Munjals join retail bandwagon December 20, 2006
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Business Standard reports that the $3.2 billion Munjal owned Hero Group will be entering the retail sector and is looking for an international joint venture partner. According to Pawan Munjal, managing director of Hero Honda, the company is entering organized retail in India, even though there is tough competition. He added that, “Retail, which is likely to emerge as a major sector in the Indian market, is one of the core areas of our future growth strategy.”
The Hero Group has also started a company called Aero Infrastructure Ltd which will be focusing on developing institutional infrastructure in India, and has identified real estate development such as residential complexes, shopping malls, community complexes and hospitals as the major areas that it will be entering.
TCS creates interest in Wal-Mart and Target with its Personal Shopping Assistant December 20, 2006
Posted by Shel in Retail, Technology.add a comment
The Economic Times reports that Wal-Mart and Target have both shown interest in a new retail technological product being developed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The new product is a Personal Shopping Assistant (PSA) and is currently being tested out at the TCS retail innovation lab, with a likely rollout occurring sometime next year. K Ananth Krishnan, Chief Technology Officer at TCS, said that “TCS has worked with some of the largest retailers, including 30 of the 50 largest in the world, and retail contributes more than $200 million in revenues for the company.”
The PSA will be a scanning device with a LCD screen that is mounted on a regular shopping cart. Upon scanning the customer’s loyalty card, the screen will guide customers to special offers and discounts available in the store. Customer’s can also pay via this product as it recognizes bar codes and RFID tags.
Holiday plans December 20, 2006
Posted by Shel in Personal, Travel.add a comment
I’ve been back over a week and have barely got back into the groove of working and posting and now I’m off again for 10 days to a place where we will have no option of working on the Internet. No guilty sense for not catching up with work or a quick check of the mail, just old fashioned relaxation, that’s all. Oh, and did I mention, there’s no TV or cell phone signals either. I’ll be great to have such a vacation and we’re all looking forward to it.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Reliance Retail to focus on Chennai next December 13, 2006
Posted by Shel in Retail.comments closed
After opening its first retail stores in Hyderabad, Reliance Retail is now focusing on opening stores in Chennai, where it will be opening 10 stores in densely populated residential areas around December 25, 2006. Most stores will be in the 1,500 to 3,500 sq ft range. The company also plans to open 6-7 stores in Jaipur, Delhi and Mumbai around the same time. Reliance hopes to have significant presence in 6-7 states by March 2007.
The company has hired the CEO of another retail company as CEO of its B2B business, and is likely to hire another 30 expatriates as consultants. So far 15 expatriates from companies such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Dairy Farm have already been hired and are working on its supply chain, operations and planning.
Its first 10 stores in Hyderabad are bringing in Rs 100,000 per day, selling over 6 tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables a day. The company had anticipated average sales of 4-5 tonnes per day. The company is planning to open at least 30 more stores in Hyderabad alone.
Reliance has pushed back its plans for its other two formats, Reliance Fresh Plus and its hypermarkets, due to the success of its Reliance Fresh stores. It will now open its first hypermarket, Reliance Mart in Ahmedabad in March 2007, instead of this December as earlier planned.
UPDATE: 26th February 2007
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