Big C Mobiles charts Rs 50-crore spread

Big C Mobiles Private Limited, a Hyderabad-based mobile retail chain, has embarked on an expansion, which will entail an investment of about Rs 50 crore over the next one year.

The six-year-old company, touted as the second largest south Indian mobile retail chain next to Chennai-based UniverCell that has 180 stores, plans to increase its number of stores to 200 by March 2010. Big C currently has 54 outlets – 50 in Andhra Pradesh and four in Bangalore.

"We are targeting to take our total store network to 100 in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka by March 2009. The second phase of expansion will see our foray into Kerala and Tamil Nadu markets in 2010, with our network touching the 200-store bar by then," M Balu Chowdary, chairman of Big C Mobiles, told Business Standard.

Mobile retailing, including handsets and accessories, is currently a Rs 75,000-crore market in India, of which the organised sector comprises about 30 per cent. The organised sector, which is growing at 10-12 per cent year-on-year, is expected to grow at a fast clip of 50 per cent in the next three years, he said. "With the mobile users in the country expected to touch 500 million by 2010 with additions of about 9 million subscribers every month, there is a huge opportunity for mobile retailing," he added.

Chowdary said the company was eyeing tier-I and tier-II cities such as Mysore, Hubli, Mangalore, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai and Salem, where music-enabled and FM phones are moving faster, for its second phase of expansion with each store having a carpet area of between 450 sft and 2,200 sft.

"We plan to fund the expansion through a mix of debt and internal accruals," Chowdary said, adding the company was in the processing of developing an online mobile store, which will be launched within a month.

Big C registered revenues of Rs 180 crore in the last financial year. It expects to close the current fiscal with revenues of between Rs 250 crore and Rs 275 crore on the back of its expansion.

 

Source: BS

Big Bazaar gets closer to customers

Big Bazaar, the hypermarket chain of Future Group, is setting up Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) as a customer feedback initiative, it is learnt. Damodar Mall, group customer director of Future Group said: "We are doing this to get closer to customers and give them a platform to voice their opinions about the stores."

Future Group has initiated the move for its Big Bazaar format because it is the largest chain in the group and far more localised, according to a top company official. The initiative has been launched in two stores in Mumbai of the 102 Big Bazaar outlets across the country.

Influential people of the community like local doctors and lawyers would be roped in to part of the CABs and customers could voice their opinions about the store through them. The board in turn could advise store managers and be incentivised through special discounts at Big Bazaar.

Gibson Vedamani, CEO, Retailers Association of India said: "The board can offer inputs on customer expectations and organisations will be able to measure their performance based on it." CABs consists of 8-10 influential people who will hold meetings, take feedback from people which will be assessed and implemented by executives to develop better customer relationships

 

Source ET

Reliance Digital stores to retail Reva

Reliance Digital, the consumer durables and information technology arm of Reliance Retail, on Wednesday announced its sales tie-up with Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) for retailing its electric cars through Reliance Digital outlets across the country. Reliance Digital will retail Reva through its digital stores in Hyderabad and Delhi NCR in the initial phase. Later, this initiative will be extended to other cities.

Speaking on the occasion, R Chandramouli, president, sales and marketing for RECC, said, "The tie-up offers a synergy as Reva car is a clean, green, technology product that is also plug and use, like the products sold through Reliance Digital stores.

Reva will deliver a greater driving experience, reduce pollution and meet the needs of city driving for people in a cost-effective way."

Ajay Baijal, president and chief executive, Reliance Digital, said "We are extremely buoyant with this tie-up as it will be a unique initiative, a first-of-its-kind, wherein a technology retailer will move beyond its regular frontiers to promote and sell a forward-looking technology in the automotive arena. We at Reliance Digital have always believed in delivering and providing our customers with cutting-edge technology solutions that bring value for today and a better tomorrow."Sale of electric cars at Reliance Digital outlets is an initiative from Reva to look at alternative methods to reach customers apart from the conventional systems.

Reva has successfully implemented internet-based distribution in London to sell its cars, through its distributor 'Going Green'.

Reaching out

Reliance will retail Reva cars through its stores in Hyd and Delhi NCR initially

Reva is looking at alternative methods to reach customers

It has implemented internet-based distribution in London

 

Source: Financial Express

Unilever copying HUL's project Shakti globally

Mumbai: Anglo-Dutch consumer goods major Unilever is exporting Hindustan Unilever's innovative rural distribution model led by women's self-help groups to several developing world markets.

Launched in 2001, the initiative, Project Shakti , helped HUL reach the so-called media-dark regions by turning rural women into direct-tohome distributors of its mass-market products.

With emerging markets contributing roughly 44% to global revenues, Unilever—a Fortune 500 foods, home and personal care product giant with operations in about 100 countries—is betting on Project Shakti to reach to the bottom of the pyramid in Asian, African and Latin American markets.

The project is being customised and adapted to Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it is being promoted as Joyeeta and Saubaghya, respectively.

The effort is expected to help Unilever tap fresh growth avenues in emerging markets in the face of recessionary trends in the US and Europe.

The rural micro-enterprise has helped the Rs 13,717-crore Hindustan Unilever to push growth rates in several categories such as personal wash, fabric wash, shampoos, oral care and skin care. Brands like Annapurna, Lux, Lifebuoy, Breeze, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Lakme, Ponds, Clinic Plus and Pepsodent have sold good numbers in smaller markets, company sources said, Overall, around 50% of HUL's revenues came from the rural markets in India.

The project was started in 2001 to empower underprivileged rural women by providing income-generating opportunities, health and hygiene education. Shakti's ambit already covers about 15 million rural population. Several rural pockets are populated by less than 2000 individuals but are seen as unreachable and remain untapped by consumer goods makers.

Rural women are appointed as Vanis (communicators ) and trained to communicate in social forum such as schools and village get-togethers .

Shakti operates in fifteen states: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal , Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.

There are over 45,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering over 135,000 villages across 15 states.

Industry officials say the awareness of rural consumers about products and brands is lesser than the urban markets. Also, urban business models are not really successful in tapping the full potential of several small clusters of consumers across remote markets.

Reaching to The Bottom

Project Shakti is a low-cost distribution network HUL launched in 2001 in tie-up with rural women's self-help groups A typical Shakti entrepreneur gets an income in excess of Rs 1,000 per month Project Shakti serves over 1,35,000 villages across 15 states through more than 45,000 entrepreneurs.

 

Source: ET

Can Tesco become the world’s second largest retailer by sales after Wal-Mart and Carrefour?

According to a newest report by IGD, British Tesco would become the world's second largest retailer in the next five years. It will grow quicker than Carrefour at the compound annual growth rate of 11% compared with 7% for Carrefour between 2007 and 2012. This would sit Tesco immediately behind Wal-Mart, which will grow its turnover by $ 100 billion in the same period.

Emerging markets are expected to draw an ever-greater attention in the future as retailers enter a new phase of globalization, suggesting a more cautious approach and a greater focus on asset performance. Low prices, a strong message on quality and an operating efficiency will contribute also to the success.

International expansion in markets such as China, United States and India is expected to contribute to Tesco generating a turnover of $ 157.1 billion by 2012.

Carrefour is also expected to generate a solid growth in markets with strong potential such as Brazil and China, helping to offset the slowdown in more mature regions such as Western Europe.

IGD estimates that in grocery retailing, Chinese and Indian markets are expected to grow each on a compound annual pace of 13.2% between 2008 and 2012 and estimates also that Indonesia, Ukraine and Vietnam are other emerging markets to watch.

2007-2012 turnover projections of leading global retailers : Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco and Metro.

year     Wal-Mart    Carrefour       Tesco          Metro

2007   

374.5 bil. $ 112.6 bil.$    94.7 bil. $   88.2 bil. $

2012   

476.2 bil. $ 157.0 bil. $ 157.1 bil. $  119.9 bil. $

Source : IGD Research

Indian unorganized retail sector would grow annually by 10%

Unorganized retail sector would grow annually by 10% to reach $ 496 billion by 2011/12, up from 309 billion in 2006/7, despite organized retail sector expansion:

 

According to a report from the parliament based on data from Indian Council for Research on Economic Relations, the Indian retail sector is expected to grow by 13% annually and from $ 322 billion in 2006/7 to 590 billion by 2011/12.

 

However, while taking into account the relatively weak financial position of the organized retail and the constraints in space of their expansion projects, this sector alone is not able to answer to the growing demand.  Organized retailing now accounts for a small 4% of the total retail sector and is expected to grow much more quicker at an annual pace of 45 to 50% and to quadruple its total share to 16% in 2011/12.

 

The report underlines however that small shopkeepers located near organized retailers have registered declining sales and profits after arrival of large players. Consumers have benefited from the situation and their global spending has grown up.

While all income groups saved when shopping at organized retail stores, the report underlines that lower-income households saved more. Farmers were large beneficiaries while selling directly to organized retailers making about 60% profit more than while selling in the local markets. 

 

The report gives also a few recommendations such as pushing cooperatives and non-organized retail associations to supply directly from farmers. It also recommends to facilitate cash & carry outlets to sell their merchandise to unorganized retailers and ease the license and modern store opening authorization towards a national uniform policy in all states facilitating the modern retail sector.

 

Source : The Economic Times

Loyalty programs: Mining for gold in a mountain of data

In the 1950s, stores gave customers redeemable Green Stamps based on how much they

bought. It was a crude precursor to today's loyalty programs. In addition to the old stalwart

frequent flier programs, now it seems as if every retailer wants customers to sign up for

their loyalty programs. If your keychain bristles like a porcupine with dozens of plastic fobs,

you're not alone. In 2000, Americans held 973 million loyalty program memberships. Today,

according to Colloquy's 2007 Loyalty Census that number is 1.3 billion -- or about a dozen

for every household.

To customers, there's not much to loyalty programs; on the surface they appear to be a

simple piece of plastic and a "Here's how much you saved" line at the bottom of a receipt.

But experts at the W. P. Carey School of Business say that for companies, the programs can

be phenomenally more complex and important than taking a trifling percentage off a

customer's bill.

Building loyalty with technology

The name -- loyalty programs -- belies the larger purpose behind them. While it's true that

companies want their customers to be loyal -- to always shop in their store or fly on their

airline -- there is now much more riding on these implementations. Companies don't just

want you to come back and shop again (although they hope you do); instead they also want

to know what you buy, when you buy it, why you buy it and what else you want to buy.

Companies want you to come back tomorrow, but they want to upsell you on the artisan

baguette versus the plain white bread, and while you're at it, they'd also like you to pick up

the olive tapenade and the imported brie. Not only will you like them, but their margins are

quite good for the store.

 

Your purchase is stored in a database which records everything you buy and have previously

bought. With the resultant mountains of data that accrue over time, a company can bring

data mining and analytics to bear to isolate trends and patterns. That data may be applied

at a macro level where a store will, for example, see that people buying upscale bread also

like fine cheeses and may, thus, conveniently place the two next to each other. On a micro

level, stores send coupons to individuals for specific products based on their own personal

shopping history.

In addition, tracking sales per individual lets a company see who's profitable and who isn't.

Casino loyalty programs look for high-spending customers who are good losers; not

surprisingly, more effort is put into attracting and retaining them versus gamblers who know

when to hold and when to fold.

On top of all of this in-store data, companies can now easily overlay outside information,

says Goul. This may be personal data that correlates your shopping with your credit report

or it may be broader data. Companies may correlate your soup-buying or ice-cream-eating

habits with the weather. In essence, companies now have a ton of data at their disposal.

Tx:wtn