Franchise India 2009 Conference with participation by over 500 delegates and over 150 National & International Experts, in its 7th edition brought much learning on 26^th & 27^th November 2009 at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi. From one single conference three years back, the show hosted 4 conferences offering exhaustive business knowledge and learning to all walks of Business investors in franchising, retail and licensing and encompassed The Entrepreneur Summit, Franchise Knowledge Series, Retail Knowledge and Brand Licensing Conference.

The Entrepreneurship Summit was the biggest draw of the event which covered the entire entrepreneurship spectrum in the cope of starting, selecting, managing and growing a Small & Medium Business. The glittering ceremony was enlivened by top notch entrepreneurs and expert panelists from all over the world.  Commencing with a brief address by Ritu Marya, Editor, Franchise India, the summit was formally inaugurated by Chief Guest, Mr P N Dhoot President Videocon Group.  The summit upholds the idea of self-employment through entrepreneurship wherein franchising plays a major role for the start-ups as well as for the franchisors for rapid growth. The Conference provided aspiring entrepreneurs with a comprehensive overview of the industry covering every vertical including food services, education, apparel and specialty retail. The summit also stresses upon women power which, as the eminent speakers think, has a lot more to offer to entrepreneurship. The distinguished speakers present at the do were Mr Donald Borrian, Chairman-CEO, Francorp, USA; Mr Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Securities Ltd; Mr Tony White, Director, The White Connection; Mr Rod Young, Executive Director, DC Strategy; Mr Rajiv Agarwal, Director & CEO, The Mobile Store; Mr. Vivek Bali,Spice Hotspot,Mr S Ravikant, COO, Titan Eyewear; Mr. Pranav Ansal,V-Chairman,Ansal API, Mr Uday Mathur, Ninad Karpe,MD, Aptech, , Managing Director, Eurokids; Akhil Chaturvedi, MD, Provogue, Mr Jagdeep Chhabra, Managing Director, Chhabra 555,Mr. Jay Gupta,MD, Loot,; Mr Ashish Kapoor, Managing Director, Yo! China; Mr Sanjay Kapoor, MD, Genesis Colors & Luxury, Neeta Lulla, Eminent Designer; and many other industry stalwarts.

The Franchise Knowledge Series conference was led by Ratan Jalan, Founder – Director, Medium Consulting and began with a presentation from Donald Boroian, Chairman, Francorp USA on ‘Getting started in Franchising’. Then, the podium was handed over to Brian Duckett of The Franchise Co. UK and Rajeev B. Sharma, Country head, Unicon Investment solutions India to discuss on ‘Franchise Marketing Plan’. Uday Mathur of Euro Kids and Rod Young, MD, DC strategy handled a series of advices on effective franchise recruitment process.

Dawn Stallwood, a legal advisor and a commercial partner with Thomas Eggar LLP simplified all ways to legal framework in franchising. Then the session was transferred to Doug Bugie, CEO of Antal International, UK, who spoke on the ways to build a franchise of high value capable of being sold to a public or private company and launched as a public offering. The first day session ended on the discussion with Mahmood Khan, Professor in Hospitality and Tourism Management in VirginiaTech, USA who thrown some light on this aspect of food industry.

The second day was started by Rod Young, who believes in “Good franchising is so much better then independent small business operation”. This sitting was accompanied by Ratan Jalan. Then, Brian Duckett and Arun Khetan, MD, NAKS spoke on the various aspects of getting field staff ready to do business for franchisor and franchisees. Robert F Trota, Chairman, Philippines Franchise Association and Donald Boroian advised on how to export a franchise brand abroad. Post lunch legal expert Babette Marzheuser-Wood, Partner, Field Fisher Water, UK told about what to be expected while partnering with international brands. Following this, Tony white, Regional Development Manager, Gloria Jeans coffees International discussed the whats and hows of franchising in Asian countries. The last session of the day laid importance on managing change in a franchise system. Both Donald and Rod discussed in detail and interacted with the audience on managing such transitions.

The Retail Knowledge Series based on the theme of “Efficient Retailing” had presented eminent experts of the industry of both national and international reputation. Names like Mr Yuri Bolotin, Principal, Design Portfolio; Mr Hemchandra Javeri, an eminent retail expert and MD, Forum Synergies; Ms Marie Louis Jacobsen, MD, Retail Management Solution graced the speakers list of the two day retail episode.  This knowledge series touched upon all the pertinent issues ranging from  store designing, merchandise assortment, retail theft, supply chain efficiency, clout computing in retail, selecting a right location, understanding customers’ preference, multi-channel retailing, customer loyalty programme and branding. The well-known industry experts who spoke on the occasion were Mr Manu Neelakandan, Design Director, Idiom Design & Consulting Ltd; Mr Kush Medhroa, COO, EWDPL; Mr Dheeraj Dogra, GM-Leasing, Express Avenue; Mr Mridumesh Rai, Head- Customer Experience and Head-Sales, Globus; Mr Brendan Dorrian, CEO, Gobal Retail Network; Mr Sandeep Malhotra, CEO HomeshopTV 18; Mr Vineet Kanaujia, GM-Marketing, Safexpress; Mr D. Baskaramoorthy, VP, Posiflex; Mr Neeraj Kapoor, CMO, Loyalty Solutions & Research Limited; Mr Harminder Sahni, MD, Wazir Advisors; Mr Sandeep Kulhalli, VP, Tanishq; Mr Darpan Kapoor, Director, Kapsons; Mr Amol Dhamane, Brand Promoter, Admiral India; and Mr Santosh Srivastava, Managing Director, Gitanjali Jewellery Retail Pvt. Ltd.

Brand Licensing Conference opened with Mr Kelvyn Gardner’s, MD, LIMA-UK, session on basics of licensing. He was also chairing the conference. Mr Gardner started his speech by imploring to sell licenses in order to boost awareness about IP, to aid in the marketing of the core IP and to borrow the competence of licensees. It’s an alternative to brand extension. And last but not the least, to make money. Buy a license, to increase sales, to increase your profile, and obviously to make money was his statement. It’s an alternative to developing one’s brand. This 2-day conference touches upon the topics like legal issues for structuring  a proper licensing deal, challenges in brand licensing, the influence of character, entertainment and animation licensing, role of a licensing agent, right time for a brand to go for licensing, fashion, lifestyle, homestyle and sports licensing. The industry experts who spoke on the occasion were Mr Akhilesh Kumar Rai, IP-Head at AZB Partners; Mr Narayan Ramaswamy, Executive Director, KPMG Advisory; Mr Mark Hurry, Legal and Commercial Director, Picture Production Company Enterprises, UK; Ms Michelle Minieri, President, Bradford Licensing; Mr Nicholas Bloom, AVP, Brand Management, Beanstalk; Mr Joseph Sam, Director, Vedact Advisors; Mr Samir Jain, Director, Green Gold Animation; Mr Pankaj Sikka, Manager- Licensing, Bioworld Merchandising (India) Pvt Ltd; Ms Dwijorani Senjam, Director and Co-founder, Extend Brands; Mr  Ashish Goel, COO & CFO-ACK Media Pvt. Ltd; Mr Sanjay Vakharia, Director, Spykar Lifestyles Pvt. Ltd; Mr Chandan Savera, Retail Business Head, Creative Portico; Mr Anurag Rajpal, VP-Apparel, BHPC; and Mr Utkarsh Singh, Business Head, Rajasthan Royals.

Entrepreneurship Summit was the highlight of the Franchise India 2009 event with more that 70 speakers coming on the dias to give their valuable advise and share experiences. In this two day event one of the most important sessions was on ‘How to Make a Business Plan’ to attract investors and no one better than Dawn Stallwood an internationally recognized angel investor to talk on it.

While sharing her experience as an investor and giving some valuable advise she emphasized on some key points to be seen in a business plan. According to Stallwood, the foremost thing an investor looks for is a unique idea which strikes the investor thus creating the first impression. While conceptualising an idea you need to do prior research on the industry and various opportunities, verify if the product or service has a substantial market and the ups and downs of the venture. Thus, you need to be sure that you have a sound business concept as this will set the ball rolling for you and the investor.

The second aspect is the financial viability of your plan. Finance is important because no business can thrive without sustainable cash flow. To effectively manage your finance you need to know how much start-up capital and operating capital is required along with your source of funding, profit-loss, break-even analysis etc… Stallwood says, “For start-ups if the business idea clicks finance can be arranged but for established firms who want to expand their credit worthiness is vital.”

The final aspect talked about getting the right people on board who share your vision and passion is the key to the success of any business. Every investor looks for a dedicated and focused management team that possesses skills, which complement each other for running the business efficiently. Therefore, have a detailed description of the organisational structure, key management personnel with their primary duties, along with the company’s philosophy.

Franchise India 2009 witnessed vigorous discussions on the upcoming retail trends and the future of the Indian retail industry. Rakhee Nagpal, MD Dynamic Vertical Solutions while speaking at the Entrepreneur Summit said that the Indian retail industry is growing currently at 10% of GDP and is likely to get double in the next few years. Foreign companies are tying up with Indian companies because of their strong domain knowledge and good distribution system. Besides other likely developments in the retail scenario as discussed in the Summit are:

• Europe’s largest retail, Carrefour SA is gearing up to start its operations in India in the next year and plans to set up its first cash-and-carry outlet in NCR.
• Jewellery manufacturer and retailer, Gitanjali Group and MMTC would jointly set up a chain of exclusive retail outlets called Shuddi- Sampurna Vishwas in the next year to retail hallmark gold and diamond jewellery.
• Mahindra Retail plans to invest 19.8 million dollar by 2010 and come up with speciality retail concept ‘Mom and Me’
• Pantaloons Retail India is investing further (more than $103.3 million) to expant its mall Central over the next two years.
• WalMart has tied up with Bharti and has come up with a store in Amritsar and plans to open few more. Carrefour is looking to enter India in the next year.
• Tesco, UK’s retail giant has entered into a joint venture with Tata’s Trent Ltd. to start operations in India.
• JSW steel, which currently owns 50 steel retail outlets, is gearing up for 200 stores by 2010. Essar stell are also planning to increase their number of retail outlets (Essar Hypermarts)
• UK’s biggest retailer Tesco, have entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Trent Ltd. (Tata Group’s retail arm) as they plan to open stores in India very soon.

The seventh International Retail Knowledge Workshop organised at the Ashok Hotel, Delhi on 26th & 27th of November had marked a benchmark for itself. The event was a real stage show for the who’s who of the retail industry. The knowledge series had presented eminent experts of the industry of both national and international standard. Names like Yuri Bolotin, Principal, Design Portfolio, Hemchandra Javeri an eminent retail expert and MD, Forum Synergies, Marie Louis Jacobsen, MD, Retail Management Solution graced the speaker list of the two day retail gala episode.

The first day conference started with key note speaker Hemchandra Javeri who spoke on efficient retailing, what few retailers had taken wrong steps and how they corrected it. Also he spoke on the various facets of handling a retail business enterprise. Yuri Bolotin and Manu Neelakandan, Design Director, Idiom Design & Consulting Ltd shaded light on optimal store designing and efficient store designing to enhance sales. The session was attended by business professionals, retail brand owner, who wants to venture into retail and so. The response was excellent as the speakers had several enquiries to answer from the attendees. Followed by Kush Medhroa’s, COO, EWDPL, and Dheeraj Dogra, GM-Leasing, Express Avenue session on location strategy, the session acclaimed a good response from the attendees and it was ended with long question answer round. Marie Louis Jacobsen was very insightful as she spoke on how retailers should adopt measures to handle proper assortment planning followed by question answer rounds. In addition, he first day of RKS had speakers like Mridumesh Rai, Head Customer Experience and Head Sales, Globus, Branden Dorrian, CEO, Global Retail and Branden Dorrian, CEO, Gobal Retail Network. Their session was thoroughly enjoyed by all delicates present there as the speakers were delivering understanding on customer’s perspective. The first day of RKS had ended with a truly enlightening speech from G. Pandrang Row, Partner and Member Management Committee, Vetrabrand and he spoke on retail branding.

Despite the freezing cold outside, the second day of RKS had received overwhelm response from its attendee inside the RKS hall, Ashok Hotel. The second day started off with veteran speaker Marie Louis Jacobsen. Her understanding on ‘Retail Shrinkage” and on the way out of this retail theft, enjoyed by every delicates present there. Followed by Sandeep Malhotra, CEO of HomeshopTV 18. Mr. Malhotra’s session was helpful to those who want to scale up their business leveraging through multi channel business route. Again, delicates received a lot of information and gathered a good understating on maintaining maximum supply chain efficiency in their business enterprises from Mr. Vineet Kanaujia, GM-Marketing, Safexpress.  Mr. D. Baskaramoorthy, VP, Posiflex spoke on a latest technology, called ‘Cloud Computing in Retail’. The post lunch session of second day, RKS, had very useful communication from Mr. Neeraj Kapoor, CMO,Loyalty Solutions & Research Limited. The speaker shaded light on how a retailer should design his customer loyalty program. The last session of second day RKS had CEO Roundtables. The roundtable was moderated by Harminder Sahni, MD, Wazir Advisors. Sandeep Kulhalli, VP, Tanishq, Darpan Kapoor, Director. Kapsons. Amol Dhamane, Brand Promoter, Admiral India, Santosh Srivastava, from Gitanjali was the participant of this CEO roundtable.

During the two days of The Entrepreneurship Summit at Asia’s biggest Franchise and Retail Show, Franchise India, brought about the convergence of all ilks of entrepreneurs, big sand small. All of them had a story to tell and most of their stories were enthralling and inspiring at the same time. But the one that made a really strong impression was that of Yo! China’s Ashish Kapur.

While most entrepreneurs start small and then grow big, Ashish started big. The amount of meticulous planning he did before venturing into his business sounded just awesome. When he came back to India after quitting his job as an engineer at GE Capital, he felt that there was need for branded food joints and that India was not very happy with the local restaurants. By this time brands like McDonald’s and KFC had stepped onto the Indian soil. So he thought that it was high time that India started its own brands.

But what made Ashish choose Chinese among other cuisines? Ashish divulges the secret. ‘Chinese is the most preferred choice of youngsters and is the second most ordered food in India. And secondly for a restaurant to do good business it should offer something that could not be cooked at home. Then only it will yield the fun of eating out.’ Chinese is also one which is innovation friendly. Say, American Chopsuey, which is neither American nor Chinese, or say the dimsums.

Not that he did not make mistakes but he learnt from them. He also faced roadblocks but who does not. He turned every stone that he found on his way into an opportunity. Today, he is one of the most powerful young entrepreneurs of the nation.

Design Portfolio; the company is acclaimed as Australia’s leading specialist retail and brand Design Company. Mr. Yuri Bolotin who is a Principal of the company discussed with Retailer on the various facets of retail design, excerpts:

Retailer: How crucial is the role of optimal designing of stores?

Yuri Bolotin (YB): Optimal designing is an essential element in retail. Whether it’s a franchisee store or retail, designing should be optimal to accelerate sales.

Retailer: How should a retailer design his VM to accelerate sales?

YB: In designing the store of a retail business enterprise, retailers should understand that customers come to your store to buy product. So, your product should get prominence in designing. You should not overdo with the visual merchandising by which your product get hidden.

Retailer: Do you think, is there lies any difference of VM in between a store in high street area and that in a mall?

YB: The retail store in a mall serves as a destination for a shopper; there a retailer should give emphasis on designing the window display. But if the window display is promising something to a customer, that promise should be kept. On the other hand, in a busy high street, emphasis should be given on quality of merchandise, personal attention and a comfortable ambiance.

Retailer: In designing the interior of a store, what measures a retailer should take to ensure comfortable and inviting ambiance to its customer?

YB: It depends on what you sell, also on to your target group of customers. If it’s an eatery store, where customers may be required to vacate the place within say 10 minutes, there, to make your customers feel comfortable, the service level should be very high. Here, good customer service will make your customers comfortable.

Retailer: Do you think intelligent designing of retail store can lessen the possibility of retail shrinkage? How to do this?

YB: Yes, definitely, in designing the store retailers should avoid in keeping corners in their store. It has two disadvantages. One-it will hide the merchandise from the eyeballs of your security staff and from your genuine customers. Also, the CCTV installed in your store may not catch the footage of that area and that’s the place where retail theft can happen.

Retailer: Looking up the upcoming Christmas festival, how a retailer should design his store to attract maximum number of shoppers? Pleas explain.

YB: Retailers should opt for innovative designing, don’t go in keeping a normal Christmas tree in your store. Do something extra, out of the box thinking.

The multi-faceted licensing is all set to redefine Indian fashion world while opening up new avenues to explore. Consumers of all ages, sexes, interests, etc. are forever looking for what’s haute, what meets their needs, fits their perfect lifestyles and, perhaps the most essential, what makes them look and feel good. In this fashionable world, which is experiencing cut throat competition, licensing serves as a preferred channel, holding tremendous potential of its capability to create a meaningful revenue stream for its fashion merchandising that can appeal to a targeted lucrative segment of the buying audience.

In India, when referring to the fashion industry, it is undoubtedly the men apparel brands which happen to be the most prominent category where licensing is witnessed. The category of men apparel brands is considered to be more organized in comparison to the women apparel brands.  In India many foreign brands like Lee, Arrow and Van Heusen revolutionized the idea of styling by popularizing the concept of ready-to-wear in the menswear segment and role of licensing in this respect is mention-worthy for enabling these foreign brands a smooth entry and to acclimatize to the new market.

In the next phase of the open economy the Indian market has also witnessed the launching of the brands like Esprit by Madura Garments and Tommy Hilfiger by Arvind Brands via licensing route.  We can also refer to a plethora of luxury brands, including Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Versace who have adopted the licensing route to make an entry in India.

While commenting upon potential of fashion licensing, Mr Pradeep Hirani, Chairman of Kimaya, says, ‘’ India has the maximum number of fashion shows. The fashion infrastructure is booming in the country and the recession is working in favour of India which happens to be the best place to provide couture at prêt prices. Fashion licensing can create a major impact and we should leverage this strength.’’

The Fashion Industry is surely to go global as the current domestic fashion industry constitutes 0.2 per cent of the global designer wear market which is Rs 162,900 crore and is increasing 9.5 per cent annually thereby implying a promising and a bright future. This is further cemented by the fact that many international brands have taken licensing as their preferred channel to tread on the Indian territory, and Indians, on the other hand are getting the real taste of the international fashion trends.

We have witnessed how IPL (Indian Premier League) has carved a ‘niche’ through franchising. The contribution of franchisees has been tremendous in building the teams and their brands. This brings us to the point, how franchising can contribute to the growth of sports in India.

A franchise programme can be built around a game

Gradually, India is making a mark internationally in other sports as well. Billiards and Bowling have already become popular among urban youth. Combined with entertainment, these two sports have become a common leisure activity. Champions like Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi are classic examples of how talent is being nurtured for victory in international competitions. India also has, Vishwanath Anand who is an ace Chess player and has contributed a lot to the popularity of the game in India. Abhinav Bindra by wining the sole Olympic medal for India has raised Archery’s popularity and interest to an all time high. With Vijender Singh around India has a stronger chance of wining a medal in the next Olympics. Golf has grown tremendously with the likes of Jeev Milkha Singh and many others; the sport is also witnessing growth at unprecedented levels. Hockey and Football too have renowned names like Baichung Bhutia and Dhanraj Pillay who have made the sports popular. A scaleable structured franchise programme can be built around these sports.

Sports-themed business models

Sports franchises entail many exciting bonuses. The customer base for sports franchise is usually established and extremely loyal. The brand name already carries quality and performance so you need to do a very little work. The best part is a sports franchise needs very little startup investment. You can begin a sports franchise for as little as $5,000.

Generally, the franchising business involves low-risk with only 5 per cent resulting in failure.

Most people think a sports business franchise is only about basketball, baseball, football and hockey logo jerseys, jackets and hats. However, there are sports-themed businesses too that can be considered, for instance, a fitness franchise, sports retail franchise, and sports photography. There will always be a place in India for sports franchises. Fans will always want merchandise and memorabilia for their heroes.

Franchise India 2009

If you are wondering how sports franchise can be started, Franchise India 2009 will provide answers to all your queries. You will find a wealth of information about franchising and finding a franchise opportunity at the event, which is Asia’s biggest franchise retail and small business show. The event will take place from November 26-27, at Hotel Ashok,  New Delhi.

You need not have to take a trip to a foreign country to pick your favourite brand, any more. Many international brands have launched their brands in India and many are planning to. Numerous international brands have already made a strong position in the Indian retail market. International brands in India are present across various verticals within retail like apparel, shoes, electronics, cosmetics, food and entertainment. The brands in India are available for various price ranges.

Footwear retail has attracted many international brands to India.  Many brands like Aldo, Nine West, have already won a lot of loyal customers. Though the fashion footwear brands entered India quite late, but the brands into sports footwear like Nike, Adidas and Reebok have been available since long. Reebok India was the first among these to enter India in 1995, followed by Nike and Adidas. Ninewest a fashion footwear brand entered India in 2002. Another footwear brand in the Indian market is Bally. Aldo, one of the most desired brands in India was launched in Mumbai, in 2005. These brands not just supply the footwear but offer accessories as well.

International apparel brands, also, have ventured the Indian retail market. Brands like Mango, Nautica, Channel, Guess, and Tommy Hilfiger etc. have tremendously hit the market.

India has witnessed foreign investments and joint ventures on a large scale in the food and beverages industry. Food brands like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut are very popular among the youth. McDonald’s tops the list of popularity as it offers low cost food products, which are affordable by common man.

Luxury retail shops, which were initially found only in the five star hotels, are now present in almost every mall. International brands which took the initial risks are making a massive profit, today. India surely has a great potential to be the best in the retail business.

International Franchise ‘09

International Pavilion at Franchise India 2009, hosted on November 26-27, 2009 at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi, will showcase a whole host of brands and trademarks from all over the world and is the ideal platform for global chains to showcase their opportunity to potential partners. The opportunity can also be tapped by the Indian businesses that are planning to venture foreign markets.

If you think that being an entrepreneur means just to come up with a brilliant idea, arrange the funds and start-up a business venture, you are heading towards the wrong direction. The above together constitute of just half work done because business is not only about starting and managing but also about taking it to the next level which refers to its growth and facilitated by brilliant networking.

To be an effective leader, one must develop skills in strategic thinking. Strategic thinking requires you to envision your goals, forecast growth and make plans to implement them. As an entrepreneur you need to deliberate on important questions:

• How will you combine people, resources and structure together to achieve growth?
• What is the core competence skills required in your business?
• Focus on people’s motivation and how to solve problems effectively?
• Take responsibility to see that everything co-exists peacefully

Growing your business isn’t just a worthy goal, it’s a necessity for you business’s survival and your economic well-being. This conference will give you step-by-step process to help you tweak, streamline and turbo-charge the performance and profitability of your enterprise to take your small business to the next level i.e. new heights.

The Entrepreneurship Summit at Franchise India 2009 will take you through the Entrepreneurial Road Less Traveled as the conference explores new and exciting entrepreneurial opportunities while sharing best practice in enterprise creation and development.

To get answers to all your queries and dilemmas on which business model to go for and becoming clear as to what you need to do Entrepreneurship Summit’ 09, at Hotel Ashok is the place where you need to be. This conference will be dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurial excellence by the way of mentoring entrepreneurship. Under one roof you will get to learn all the nuances of becoming a successful entrepreneur.