Retailers seem to be fighting a losing battle against the growth of ecommerce, and it is only the nature of the shopping activity, especially for fashion – interactive, social, and immersive as it is – that has kept many retailers relevant and in business. However, the defensive stance is changing, and now they’re using technology to get the customers back into the store. Forward-thinking retailers are reimagining trial rooms, stores, business processes and entire business models. It’s not a physical versus virtual approach but an approach that integrates both sides. The idea is to create a more immersive experience than…
Richa Maheshwari, The Economic Times Bengaluru, 14 January 2016 Amazon is running a pilot programme on delivering packages in India's biggest cities over distances of 3-5 km — by bicycle. It was debuted in Mumbai last month and has been expanded to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai. The programme is set to be extended to more cities. "Being conscious of the environment we live in, reducing carbon footprint is the need of the hour," said Samuel Thomas, director, transportation, Amazon India. "We have taken this eco-friendly step by introducing bicycle deliveries, which also helps delivery associates with easier access in…
Shambhavi Anand & Varun Jain, The Economic Times New Delhi, 6 January 2016 Discount sale on winterwear has started in the middle of the season, as an unusually warm winter has hurt demand, forcing top brands to tweak their strategies. Industry experts estimate India's annual winter wear market at around $2.3 billion (Rs 15,300 crore). This year, sales are around 15% below the expected level because of a mild winter in the North, said two of them. Brands such as Woodland and Marks & Spencer, which are high on winter wear, started selling winter wear in October, a month earlier…
Devina Sengupta & Jochelle Mendonca, The Economic Times Mumbai, 16 December 2015 Consumers could have a say in the watch or even car produced by the Tata Group as its companies strengthen social media and digital platforms by crowd sourcing ideas. Titan, which sells watches and spectacles, will be among the first to start asking consumers for detailed inputs in the next few months. The plan may be replicated across consumer-facing units such as Trent and Tata Motors. Such companies use listening tools based on social media feeds to manage brand and reputation, said a data analytics partner at one…
Sagar Malviya, The Economic Times Mumbai, 15 December 2015 Lifestyle online retailer Jabong crossed the Rs1,000 crore sales mark in the year to March, doubling its revenue from a year ago but deep discounting has led to a nearly threefold increase in the net loss. Xerion Retail, which runs Jabong, posted a loss of Rs 43.6 crore on sales of Rs 1082.9 crore, as per a Registrar of Companies filing. A year ago, it had sales of Rs527 crore with a net loss of Rs16.6 crore. Sales of the company, incorporated four years ago, amount to a third that of…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
