Vishal Krishna, Businessworld Bangalore, May 3, 2012 Walmart may be the largest company in the world in terms of revenues, but its global e-commerce websites are lagging far behind. Walmart e-commerce is facing tough competition from local e-commerce firms as well as Amazon, the largest e-commerce website in the world. Walmart’s websites in China, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the USA are all sitting isolated and need a focused strategy to deliver a global view for Walmart. Consolidating all that data of shoppers is becoming more complicated and is not giving Walmart a full view of what its customers want…
India’s economic growth may seem to have taken a dip last year with India’s GDP growth falling to 6.9% for 2011-12 from 8.4% the previous year. But that has not translated into a slower entry of international brands entering the market. There already exist over 200 international fashion brands in India with more than a quarter of these operating predominantly in the footwear and accessories category. Bata may be an exception, having been present in India for over eighty years, but since the 1980s international brands have been trickling in, and the numbers really picked up in the 2000s. Since…
Meghna Maiti, Yassir A Pitalwalla, Financial Chronicle Mumbai, April 30, 2012 Kumar Mangalam Birla has done what Mukesh Ambani could not. Birla has sewn up a deal to acquire a 50.01 per cent in Pantaloons, the retail format of Pantaloon Retail India (PRIL). For this, Pantaloons will be demerged from PRIL. It is a two-stage deal involving a Rs 800 crore cash payment, assumption of a similar amount of debt and an open offer for a minimum 26 per cent to shareholders of the demerged Pantaloons format-owning company. The Future group on Monday said it intended to demerge the Pantaloon…
Vishal Krishna, Businessworld Bangalore, 30 April, 2012 It is a marriage of two companies with their business roots firmly entrenched in Kolkata. The $4-billion Aditya Bitla Nuvo has acquired a part of Pantaloon Retail India Limited’s lifestyle business called ‘Pantaloon’. Eighty-six such stores will now form part of a new entity, controlled by Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABN), which will be automatically listed on the BSE and the NSE. A source from the Future Group added that ABN has for the moment acquired a minority stake by infusing Rs 800 crore through debentures, which will be converted to equity when the…
Writankar Mukherjee and Sarah Jacob, The Economic Times Kolkata/Bangalore, April 24, 2012 More than 750 electronics outlets have either stopped selling Samsung products or cut back on fresh orders after the Korean brand slashed dealer margins on its televisions and home appliances early this year. Samsung has initiated talks with several retail chains to resolve the issue, but says the development will not impact its sales. Videocon-owned Next Retail, the country's largest electronic retail chain, and large regional chains such as Vijay Sales, Kohinoor, Girias, Adishwar and Great Eastern all say Samsung's new terms are unacceptable in an industry that…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
