The Power of Retail

Build-A-Bear workshop has arrived in the country, to the delight of thousands of kids who are already familiar with the concept. The US based company has tied up with the Murjani Group who has brought the brand to India. Build-A-Bear workshops will be located in Shoppers’ Stop outlets at first and later as exclusive stores of its own.

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Future Group will be entering the highly prized cash-and-carry sector in an effort to compete directly with it’s main competitors Reliance and the Wal-Mart/Bharti combine. Its cash-and-carry venture will take the name KB’s Wholesale, after it’s founder and promoter Kishore Biyani’s initials and will be opening in April. Future Group plans to open 15 stores over the next year and a half. The first outlet will be opened in Burdwan in West Bengal and a second outlet will open in Mathura.

Analysts say that it was imperitive for the Future Group to enter this sector if it wanted to compete effectively with Reliance and Wal-Mart as both retailers creating their back-end supply chains very strongly which will enable them to stock their stores with lower priced products. According to a retail consultant, “Wal-Mart cash & carry will obviously sell at a preferential rate to Bharti’s retail business than to say a Pantaloon,” thus is was essential for it to become a wholesaler itself.

A network of wholesale stores will also be extremely profitable when FDI restrictions are eased. London based marketing research and intelligence firm, Euromonitor says, “When the restrictions on retail in India are lifted, international retailers will be in prime position to easily convert their cash-and-carry stores into highly profitable supermarkets and hypermarkets.” German based Metro and South African Shoprite are the two cash-and-carry companies currently in the Indian market.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Changed the look of the blog, but not sure if I’m going to keep it, since I can’t seem to add stuff to the links on the top of the page. In fact, I can’t even find where they lead to, so it’s going to take a bit of research and hunting and reading on how to fix it. This theme is called Fastrack and is by Sadish Balasubramanium a software consultant with Microsoft.

I absolutely love the motion and atmosphere of light in this theme. It’s completely different and very refreshing. Interestingly, I am using another of his themes on my other blog The world around us too. He has some really great themes, have a look at some of them here.

EDIT: Switched back since I didn’t have the time to make all the required changes at the present. Will definitely be going back to the fastrack theme though, since I really like it.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Are you good at spotting trends?

Do you notice new products and services being offered in your neighborhood?

Well, if you do, you could become a springspotter, like me. I have been reading Springwise for several years and love all the news they have on trends from accross the world. Their network of trendspotters is called Springspotters and if you think you’re good at this kind of stuff, sign up and you might even win some cool gifts. The concept of being able to participate in such a project, makes looking out for trends even more interesting, right? It’s kind of along the same vein as social networking and participating in global forums.

Popularity: 9% [?]

While the Seattle based coffee chain is getting ready to open outlets in India by the end of 2007, it has become involved in a trademark row with an Indian company who is using thename ‘Starstrucks’ for a chain of health and beauty cafes with a Hollywood theme. The Starstrucks chain is being launched by Shahnaz Hussain, a well-known beauty expert who wants to sell coffee and chocolates with a herbal theme in a Hollywood like atmosphere. According to a spokesperson at Starbucks, “The company is optimistic that we will be able to open our first store and offer the unique Starbucks Experience in India with a yet-to-be announced joint venture partner by the end of 2007 in either New Delhi or Mumbai.”

Popularity: 9% [?]