Reliance Fresh to Open for Business on Nov -3rd

Reliance Industries Limited wholly owned subsidiary, reliance retail kicked off its first store, Reliance Fresh at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. The store is 2280 SFT. You can see the photograph on your left.

The ambiance as well as uniform for employees is designed by Mukesh Ambani's wife, Nita Ambani.

Gurender Kapur, President & CEO was seen at the launch while Ambanis preferred to stay back in Mumbai.

Tags: Reliance Retail, Reliance Fresh, Retail India, India Shopping

Electronic Retailing to explode in India in next 12 Months

Experts and Industry Analysts predict a big retailing boom in household electornic goods in India. Left Diya Mirza at luanch of Mobile Phone in India.

According to the survey, Indian buyers intend purchasing high-end electronic goods like laptops/notebook computers, hand-held PCs, mobile phones and handsets with internet access, flatscreen TVs, LCD and Plasma TVs, digital still cameras and so on.

MP3 players are now owned by 38.7% of the affluent Asians surveyed, a growth of 116% since ’01 — with a further 7.3% intending to buy one in the next 12 months.

Ownership of digital still cameras has increased 127% over the past five years, from 23.6% in ’01 to 53.6%, meaning more than half of all affluent Asians now have one. There is a further 6.1% of the population that expects to purchase one in the next year. If you include people with digital camera functionality on their mobile phones, a hefty 72.4% of respondents now have the ability to take digital photographs.

HCL Infosystems plans to open 60-100 digital lifestyle stores to cater to the growing technology products market.

Reliance Retail plans Cola and other FMCG Brands

RIL promoted, Reliance Retail Limited which slipped its Diwali launch is now expected to go live in the next 2-3 weeks. The Meswani brothers who messed up the launch plan are out and Manoj Modi is the new chief of Reliance Retail.

Relliance model is simple, embrace the Chinese. I really hope, they won't dump the seconds from chinese markets.

Reliance Insiders have unveield the following blueprint for Reliance Retail.

• Each store to vary in size from 3,000-15,000 sft depending on the city or town. Much smaller than Pantaloon Retail India Limited's Big Bazaar.
  
• Sourcing of goods from China, Thailand and Vietnam. Includes food and persihable items like fruits and vegetables as well.
• Reliance Retail has plans to launch its own COLA to compete directly with Coke and Pepsi.
• Who cares if Kishore Biyani is the master franchisee for Starbucks in India ? Reliance Retail plans to launch private label brands in other product categories like tea, foods, dairy products, biscuits and cosmetics.
• Their is lot of consumer demand and trust in private label brands which has led Reliance retail to think this way.
  

So in short, Reliance Retail = Retail + Reliance FMCG + Reliance Micro Finance + Reliance AutoMart + Reliance Pharma. Sounds too ambitious as this is not your grandfathers India, Mr. Mukesh Ambani.

Tags: Reliance Retail, Retail India, Pantaloon, Mall India

Reliance Retail Fails to Take off.

Reliance Industries Limited promoted Reliance Retail Limited failed to take off on October-18th. The much publicized launch date slipped due to talent crunch and non-availability of real estate. Who wants to work for the Ambanis ;-)

Looks like the year ahead is not at all looking good for Reliance Industries Limited. Reliance stock slipped on Samavat/Muharat Trading day, considered an auspicious day for the Indian corporates especially Gujaratis. Adding to their woes is the Meswani brothers incharge of Reliance Retail Limited reporting back to the big boss that they have failed to meet the deadline. IMHO, Reliance Retail is a cloud of superhype which will very soon meltdown. Do we see a Bad Year ahead for Reliance Industries Limited with its other venture Reliance SEZ embroiled in Land Bank Scams ?

Retail India , Reliance Retail

Starbucks enters India in JV with Pantaloon Retail

Starbucks Corporation of Seattle has sealed a deal with Kishore Biyani promoted Planet Retail India Limited. Insiders tell that Kishore Biyani has beaten Reliance ADAG in a race to become Starbucks venture partner in India. Earlier, Reliance Industries Limited faced the embarrassment from retail King, Kishore Biyani when talks between the two failed.

However, with this deal, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd shareholders don't get any benefits as Planet Retail Holdings is controlled by Biyani family. Another typical family run business sacrificing interests of shareholders.

Retail India , Reliance Retail , Pantaloon Retail

The top 5 Mobile, Digital Camera and Laptop Gifts for this Holiday

Wishing all our readers a very Happy Holiday Season. Check out the top gift ideas in India for this holiday season.

• Top 5 Mobile Phone Gifts
• Top 5 Digital Cameras
• Top 5 Laptops

Happy Diwali and until Monday, their will be no posting :-)

Now Reliance Retail to Venture into Pharma

Reliance Industries Limited subsidiary Reliance Retail India Ltd wants to setup a retail chain of Pharma and basic medical facilities throughout India, mostly villages and small cities.

After the division of business between the two brothers, Reliance ADAG had got control of two Reliance Hospitals and has the right to expand the same. However, Mukesh Ambani who tookover Reliance Life Sciences another division of RIL is talking of expansion using those two fronts to compete directly with Reliance ADAG.


With mere Rs2,700 crores quarterly profits, Mukesh Ambani is certainly thinking very big, investments to the tune of Rs50,000 crores(retail, SEZ, Pharma, Petroleum) but only time will tell in how many of these businesses he will be Numero Uno. I expect the RIL stock to underperform for the next few quarters and recommend a SELL at current levels.

Reliance Retail to start 22 stores in Hyderabad

Reliance Industries Limited owned Reliance Retail is thinking and announcing big while execution is patehtically slow and small. They have built a hype which has atleast disappointed me.

Reliance Retail is all set to sell vegetables and fruits in a stores of size just 2,000 sft. Then their will be another chain of stores which are sized at 4,000 sft which will sell non perishable consumer goods. And then the large hypermarkets(details unavailable) which are 20,000 sft in size. Why this plan is not good for me ? When I go shopping, I want everything under one roof - from vegetables to shampoos to royal scotch whisky. Don't expect me to drive in terrible Hyderabad traffic to 6 different stores. With this plan sure Reliance will have the largest number of stores in the world. If Reliance is targeting the Aaam Aaadmi, then it's a different story. Just like wal-mart targeting the low class Americans.

I happened to visit the Biz Bazaar @ Bangalore. Its truly amazing. Everything under one 75,000 sft complex.

India Retail Wars - Reliance Retail Versus Pantaloon Retail

Here is the outlook of Indian Retail Sector. A major corporate battle to reign supremacy in the Indian retail sector is underway. The main opponents are Pantaloon Retail India Limited Versus Reliance Industries Limited, retail wing, Reliance Retail Limited.

Reliance insiders have been publicizing that a major blood bath can be expected in retail when Reliance starts it's operations. Sure, we did see a blood bath when Reliance launched it's Infocomm with all the hype and after 3 years it is still loss making with poor service.

Sailing will not be smooth for Reliance as it is no more his Father's India where bribing and all sorts of underworld/hand deals was the order of the day. With rising Real Estate prices in India, entry costs will be very high for Reliance. Reliance has poor knowledge about retailing and is totally dependent on executives it has poached from other giants but it is not likely to work because of the Meswani-Ambani management style won't be admired by professionals. Indian market is beyond the scope of one or two corporate houses and will continue to mature to produce worldclass professional business houses like Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited.

Reliance Retail in talks with Bata India

It has been reliably learnt from highly placed sources in the Maker Tower, that Reliance Industries Limited top officials are in discussions with Bata India Limited for a join-venture agreement for Reliance Retail Limited.

It could be that Reliance is eyeing Bata's strong retail presence in Kolkatta where it will launch its retail operations next after the 18th-Oct launch at Hyderabad. A lesser speculative source says, Reliance maybe eyeing Bata's real estate throughout India. For sure something is cooking betweeen the two.

Pantaloon India's Retail Dream for 2010

By FY 2010, Kishore Biyani has big plans for Pantaloon Retail India Limited and his Future Group. He is expecting his group sales to be $7 Billion. For FY-2007, it is expected to be around $1 Billion. For this to happen his group must grow at a compounded rate of 90% YoY for the next 3 years which is achievable if he doesn't put his hands in too many unrelated baskets like Real Estate or Finance and Hedge Funds. Anyway, here is a breakup of his dream.

Big Bazaar - Rs7,650 Crores
Converge M - Rs5,335 Crores
Food Bazaar - Rs3,250 Crores
Home Town - Rs3,200 Crores
Central - Rs2,300 Crores

Retail India , Pantaloon , Reliance Retail , India Malls

Tata Croma Juhu Outlet - Infiniti Retail Plans

Just last week, Tata's unveiled their Croma chain of consumer electronics opening their 25,000sft Juhu store. In the picture to your left, you can see Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata with Ajit Joshi CEO of Infiniti Retail the holding company of Croma at Juhu store.

We all know that Foreign Direct Investment in India in the retail sector is banned by the government of India. So what Woolworth has done is, they have put Tata's as the front-end to deal with Indian consumer and they play the cards at backend. Tata sons have agreed to infuse Rs400 crores as equity in Infiniti Retail and another Rs400 crores as working capital with a promise to nourish more if needed.

Infiniti-retail and WoolWorth India Deal:
Woolworth will get all the required products and supply to Infiniti Retail which will then sell through Croma chain of stores. Infiniti is prohibited to sell to any other retailer and has to source all its goods from Woolworth only. While Woolworth will supply exclusively for Infiniti only. A win-win for both if the price and quality of the products sold appeal the Indian consumer.

Retail India , Shopping India , Tata Retail , Reliance Retail

Big Bazaar - Diwali Dhamaka Shopping Sale.

Pantaloon Retail India Limited today announced the biggest Diwali sale to be launched at its value retail sotres - Big Bazaar.

On your left is a picture of Big Bazaar at Phoenix Mills, Parel shot last evening. Big Bazaar stores have been decorated and will remain open from as early as 9 a.m. through midnight everyday to ensure customer convenience.

Big Bazaar will provide attractive offers on all household and consumer goods in addition to a delightful and pleasurable shopping experience. The assured gifts and special offers will be an added bonanza. The Diwali Dhamaka offer will make their festival shopping experience quite memorable.

UTI Ventures invests Rs27 crores in Gitanjali LifeStyle - Primus Value Stores

UTI Ventures has invested Rs25 crores in Gitanjali Lifestyle Products Limited . Gitanjali Lifestyle operates through Primus Value Stores.

Primus stocks after-season merchandise of leading fashion brands. It is associated with brands like Adidas, Benetton, Indigo Nation, Levi's etc.

Primus currently has 19 stores in 11 cities. It will launch stores in Mumbai, Bangalore, Surat and Ludhiana before Diwali and Factory Outlets in Gurgaon, Kolkatta, RajPura, Ahmedabad and Gazibad. Check out the entire list on primus website

Retail India , VC India , UTI

Viveks Looking for Private Equity

Viveks consumer durables retailer is looking to raise Rs150 crores by offloading 25% to Private Equity or Venture Capital firms. This values the Viveks retail chain at Rs600 crores. Viveks is in talks with several firms which they declined to disclose.

It is well known that foreign Private Equity(PE) and Venture Capital(VC) firms do not have the license for pure play in Indian Retail sector. Foreign firms can invest in backendjust like Actis which has stake in Nilgiri dairy and not the retail chain.

Viveks has 54 stores in the southern states of Karnataka and TamilNadu and are looking for investments or an IPO to go for PAN-India presence.

India Retail , Consumer Durables , India Shopping

Croma Consumer electronics goes live in Mumbai

Croma - Tata groups arm for retail consumer electronics went live in Juhu Mumbai yesterday. We were the first one to uncover the story because of our associate shareholding in Woolworth.

Croma - Juhu store was inaugurated by Tata group chairman Ratan Tata. The store is 20,000 sft and stocks more than 8,000 products across the following 8 categories.

• Home entertainment - CTVs, Music systems, VCD and DVD players, etc.
• Small appliances - Kitchen and domestic appliances
• White goods - ACs, refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines, dishwashers etc.
• Computers and peripherals - Desktops, laptops, blank media, cables, accessories, software, etc.
• Communication - Mobile phones and accessories, telephones, SIM cards, recharge cards, etc.
• Music - CD's, VCD's, DVD's.
• Imaging -— Handycams, digital cameras, etc.
• Gaming software
  

A store as big as Croma was very essential as many short sighted Indian businessmen were just launching Mobile Retail stores like Mobile NXT, Mobile Magic, Converge M and M Bazaar.

Retail India , Croma , Tata Retail ,Shopping India

Tyche Life - Western Clothes retailing by Lakshmi Mills

The Lakshmi Mills Company Limited, today forayed into the retail segment with the launch of Tyche Life chain of stores to sell western casual outfits.

Tyche Life is targetting the mid and upper-mid segment and comprises western casual wear for men, women and kids in the price range of Rs. 400 to Rs. 1,500. Tyche Life hopes to open 800 exclusive outlets by the end of fiscal 2007 and have set a target was to sell one million pieces every year.

Its entry into the garment retail business is an exercise aimed at achieving forward integration. "We are targeting a Rs. 10-crore turnover by March 2007 and later plan to take it to Rs. 25 crore,'' Lakshmi Mills Vice President Operations, N. Jaychander.

Tyche Life would be at an advantage because of the Lakshmi groups expertise in cotton and yarn business for years and this would help Tyche Life sell very good fabric and designer clothes at cheaper prices compared to Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited or Mudra Garments or Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited.

Retail India, Pantaloon , Reliance Retail , Fashion India

Either OR, Pune's Innovative Retailer

India maybe the hottest retail destination for multinational giants like Careefour and LandMark, however, I bumped into this store "Either OR" located in Pune and established in 1999 is a unique in it's kind.

What's so special about "Either OR" ? The store conceptualizes the busy Indian street in a very innovative way where more than 75% of Indians shop. You also get the best designer clothes with terrific quality. India doesn't need gigantic malls. We need innovation in ever aspect of life. We need organization to avoid chaos on our streets and give the Indian shopper a pleasant shopping experience. Cheers and keep Up the Good Work!!!

Carrefour scouting for partners to retail in India

Carrefour, Europe's largest retailer, is in talks with Dubai based Landmark Group for about opening up to 200 retail stores in India.

Landmark's India unit, Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd, is in the early stages of talks about acquiring a Carrefour franchisee as economic growth in India spurs retail demand.

They could conclude the discussions as early as November, he said."We are in India and food retail is a natural extension for us," Jagtiani said, declining to say how much the plan may cost.

India Retail ,
Carrefour India ,
Indian Economy ,

Tata's change brand name from Value Electronics to Croma

We were the first to report on Tata Son's venture into retailing on Sept-23. We had obtained copies of WoolWorth's reports from which we had discovered about the Tata's retail venture.

We had reported the brand as Value Electronics, but now the brand name has changed to Croma which will operate under Infiniti Retail Limited.

Note: Infact if you check the Indian registry of domains, you can see VEL.Co.In as Value Electronice registered to Tatas.

Pantloon Retail expected to report solid Q1-Numbers

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is expected to report solid Q1- Numbers. For the first two months of Q1(Pantaloon ends its year on June-30th), the sales have gone up by a whopping 66% to 456 crores. For the whole year ending June-2007 the company is likely to cross sales of Rs3,000 crores.

The company is also considering a stock split. Pantaloon closed at Rs1885 on the BSE.