Booming middle class makes it exciting time for lifestyle clothing- An interview of Mr.Ashish Dikshit, president (Lifestyle & Retail) Madura Garments

Extension of the erstwhile men’s only brands –– Louis Philippe, Van Heusen and Allen Solly –– into segments such as women’s wear, youth and fashion is an attempt by the country’s biggest apparel marketer to leverage the country’s changing demographics, says Ashish Dikshit, president (Lifestyle & Retail) Madura Garments, a division of Rs 3,578-crore Aditya Birla Nuvo. Excerpts from a recent tête-à-tête: What are the opportunities in the apparel market? The burgeoning of international brands and ever increasing consumerism are the two big opportunities that India is witnessing right now. I think it is an exciting time for lifestyle clothing because of the expanding middle class. The disposition that they have towards brands is one reason that will boost the growth of branded apparel clothes. It enhances the scope of more brands and creation of sub-categories. Home-grown brands have learnt lessons from international clothing brands. What they require is to scale up the volumes and focus on categories more sharply. What are challenges for Madura Garments? Louis Philippe, Van Heusen and Allen Solly were, at one point of time, classic men's wear brands. We had a very strong positioning for these brands. But slowly we saw distinct and different facets emerging in the Indian demographics. We spotted the opportunity in the women's wear segment as early as 2001. With Allen Solly Woman we introduced our casual and formal wear for women. We witnessed (Allen Solly) women's wear reaping the success and (thereafter) we started pushing other brands (into other segments) as well. It is still very small but choices are expanding. Apart from it, we also witnessed a new set of shoppers emerging –– youth. So now we have fashionable clothing range under all our brands. The extensions are made in casual and leisure wear for youngsters and we are also working on the new positioning for these brands. Recently you introduced casual dressing styles with few of your brands? Are these brands getting a young repositioning? We are surely extending our brands and targeting women and youngsters. But it will be over stretching to say that we are making the brand ‘young'. We think that there is a huge market opportunity by targeting women and youth. We have to make our brand relevant in the present scenario and we cannot afford to miss the critical mass of consumers. The workplaces are increasingly being dominated by women and younger talent. Broadening the apparel into categories such as formal wear, casual dressing and leisure wear for them is just a tip of the iceberg. Madura Garments is conspicuous by its absence in the Rs 15,000-crore kidswear market. Why? I agree that we have not yet addressed the kidswear market. We are still researching and studying the market dynamics. We are doing a SWOT analysis and think we will soon enter this market too. It's surely the next big thing for us. How is the partnership with Esprit shaping up? Esprit is one of the leading international fashion brand that we decided to bring in during 2005. We saw a huge potential in youth fashion industry and thought it to be an appropriate time to introduce a brand that could cater to this segment. The market was prime for lifestyle clothing and Esprit played in the premium casual wear market. With an inclination to set footprints in new segment and attract more consumers, we got sharply focused brand Esprit. We have reached the critical mass and hope to grow three-fold next year. Any other international brands that you’re planning to launch here? We are constantly working on making the premium dressing a significantly large business. There are few international brands that we are planning to bring in India but are currently working on a feasibility report for them. Currently, we are focused on making Esprit a highly recalled brand. We will also invest around Rs 400 crore in establishing exclusive stores for Esprit, increasing the retail space and investing in brand extension. Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

An Interview on Private Labels in India of Mr. Nirmalya Kumar

Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing and Director of the Aditya Birla India Centre, London Business School, and co-author of Private Label Strategy, speaks to Govindkrishna Seshan on the new strategies for private labels that retailers are using and the challenges brand manufacturers face to develop an effective response. Kumar says private label brands, which occupy less than 5 per cent of the market in India now, are likely to corner 50 per cent of the market as the retail space opens up and matures. Excerpts: Q: What role do private labels have to play in Indian retail? A: Retailing in India is still very primitive. At the moment, private labels almost do not exist in the country. They are less than 5 per cent of the retail business and still have a long way to go. But Indian retail is extremely hot and it offers a proposition that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world. Only in China and India can retail chains have as many stores as they have in the US. In no other country can one imagine companies having 5,000-6,000 stores of their own. Here’s a little calculation: in a few years, most retail chains will have close to 5,000 stores in India. A profit of, say, Rs 5 lakh a store a month would mean a profit of Rs 250 crore. Ten such companies would mean profits of Rs 2,500 crore with their combined turnover being more than Rs 25,000 crore. In the next 20 years, the richest Indian or one of the top three richest people in India will surely be a retailer. Private labels will have a huge role to play in this. As much as 50 per cent of Indian retail will be occupied by private labels. The question is not whether this will happen, but when? If the government opens up retail, we would see it happen within the next 10 or 15 years. Q: How have private labels evolved in developed countries? A: Private labels have come a long way over the last three decades. They started with retailers wanting to offer cheaper substitutes. This was for two reasons. One, having a private label meant that retailers could negotiate a better margin from the manufacturer. And the other, when they had private labels they had a differentiator. While every shop sold a Coca-Cola and Pepsi, a private label meant that the store now had something that other stores did not. The biggest change in the last decade or so has been the entry of premium private labels. They are no longer saying “buy us because we are cheap”, instead today, they are saying “buy us because we are the best”. By offering high quality products, many private labels have started charging more than regular manufacturers. Today, retailers have realised that by having top quality private labels they can differentiate themselves from other stores and be a destination store. For instance, Tesco in Europe has a range called the Tesco Finest line. It does have a Tesco Value line, which is cheaper, but the Finest line only sells premium products at premium prices. Tesco’s Finest chocolate, for instance, sells at 50 per cent premium over, say, Cadbury’s. Similarly, its yogurt sells at more than 50 per cent premium over Danone and other yogurts. Retailers are now doing everything it takes to create premium brands. They advertise on television, take up brand-building exercises, and most importantly, they focus on developing a better product than the existing manufacturers’ brands. Q: Is the same likely to happen in India as well? Yes, the economics will remain the same. The share of private labels in any country depends on how consolidated the retail chains are. Developing a good quality brand has a high development and innovation cost attached to it. To be able to absorb such costs, Indian retail chains will need to scale up. In India, the largest retail chain today has around 300-400 stores. Retail chains in developed nations on the other hand have around 3,000-5,000 stores each. So it will start with retailers reverse engineering manufacturers’ brands, and as organised retailers grow larger, their labels, too, will move up the value chain. However, the transition will be faster in India. Q: What would be your advice to Indian retailers? A: Indian retail is ranked 50th in the world, so there is a lot that retailers here can learn from the 49 countries ahead. My advice to them is don’t do cheap and nasty private labels. Private labels won’t work by just keeping the products cheap. Retailers must look at developing good quality and value-added products. Also, they must make sure that they don’t over exercise the private label option. If they fall into the trap of using too many private labels, they will end up losing customers. It has been seen that when retail chains rely heavily on private labels, customers feel they lack choices. Many retailers have suffered due to this; Sainsbury is a classic example. The UK-based retail chain was a mainline traditional retail chain, but when it used too many private labels, customers did not find regular brands at its stores, and as a result, sales dropped. Q: Can private brands ever generate the type of consumer loyalty some of the iconic manufacturer brands such as Marlboro and Coca-Cola have? A: Yes definitely. In most developed countries, private labels have managed to achieve that. Study after study has ranked Aldi in Germany as the nation’s number one brand. In a recent study, its brand name in terms of consumer trust was ranked ahead of even DaimlerChrysler. Again, Tesco is among the top 10 brands in the UK. Similarly, French retailer Carrefour is one of the 10 most recognised and trusted brands in France. So good quality private labels definitely generate a very high level of loyalty amongst customers. Q: How can manufacturers compete with private labels? A: Innovate brilliantly, this is the first thing manufacturers need to do. They need to keep coming up with new products and new value additions continuously. By doing this, they ensure that they are a moving target and not a sitting duck. We have seen that in industries where manufacturers have innovated and upgraded their products regularly, the share of private labels has been low. Gillette is an excellent example. Worldwide, Gillette has constantly innovated its product. It has launched new razors, new blades and upgraded its products regularly, hence the share of private labels in razors is very low. Q: Considering that the private label phenomenon has not yet happened in India, what can Indian manufacturers do to prepare themselves for it? A: Manufacturers here need to realise and respect the strength of the retailer. Today, most companies see retailers as the owners of small mom-and-pop stores and not as a social or intellectual equal. But they need to understand that retailers have equal weight and will soon wield a lot more power than them. Hence manufacturers must start partnering with retailers. They must start working closely with them as soon they will have to work around them. In most developed nations like the US, the UK, South Africa and Australia, manufacturers work closely with retailers. Even in countries like Brazil, Mexico and Thailand one has witnessed this change. Hence Indian companies can begin to build a partnership from now. Large FMCG companies such as P&G and Unilever have learnt to do this well. Consider this: Wal-Mart purchases $10 billion worth of products from P&G, and hence P&G has to organise itself to work around them. The other thing that Indian manufacturers can do is to fight selectively. To do this, they must move out of categories where they are not the number one or two brand. As things move forward, it will make no sense to hold on to number three and four brands simply because a retailer would charge very high margins to stock these products. Retailers would only want to stock those brands which are at the top because they attract consumers. Since they don’t benefit by stocking the rest, it is best to move out of such categories. Also, companies must move out of those categories where their products do not make a symbolic or emotional difference to consumers. In categories where additional benefits are not seen such as in bread, butter, milk or paper towels, private labels tend to sell more. Q: What is the future of private labels? A: Private retailers will occupy 50 per cent of the market the world over. At 50 per cent, they begin to saturate. If they try to occupy more than this, then consumers feel that there aren’t enough choices. In countries such as Switzerland and the UK, private labels have reached this limit and these markets have saturated. But they will continue grow in the other countries till they reach the same level. And this will happen very soon in India, too. source: http://www.ibef.org

An Interview of B.S. Nagesh -Managing Director , Shoppers Stop

In the retail industry, the winner doesn’t take all.

BS Nagesh
customer care associate and managing director, Shoppers’ Stop

Q. Let’s start at the very beginning. From a single store in Andheri, Mumbai, to 19 stores across India, how has the Shoppers’ Stop journey been? When Shoppers’ Stop was started, did you expect it to become the national network it is today?

A. Quite frankly, no, at that point, I didn’t anticipate that it would become this big! Before joining Shoppers’ Stop, I was managing around 128 stores for the footwear chain, Carona. Back then, my vision was that instead of running over 100 stores measuring 50,000 square feet in all, why not run one store, measuring the same? This is how I joined the Rahejas.

The Rahejas had a property which they wanted to make commercially viable. The group saw an opportunity in retail, which is how Shoppers’ Stop came into being. At that point, I really didn’t have much clue on how to run a departmental store! I just went with what I learnt from books and newspapers and relied on the Rahejas’ knowledge on international retailing.

Towards the end of 1995, we opened our second store. Till then, we didn’t have any national vision. That vision was formed only around 1996-98, which is when we opened our Hyderabad store. Only after 1998 did we go in for a national presence.

"When we started Shoppers’ Stop, everything was a challenge! Retail was only an art then; the science of retail, which we see today,
was completely lacking."

Q. Shoppers’ Stop was started at a time when organised retail was in its infancy. What were the challenges before you then?

A. Oh, everything was a challenge then! (Laughs) Today, when one talks of retail, people say, ‘Yes, but…’, while back then, the situation was ‘If…, but…’.

At that time, 99 per cent of Mumbai’s retailers were Kutchis (Gujaratis hailing from Kutch), while the largest retailer in the city was Akbarally’s. So, the belief that a professional could run a retail business was largely perceived as a case of ‘suitwala dukan chalayega’. There was nothing like store planning or organised layouts. Retail was only an art then; the science of retail, which we see today, was completely lacking.

Personally, I think we were trying to open up an industry which existed, but in which nobody believed. One of the biggest challenges for us back then was recruiting people as no one wanted to foray into retail. The first six-seven months, therefore, were the toughest.

Once our team was in place, running the operations was not an issue, as it was internal. The problem lay in external perceptions. Now, around 15 years later, the situation is exactly the reverse. The consumer is all gung-ho, but are the retailers internally ready?

Anyway, we started off as a purely menswear store and became a departmental store much later. We had four options before us. Shoppers’ Stop could start off being a departmental store such as Akbarally’s, but that was ruled out because we couldn’t run such a store with 4,200 square feet, to begin with! It could be an electronics store such as Vijay Sales, but that, too, was ruled out. It could also be a supermarket, where we had KDs for reference. That looked good, but the margins in such a set-up were quite low then. So, we went with the fourth option – apparel. We decided to stock only menswear as we’d be the biggest men’s apparel store in town then; Raymond was the biggest at that time. We did a lot of research at that point to find out the issues in the industry and what customers were looking for.

So, on October 27, 1991, we formally commenced operations with our first shop at Linking Road, Andheri. I clearly remember… that was around eight days before the Diwali celebrations.

Q. What’s the thought behind adding the tag ‘Customer Care Associate’ to every staff member’s designation, including yours? How has a customer based orientation to the organisation proved fruitful over the years?

A. There are two parts to this answer. Firstly, to tell you quite honestly, most of us in the organisation didn’t have a clue as to what the retailing business was all about; our customers are the ones who taught us that. It’s not just our marketing, even our merchandising is based largely on customer feedback. I remember this customer telling me that while he loved Shoppers’ Stop, he hadn’t shopped there for a while because he couldn’t find any orange coloured shirts in our stock. We hadn’t thought it necessary to stock these, as the perception was, ‘Who buys orange shirts?’ But we went with what he said and stocked some. Within a matter of time, the entire range got sold out. And that’s just one example of how customers shape what we do.

The second story runs thus: I lost this great store supervisor once, which made me think. This guy was about to get married and his mother-in-law had a problem with his designation, which was that of ‘salesman’. As a result, he put in his papers. That’s when I realised that we needed to change the designations we give to our people. That’s how that tag was added.

In fact, this was one of the ways of motivating our staff and reminding them that customer satisfaction is of utmost importance. If the media sends us an e-mail, we may take time replying. But if a customer sends us an e-mail, I will make sure the query is attended to promptly. And this system has worked for us.

We even map regularly the following three indices, which appear in our balance sheet: Customer Satisfaction Index, Employee Satisfaction Index and Partner Satisfaction Index (for our stakeholders and partners). We also have a two-day open forum every year, where people can toss their questions and complaints to the top guys in the organisation, who sit on a dais, ready to brave it out. We have always tried to ensure transparency in our dealings, which is one of our integral values.

"Personally, I think we were trying to open up an industry which existed, but in which nobody believed. It was also a huge challenge to recruit people back then because no one wanted to foray into retail."

Q. How did you market Shoppers’ Stop initially? How did the campaign idea emerge and how has it evolved over the years?

A. Internationally, in most parts of the world, retail is built mainly by merchandise and not by marketing, whereas in India, marketing avenues such as press, outdoor and events are used extensively to build a retail brand. We personally dropped into various shops, posing as customers, to get in-depth understanding of what consumers want. We discovered one thing in common: All our boys who went into these shops came out talking about their experience of shopping. And that is how our first campaign idea emerged: ‘Shoppers’ Stop: The Ultimate Shopping Experience’. That was something that we essentially wanted to say.

After four-five years, we went back to the customers and took their feedback. We realised we could no longer continue with our earlier statement, as customers were telling us what they felt while shopping. We then twisted our punchline and made it revolve around the customer. Thus, ‘Feel the Experience while You Shop’ became our new mantra.

Last year, in 2005, we again revisited our positioning and got inputs from our customers. What a typical customer was telling us was, “The experience is already there. I want something more.” So now, we have adopted the platform, ‘Beyond Shopping’. So, you see, our whole journey has revolved around what our customers feel and the insights they provide.

Over the last three years, and particularly after the ‘Beyond Shopping’ campaign, our same store sales growth has increased from 9-11 per cent to 17 per cent; in the last quarter, we registered 24 per cent sales growth and that too with a huge customer entry jump.

It works this way: You connect with the customer and, after some time, he grows bigger than you. So, you go back to the customer and find different avenues to revive the connectivity. It’s an ongoing process.

Q. It is believed that the trademark black and white logo and campaign for Shoppers’ Stop happened because of a lack of budget! Is that true? It sure seems to have worked for the brand...

A. Yes, that’s true! (Smiles) Our ad agency, Contract, had faxed us a colour layout of the logo. But since we had a black and white fax machine, I saw the logo in black and white. But I loved it immediately. I had no clue it was colour in the first place! I honestly thought this is what the agency had intended it to be. Besides, our budget was Rs 14 lakh and a coloured logo would have cost us Rs 28 lakh – double of that.

Yes, it was a risk for us to go all black and white while other fashion brands were all about colour. But then, in the first three years of our start-up, everything was a risk. But our differentiation, which was accidental, mind you, worked in our favour and became our strategic tool.

Having said the part about our fair share of risks, I must add here that we weren’t reckless in any way. In fact, we’re a fairly conservative company. I guess we’re not the most aggressive player in the country, but then, so be it. That’s the way we are.

"No, HyperCITY is not an answer to Big Bazaar or Spencer’s in any way."

Q. The brand, Shoppers’ Stop, is spelt differently in different places. Why is it so? Don’t you think this is hazardous for the brand?

A. Well, it is spelt in two ways and I’ll tell you each instance. In the logo and within shops, it is spelt with an apostrophe after ‘s’ in the word ‘Shoppers’, whereas in the books of the Registrar of Companies, it is spelt with an apostrophe between ‘r’ and ‘s’ in the same word. See, we can design the logo the way we want, but when we went to register Shoppers’ Stop Limited, it had to be spelt as per British English, which is why it was registered as ‘Shopper’s Stop Ltd’. But that part is not exposed to the customers at all.

But if you’re saying that it is spelt wrongly in the shop environment, which I doubt, then that is an error on our part, which we need to rectify immediately. It can cause confusion, no doubt. We’ll sort it out soon, now that you have brought it to our notice! (Grins)

Q. In a price sensitive market such as India, can shopping malls beat ‘kirana’ stores just on the basis of ambience and shopping experience? Do you see this competition moving beyond just a price war?

A. One has to see things differently. ‘Kirana’ stores target the 700 million belt, whereas organised retail services the 300 million one. To apply the same rules at both places, when they cater to two different sets of people, would be unfair. Let me explain the difference.

In the 300 million belt (non-food segment), consumers are almost global, that is, they have moved from price to value. One will be surprised to find the substantial number of people who buy, say, a Mercedes, in Mumbai, but get it registered from Thane. This is to save a lakh of rupees, despite the fact that they spend around Rs 40 lakh on the car. So, this segment is more value conscious, as they will buy the most expensive item, and simultaneously will want to get the best price for it. A price conscious consumer, on the other hand, will look at price alone and opt for a product which is the cheapest.

In the same belt (food segment), the consumer’s taste and choice are becoming global. And this is being driven by the media. I will give a small example. There are many cookery shows on television where they demonstrate continental cuisine. Now where will the consumer get the ingredients for these recipes – only at the supermarkets. However, I will also say that although the taste of the consumer has become global, the supply chain is still not global.

What I can foresee is that as the number of SKUs and options increase, consumers will demand more and limitation of space will become a problem for the ‘kiranas’. Perhaps, what will happen is that the generalised retailer will convert into a specialised one. So, the special ‘paneer’/cheese centres which you have today will become even more popular, and their biggest competitors in that regard will probably be the food bazaars.

To answer your question specifically, I think the ‘kirana’ store will be around for the next 30-40 years easily, as it is the neighbourhood store and convenience works in its favour. It also has two channels to buy from – traditional suppliers and hypermarkets. But SKUs will be a big problem area for it.

To conclude, the ‘kiranas’ are under a format and product threat, but not under any business threat.

As far as the price war theory goes, here are my views. Organised retail makes a person buy more for the same amount and offers tremendous scope for impulse shopping, which is very limited in a ‘kirana’ store. If we remove this impulse shopping factor, the consumer saves bucks at a hypermarket. For instance, if a person buys something at a ‘kirana’ and buys the same thing at a hypermarket, with no room for impulse shopping, he will save almost 5-10 per cent in the latter case. But that’s perhaps theoretical; one winds up doing impulsive shopping after seeing so many things on display! (Laughs)

"Internationally, in most parts of the world, retail is built mainly by merchandise and not by marketing, whereas in India, marketing avenues such as press, outdoor and events are used extensively to build a retail brand."

Q. With the relaxation in the FDI regulations, the big foreign players such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco and Home Depot are just around the corner. Smaller players in India seem to be perspiring at the thought and strategising on the way ahead. How will Shoppers’ Stop hold its own before these big fish?

A. I strongly believe that in retail, the winner doesn’t take it all. And this applies globally, too. Let’s take the example of a big giant, Wal-Mart, in the US. The fact is it has an approximate 9.8 per cent share of a $3 trillion market! Maybe we need to look at why Wal-Mart was not successful in Germany and Korea, or why it was successful in some other markets. It all boils down to market dynamics. You can’t take one model and apply it elsewhere.

Anyway, I feel that players who are weak internally will suffer as a result of this competition.

Q. In addition, even domestically, the scene is getting hot, with giants such as the Tatas, the Bharti Group and Reliance Industries eyeing the organised retail pie in India. The road sure doesn’t look simple.

A. Nothing will change for Shoppers’ Stop, not in the next 10-15 years, for sure. Shoppers’ Stop stands at 19 stores at present; it should reach 39 soon and then go up to 50. Competition will, in fact, help us. It will help expand the organised retail market. Yes, where we will compete will be in the malls, but then, let the consumers take a final call. We’d rather concentrate on our strategy and our growth plan, rather than chase our competitors’ strategies. We are aware of the competition, but aren’t sweating over it.

Shoppers’ Stop, HyperCITY and our specialty businesses will continue to concentrate on their respective goals and will be able to take on their competition due to its focus, range width and depth and consumer insight coupled with the trust we have built over so many years in the business.

"It works this way: You connect with the customer and, after some time, he grows bigger than you. So, you go back to the customer and find different avenues to revive the connectivity. It’s an ongoing process."

Q. Shoppers’ Stop, too, has ventured into hypermarkets, with HyperCITY Retail (India). Is this the answer to your competitor Pantaloon’s Big Bazaar or RPG’s Spencer’s? Do you think you have already missed the bus?

A. No, HyperCITY is not an answer to Big Bazaar or Spencer’s in any way. HyperCITY has been rated as one of the best 100 stores in the world, as per ‘Retail Week’, a magazine in the UK.

Besides, I don’t think we’re competing with Big Bazaar at all, in terms of marketplace or customer base. The two of us cater to two separate markets altogether. HyperCITY has the same TG as Shoppers’ Stop – the mid to high end segment. This is a conscious strategy because this segment has the highest disposable income… the 300 million base which I spoke about earlier. Thirty per cent of Indian consumers contribute to 70 per cent of our sales. So, do we want to chase the other 70 per cent? Not really. It’s a business strategy, nothing else.

In fact, we’re following international trends set by Wal-mart and Tesco. For instance, Tesco, which is the world’s second largest player, is entering the US market at this point.

As I said before, the winner doesn’t take all. I really don’t feel as though we have missed the bus, even though externally, the media and investors may feel that way. There is always a right moment for everything. For instance, for HyperCITY, the best real estate deals and properties, which we got today, might not have been possible a decade ago. Speed is not an issue for us… we don’t have the craze to be number one there, or number two in so and so city.

Q. Shopping malls have high footfalls. Are you satisfied with the way this medium is being used currently for advertising? Do you see a situation in which retail outlets will earn substantial revenue from advertisers and pass on a portion of this profit to the consumers?

A. I’m quite satisfied with the way retail is being used for advertising. Plasma televisions to display and promote brands catch the eyes of the customers. Promotions in the atriums and sampling and test marketing of automotive products in car parks are some other good concepts.

To answer the second part of your question, yes, it’s possible in the long run, but the end consumer generally gets his benefit from competitive pricing. Around 1-2 per cent of the bottom-line profits for retailers and mall operators will come from these advertisers.

Retail poses a great opportunity for advertisers. Conventionally, they are targeting eyeballs; here, it is footfalls. Besides, customers are in a different frame of mind altogether while shopping, which is an advantage.

"Yes, it was a risk for us to go all black and white, while other fashion brands were all about colour. But then, in the first three years of our start-up, everything was a risk."

Q. A majority of Shoppers’ Stop stores are in malls, which are characterised by higher footfalls and lower conversions. Shouldn’t Shoppers’ Stop have more stand-alone stores?

A. For one, stand-alone stores don’t provide for the same kind of parking the way malls do and, in the near future, parking will be a major issue for shoppers. In fact, there are more real estate opportunities in malls, which is why they will grow faster than stand-alone stores.

Conversions are low in malls in India as shopping is still a family thing… five people in a family may come to shop for something which only one of them wants. Thus, there is no proportion between footfalls and conversions. But that will soon change as shopping will become an individual thing.

Q. What are your plans for Crossword? What is the idea behind this celebrity launches?

A. Crossword has 34 stores, with another 11 in the offing. It should reach a target of 100 stores over the next two years. But the truth is that book retail is yet to catch up in a big way in India, as most of the publishers of books are international ones. The book distribution business is in small hands therefore the brand, product or distributors push for the title is very weak. This is why we need to have the book launches with celebrities, which has certainly helped the store’s popularity!

"I guess we’re not the most aggressive player in the country, but then, so be it. That’s the way we are."

Q. Any parting thoughts on the retail industry?

A. Quite a few. For one, retail is a very simple business.

Secondly, it’s also a loyalty led business. In fact, in the UK and Germany, 54 per cent people are loyal to a particular store. In India the figure would be in the range of 20 per cent. However, in case of Shoppers’ Stop, the loyalty contribution is more than 60 per cent.

I will also add here that more than being unique, retail is about being consistent. This is what I have learnt through my experiences all these years.

I feel that 500,000 square foot malls are the best.

In Western countries, there is this emerging trend of smaller malls and more stand-alone stores. Will it catch on in India? I would like to wait and watch.

Source : www.agencyfaqs.com