Thought of the Day:
“Every morning I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.”
Robert Orben
Did you know?
The largest recorded snowflake was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.
India:
International:
“Every morning I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.”
Robert Orben
Did you know?
The largest recorded snowflake was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.
India:
- Malls Act Pricey, Cherry-Pick Brands & Tenure: Malls in Delhi and Mumbai are getting choosy about their occupants, having realised the folly of giving in to the inclination to fill vacancies with the first tenant agreeable to the lease price. As a result, prime space in the most prominent malls in the two cities, which number about 25, is seeing a transformation as brands that have lost relevance such as Debenhams get pushed out to make way for labels such as Zara, which buyers can’t seem to get enough of. Malls are increasingly opting for short-term leases because they’ve realised the need to ensure that unpopular stores get winnowed out. In addition, they are also holding onto unfilled space or even paying incumbents to vacate. Apart from Superdry, Brooks Brothers and Pink that have already arrived, malls are looking to the next batch of potentially most-sought-after brands — H&M, Gap and Uniqlo — that are expected to start stores in the coming months. It has been six months since a franchisee store of US apparel brand Forever 21 vacated its store in Ambience mall in Vasant Kunj in New Delhi. The bar for a new tenant seems to have been set quite high — even the brands listed above may not make the cut. “We are waiting for the right brand that is not necessarily H&M or Gap but a suitable tenant,” said Deepti Goel, head of the mall. “We would rather wait for twothree months than give it to any retailer who doesn’t fit into our larger picture.” The DLF Place mall in Saket has either left space vacant or signed short-term lease agreements so that it can take it back in case it wants to do a deal with new brands. Meanwhile, Select Citywalk mall next door went to court to evict anchor-tenant Pantaloons department store. Select Citywalk wants to get back the 25,000 sq ft space as Future Group sold the Pantaloons retail business to the Aditya Birla group last year.
- Indian Clothing League raises Rs 50 crore through PE funds: Indian Clothing League has raised Rs 50 crore in funding from mid-market private equity fund ASK Pravi PE Opportunities Fund, as it looks to expand its manufacturing capacity and widen its retail footprint. This is the first round of funding for the Chandigarh-based kids wear manufacturer. ASK Pravi will take a significant minority stake in the venture, estimated between 26 per cent and 49 per cent. "The growth of the Indian domestic market has resulted in a number of companies, in the Rs30 crore to Rs100 crore revenue range, scale faster and reach critical mass, making them attractive investment opportunities," said Jayanta Banerjee, managing partner, ASK Pravi Capital Advisors. Indian Clothing League retails its two major brands 612 Ivy League and Baby League through large format stores such as Shoppers Stop and Reliance Retail, and through online commerce majors, Flipkart and Jabong. "The emergence of large retail formats and the advent of e-commerce in India have ensured that lifestyle ventures build a comprehensive network of distribution points," Banerjee said. This is the second investment made by the PE fund, which is backed by domestic family offices, in the last six months. In August last year, it invested Rs60 crore in Hyderabadbased tertiary care hospital chain OMNI Hospitals. The nine-year, Rs300 crore fund, which was launched in 2012, invests across four sectors education, consumer products, healthcare and consumer services. Its average investment ticket size ranges between Rs25 crore and Rs75 crore. "We will look to make between seven and eight investments up to 2016, from the fund," said Banerjee.
- Infibeam Shines on ODigMa in $5-M Strategic Purchase: The rapidly growing e-tailing segment saw Infibeam.com make more waves on Monday, with its decision to pick up 100% of digital marketer ODigMa for $5 million. "ODigMa's acquisition is strategic for Infibeam, working with over 26,000 SMEs through B2B platform BuildaBazaar.com. We will enable SMEs with limited resources to come online through ODigMa," says Infibeam.com CEO and founder Vishal Mehta. This is the Gujarat-based company's second acquisition since 2008, during which time online retailing revenues have surged from around 1,500 crore to an estimated 13,900 crore in 2012-13, according to CRISIL Research. It added that this CAGR of 56% had led it to forecast a 50,000-crore industry by 2016, growing at a whopping 50-55% annually over the next three years, 30-times more than 2008. The deal acquires further significance as India has mostly seen one e-tailer acquiring another for eyeballs or business extension. "Not many instances of acquisition for a specific technology or capability are reported in the public domain. For instance, Myntra acquired California-based Fitiquette that specialises in virtual filling room technology. Globally, many M&A activities are centred round this space," notes Ankur Bisen, senior vice-president (retail) at management consultant firm Technopak. ODigMa CEO and founder Advit Sahdev will relocate from the company's Bangalore office to Ahmedabad and set up a digital design and communications team from the National Institute of Design and Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.
- Swarovski to Launch Products Designed Specifically for India: Swarovski plans to launch more made-for-India products, open more stores and sort out supply chain and distribution-related issues to maintain healthy double-digit growth rate in the country, the great-great grandson of the founder of the Austrian luxury crystals and jewellery maker said. “We will continue to launch products specifically designed for the Indian market, besides strengthening the distribution channel, which is a challenge at the moment,” said Markus-Langes Swarovski, a fifth generation entrepreneur and executive board member of the €3-billion (approx . 25,500 crore) family concern. Having experienced a stable growth in both its B2B (Swarovski Professional) and the consumer business in the country since its entry in 2001, Swarovski expects to grow at a healthy double-digit rate. “Overall we are seeing good growth and projecting 20% growth in the professional business this year,” Swarovski told ET during a recent visit to the country. His company last year applied to form a fully owned single-brand retail subsidiary in the country, and is currently waiting for the FIPB’s approval. Swarovski said his company will focus on launching products designed for the Indian market and open new stores here. Swarovski currently sells its jewellery, pens and accessories through 34 franchise stores operated by various partners across the country. The company plans to have a mix of company-owned stores and partner stores in the future, he said. Swarovski, who is responsible for the firm’s professional business division, said the company changed the operating model of that business after coming under severe pressure globally around 2007.
- Bharti Retail Ropes in Walmart’s Wimsatt: Bharti Enterprises, going solo in retail after its high-profile split last year with Walmart Stores Inc., has hired Craig Wimsatt from the US company in what is being interpreted as an effort to make the company more attractive to a potential foreign partner. The move is significant in the wake of talk that Bharti Retail recently showcased its distribution centre in Chandigarh to officials from Tesco and Carrefour. Bharti said the suggestion was speculative. Tesco has in any case tied up with the Tatas for India supermarket venture. Wimsatt came on board earlier this month and will effectively work as number two to chief executive Raj Jain, said two persons with direct knowledge of the situation. The 19-year Walmart veteran had worked with the erstwhile joint venture as chief operating officer before the split. A Bharti spokesperson said Wimsatt had joined the company as an advisor. Both Jain and Wimsatt worked together at the Bharti Walmart joint venture. Bharti is building up its retail business independent of Walmart after the joint venture with the world’s largest retailer ended late last year amid mistrust between the partners. Walmart had initiated global internal investigations, including in India, to check for violations of US antibribery laws, prompting it to halt all expansion plans.
- Festival season fails to lure Indian consumers: Consumer goods and retail companies reported the steepest sales decline in 24 quarters during the three months to December after festivals and sales promotions failed to attract shoppers waiting for an upturn in the economy to open up their wallets. Eight firms analysed by Mint reported a decline in net profit for the first time in nine quarters, as slower economic growth and persistent inflation kept consumer confidence low in Asia’s third largest economy. Aggregate net sales stood at Rs.12,366 crore, down 9.4% compared with the same period a year ago. The companies picked represent a basket of consumer goods ranging from apparel to jewellery and consumer durables. This was the steepest decline since the quarter ended September 2011. Aggregate net profit for Shoppers Stop Ltd, the Tata group’s Trent Ltd andTitan Co. Ltd, Gitanjali Gems Ltd, Cesc Ltd that runs the Spencers super and hypermarket chains, Bajaj Electricals Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd andBata India Ltd stood at Rs.454.27 crore, a dip of 21.5% from Rs.578.82 crore in the December quarter of 2012. Future Retail Ltd was not included in the consolidated analysis as the firm’s year-on-year (y-o-y) results are not comparable because of a demerger of its fashion business in June 2013. Same-store sales (SSS) growth—a measure of sales at stores open for at least a year—slowed across the board in the last quarter with most firms reporting a contraction, especially across the older, more established stores. The measure excludes sales at stores that are less than one year old. Both consumer footfalls and spending have been declining, said Citi Research in a note dated 20 February.
International:
- BlackBerry announces new phones, services: BlackBerry says it will release a new phone in Indonesia in April, and it will make a phone that restores a beloved row of control keys with a trackpad. The Indonesia phone will sell for less than $200 without subsidies. It will later expand to other markets in southeast Asia. BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen says a version with faster, 4G connectivity is planned "sometime in the future before I die." It's the first phone done under a new five-year partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles products in vast factories in China. Meanwhile, Chen says it will restore the keys in a phone to be called the Q20. He says it's a response to lackluster sales of the Q10, which has a physical keyboard but lacks the trackpad or keys for functions such as going back. He says customer feedback indicates people missed that. The Q20, which Chen terms the "Classic," will come by year's end.
- Spring Fever Reigns at Las Vegas Shows: Women’s apparel brands and retailers are trying to shake off their winter woes. Scouring primarily spring and summer collections, buyers at the trade shows here looked forward to a strong few months ahead as shoppers emerge from the cold and add to their closets. There was certainly a slight hangover from the fall and winter, though, as buyers and brands started to ponder what the unpredictable business patterns and disappointing holiday season could mean for the fashion world during the second half of the year. “A lot of women looked last year and said, ‘I don’t want to buy a lot of summer clothes because I have a short window.’ This year, I even pulled out a bunch of my summer clothes and thought, ‘These are two years old,’” said Kristina Klockars, vice president of Hot Mama, the Edina, Minn.-based women’s clothing chain with 43 stores. “I feel like our customers are going to be out for spring because they have to replace things. Wearing those clothes for two seasons, they need that updated.” At the shows, the inclement weather on the East Coast gave a boost to fashion brands. For Renee C. from Los Angeles, sales from the first two days at WWDMAGIC increased 35 percent from the previous show. While it brought its fall collection to the Juniors section, hardly any buyers touched the rack, opting instead to snap up the vividly printed dresses and tops from the spring-summer grouping that wholesaled from $20 to $30.
- Stanley Korshak to Expand: The good times are rolling again at Stanley Korshak. The luxury retailer has launched a $2 million, 5,000-square-foot expansion to broadenbusiness in bridal and men’s and women’s contemporary fashions, accessories and shoes. The store posted a double-digit gain in 2013, with revenues eclipsing $45 million, according to owner Crawford Brock. “We had a good year last year, and with this expansion, we expect to continue our growth,” added executive vice president Rose Clark. Korshak will span 73,000 square feet with the added space, including nearly all the ground-floor retail in the courtyard at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel. “It’s really the most exciting thing we’ve done in 10 years, and it’s going to bring this whole courtyard alive,” Clark said. The first phase, a bigger bridal salon, aims to open April 1 with a new Vera Wang boutique and the addition of Naeem Khan and in-house custom designer Nha Khanh. The salon already represents 15 bridal designers, including Carolina Herrera, and will add gowns for mothers of the bride and groom.
- Facebook kills its email service, admits ‘it did not work’: Facebook, after unsuccessfully trying to get its users on its own email system, has thrown in the towel. The social networking giant told AFP by email that it was giving up on email “because most people haven’t been using their Facebook email address, and we can focus on improving our mobile messaging experience for everyone.” The company launched its email service in 2010, and in 2012 prompted an outcry by changing the default address for messages to users’ Facebook addresses. The project was seen as an attempt to be a “Gmail Killer,” by getting members of the biggest social network to switch email accounts, but Facebook now admits it did not work. “We’re notifying people who use their @facebook.com email that the feature is changing,” the company spokesman said. “When someone sends you an email to your @facebook.com address, it will no longer go to your Messages on Facebook. Instead, the email will be forwarded to the primary email address on your account. (People have the option to turn forwarding off.)” The news comes just days after Facebook announced a huge deal worth up to $19 billion in cash and stock for mobile messaging service WhatsApp.
- Tom Cole Joins Kurt Salmon: Tom Cole, who retired as chief administrative officer of Macy’s Inc. last June, has joined consulting firm Kurt Salmon as a partner in itsretail and consumer goods practice. Madison Riley, head of the practice in North America, described Cole’s experience in retail as “quite simply unparalleled. We plan to leverage his perspective on a whole range of client projects, from due diligence to operations transformation. He is going to add tremendous value to our team.” Cole was closely involved in Federated’s 1994acquisition of R.H. Macy & Co., resulting in the renaming of the company as Macy’s Inc., and in Macy’s 2005 acquisition of May Department Stores. Following his involvement with the consolidation of various regional brands into a unified Macy’s corporate structure in 2009, he focused on the My Macy’s localization program, Magic Selling customer engagement and omnichannel integration.
- Retail Shares Jump 1.9%: Positive reactions to fourth-quarter earnings reports from Macy’s Inc. and The Home Depot Inc. sent retail stocks higher even as the broader market declined slightly. The S&P 500 Retailing Industry Group enjoyed its second strongest gain of the year, rising 1.9 percent to 920.19. With the advance, the index has more days of gains than declines — 19 versus 18 — for the first time in 2014. The close was just slightly below the 920.87 arrived at on Jan. 14. The major indices came close but were unable to break even for the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.2 percent at 16,179.66 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.1 percent to 1,845.12. Shares of Macy’s Inc. advanced 6 percent to $56.25 after its fourth-quarter profits exceeded analysts’ consensus expectations even as sales lagged behind them after a difficult January. Home Depot’s stock was up 4 percent to $80.98 on an earnings “beat” also tempered by a small revenue “miss.” Fifth& Pacific Cos. Inc. shares were up 12 percent to $35.24 as its sales and profits increased in the fourth quarter while Dillard’s Inc. was up 7.9 percent to $90.17 following its report late Monday of declines in earnings, margins and sales. The upward lift for retailers came despite The Conference Board’s report of a small decline in consumer confidence in February after modest improvements in both January and December. Other beneficiaries included Joe’s Jeans Inc., up 4.3 percent to $1.46; Bebe Stores Inc., up 4.3 percent to $5.37, and American Apparel, up 3.9 percent to 73 cents. Among fashion, retail and beauty stocks traded by WWD, the largest decline by far was suffered by Perry Ellis International Inc., which surrendered 17.5 percent to close at $12.93 following its report late Monday of preliminary fourth-quarter results that fell well short of earlier guidance. Perry Ellis blamed weak traffic among consumers and lower replenishment activity among its retail accounts for the shortfall, which had also caused some January orders to be pushed back to later months.
Currency:
· 1 USD= ₹ 61.848
· 1 EUR= ₹ 84.982
· 1 GBP= ₹ 103.130
· 1 AUD= ₹ 55.633
Glitter Meter: India
Gold (INR/10g) | Silver (INR/kg) | |||
City | Current | Change | Current | Change |
Chennai | 30750.00 | 50 | 48710.00 | -195 |
Mumbai | 30260.00 | 40 | 48710.00 | -195 |
Delhi | 30010.00 | 40 | 48710.00 | -195 |
Kolkata | 30100.00 | 0 | 48710.00 | -195 |
World Indices:
Exchange | Last | Change |
DJIA | 16179.66 | -27.48 |
FTSE 100 | 6830.50 | -35.36 |
CAC 40 | 4415.55 | -4.58 |
DAX | 9699.35 | -9.59 |
Nikkei | 15031.67 | -19.93 |
Hang Seng | 22355.48 | +38.28 |
Sensex | 20867.90 | +15.43 |
NASDAQ | 4287.59 | -5.38 |
*Disclaimer:
World One Consulting Pvt Ltd will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this newsletter including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals.
World One Consulting Pvt Ltd will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this newsletter including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals.