Retail News CRM

Tag: india

  • Leading Tier 1 Operator in Malaysia deploys Elitecore’s Crestel Online Charging Platform

    Leading Tier 1 Operator in Malaysia deploys Elitecore’s Crestel Online Charging Platform

    Elitecore Technologies, a global provider of BSS and Packet Core solutios, announces that a leading Tier 1 Operator in Malaysia has deployed Elitecore’s 3GPP compliant Online Charging System (OCS) for their voice and data services; the solution enables its subscribers to keep track of their account, services and usage in real time. It supports dynamic notifications to customers prior to reaching their credit thresholds and also supports admin action in real time on threshold breach. The solution enables real-time charging of VOIP calls over SIP interface for post-paid subscribers on FTTX network.

    Elitecore’s real time OCS is a modular solution integrated with operator’s existing CRM and Billing systems, without having to go through a transformation of its existing billing system to support next generation services. The entire project was completed in just 3 months. The platform supports features such as single touch Point of Credit Governance for customer, Self Care service interaction in real time with accurate and timely information related to their usage, time/volume based rating, differential rating, advice of charges, shared balances, policy based discounting etc.

    Dhaval Vora, VP, Product Management, Elitecore says, “With our Real Time charging Solution, the operator is well prepared to support the growing demand for data services and benefit from enhanced real-time capabilities for its Data, Voice & Internet Services. Better real-time processing and instant notification of credit balance status enhances user experience and eliminates bill shock scenario.”

    The solution helps operators to add subscriber value through personalized offering, ensures optimum network utilization & greatly increases service usage and ARPU. Moreover, the solution is future ready which can support multiple networks on the same platform.

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  • Pantaloons to invest Rs 125 cr this fiscal, add up to 35 stores

    Pantaloons to invest Rs 125 cr this fiscal, add up to 35 stores

    Retail chain Pantaloons plans to invest Rs 125 crore this fiscal as it plans to add up to 35 stores across the country.

    In an investor update, Pantaloons Fashion & Retail’s parent company Aditya Birla Nuvo said: “Financial year 2015-16 capex guidance (for Pantaloons) stands at about Rs 125 crore mainly towards launch of new stores.”

    “The company is targeting to launch 30-35 stores during 2015-16 and focus will be on expanding customer reach and portfolio enrichment,” it said.

    Pantaloons, which has over 100 stores across the country, reported net sales of Rs 433.70 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015.

    In May, in a major restructuring exercise, Aditya Birla Group announced merger of all its branded apparel businesses into one entity, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd.

    Under the scheme of arrangement, the apparel businesses of group holding company Aditya Birla Nuvo and of another group firm Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail would be demerged into listed firm Pantaloons Fashion & Retail Ltd (PFRL).

    Madura owns and retails brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and People and operates 1,759 stores across the country.

    In 2012, Aditya Birla Nuvo had entered into an agreement with the Future Group to infuse Rs 1,600 crore into Pantaloons and acquire a majority stake in the store chain.

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  • Roll Mafia plans India roll-out

    Roll Mafia plans India roll-out

    An Indian quick service restaurant concept Roll Mafia has raised $151,000 in seed funding to commence a roll out in major Indian cities.

    Parent SLS Cuisines India plans 50 restaurants in six cities by March next year after attracting investment from Singapore’s Equentia Natural Resources and a group of private investors.

    Roll Mafia currently operates eight outlets in Pune and three in Patna, cooking and selling Indian food such as Kathi Rolls and Dum Biryani.

    “We are looking to open 50 more outlets in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Baroda, Bangalore, Delhi and Gurgaon by March 2016,” said Varun Sahay, co-founder of Roll Mafia.

    The new outlets will boost its workforce from the current 70 to around 250.

    Roll Mafia was founded in 201 by brothers Varun and Vishal Sahay. It provides delivery in some market, via an online portal, as well as takeaway and dine-in facilities.

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  • Jamie Oliver heads to India

    Jamie Oliver heads to India

    UK celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is to open his first restaurant in India.

    Jamie’s Pizzeria, a 60 seat restaurant serving pizzas, salads, sides and desserts, will open in Delhi this autumn.

    “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be bringing Jamie’s Italian and Jamie’s Pizzeria to India. Delhi is a vibrant, colourful, buzzing city with an already incredible food scene, so to be opening two restaurants there is a huge honour,” Oliver said in a statement.

    The pizzeria will be the first of several planned for major Indian cities. Oliver already runs 30 restaurants globally, including in the UK, Dubai, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, Singapore and Toronto.

    The Indian business is a joint venture between Delhi-based Carnation Hospitality, which operates Wendy’s and Barista franchises in India, and UK-based International Market Management.

    “We chose Delhi because we found a great launch site and feel that we can offer something new to the market, this is to say highly accessible, affordable restaurants serving great quality Italian food sourced with the greatest care,” said Jasper Reid, IMM’s founder, in an interview.

    “It’s a fun and easy-going place offering customers the highest quality but at amazing value. The plan is for customers to get a yummy pizza and a drink for around Rs 400 to Rs 450. We feel there may be a gap in the market for this quality and this price,” Reid said.

    He added that the partnership will launch the other Jamie Oliver brand, Jamie’s Italian, in India as well.

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  • Kalyan Jewellers plans IPO

    Kalyan Jewellers plans IPO

    Indian retailer Kalyan Jewellers is planning an IPO to raise capital for expansion internationally.

    The company has plans for six stores in Qatar and an undisclosed number in Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

    Chairman and MD T S Kalyanaraman has not revealed the timeframe for the IPO, but the move comes a year after high-profile private equity investor Warburg Pincus took a cornerstone stake in the business, effectively giving it an international scale credibility.

    Kalyan has 85 premium stores across India and in the Middle East and has a further 15 in planning. More significant is its second tier of concessions and ‘service centre’ stores branded ‘My Kalyan’ – a network currently numbering 650, with another 350 planned by March next year.

    “We had opened two [Kalyan] stores in Chennai – at Chromepet and Adayar – a couple of days ago,” said Kalyanaraman.

    “Going at this pace, we will be touching the 100-store mark towards the end of financial year 2016,” he said.

    Kalyanaraman sees huge potential in the ‘affordable diamond’ segment of the market, which it plans to service through the My Kalyan network.

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  • AirAsia launches 8th route to India

    AirAsia launches 8th route to India

    AirAsia has expanded its route network from its main base at Kuala Lumpur (KUL) with the addition of a new service to Goa (GOI) in India. The thrice-weekly service (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) on the 3,360-kilometre route launched on 27 August and will be flown by the carrier’s A320s. The route is not served by any other carrier.

    Goa becomes AirAsia’s eighth route to India as it already serves Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Tiruchirappalli and Visakhapatnam. In total AirAsia now serves 68 destinations non-stop from the Malaysian capital.

    For Goa Airport this is the sixth international destination served after Doha (with Qatar Airways), Dubai (Air India), Kuwait City (Air India), Muscat (Oman Air) and Sharjah (Air Arabia).

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  • Clarks steps up in Asia

    Clarks steps up in Asia

    British footwear brand Clarks says it sees Asia Pacific growth as a “a key strategic focus” for the company.

    The 190 year old, £1.5 billion business, plans to open 100 stores in the region in the next 12 months.

    “As we celebrate a significant birthday, we are as nimble and entrepreneurial as ever and poised for growth,” said Nancy Huang, president of Clarks Asia Pacific.

    “We see great future potential for further expansion and are excited about the possibilities.”

    Clarks, which operates through retail, wholesale, franchise and online channels has a presence in 130 markets worldwide and has been in Asia for 20 years.

    It has a strong footprint in China with 600 points of sale and hundreds of stores across Asia including the markets of India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

    Huang says Clarks’ strong British heritage and reputation for craftsmanship has widely appealed to Asia’s rising middle class. In recent years, the company has invested heavily in building infrastructure, people resources and capabilities in Asia Pacific to support a rapidly expanding set of markets.

    The company will also invest “heavily” in reinvigorating key existing stores in China, Japan and Singapore.

    C&J Clark Limited, owners of the Clarks brand, the privately owned footwear business, was founded in Street, Somerset in the UK by the Clark family in 1825. Still based in Street, the Clarks Group designs, develops and sells a wide range of footwear and accessories for men, women and children. The Clarks brand is renowned worldwide for quality and style with comfort.

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  • China grocery boom accelerates

    China grocery boom accelerates

    The China grocery boom is accelerating – but India and the so-called MINT countries are chasing.

    Chinese grocery sales are set to grow by a third between now and 2020 and reach US$1.5 trillion per year, according to new forecasts from IGD. While China will comfortably retain its position as the largest grocery market in the foreseeable future, other markets will grow faster.

    IGD predicts:

    • The grocery sector in India will grow by nearly 80 per cent and be worth just over US$900 billion by 2020.
    • Nigeria’s grocery market will achieve the fastest growth of the largest markets, increasing in value by 85 per cent to hit just over US$300 billion by 2020.
    • The other ‘MINT’ countries will also experience rapid growth – grocery sales in Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey will increase by nearly 40 per cent, 63 per cent and 61 per cent respectively.
    • Indonesia’s grocery market will be worth almost as much as the UK’s (ranked seventh in the world) at US$351 billion by 2020.

    IGD CEO Joanne Denney-Finch says while grocery industry growth prospects appear limited in Europe at the moment, this is a time of tremendous opportunity for grocery companies further afield.

    “The vast majority of global grocery growth will come from Asia, Africa and the Middle East supported by increasing affluence, urbanisation, and rising population. With many European products and brands highly regarded in these regions, this will be a boom time for companies with export skills.”

    On China, she observed: “Although the Chinese growth rate is slowing, it’s still very impressive, particularly in ‘tier three and four cities’. These are regional, medium-income cities, undergoing rapid development. There are many more opportunities for retailers and Western brands. For example, online grocery will enjoy explosive growth in China, though from a modest base, tripling in size between now and 2020. This will be powered by more Chinese having access to the internet through smartphones and other devices.”

    Denney-Finch said in India, while traditional stores will continue to take the lion’s share of the grocery market, consumer spending per capita in real terms will grow faster in the subcontinent than in any of the top grocery markets.

    “Combined with an expanding working-age population this will support the growth of modern convenience and supermarket retailing. Retailers are also rapidly setting up online grocery services hoping to tap into the potential of India’s half a billion smartphone users. Despite restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI), international retailers continue to see the potential of investing in India.

    “If the expected effects of inflation are stripped out, then India would be the fastest growing of the largest grocery markets while most of the MINT countries would also appear higher up the growth rankings,” she said.

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  • G-Star Raw eyes Malaysia, Vietnam

    G-Star Raw eyes Malaysia, Vietnam

    Fashion denim brand G-Star Raw says it is considering forays into Malaysia and Vietnam after a successful debut in India.

    G-Star recently opened its first Indian store in Mumbai’s Palladium Mall and plans a network of up to 35 stores by 2020 in partnership with local venture Genesis Luxury.

    “India is an emerging powerhouse, and we want to be part of this growth – particularly as the middle class’ capacity to spend on consumer goods, such as clothing, continues to increase,” a spokesperson for the company told Just Style.

    G-Star Raw already has stores in Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    “We are looking to expand into Malaysia, and potentially Vietnam, in the future,” the spokesperson said in the interview.

    “We believe the G-Star Raw brand has the potential to grow not only in metropolitan cities, but also in these fast emerging ‘smart cities’.”

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  • Teabox has the World’s first tea subscription service

    Teabox has the World’s first tea subscription service

    Indian online tea retailer Teabox the global eCommerce tea company, has launched the world’s first ‘Personalized Tea Subscription Service’.

    The program is powered by Teabox’s patent-pending ‘machine-learning technology’ that it says personalises and matches every individual’s tastes to a selection of teas.

    The Teabox subscription program allows tea drinkers to choose the kinds of tea they would enjoy by breaking down their ‘perfect cup’ into 75 different attributes, such as aroma, astringency,

    strength and body, into objective components which are matched to user preferences, habits and taste characteristics.

    When consumers sign up to the plan, Teabox has them take a quick five-question quiz online, the results of which are analysed by Teabox’s ‘prediction engine’ software.

    “Each user is assigned a ‘signature’ tea based on their responses. The machine ­learning algorithms look for patterns to identify a selection of teas best suited to go with this signature profile,” the company says.

    “And as the users repeat and share their experiences with our prediction engine, it improves its discerning capabilities thereby improving its understanding of a user’s choices and matches our teas to them better. This feedback loop enables a reinforced learning behavior of the system allowing it to fine tune itself to specific taste profiles as we go further,” said Teabox founder and CEO, Kaushal Dugar.

    “When it comes to taste preferences, there are no universals. One’s taste preferences are unique and theirs alone,” he said. “But the descriptions of teas, like wines, can be subjective. We understand this, and that’s why our prediction engine has been developed to break down subjective words like “floral,” “sweet” and “astringent” into over 75 quantifiable attributes.

    “This, coupled with the habits and preferences of our customers enables us to pick out teas perfectly suited to their palate – making our subscription program the most personalised tea experience out there.”

    Teabox ships a package of tea based on the user’s habits and preferences each month. The teas come from the company’s broad selection of tea gardens and suppliers and the company promises fresh teas.

    Teas are delivered within five days of ordering and subscription packages are priced from US$9.99 to $39.99 a month.

    Founded in 2012, Teabox sources fresh teas from 200 growers in Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri to the entire world. In two years, Teabox has delivered over 30 million cups’ worth of tea to customers in 80 countries.

    The company is backed by Jafco Asia, Accel Partners, Keystone Group and Dragonee Investment Group.

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  • The Children’s Place lands in India

    The Children’s Place lands in India

    US retailer The Children’s Place has opened its first store in India.

    The brand has entered the market in partnership with Arvind Lifestyle Brands, opening its first store in Bengaluru.

    The Children’s Place operates about 1200 stores internationally and Arvind Lifestyle hopes to open up to 40 in India during the next four years, largely located in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

    Arvind Lifestyle CEO J. Suresh said the children’s clothes and accessories market is dominated by the ‘unorganised” retailers and his company sees a significant opportunity to gain first to market advantage in the category.

    “We should hopefully be the leading player in the market,” said Suresh.

    Mridumesh Kumar Rai, who heads The Children’s Place business in India added: “We want to be for kids wear what Zara and Mango are for women’s fast fashion in India,” said.

    Arvind Lifestyle sells a broad range of franchised lifestyle brands including Gap, Nautica, Ralph Lauren, US Polo and Elle. Earlier this year it announced a partnership with US teen fast fashion brand Aeropostale.

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  • Air India to start evening Surat-Delhi flight from Oct 1

    Air India to start evening Surat-Delhi flight from Oct 1

    This year’s Diwali is set to usher in loads of surprises for the high-flying Surtis.

    Air India is preparing to introduce daily evening flight between Delhi and Surat by deploying the 168-seater Airbus-320 from October 1.

    This will be over and above the existing morning flight to Delhi. Hence, the Diamond City will have two daily flights to the national capital and same day return option will be available to business flyers at both ends. International connections to the USA, Europe and South East Asia will also be offered.

    By the end of October, Air India plans morning flight between Mumbai and Surat in its ATR aircraft.

    Thanks to the efforts of Surat and Navsari MPs — Darshana Jardosh and CR Paatil — frequent fliers from the Diamond City will get an opportunity to fly to Mumbai and Delhi after a break of more than 11 months.

    He added, “We also met Air Asia CEO Mittu Chandaliya who has agreed to introduce daily flights between Bangalore, Jaipur, Delhi and Surat this winter session.”

    Despite being the second largest city in the state, ninth in India and fourth fastest growing city in the world, Surat is very unfortunate in getting domestic as well as international air connectivity.

    Jardosh said, “We have been successful in convincing Air India authorities on introducing evening Delhi flight from Surat. We also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August and he instructed Air India CMD to take positive action. We are grateful to AirAsia CEO Chandaliya who is keen on starting flight operations from Surat.”

    Airport director Pramod Thakre said, “The DGCA will be sending the slot schedule of Air India’s evening flight to and fro from Delhi. The evening slot is open for smooth operation at the airport.”

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  • Philippines records 27% hike in Indian tourists from Jan-May 2015

    Philippines records 27% hike in Indian tourists from Jan-May 2015

    The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines has welcomed about 31,245 Indian tourists during the first five months of this year, recording an increase of 27.40 per cent, compared with 24,525 tourist arrivals from India from January to May 2014. The destination also plans to welcome tourists to the Philippine Shopping Festival 2015 which will be held from October 23 to November 8, in association with the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA). This was informed by Verna Covar-Buensuceso, Director and Officer-in-charge, Market Development Group, Tourism Development Sector, Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, while speaking to the press at the recently concluded multi-city roadshow in New Delhi post travelling to Nagpur, Chandigarh and Lucknow.

    Comprising 11 trade partners from Philippines, this sixth roadshow by DOT Philippines was the biggest-ever delegation to India. The roadshows included interactive B2B sessions, education programmes and workshops and saw participation of over 300 key tour operators, MICE and up-market leisure operators.

    “We aim to achieve 100,000 Indian tourist arrivals by 2017,” said Glen Agustin, Chief Tourism Operations Officer, Market Development Group, DOT, Philippines. He elaborated that they conducted a familiarisation trip for Kolkata-based tour operators wherein participants interacted with their B2B counterparts in Philippines. This has yielded excellent results and the tourism has been booming from the Kolkata since then, he said. Moreover, about 600 tour operators and counting have been certified under the Philippines Specialist Program (PSP) which has indeed assisted tour operators to lure tourists from Tier-II cities as well. As per the trend this year, Indians are staying for seven days on an average and spending about USD 120 a day. Though the length of stay has increased, we look forward to increase the tourism spend as well, highlighted Agustin.

    Agustin felt that the progress has been quite impressive and DOT Philippines will continue to remain bullish on the Indian market. “India ranked as the 13th top source market for Philippines Tourism, and we firmly believe that it has a huge potential to up its ranking. Weddings, MICE and Film Tourism are some products which we are aggressively promoting in the Indian market as of now. More than half of the tourist arrivals in 2014 comprised MICE travellers, especially incentive. In the year going forward, we plan to participate in PATA Travel Mart from September 6-8 in Bengaluru, Karnataka and thereafter in the Outbound Travel Mart 2016 from February 18-20 in Mumbai,” revealed Agustin.

    Elaborating on the Philippine Shopping Festival 2015, Covar-Buensuceso, said, “It will be a two week-long sale where shopping malls and retailers in the Philippines will offer different discounts and promotions to entice people to shop and offer a unique shopping experience. In line with DOT’s ‘Visit the Philippines 2015’ campaign and PRA’s efforts in the development of the Philippine’s retail industry, the Philippine Shopping Festival aims to make the destination a new shopping hub in the Asia Pacific region,” added Buensuceso. She added that India is among the top 10 source markets to travel to newer destinations in Philippines such as Cebu, Davao, Palawan and Bohal along with the preferred ones such as Manila and Boracay.

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  • Amazon India launches Beauty Store

    Amazon India launches Beauty Store

    Amazon India has launched a luxury Beauty Store on its eCommerce portal.

    “We are excited to offer a wide selection of handpicked luxury beauty products. Customers can now order their favorite luxury beauty brands from the comfort of their homes with Amazon.in,” said Samir Kumar, director of category management with Amazon India.

    The store will offer products from 17 luxury brands covering hair, skin and body treatments.

    The brands include L’Occitane, Crabtree & Evelyn, Kama Ayurveda, Forest Essentials, Davidoff, Calvin Klein, Dermalogica, Ren, Temple Spa, Leighton Denny, Jo Hansford, Shaze, Dr. Lipp, Eve Snow, Pangea Organics and The Camel Soap Factory.

    It targets both men and women.

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  • AirAsia India Announces Flurry of Offers, Reintroduces Fares at Rs 990

    AirAsia India Announces Flurry of Offers, Reintroduces Fares at Rs 990

    AirAsia India on Monday introduced a flurry of offers both for domestic as well as international routes, to mark the group’s milestone of flying 300 million travellers.

    AirAsia had announced last week that it would come up with something ‘big’ to mark the occasion.

    On domestic routes, AirAsia has reintroduced its Rs 990- fare (all-inclusive) offer. This offer is valid for travel period of 15 February-31 August 2016 and to avail it tickets should be booked between August 10 and August 16.

    Under the AirAsia scheme, while tickets from Bengaluru to Kochi are priced at Rs 990, Bengaluru to Goa tickets would cost Rs 1190, and New Delhi to Guwahati tickets are available at Rs 2990.

    On overseas routes, AirAsia has put on block 3 million seats and is offering all-inclusive fare as low as Rs 3,999 for traveling to Kuala Lumpur from cities like Kochi, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.

    AirAsia has also introduced discounts for travel on overseas routes like Bangkok, Melborune, Sydney, Perth etc.

    Jet Airways also introduced a discount offer on Monday. Jet Airways announced a promotional scheme offering a flat 30 per cent discount on base fares of domestic flights and travel from India to international destinations.

    Fare wars between airlines have turned intense in Indian skies and carriers have been coming up with offers every other week to woo flyers.

    The promotional schemes offered by different airlines have helped spur strong passenger growth. The number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-June this year rose to 388 lakh, as against 324 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year – an increase of nearly 20 per cent.