Case Study: Replay Planning for New Partners in India

Please read this article first

Questions

You are the business manager of a major apparel company. There is a proposal before you to join hands with this company. What will you decide and why ?

Analysis

Your answer will depend upon your response to the following and many other questions:

1.  Why would you like to join hands with Replay? Think about product, price, placement and promotion and of course profitability.

2. Why Replay wants to have its presence in India ? Think about the five factors as mentioned in 1.

3. Why companies like Replay want to tap India through direct route than indirect route ?

4. As a customer why would you like to buy Replay Jeans ? Think about product, cost, availability and brand value

Now you can decide, I guess. Please post in comments about your decision and the reasons for the same.

Knowledge Primer- Private Labels

Private Labels are those brands which are owned by the retailers themselves.

Normally in an MBO ( Multi Brand Outlet ) you can see many brands which are external to the store.

However the store also offer their own brands. For example 'STOP' is a private label by Shopper's Stop.

Private labels work better in categories where there is a poor brand recall. For example in cereals category only two brand names come to the mind.

Private labels are recent phenomenon in India. According to an estimate private labels account for nearly 40 per cent of Wal Mart sales globally.

Buy why retailers keep private labels. The answer lies in margins. The margins are much higher in keeping private labels. They range from 15-20 per cent in FMCG, around 20 % in electronic goods and 30-70 per cent in apparels. The other reasons are differentiation and increase in consumption.

But why customer buy private labels ? The answer could be that store labels spell trust and savings.

The key concerns for retailers are inducing the first trials. It is seen that once used, customers have a very good brand loyalty.

Private labels work best in low-involvement category. For high-involvement categories, such as apparel, it is the name of the store that matters the most.

S Kumar Inks Deal with DKNY men's Line

1. Deal between SKNL ( S Kumar Nationwide) with DKI ( Donna Karan International), a part of LVMH Moel Hennessy Louis Vitton.

2. The deal : SKNL will source, design produce and distribute full range of DKNY menswear globally except Japan.

3. MD and VC of SKNL: Nitin S. Kasliwal.

4. CEO, LVMH and chairman and CEO, DKI: Mark Weber

5. Benefits: To SKNL: An alliance with one of the world's best known brands and an entry into European Markets.

To DKNY: SKNL's expertise in the men's business.

6. Brands with SKNL: Reid and Taylor, Belmonte.

GD Case Study for MFM: Discount Coupons

Please read the full case here.

Now try to answer the following questions:

1. You are an apparel retailer having 50 stores all across the country. Would you like to avail of such services. Give Reasons. 

2. You are a customer of apparel retail. Would you like to go to such websites and avail yourself of such service. 

3. What type of apparel retail do you think such services are applicable; formal, casual, ethnic, mens, womens or kidswear. Why ?

4. You want to become such a service providers. What all you have to take care before launching such venture. 

Retail Alliance between Future Group and Carrefour

Facts

Carrefour SA: Europe biggest retailer.

Origin: France

Plans to open 150-300 Carrefour branded hypermarkets in India .

Carrefour India Head: Jean Noel Bironneau

Future Groups currently runs 125 Big Bazaar Hypermarkets.

Carrefour stores will occupy between 50000-80000 sq. ft.

The first independent cash-and-carry store of Carrefour: Delhi's eastern suburb of Seelampur.

Cash-and-Carry Stores: The stores that sell products only to retailers and other business establishments.

Some Definitions of Stores

You would do well, if you keep these definitions of store in mind.

Please remember, however, that Indian stores are more or less a combinations of each of these (and size is much smaller). So to categorize a store in purely one category would be a disaster.

Mass Merchandiser

a retailer or retail store that seeks to sell large quantities of goods quickly through such means as discounting, customer self-service, or unadorned display and packaging, as in a warehouse.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/

Destination Store

Giant retail store combining the attributes of several categories of stores: the size of a mass merchandiser, the variety and scope of a department store, and the low prices of a discount store. So called because consumers are willing to travel a good distance to shop in it.

Department Store

Large retail establishment with an extensive assortment in variety and range of goods, organized into separate departments. All departments are housed under the same roof to facilitate buying, customer service, merchandising, and control.

Discount Store

A department store which offers its items at a lower price than many other retail stores. Discount stores are often able to drop their prices due to efficient distribution methods. Many of the largest discount stores are also chain stores, and include Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart. Furthermore, many of these discount stores could also be categorized as big-box stores, as they grow to include more and more products, sometimes even including a large grocery section.

Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com

Case Study: Concept of "360-degree" lifestyle store

Please read the full article here. 

Questions (Any of these situations can be asked in a GD):

1. You are the brand manager of an apparel retailing company having 12 stores all over the country. Your Boss gets excited about the concept. Would you recommend ? Would you not, why ?

2. You are business manager of a cafe chain in India. Your boss gets excited about the concept. Would you  recommend ? Would you not ? why ?

3. You are a store manager of an apparel company. The company management is asking your recommendation towards giving a space for opening of a cafe. Would you recommend ? Would you not ? Why ?

4. You are a customer coming for shopping in an apparel retail store. You spot a cafe inside the store. Would you welcome such a change, be indifferent or dont like it at all .Why ?