlet and future outlets in the South, which would ensure standardised product quality across all outlets.

Country Chicken to open processing unit in North

Once more outlets come up, another processing factory will be opened in North, he said.

With the market for fast-food growing in India every year, the company expects to capture a good market share in the coming three years, S Suresh of Thiruvikram Enterprises, who was appointed the first franchisee, said.

Country Chicken Australia Spokerperson Craig Baker said apart from country fried chicken and pizzas and roast dishes, there would also be an eclectic mix of vegetarian items to cater to the varied palates of food lovers in the cities.

Country Chicken not to have own poultry farm in India

Asked whether the company plans to open its own poultry farms for getting quality chicken, Ramakrishna said it already has a tie-up with leading brands like Suguna in the South and Venky in the North.

Country Chicken in Australia is positioned in the market place as a premium quality product, priced to be affordable for everyone, and delivers a mix of products to satisfy the whole family’s taste and dietary needs. A one stop shop – Country Chicken offers a variety of chicken products, burgers and subs, wraps and sandwiches as well as fish products and broad pizza menu.

Country Chicken

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Indian retail sector faces a “bit cloudy” outlook due slow growth along with persistent inflation and the government’s decision to hold back FDI in multi-brand segment, according to a report by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd (DTTL).

‘The 2012 Global Powers of Retailing’ report by the consulting firm, DTTL suggests that retailers will, however, find some silver linings as softening commodity prices will help in improved profit margins.

“The outlook for Indian retail sector is a bit cloudy as the economy is clearly slowing, following a period in which monetary policy was tightened to fight inflation it did not bring the inflation down,” the report said.

Indian Retail Sector adopting a wait and watch approach

Commenting on the findings, Rajan Divekar Senior Director Deloitte in India said: “Given the recent policy flip-flop related to FDI in multi-brand retail, both global retailers as well as existing Indian organised sector retailers appear to have adopted a cautious ‘wait and watch’ approach before committing fresh investments.”

He, however, said the Indian retail sector offers significant potential for growth of modern trade.

India also has a set of obstacles that includes a high degree of trade protection, continuing regulation of labour markets and uncertainty regarding the future of the FDI policy related to multi-brand retail, it said.

Indian retail sector fine tuning

Meanwhile, Indian retailers are customising and fine tuning their business models across retail formats to ensure that there is a balance between store expansion and profitability, Divekar said.

“The recent liberalisation permitting 100 per cent in single brand retail is a welcome sign especially for select luxury/niche retailers,” he added.

The report, however, said one positive effect of slower global growth will be the continued dampening of commodity prices.

“For retailers, this means some improvement on the cost side of the ledger while retail price inflation in some economies presents an opportunity for improved profit margins, even in the context of slow top-line growth,” it said.

Revival of the proposal to permit 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail could bring in a positive impact on the Indian retail sector as well as the Indian Economy, it added.

Indian Retail Sector

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