Festival Season Weak for Titan / Tanishq

Tina-Weak RecoveryTitan’s Jewellery business had large bump up in sales due to closing of Golden Harvest Scheme (GHS) in the quarter that contributed to c50% of total jewellery sales in Q2. Studded jewellery share of 35% declined by 4pp yoy but still grew at 48% yoy primarily due to GHS closing related sales. Titan added 21K sq ft jewellery retail area in Q2 FY15 as it opened 2 stores Jewellery retail area expansion plan continues apace with overall expected addition of about c100k sq ft in FY15e.

Although management believes that (more…)

Smiling Baby Store to Open in Adyar, Chennai

Smiling Baby Store Opened in ChennaiChennai’s Adyar will shortly see a new retail store Smiling Baby being opened on Friday, Sep 26th 2014. The store would be inaugurated by Shri Kodandarama Setty, Chairman & Managing Director, Viveks Ltd. Smiling Baby is the result of the potential gap in the babycare needs in the country, and more so in Chennai/Tamil Nadu.

Smiling baby, will be a niche retailer catering to new born children up to 6 years of age and provides a place for expecting mothers and young parents (more…)

Apollo Hospitals to acquire pharmacy stores of Hetero Med Solution

apollo pharmacy chainApollo Hospitals Enterprise has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hetero Med Solutions (HMSL) for acquisition of its retail pharmacy stores currently operated in states of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The acquisition would be in the form of purchase of the business undertaking, on a slump sale basis and comprises of 320 pharmacy stores, at an overall consideration not exceeding Rs 146 crore. The transaction would be subject to completion of due diligence and (more…)

How eCommerce is Innovating & Leading Growth of Retail Business Globally ?

eCommerce Versus Store RetailingOur analysts keep perusing through dozens of reports and in an e-mail thread have harnessed interesting insights about eCommerce Vs Old brick & Motor Retailers Globally. We’d like to present those snippets for our ever enthusiastic readers.

In the USA, e-commerce still accounts for only 6% of retail sales. However, Amazon and e-bay had US$222 bn of sales in 2014 (up from US$73 bn in 2004) while Walmart moved to US$244 bn from US$229 bn in the same period. Look at the Growth e-Retailers had (more…)

Trent’s WestSide & StarBazaar Well Placed Growth + eCommerce Threat Acknowledged

Trent StarBazaar IndiaKey takeaways from the Management Meet of Trent Ltd are as follows,

On WestSide Department Store Retailing
78 of the 80 stores (10 opened in FY14) are beyond break even, reemphasizing the impact refreshed offering and store renovation have had in the format attaining market leading Like to Like (LTL) growth in a tough environment. The company will open 7‐10 stores annually including in tier 2 and 3 cities.

The company has invested in supply (more…)

Speciality Restaurants Chain Margins Weak

Mainland China PerformanceFood Retail Chain Speciality Restaurants running popular chains such as Mainland China, Sigree / Sigree Global Grill, Oh! Calcutta,Cafe Mezzuna, Sweet Bengal and Hoppipola reported less than expected results on the back of Weak Quarter.

Revenue (excluding other operating income) growth was healthy at 21% yoy. However, a sharp 500 bps yoy dip in EBITDA margins and adverse operating leverage (more…)

Dunkin’s Donut Set for wider roll out in India

Dunkin Donuts IndiaJubilant Foodworks, the Master Franchisee for Dunkin Donuts Opening outlets in Mumbai, Dunkin is now spread across 2 regions and we expect the Bangalore stores to open in FY15 as well. While each region will have flagship stores such as Connaught Place / Greater Kailash in Delhi and Bandra in Mumbai, the model likely to be replicated is of smaller outlets measuring between 1,500-1,600 sqft with about 6-7 employees per shift. We also expect sales for each outlet to be similar to a new Dominos’ Pizza outlet. The stores are clearly attempting to bridge a gap between cafes / quick service restaurants and more casual dining restaurants, offering menu choices wider than (more…)