Year: 2010

Having been in the retailing business for some time, the Spencer management realized that retailing cannot be carried out at all locations. For example, locations such as south of Bandra in Mumbai were not viable due to high rentals. Locations such as some in South India and Kolkata were good as rentals and turnover were very favorable. As a result, Spencer has aggressively closed down 170 unviable stores, and as a result the number of stores has come down to 212 (more…)

Studying the modern retailers business, data suggests that the modern retail sector in India is maturing – the focus has shifted from aggressive revenue growth to a phase where revenue growth, profitability and cash flow objectives have to be balanced. Retailers are focused on closing unprofitable stores and re-calibrating (more…)

The long-term opportunity for modern retail in India was keenly questioned over the past fiscal as incumbents weathered a cyclical economic slowdown. As with any cycle, some players emerged as winners while there were some survivors and a handful of bankruptcies.

Organized retail in India is beset with certain structural issues, which were sharply exposed in the economic downturn. Primary concerns are with retail cost structures – viz. 1) the investments in store capex, and 2) inventory holding costs (a reflection of hyper growth and limited logistics support) and poor working capital management.

Going forward, (more…)

India remains a key focus market for L’Oreal and we have seen aggressive activity in hair color, shampoos and skin care in recent times by the company. L’Oreal India is emerging as a significant personal care and cosmetics player (more…)

The Future Axiom Mobile Handset vendors with 340 stores across India including the shop-in-shops have decided to push the Exit button and join hands with Essar Group’s The Mobilestore for a minority stake in the company.Furure Axiom sells about 35,000 (more…)

As we said in an article on the evolution of Retail sector in India, which has entered the consolidation phase, Raymond executives probably read our article and pushed the Go button for their restructuring.

Raymond wants to extend the (more…)

The Union Budget appears to have settled the ambiguity regarding service tax on rentals paid by retailers to mall developers. It has amended the definition of Renting of immovable property service to provide explicitly that (more…)