India Retail News.

United Colors of Benetton popularly known as UCB clocked a 57% rise in sales in India in 2007. The Benetton board has identified five priority growth markets - India, Turkey, East Europe, China and Mexcio.

There are close to 140 UCB stores in India, probably one of the largest store base for UCB. Benetton's average bill in India is close to Rs 1,500 [$38]. Upto 95% of the merchandise is sourced locally but has to meet the UCB's stringent quality and design standards.

UCB is in the midst of rolling out specialized stores for Kids and Lingerie for Women. The Lingerie stores will retail under the brand name - Undercolors. The first two stores are open for business in Delhi NCR and Mumbai as pilot projects.

Chandigarh based K.D.L has informed us about the beginning of Kamla Retail - Retail chain of Travel Agents across India. Kamla Retail will take on Travel Tours in the click - brick retail model for travel.

Mr. Yash Saboo, Chairman said,

Travel retail is a sector primarily dominated by international players. We will be making a bid at all major airports in the domestic arena to expand our footprint. The sector is still in infancy stage mainly on account of poor infrastructure. However, with the introduction of the new internationally designed and managed airports, travel retail is set to boom.

The company currently owns 14 stores across India and plans to scale the number to 60 by the end of this year. They plan to invest Rs 100 crore for the said expansion.

K.D.L also manages a duty-free shop through its luxury brand of watches Ethos at the Bengaluru International Airport. Indian consumers spend $440 at duty-free shops, which compares to $590 at non-duty free shops at travel destinations, points a survey. [We really think this survey is skewed and is probably talking of First Class and Club Class fliers]

We are delighted to share the latest sales breakdown of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. Value Retailing is the clear leader and contributes 61% to total sales, followed by stagnant Lifestyle Retail segment at 22%. Home Retailing had a dismal performance in Jan-08 at 16%.

The same store sales growth in value Retailing [Big Bazaar, etc] was at 12.5% as indicated in the chart below.
The same store sales growth of Lifestyle Retailing was at 5% as indicated in the chart below.

High retail rentals and unrealistic real estate prices are a hindrance to genuine businesses and retailers. Reliance Retail didn't take it too long to realize and invite franchisees across all its retail format in the last week of Feb-08. Now its turn of Kewal Kiran clothing, manufacturer and owner of Killer and Lawman brands.

Mr. Vikrant Gandhi, Chairman said,

We had planed to rollout 100 plus stores on the lease model by the end of March, but due to increase in property rentals last year, we opened only 16 leased outlets. Instead we changed the model from lease to franchisee and currently have 99 stores. This helped in reducing the total investment, while achieving the projected turnover.

This business model also saved the company Rs 20 crore. The company now plans to be present heavily in Tier-I market and locate stores in select elite areas.. If they find it difficult to get a franchisee then the company will go for an exclusive brand outlet.

Until now, the company had focused only on menswear. They now plan to introduce womens wear brand. Launch will be in select outlets this holiday season. Kindly note that this is apart from the Killer jeans already made available to the Indian women. You can apply to be a franchisee of Killer or Lawman brand here.

Pokarna group promoted menswear retail brand StanzaWorld is all set to open more exclusive stores this year, mostly in Tier - I cities. They plan to double the store count to 20. 3 exclusive stores are planned for Delhi NCR and one each in Bangalore and Kolkata. They also retail through multi brand outlets.

The company will also launch new product line - belts, jackets, etc in the menswear section. Mr. Gautam Jain, Chairman said,

We are trying to create the same look, interior ambiance for teh stores. Each will house around 300 designs, which will keep growing. We are looking for prime locations in several potential cities.

Pokarna was the only Indian company to exhibit in the NY Fashion show. With this distinction, the company expects to get a boost for its export business. It is also strengthening its private label business to cater to the Western markets.

Tata Group which tasted the success of retailing with foreign partner in Tata Croma [ Consumer Durables and Electronics retailer] is said to be in talks [not confirmed] with Steinhoff International to setup Home Decor and Furniture retail stores in India under the brand name - Tata Home. Currently Pantaloon's Home Town and Hero Groups Oma Home Decor are the big organized retailers in this sector apart from smaller ones like Style Spa [Gautier] etc.

Tata Home plans to setup stores mostly in Tier-I cities and each store is expected to be atleast 50,000 sft large.

In a separate development, ITC's lifestyle retailing division is on an expansion spree. They plan to setup more Wills Lifestyle, John Players and Miss Players stores across India. It also wants to create a stronger brand name for Wills Lifestyle. Mr. Atul Chand, VP Sales said,

We want to make the Wills Lifestyle brand more upscale, international and personalize the experience for the customer.

They plan to add 150 stores taking the tally to 400 by end of FY09.