Bata to launch 'Footin' stores for young adults Economic Times Bata, the country's largest footwear retailer, is setting up a new retail format to sell affordable fashion footwear and accessories targeted at young adults under 'Footin' brand. Bata plans to open 100 Footin stores by 2015 at an investment of about Rs 45 crore, Bata India Managing Director Rajeev Gopalakrishnan said. "We currently have four Footin stores under trial stage. The response is encouraging with sales of 700-800 pairs on a weekly basis," he said. Footin stores are set up over 1,000 sq ft and sell products at price points of 399 and 599. These stores will have a different layout and design and will don a youthful look as compared to the Bata stores.

Online retailers tweak business models Times of India Online retailers in India are fast changing their business models in an effort to stay afloat and turn profitable. Over the last six months there has been a strategy change effected by many players as fund infusion slows down in an industry which was piping hot for investors till last year. Snapdeal, a daily deal site that offered discounts largely on services such as spas and restaurants, expanded into selling electronics, fashion and lifestyle products recently. FashionandYou, a flash site which started off with apparel and accessories, has now become a pure-play e-commerce entity selling everything from homewares to kidswear as it broadens the portfolio.

Investors wary as Flipkart shows growth pangs Business Standard Flipkart, the poster boy of Indian online retail, is going through growth pangs, making investors edgy with its financials. Analysts and venture capitalists said Flipkart was making considerable losses on transactions of books that accounted for 65 percent of its sales volume and 40 per cent of revenue. If pushed to a corner, Flipkart might even consider reducing the chunky discounts it offered on books, they said. The online retailer, which stocks 11.5 million book titles on average, refused to reply to a detailed questionnaire sent on Tuesday on whether its losses had increased recently and why. The company also did not offer any comments on the possibility of reducing discounts.

Brand Vinegar opens first store in India at Mumbai indiaretailing.com After successfully functioning through shop-in-shop mode in Europe, including Spain, Portugal, and Greece, brand Vinegar has opened its first retail store in Mumbai at Khar, Linking Road. Spread over an area of 5,000 sq.ft., the outlet stocks a range of casual, office, and evening wear along with a pret line for women. Speaking on the occasion, Varsha Bhawnani, Brand Owner (who had previously shut two stores in India, in order to launch a haute couture line), said: "In my opinion, it is hardest to break through the high street fashion segment. Therefore, we wanted to go at its head first. We do hope to get into haute couture at a later stage, but only once we have mastered the space we are currently into." Talking more on the USP of the brand, Bhawnani added that the cut, fit, colour, and fabric will make Vinegar stand out in the Indian apparel market.

DLF Brands to expand AVE.NEU stores FashionUnited India DLF Brands, a division of the real estate major DLF has launched its first multi-brand retail venture AVE.NEU. It plans to open 25 outlets throughout the country with an investment of Rs 125 crores in the next three years. Plans are to launch 9-10 stores in the next one year. The new stores will come up in places like Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Surat. The company's upcoming multi-brand outlets will involve three formats. The regular store with an area of 10,000-15,000 sq. ft; accessory stores and small size stores. They are expected to grow at 30 percent per annum. Meanwhile, the newly opened AVE.NEU store in Delhi will introduce three formats under the AVE.NEU brand - multi-brand big format stores, discount stores and express formats for accessories.

News - Food, QSR

Dunkin' Donuts eyes 30 percent higher sales in India Economic Times US baked food and coffee chain Dunkin' Donuts is seeing 20-30 percent higher sales in India than what it envisaged while entering the country earlier this month, a top official said. "India is a very important market and when people talk about slowing growth in India it's still 7 percent and is among the very few countries that is growing at this rate," Dunkin' Donuts CEO Nigel Travis said. Dunkin' Donuts, which has an alliance with Jubilant Foodworks in India, has opened three stores in the country so far. It plans to open more than 500 stores over the next 15 years. "We see India as one of the fastest growing countries in the world with a fast-growing middle class. It's got a population which is clearly urbanising and is becoming more and more familiar with quick-service restaurants," Travis said.

World's most expensive burger at 295 dollars Times of India A restaurant in New York City is selling the most expensive burger in the world with a price tag of 295 dollars. Le Burger Extravagant is made with Wagyu beef, truffle butter, cave-aged cheddar from the UK, and caviar from China, the New York Daily News reported. Serendipity 3, a Manhattan cafe that played a starring role in the 2001 Hollywood romantic-comedy 'Serendipity' and is also home to the 1,000-dollar sundae, has created the treat, a luxurious sandwich filled with a laundry list of premium ingredients.

Trends

Falling Re to make imported items dearer: Shoppers Stop Business Standard Shoppers Stop, the K Raheja-promoted departmental store chain, is anticipating 5-7 percent growth in same-store-sales (SSS) this year, even as the rupee-dollar imbalance threatens to put a pressure on prices of merchandise, especially that of imported category. Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate and Managing Director, Shoppers Stop Limited who was here to launch the Shoppers stop store in Jalandhar (second in Punjab), said the weakening of rupee against dollar is likely to put pressure on prices of imported accessories like cosmetic items, perfume and watches among other items that would become more expensive. The Indian rupee value has fallen over 20 percent against the dollar in last one year.

Indians' love for luxury e-shopping on the rise FashionUnited India As shopping on the net gains ground in India, e-commerce platforms are cashing in on the wave. Even luxury brands such as Jimmy Choo and Roberto Cavalli, are looking at it as a big opportunity. A study done by digital measurement firm comScore Inc had revealed some time back that in November, 27.2 million people in India aged 15 or above accessed an online store, 18 percent more than in the previous year. Although a bulk of the traffic went to discount sites, entrepreneurs, impressed with the value and volume of online shopping, see a potential for luxury labels gaining presence online, comScore said.

Insight

Outsourcing In The Quick Service Restaurant Industry Oscar Rembao This paper will focus on the phenomenon of outsourcing in the unlikely place of the Quick Service Restaurant industry. Specifically, this report will go into extensive detail regarding the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing in this competitive field. Areas that will be researched will be the revolutionary "outsourced drive-thru" that companies like McDonalds are taking into consideration where call centers are being considered for taking orders. This paper will also explore outsourcing of daily operational management to generate unit and revenue growth including IT systems that facilitate operations. In addition, this paper will investigate the outsourcing services that are currently available to help rejuvenate distressed brands during a down economy.

The Case for Consolidation of Indian Brands (Premium) - View Free Sample From the launch of the first few men's shirts brands in the early and mid nineties, the Indian fashion industry has come a long way; and today it boasts of an excellent mix of regional, national and international brands vying for consumers' attention and share of their wallets. The memories of pioneer brands such as Stencil are still fresh in the minds of many. Arrow's educational campaigns teaching Indian consumers the merits of a button down shirts may seem amateurish today but they created the long-lasting relationship with consumers who have made Arrow so stupendously successful today. While I still believe that the Indian market doesn't have enough brands on offer but I am quite satisfied with the developments over the last 15 years. The most satisfying has been the boldness and courage with which numerous Indian companies have launched their brands across segments.

Smart Sourcing by Punit Agarwal of Promart (Premium) - View Free Sample Buying the right raw materials and goods from the right sources is key to success, asserts Puneet Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer of Promart. A second generation entrepreneur hailing from a family with business interest in retailing of sarees, wedding trousseaus and embroidery (domestic and exports), Agarwal acquired Promart from Provogue in 2011. As the CEO of Promart he is responsible for overall business decisions, logistics and inventory management. His role also includes setting up targets and identifying key markets for growth. The business of sourcing takes him to all corners of the globe and he delves into his experience to come up with a few thumb rules while sourcing from China and other countries.

Return of the MBO (Premium) - View Free Sample WITH RISING RENTALS AND FALLING CONSUMPTION, MBOS ARE EMERGING AS THE MOST VIABLE OPTION FOR BRANDS THAT ARE LOOKING AT GAINING A VITAL PRESENCE ACROSS VARIOUS MARKETS. IMAGES BUSINESS OF FASHION HAS BEEN FOLLOWING THE GROWTH TRAJECTORY OF THIS RESURGENT FORMAT FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS. MORE AND MORE BRANDS ARE REALISING THAT THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS TO PARTNER WITH THOUSANDS OF TRADITIONAL RETAILERS ACROSSINDIA AND WORK ON TRANSFORMING THE EXISTING MODERN MULTIBRAND OUTLETS TO OFFER CONSUMERS THE VERY BEST IN TERMS OF CHOICE, PRICE, VALUE AND SHOPPING EXPERIENCE. AT THE RECENTLY HELD INDIA FASHION FORUM 2012, INDUSTRY GIANTS DEBATE THE WAY FORWARD FOR MODERN FASHION RETAILING. IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES IMAGES BOF WEIGHS THE ADVANTAGES OF THE MULTIBRAND OUTLETS OVER EXCLUSIVE BRAND STORES IN THE PRESENT SCENARIO.

Retail Watch_Pakiza_May12 (Premium) - View Free Sample RETAILERS WHO START FROM SCRATCH HAVE MUCH TO IMPART TO THE INDUSTRY IN TERMS OF LEARNINGS. IMAGES BOF SPEAKS TO MEHBOOB HUSSAIN GORI, CEO, PAKIZA RETAIL, ABOUT HIS UNIQUE STRATEGIES. Pakiza Retail Pvt. Ltd., a part of Pakiza Group, was established in the year 1975 and interestingly the brand was named after the movie Pakeezah, released in 1972, which means pure. Before 1975 the founder brothers - Maqsood Hussain Gori and Manjoor Hussain Gori used to have a bicycle repair shop in the middle of an apparel trade market. Drawn towards the apparel retail business, the Gori brothers decided to start their very own apparel business. They borrowed Rs.3,000 from a friend and started selling clothes on a trolley. The business kicked off and they bought an otla of the size 3x2 ft. and thereafter there was no looking back for the Gori brothers. Currently, Pakiza Textile Pvt. Ltd. has more than 1, 50,000 sq. ft. of retail space including seven stores across Indore and Madhya Pradesh. "In Indore, we currently cater to the customers with value added products and service through our seven businessretail units.