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.

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.

UK based ‘Voltz’, a liquid energy drink is all set to grace the international pavilion of Franchise India 2009, the 7^th edition of the Asia’s Biggest Franchise & Retail Opportunity Show to be held on 26^th & 27^th November 2009 at Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Organized by the Asia’s largest integrated franchise and retail Solution Company, Franchise India, the show displays Indian and global brands and is an “Opportunity Show” for liasioning with brands to offer a pool of out-of-box business ideas and practices.

Voltz is a 60ml shot that provides hours of alertness and focus without the crash or jitters you get from canned energy drinks. It contains a blend of B-vitamins, amino acids and essential nutrients. There is zero sugar, zero herbal stimulants and induces only 2 calories, giving the consumer an energy boost without the sugar and high concentrations of caffeine. It is rich in vitamins and anti-oxidants for healthy energy. It comes in small sizes which can be easily carried around in a handbag, glove compartment and is even allowed on aircrafts. It can be stored at room temperature and does not require refrigeration.

Established in the year 2005 Voltz has wide appeal to many consumer groups with phenomenal retail breadth. One can drink it in seconds, feel it in minutes but the flavor last for hours! After being successful in Uk , the company now is geared up to establish its footprint in India by leveraging Franchise India’s expertise in franchising sector. With an enriched experience spanning over a century, Voltz is ready to enter into distributions sectors now and Franchise India international will support in setting up meetings with Indian companies.

Highlighting the immense potential in energy drink market, Ms. Vaishali said “The low level of investment required to obtain a Voltz distribution is one of the main draws of this business proposition. Being a pioneer in the liquid energy drink segment, it  has  the potential to revolutionize the energy drinking experience in India through its innovative offerings spread over vast network.Franchise India 2009 Show will assist the brand in right sense by identifying the investors and therefore help the brand to aim towards strong foothold in India.”

She added further, “Voltz is ready to offer its National account distributorship and regional ditributorship in neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal other than India. It’s a drink for high energy people living high octane lives where nothing comes close to providing pure, guilt free energy for such a long period of time. India is an experimental and fertile market showcasing enormous opportunities for a trendy brand like Voltz to foray into.”

Voltz has confirmed its participation in the international pavilion of Franchise India 2009, the 7th edition of the Asia’s Biggest Franchise & Retail Opportunity Show to be held on 26th & 27th November 2009 at Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Franchise India 2009 is a confluence of the leading franchisors, retailers, mall developers, suppliers, international experts, all converging at one platform. Whether one is looking to grow the business in the Indian market, collaborate with international businessmen, expand the concept internationally or supply to the network, retail or address to the SME community, the show promises to be the biggest business spectacle offering enormous opportunities that encompasses all facets of Franchising and Retail.

About Franchise India 2009

Franchise India 2009 is a confluence of the leading franchisors, retailers, mall developers, suppliers, international experts, all converging at one platform. Whether one is looking to grow the business in the Indian market, collaborate with international businessmen, expand the concept internationally or supply to the network, retail or address to the SME community, the show promises to be the biggest business spectacle offering enormous opportunities that encompasses all facets of Franchising and Retail. Spanned over 2 days, the show puts up a platform comprising of a comprehensive Exhibition covering all the industries extensively with massive domestic and international participation, informative and enlightening Conference & Workshops with prominent international and national speakers to impart knowledge and highly prestigious Franchise Awards 2009 featuring Star Retailer Awards, to recognize the excellence in the industry! The show attracts over 25000 visitors and is highly successful for all its participants.

Star Retailer Awards are back in its 4^th year to celebrate and acknowledge the excellence in retail. Star Retailer Awards will highlight the most innovative practices in Indian retail industry. The winners will act as a source of inspiration and direction to the industry on the whole. Star Retailer Awards 2009 will set benchmarks of excellence in key areas that are important to modern retailing. The awards are held in great esteem by all, who work within the domain and help to showcase the innovation within the sector.

Star Retailer Awards are the most prestigious awards that recognise excellence in retailing and retail supply, and the pioneering efforts of individuals and organisations in modern retail. There will be three sets of awards, namely Star Awards, Special Awards and Best in Category awards. Star Awards will be given for the best overall entry in any category. Special Awards will recognise individual areas of excellence while Best in Category Awards, will be bestowed upon the best overall entry of retailer in a particular industry, in a particular category of business.

The big night

The award presentation ceremony will be a larger than life occasion with the stars of the retail fraternity coming together under the spotlight. The awards night for celebrating and rewarding the winners is organised on November 27, 2009 in New Delhi. On the occasion, you will find some of the well-known film personalities conferring the awards and interacting with the corporate world.

“Exemplary performance calls for exemplary recognition and tough times are the best judge of all. This year, Star Retailer Awards will salute those retailers who were not held back by the economic slowdown to transform everyday shopping experience into genuine retail therapy coupled with excellent delivery of customer service and better practices—the hallmark of successful brands,” says Gaurav Marya, President, Franchise India Holdings Limited, and Chairman, Indian Franchise Association.

A blast from the past

“We are pleased to have received the Star Retailer Award and more so because we won in three categories. The gala evening was very well organised,” says Raghu Pillai, President and CEO, Reliance Retail, with a grin. Reliance Retail bagged the most prestigious Retailer of the Year Award in 2007 & 2008 and Future Group was awarded Retailer of the Year Award in 2006.

You are invited!

Everyone of us have a bit of fashion guru in us especially when judging others’ dressing sense. On a serious note, you can nurture the fashion expert in you by taking a step further. The easiest way to get into the world of fashion is to start a fashion franchise. Be it shoes, suits, dresses, or accessories, there are tremendous franchise opportunities in the fashion world. Clothing, footwear and accessories together occupy over 40 per cent share of organised retail in India. In today’s time more than ever the fashion industry is gearing up to focus more sharply on brand penetration across the nation. Both aspiring entrepreneurs and companies into fashion can consider franchising to make the most of the opportunity.

Start a franchise!

Starting a franchise is an easy way of owning a business because you are enveloped by the stability and security of an established brand. You get the exclusive right to trade in the area under the name of the fashion brand you choose. For a pre-determined franchise investment, you get a significant head-start on conventional business start-ups. Training, marketing, and stock are typically provided along with the franchise. However, making an investment in a franchise is a big commitment, you need to be careful! Therefore, Fashion Franchise 09, a part of Franchise India 2009, to be held at Hotel Ashok in New Delhi, on November 26-27, 2009, has organised forums, conferences, exhibitions to let you know, how to venture the world of fashion franchising and opportunities available. If you are contemplating to take the plunge, Franchise India 2009 is for you!

Start franchising!

Though a lot of fashion brands have made the practice common, yet, it remains a mystery to most small fashion-business owners, who want to know the difference between franchising and simply opening additional stores of their fashion brands? Determining if a fashion-business is franchisable is also an issue. Furthermore, there are issues like how to create and sell a franchise, and the cost of franchising.  According to an industry survey, the average start-up franchisor sells 9 franchises in its first year, 11 in second, 13 in third, and 20 per year, thereafter.

The advantage of franchising is that you have owner/managers, in the form of franchisees, who think the way you do at the unit level. Also, franchising makes rapid expansion affordable because it is fueled by the franchisees’ capital— the franchise fees, or royalty fees.

How do you know if you can sell franchises? Well! Fashion Franchise 09 is the destination to be, if you need not just the answer but also wish to meet the prospective franchisees. Do not miss the opportunity to consult the world’s best mastermind in Retail like Raghu B Vishwanath, Vertebrand, Marie Louise Jacobsen, Retail Management Solutions, Singapore, Hsien Naidu, Director (Astreem), Singapore, Brendan Dorrian, CEO, Global Retail Network, UK. Also Learn & network with Best Fashion Brands in India like S. Ravikant, COO, Titan, Eyewear Division, Claus Walther Jensen, MD, Change, Denmark, Charu Sachdev, Director, TSG Clothing, Akhil Chaturvedi, Chairman, Provogue, Jay Gupta, MD, The Loot, Sanjay Kapur, MD, Genesis, DPS Kohli, Managing Director, Koutons, Mehul Choksi, Chairman, Gitanjali Group, Vinay Nadkarni, CEO, Globus, Tarun Joshi, CEO, Brand House Retail.

Fashion Franchise 09

The Fashion Zone, of Retailer 2009, at Franchise India 2009 will provide an apposite platform to exchange your future business plans, branding and growth strategy with your current and prospective dealers and distributors. The Fashion zone will create an ideal environment to plan your innovative promotions and consolidate your brand’s position amongst high-value retailers, important agents, distributors, dealers and prospective franchisees. The platform is an invaluable method to connect prospective franchisees with well established national and international brands.

Everyone dreams to be an entrepreneur but when it comes to walking on that path a lot of thinking goes behind it. You have to leave a job which has been giving you a regular income and be prepared and confident enough to take that risk or say gamble of investing yourself and your resources on a venture which might or might not work. Franchise India for past 11 years has been encouraging entrepreneurial aspiration and has held hands of such aspirers to make them pass through the crucial phase of establishing themselves as entrepreneurs. It has contributed in their achievement by supporting their expansion plans and providing them with the right business models.

Illustrations of some people who partnered with Franchise India to become a big success in their respective fields:

FOOD

Jayaram Banan, Founder – Chairman of Sagar Ratna

The word Sagar Ratna evokes the aromas of South Indian delicacies. The man behind its roaring success, Jayaram Banan, got enough of inspiration for setting up his own food hub while working as a marketing manager for a reputed restaurant in Mumbai.  The initial capital came from friends and relatives in addition to his own contribution of Rs 1000, and eventually Sagar was launched at Defence Colony in South Delhi. Franchise was the natural choice to ensure rapid growth and Jayarm opted for this business model in 2002. Today Sagar Ratna has 48 outlets in and around Delhi and out of them 24 outlets are company-owned and company-operated and rest are franchised. It has its presence in Singapore and plan is afoot to set up outlets in Dubai and London. Sagar Ratna has also launched a multi-cuisine chain of restaurants Swagath which has seven outlets in total.

Many well known personalities, including the present Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, swear by excellent food offered by Sagar Ratna

FASHION

Jagdeep Chhabra, Managing Director, Chhabra 555

The intricate embroideries of lehangas, the grandeur of rich fabric and astounding craftsmanship well define the fashion world of Chhabra 555. The rich tradition of textile is in the blood of Jagdeep Chhabra, a third generation entrepreneur from Peshawar. From a small shop in Chandini Chowk, under chhabra’s leadership, Chabbra 555 expanded its territory owning 30 outlets across India. With passing time Chhabra realized that expansion is effectively possible only through bigger networks and this could be achieved only vis Franchising business model. Today, except the original shop at Chandini Chowk, all of Chhabra 555 outlets are franchised. “We partner with entrepreneurs who has respect for the brand as well as in-depth knowledge of the local market”, says Jagdish Chhabra.

KIDS

Uday Mathur, Managing Director, Eurokids International Pvt Ltd.

An Engineer and an IIM, Kolkata, graduate. Has more than 20 years work experience as a Sales and Marketing professional in consumer product organisations and specialised in the ‘Kids’ market niche. Previous assignment was as General Manger Marketing at TI Cycles of India. Responsibilities included Long Term Strategic Planning, National Sales Management, New Product Development and Brand Launches.

In 1997, was assigned the task of setting up the Joint Venture between Egmont International Holdings, Denmark and Indian Express, Mumbai, as CEO.  Has led the enterprise as a professional manager and subsequently as an entrepreneur. EuroKids International, today operates in two business areas – Pre-School education and Children’s Publishing and is a leader in both these segments.

Dubai based real estate giant ‘Better Homes’ is all set to grace the international pavilion of Franchise India 2009, the 7^th edition of the Asia’s Biggest Franchise & Retail Opportunity Show to be held on 26^th & 27^th November 2009 at Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Organized by the Asia’s largest integrated franchise and retail Solution Company, Franchise India, the show displays Indian and global brands and is an “Opportunity Show” for liasioning with brands and a pool of out-of-box business ideas and practices.

Established in 1986 as a one-woman enterprise, Better Homes has grown to become an international real estate conglomerate with offices in Middle East, Europe and Asia. The company now is geared to establish it’s footprint in India by leveraging off Franchise India’s expertise. Over the past two decades enriched with experience, Better Homes have scaled up to establish as pioneers by providing end-to-end real estate advisory services for the residential and commercial sales and leasing, property management, short-term rentals, short stays, project advisory and marketing services. Backed by an enterprising team of 700 professionals and experts, the company offers transformative solutions to its globally dispersed clientele comprising of homeowners and investors.

Commenting about this encouraging development Mr. Gaurav Marya, President Franchise India said, “Average profit from construction in India is up to 18%, which is the double profitability compared to the US. Real estate contributes heavily towards the GDP with upto 5% of housing sector alone, making the industry extremely potential for the new entrants. Better Homes has been in business for over 23 years now and is a trusted name in the real estate space globally. Being market leaders with best support systems, technology and talent, the quality and speedy customer service at the convenient touch points is attained well making the business proposition safe and stable for investors to venture! We are proud to have them as a participant in our International Pavilion at Franchise India 2009 and wish them the best in their PAN India expansion.”

Green Retail merges Business growth with environmental sustainability, economic development and innovation for achieving sustainable development of a Business enterprise. The seminar will also cover socially amicable enterprise models, that “triple bottom line” together with bringing positive impact of environment in retail space.

By implementing sustainable practices, retail businesses can become more efficient and are saving big bucks in the process. Each eco-friendly idea that a retailer adopts makes a huge difference to our planet.

The process

After making the decision to go green, the retailers contact a local utility company for an energy audit. Many companies offer an audit, free of cost and recommend ways to reduce costs. Some of you may not be well-versed with the energy audit companies and IT companies that provide environmental friendly retail solutions, for instance, IBM’s green retail solutions that help retailers create and leverage environmentally responsible options for their enterprise and supply chain management. There are innumerable options to better the retail services. To learn more about such initiatives, strategies, and methods and to understand the levels in the entire retail eco-system, there cannot be a better platform than Franchise India 2009, which will be held on November 26-27, 2009 at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi.

Once the recommendations-list is obtained; a plan of action is created. Following are the ways through which retailers reduce, reuse and recycle for improved social-responsibility,

• They recycle paper, aluminum, plastic, ink cartridges.
• They reuse packing materials.
• They choose double-sided printing when possible.
• They go digital for bill payment, invoice, online banking etc to minimise paper transactions
• They replace disposable articles with permanent dishware.
• They switch to rechargeable batteries.
• They emphasise on the use of biodegradable and non-toxic cleaning products.
• They deploy energy-efficient PCs, printers, AC, servers, and other equipments.
• They regularly maintain all mechanical equipments.
• They employ some indirect ways to conserve energy like using fans instead of AC, compact fluorescent bulbs etc.

Shopping bags

The biggest environmental issue that concerns a retailer is the use of plastic bags. Paper bag is also not the best choice. Some retailers provide shoppers with a low-cost, green solution, by selling reusable bags. The other options can be best learnt at the Retail Knowledge Series, conducted at the event. Avail of the opportunity of the lifetime, to meet the stalwarts, from the retail industry, like Marie Louise Jacobsen, MD, Retail Management Solutions Pte Ltd, Singapore; Harminder Sahni, MD, Wazir Advisors, India, and Brendan Dorrian, CEO, Global Retail Networks, UK, Hemchandra  Javeri, Retail Expert, Yuri Bolotin, Design Portfolio, Australia, Sonia Manchanda, IDIOM and many others.

Grass can be greener on your side of the fence too!