Ethics tops the agenda for retailers
It seems ethical clothing is not just a passing fad, with retailers now investing more to give themselves a cleaner conscience. Tesco's decision last week to introduce a new supply chain monitoring system and stop sourcing cotton from Uzbekistan, highlights the increasing pressure retailers are under to ensure ethical standards run all the way through the supply chain.
The supermarket giant's stance is likely to put pressure on others, even at the cheapest end of the market, to consider where and how their goods are made.
Sales of ethically-sourced clothing have rocketed in the past year as Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury's have jumped on the trend started by small brands such as People Tree and Gossypium.
Retailers, Get Ready for the Magic of CRM
It's ironic that while the retail sector in India is estimated at US $350 billion, organised retail is estimated barely at US $8 billion. The upside is the expected growth rate. By 2010, organised retail is expected to grow up to US $22 billion, an estimated 40 % compounded annual growth of return over the next few years.
Numerous international retail giants from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are entering the Indian market with enormous hope and investments. At present retailers in India only prefer to increase the number of outlets within a city or to other regions as a part of their expansion drive. But they will now need to fight the burgeoning retail space with many new shopping centers and growing new markets like the kids' retail revolution in apparel. To manage the tremendous volume of transactions and to beat international competition, Indian retailers have an immediate need for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools.
CRM will happen.
Opening a Big Box: Organized Retail Confronts the Challenges of Local Markets
Unused to modern, organized retailing, the Indian consumer is still figuring out how to extract value -- beyond lower prices -- from the stores, supermarkets and shopping chains that are popping up everywhere. Meanwhile, retailers face other challenges: Indian consumers shop frequently and are used to travelling short distances to their stores; brand penetration is lower compared to developed-country markets; and interstate goods movement is fraught with taxes, delays and other inefficiencies.
All that means warehouses have to be closer to stores, which in turn have to be closer to their so-called "catchment" areas, where the new retailers have to build store-specific customer loyalties.
Gen X, Y and E – Luring them all!
In an era when masses prefer time to money and luxury to time, nobody wants to be pushed into putting ‘extra’ effort, even while making a purchase. So, with expanded budgets and a splurge of luxury products online, population of e-stores is on a rise.
A NEW breed of consumers has emerged. Products of all categories and for all markets have become parity. Everything is available everywhere. In such a scenario, where do you think a consumer will go to buy his desired commodity and how? An inevitable fact is that people in present times value time over money and luxury over time. Be it booking an air ticket or buying grocery from the local store, nobody wants to push himself in putting that ‘extra’ effort. Therefore, web is the home for this new genre of people. With expanded budgets and a splurge of luxury products online, population of e-stores is on a rise.
This brings us to talking about the headways the online retail industry is making today.
