Daily News Digest- 25th Nov'14

Thought of the Day:

Today in History:

Following made the Headlines:

India:

• Flipkart Plans Solo Show for 30 More Global Brands: Flipkart plans to launch exclusive sales for over 30 global brands on its portal next year, as more marketers seek to benefit from the rising reach of online retail in India. The Bengaluru-based company, which sold millions of units for Chinese phone maker Xiaomi and Motorola, is looking to replicate the success across categories. “The criterion to select the brands is based upon needs of Indian consumers and whether they are getting that product at the price they want,“ said Michael Adnani, vicepresident for retail at Flipkart, adding that nearly 70 brands had approached his company for exclusive tie-ups. This year, apart from mobile phones Flipkart has been the sole marketplace for several fashion and apparel brands like Diesel, Debenhams and Kenneth Cole Reaction Marketers are of the view that online channels where overhead costs are not built into the price paid by a consumer will become more attractive. “We plan to launch newer models exclusively on Flipkart in 2015, which includes Mi4 smartphone,“ said Hugo Barra, vice president of Xiaomi.

• The Chennai Angels invests in Velvetcase.com: The Chennai Angels (TCA) on Monday announced an investment in Velvetcase.com, a Mumbai-based e-commerce company specializing in custom and designer jewellery. The value of the investment is approximately Rs.6 crore, according to Velvetcase.com. The investment was led by TCA investors Kayar Raghavan and Lakshmi Potluri with participation from other entrepreneurs and angel investors including Jacob Kurian, partner at New Silk Route Advisors, Jerry Rao, founder of Value and Budget Housing Corp. Pvt. Ltd, and Arihant Patni, managing director, Hive Technologies. Velvetcase was founded in 2012 by Kapil Hetamsaria and Runit Shah. It is a global online platform for custom and designer jewellery. It partners with handpicked designers from across the world to bring a variety of designs to consumers across the world. The team has built a disruptive supply chain model by leveraging cutting edge technology like 3D printers and process innovations in jewellery manufacturing.

• A Used Car Now Sold for Every New Car Purchased in India: The Indian car market may still be facing the dismaying prospect of reporting a drop in sales for two consecutive calendar years, but demand for used cars is on the rise as several first-time buyers now consider second-hand vehicles. Carmakers Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar and Mahindra & Mahindra have all reported impressive growth in their used-car business. For every new car sold in the country so far this year a used car was also sold, according to consultancy and market research firm Frost & Sullivan. It expects sales of both new and used cars to be 2.5 million units each this year. In developed markets, the ratio of new passenger vehicle sales to used passenger vehicle sales is 1:3. According to global market research firm JD Power, the percentage of firsttime car buyers considering used vehicle in the country has increased to 17% in 2014 from just 4% in 2011. The rise in used car sales comes at a time when new vehicle sales are struggling. India’s annual passenger vehicle sales dropped for the first time in 11 years in 2013 and even this year trends show flat, if not lower, sales. “Due to high inflation as well as interest rates, the positive sentiments have not resulted in increase in the new car sales,” said Abdul Majeed, partner at PwC India. “Meantime, first-time car buyers are postponing new car purchases and going either for two-wheelers or used cars,” he added.

• Bed & Beverage: A New Hotel Category on the Rise: He runs bars, clubs, and restaurants across the world, from New York to London, Paris and Ibiza. This January, though, the financier-turned-barkeep is prepping his most ambitious project yet: a B&B. Not bed and breakfast, but bed and beverage. Instead of early mornings, chintzy comforters, and homecooked fry-ups, he’ll be offering late nights, sleek linens, and handcrafted cocktails at the 37-room Grand Pigalle hotel in Paris. The entire hotel will be defined by the wine bar and cocktail den on its first floor. This will act as its key amenity, rather than a conventional restaurant (though food will be available, too). “When you call room service, you’ll be able to ask either to talk to the sommelier or the bartender, and we’ll bring up cocktails to your room,” de Gorïanoff explained over the phone last week. He’s also planning to stock the mini bars with house-made premixed bottled cocktails so there’s top notch tipple on tap at any hour. Nightlife, in his view, is the perfect proving ground for a would-be hotelier. “You have a very current sense of how to welcome people that’s pushed to extremes because of the sheer number of people you’re welcoming every night.” De Gorïanoff isn’t alone. These unconventional B&Bs are appearing stateside, too.

• Hero Exports to Africa, Sri Lanka in Fast Lane: Sri Lanka and Africa are fast emerging as the largest export markets for Hero MotoCorp, according to the company's vicechairman and managing director, Pawan Munjal. “Sri Lanka has been a very big market for us. In recent times, we have seen some large volumes out of that market,“ Munjal told ET on Monday. “Outside of the subcontinent, African markets have also been volume drivers for us.“ Hero MotoCorp is the world's largest two-wheeler maker by volume. It sells its products in 22 countries, up from just four about a year-and-a-half ago. The company is targeting 10% of total sales from overseas markets. Later this week, Hero MotoCorp will launch its two-wheelers under the `Hero' badge in Colombia, South America. “We will be launching six models Splendor iSmart, Eco Deluxe, Passion-Pro, Glamour, Hunk and Karizma ZMR in Colombia. We are starting with 120 dealers and we plan to expand our distribution network to over 150 outlets in a year,“ Munjal said. Earlier, the company was selling motorcycles in the country under the erstwhile joint brand of Hero Honda.

• Bharti Airtel to Sell Nigerian Telecom Towers to American Tower Corporation: Bharti Airtel has signed a deal to sell its 4,800-plus telecom towers in Nigeria to American Tower Corporation for around $1.05 billion (about `. 6,463 crore) as the world's fourth largest carrier attempts to lower its debt and turn around its loss-making operations in the continent. Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel signed the deal with ATC through its international arm, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV . “Airtel will be the anchor tenant on the portfolio under a lease with a 10-year initial term,“ the two companies said in a joint statement issued on Monday. “Total consideration is expected to be approximately $1.05 billion, subject to customary adjustments,“ ATC said separately in its US regulatory filing, adding that it expected the acquisition to close in the first half next year, subject to regulatory and other conditions. ET had reported in September that Bharti Airtel was likely to raise over $1 billion through sale of its Nigerian telecom towers to ATC. The development follows the sale of 3,100 towers by Bharti in July. These towers, located across Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Chad, were sold to Helios Tower Company, an independent tower operator backed by George Soros, Madeleine Albright and Jacob Rothschild.

• Cab Startups Eye Mobile Wallets for Growth: Customers are more likely to hail a cab of a particular firm if its app is already active on their mobile phones and loaded with cash in virtual wallets, companies such as Olacabs, Meru, TaxiForSure and Uber are finding out as they compete for a larger pie of India's $9-billion (about ₹ 56,000 crore) taxi market. “About 25% of all our bookings in October were made by wallet users. Regular users who use the Ola Money wallet now book 30% more cabs than before,“ said Olacabs' CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.Olacabs started doubling Ola money recharge on its wallet, so users recharging with Rs 100 got . 200 to spend, which led to an up` surge in usage. With a war chest at its command, having raised $210 million (about ₹ 1,300 crore) led by Japan's Softbank, Olacabs is this week offering a 50% discount to its customers who book taxis through its wallets. The company is managing its wallet integration and technology in-house. Ola Mini ride costs as little as ₹ 2.5 per km just for its wallet customers. Mobile wallet company Paytm, which is the official Uber wallet partner, is also offering a free ride . 500 to its customers, who of up to ` shop each time for an equivalent amount with its wallet.

• SpiceJet in talks with investors for fresh capital: SpiceJet Ltd is in " exploratory and preliminary stage" talks with investors about raising fresh capital that it needs to return to profitability, the budget airline said in a regulatory filing on Monday. SpiceJet, which this month reported its fifth consecutive quarter of losses, has been trying to raise fresh capital for much of this year. It said in May it was in " advanced" talks for capital infusion but no deal materialised. "We wish to clarify that a few parties have approached us and evinced interest in making investments into SpiceJet Limited ( the "Company"), as the Company has been exploring various options for raising fresh capital," the airline said.The talks are at an early stage so it would be improper to comment on the specifics of any possible stake sale, it said.

International:

• Amazon to deliver to customers via local post offices: Earlier this month Royal Mail warned that rivals, including Amazon, were hitting its parcel delivery business. It said that Amazon's own delivery service could dent its business by as much as 2% in the short term. Now, Amazon customers will be able to have their parcels delivered by Royal Mail to 10,500 post office branches. "Clearly the reasoning behind this must be Royal Mail trying to save some of its business," said city analyst Nicla Di Palma, of Brewin Dolphin. Royal Mail's parcel operations have suffered from intense competition since the group was privatised last year.

• Idina Menzel Performs at Bloomingdale's Holiday Window Unveiling: Bloomingdale's fans gathered at Beacon Court this evening for the performance of iLuminate, an "America's Got Talent" act of dancers who wear "Power Ranger"-ish suits that light up as they move to a blend of hip hop and electronic music. Then came Idina Menzel, the Tony award-winning actress/singer, wearing a black fur jacket. She sang "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" and a few more Christmas standards before performing her hit, the theme song from the movie "Frozen.""I have a show to do over there on 46th Street. Are you coming? I'm not going to have a voice left, so I hope you're not coming. Screw those people at the Richard Rogers," she said, referring to the theater where she's performing "If/Then.""This is what matters." Later, Menzel said before performing her final song, "Silent Night,""If you're afraid to be alone on the holiday, you know I sometimes do, snuggle up with someone — or if you prefer to be alone, there's nothing wrong with that is there?"

• The Webster Men's Opens in Bal Harbour: The Webster Miami has opened its first freestanding men’s store, The Webster Men’s, at the Bal Harbour Shops, about 45 minutes north of its South Beach flagship. The 1,700-square-foot space, at 9700 Collins Avenue at the Bal Harbour Shops, sports an “edgier” mix of designer men’s brands, including about 10 labels new to the store. “It took a little longer than we thought it would,” said Laure Heriard Dubreuil, chief executive officer and cofounder of the retailer. “But it was worth the wait.” She said she took down the wall that separated the new men’s store from a 2,600-square-foot women’s store that opened in the outdoor shopping center last December. “It looks big,” Heriard Dubreuil said. “It doesn’t look like a mini-Webster anymore, but a real Webster.” The Miami store, which opened in 2009 and has become well known for its sharply edited selection of designer apparel and accessories, luxury atmosphere and top-notch service for men and women, measures 20,000 square feet.

• Coach Rolls Out New Retail Concept: It’s a phrase that’s been uttered ad nauseam since the appointment of Stuart Vevers as executive creative director in fall 2013. There have been the new clothes, the new ad campaign, the buzzy new mantra — “modern luxury” — and now, bringing them all together, a new retail concept. During Coach’s Analyst and Investor Day in June, the company noted this “re-platforming” of the entire fleet of Coach stores will require an investment north of $570 million, spread evenly across the 2015, 2016 and 2017 fiscal years — so this is not just a simple carpet change or fresh coat of paint. The investment comes at a time when Coach continues to struggle. For the three months ended Sept. 27, net income was $119.1 million, 45.3 percent below the $217.9 million reported in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Sales in the period were $1.04 billion, 9.7 percent below the year-ago level but higher than the $1 billion consensus estimate. Gross margin fell 290 basis points to 68.9 percent of sales from 71.8 percent in the year-ago quarter.

• Zadig & Voltaire Sets Mideast Expansion: In a new partnership with Chalhoub Group, Zadig & Voltaire plans to open a dozen new stores in the Middle East by 2020. The first is to open in Qatar early next year. The French contemporary brand already has one flagship store at the Dubai Mall and two corners at Galeries Lafayette in the same shopping complex. The contemporary market is a fast growing segment in the region. Patrick Chalhoub, co-chief executive officer of Chalhoub Group, said he would help “give them an in-depth understanding of the Middle Eastern customers’ expectations and behaviors as well as the market dynamics.”

• Gap Sets Deal with Zalando: Gap is getting back in action in Germany, via a partnership with German e-tail giant Zalando. The American sportswear retailer and Berlin-based online retailer announced a pan-European partnership in which Gap will open its own dedicated online shop with Zalando. Slated to start next summer, the Gap shop will offer apparel and accessories from the Gap Women, Gap Men, GapKids and Baby Gap assortments, selling to consumers in Zalando’s 15 European markets. Gap joins brands such as Adidas, Esprit, Hugo Boss, Levi’s, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Mango and Topshop in Zalando’s cooperative shop roster. The shop is Gap’s “first foray in multi-brand retailing in Europe,” noted Stefan Laban, Gap senior vice president international. Furthermore, Gap’s collections will for the first time be styled alongside other brands on the Zalando site, “providing customers with new looks to combine American and European casual style, he said.

• Stacy Van Praagh Exits Reed Krakoff: Stacy Van Praagh, who joined Reed Krakoff Co. as president in May, is no longer with the firm. Neither Van Praagh nor Reed Krakoff, chief executive officer and creative director, could be reached for comment Monday. Prior to joining Krakoff, Van Praagh was president, Americas of Fendi, where she worked from 2009 to 2013. Earlier she held such posts as global vice president of sales at Oscar de la Renta, vice president of sales at Kate Spade and director of ready-to-wear at Chanel. Van Praagh had reported to Krakoff. At the time of her hiring, Krakoff told WWD that Van Praagh had been a customer of the collection and e-mailed him. “I met her and immediately thought she would be a great addition to the brand,” he said. Van Praagh’s role was to grow Krakoff’s business through wholesale and retail sales. A Krakoff spokesman said they have begun a search for her successor.

• Coca-Cola's Katie Bayne Joins Ann Inc. Board: Katie J. Bayne, senior vice president of global sparkling brands at The Coca-Cola Co., has been elected to the board of Ann Inc. Her addition increases the size of the board to nine from eight. All but Kay Krill, president and chief executive officer of the company, are independent directors. Bayne joined Coca-Cola in 1989. For three years beginning in 2010, she was president and general manager of sparkling beverages for Coke’s North American unit. Before assuming her most recent position, she was president of North American brands for the company.

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Names New Board Member: Wal-mart Stores today said it has named to its board of directors Tom Horton, former chairman and ceo of American Airlines. Horton, who becomes the 16th board member, will serve on the audit committee. "[Horton's] broad leadership roles combined with his global insights and understanding of the corporate issues a multinational company manages will benefit the board, the management team and our shareholders, said chairman Rob Walton. "I've long admired Wal-Mart's values and the way it helps people's lives across the world," Horton said. "Wal-Mart has a strong leadership team backed by a solid business plan and is building new and innovator ways to serve customers."

Tech:

• Xiaomi in Talks to `Make in India': Xiaomi, the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor, plans to get its devices made in India and is talking to its manufacturing partners in China to extend their support to making phones here. The four-year-old startup, which dethroned Samsung in China, may start with the assembly of handsets, possibly within two years in India, which is set to become its most crucial overseas market. It had considered Nokia’s now-defunct manufacturing plant near Chennai for assembly but hasn’t followed through because the large component ecosystem required to make smartphones here is unavailable. “We’ve started talking to some potential partners to see if they can assemble the phones for us in India,” said Manu Jain, head of Xiaomi’s India operations. “We are beginning to explore, along with these partners, what are the regulatory constraints, the financials around it, how much investment we need to make, tax implications of setting up a manufacturing plant as it is far more complicated,” he added. “It will be the longest lead-time activity that we will do in India.” Xiaomi, which has sold more than 800,000 Mi 3 and Redmi 1S smartphones, launched the 3G and 4G variants of the Redmi Note for ₹ 8,999 and ₹ 9,999, respectively, on Monday. The company doesn’t make smartphones, but designs the hardware and software, finalises the components and gives out manufacturing contracts. 

• ZTE Plans to Sell Premium Phones Online: Chinese smartphone maker ZTE plans to push its premium smartphones exclusively through ecommerce platforms in a bid to emulate the recent success of Xiaomi and Motorola that have become immensely popular all over the country despite being available only on online shops. ZTE will launch its Grand S II smartphone in India on a leading e-commerce platform this week, followed by Nubia range of smartphones, Sudhir Gaur, director of smartphones at ZTE, told ET. Gaur said ZTE will invest on bolstering its positioning in India, which is already its thirdbiggest market after China and the US. “The perception towards Chinese smartphones has changed a lot following the investments made by other Chinese device vendors,” Gaur said, referring to Xiaomi and Lenovo. ZTE aims to sell over 1 million smartphones in India by the end of December 2015, Gaur said, adding that it will focus on the ₹ 10,000-15,000 price band.

• Samsung Mobile Execs Set to Pay Price in Overhaul: Leaders of Samsung Electronics’ mobilephone unit may be replaced as the controlling Lee family tries to revive a business where profits slumped by $4.5 billion as upstart Chinese vendors won market share. The management restructure, part of a revamp across the more than 70 companies that make up Samsung Group, is the first under heir apparent Lee Jae Yong since his father Lee Kun Hee was hospitalised in May after a heart attack. Hundreds of executives at companies are expected to change jobs. The moves are the latest twist at Samsung as the Lee family restructures its empire and prepares to hand over power to a new generation. The company plans to cut the number of new smartphone models by a third next year and has transferred 500 engineers out of the mobile unit, putting the spotlight on division head and co-CEO Shin Jong Kyun. “A large-scale leadership change at the mobile division may come,” said Chung Chang Won, an analyst at Nomura Holdings. “The top leadership who misstepped in the mobile business will have to pay the price.” Shares of Samsung fell 0.3% to 1,220,000 won at the close of trade in Seoul.

• Latest App Brings 6Degrees of Change: Tired of keying in the details every time someone in your contact list changes phone numbers or address? Help is here. 6Degrees, a startup, has developed a self-updating phonebook for your smartphone that verifies and updates contact details on its own. Founded by Niranjan Rao, a former Singapore-based investment banker, and Arun Samudrala, a Bangalore-based engineer, 6degrees is like a social network within your phone book. “We want to create your own private universe of relationships within your phone,“ said Rao. “In a few months, we will look for investors who can bring us industry insights as well,“ he said. With this app, users can update their contact details and share it with trusted friends and the friend's phone automatically updates the new number. People will be able to access all connections from across networks in a private manner. 6degrees recently bagged a deal from Lava, maker of Xolo handsets, to make 6degrees the default phone book in its mobiles. The app is available in seven languages including Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English. It has options to keep contacts private, and to hide from other users on the network. The company claims to have 7 million contacts on its database from 14,500 users. 6degrees won a ₹ 25 lakh iJam award from ` the Singapore government in February.

• Google is closing its Google Glass Stores - here's what they looked like on the inside: You have to walk through this tunnel at King's Cross to get to the Google store. Google is closing all its Basecamp stores, the physical retail shops where it sold Google Glass, according to 9to5Google. According to this post on Google+ from a Google Glass developer, the company no longer needs the stores because so many people are buying the smart glasses online. But the move also comes after several rounds of not-great news for Google Glass. Some major developers - like Twitter - have stopped supporting their apps on Google Glass. Reuters reported recently that several companies that adopted Google Glass early on have lost interest in the device. There were only four places in the world where people could buy Google Glass in a Basecamp store: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and London. We took a trip to the London one.

• BlackBerry is offering up to $550 if you trade-in your iPhone for a BlackBerry Passport: BlackBerry has struggled as of late, but it’s trying hard to lure users over to its latest hardware. The company today announced that it’s offering a ‘trade-up’ program that could save iPhone owners up to $550 on a purchase of a Blackberry Passport. The payment is split up into a $150 as a Visa Prepaid card for every device, plus up to $400 dollars depending on the model and condition of the phone. Blackberry is accepting every iPhone model since the 4s, but that model will only net you $90 in addition to the $150 card. The trade-up program starts on December 1 and lasts until February 13 of next year, and is only available in North America.You can get the estimated trade-in value of your iPhone on Blackberry’s dedicated page. Additionally, Blackberry is also offering a limited time $100 discount on the Passport and $275 off of the Z30 on its online store for the holidays.