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Tag: india

  • Myntra hires tailors as delivery agents to reduce returns

    Myntra hires tailors as delivery agents to reduce returns

    Myntra, a Flipkart-owned Indian fashion platform has roped in local tailors to pick up packages from warehouses and deliver to customers to mend the sales gap caused by the return of ill-fitting clothes.

    The move is set to minimize business losses by cutting down on the return of clothes and refunds, says GlobalData, a data and analytics company.

    Tying up with local tailors in apparel delivery is not a new concept and companies such as Raymond and Birla-owned Abof.com took initiatives to partner with local tailors as the last-mile delivery agent.

    Shagun Sachdeva, a consumer insights analyst at GlobalData, says Myntra started offering alteration services in Bengaluru back in 2016.

    “The company is now looking to address the discomfort of consumers in searching for tailors for altering purposes. This is aimed at mending the sales gap and at the same time improving customer satisfaction by fixing fitting flaws on the doorstep.”

    According to GlobalData, online retail in India accounted for US$17.2 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach $69.9 billion by 2022.

    In line with this growth, the online retailing of clothing in India grew exponentially in the last few years, reaching $5 billion last year, owing to increasing penetration of the internet and discounts offered by online retailers.

    The market is currently fragmented, with market leader Amazon commanding just 5 percent market share across all categories. Therefore, in order to break the clutter, companies such as Myntra are finding innovative ways to please the customers.

    Sachdeva says Myntra has reduced its losses from $96 million in 2017 to $22 million last year and aims to turn itself profitable down the line.

    “Such loss-reducing measures might be helpful.”

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  • India has world’s cheapest mobile data rates

    India has world’s cheapest mobile data rates

    Cable.co.uk analyzed 6,313 mobile data plans from 230 different countries from October to November 2018.

    For India’s market, 57 mobile data plans were analyzed and found that the lowest rate per 1GB in the country was 1.41 Rupees ($0.02) while the highest was at 98.83 Rupees ($1.41).

    “A country whose young population has a particularly high technological awareness, India offers a vibrant smartphone market, with strong adoption and many competitors. Data, therefore, is quite staggeringly cheap,” the report mentioned.

    India is home to more than 430 million smartphone users and is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, with China being the first.

    Other countries with cheap mobile data packages include Kyrgyzstan at $0.27, Kazakhstan at $0.49, Ukraine at $0.51, and Rwanda at $0.56.

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  • Mercedes-Benz India Delivers Over 200 Cars On Dussehra & Navratri

    Mercedes-Benz India Delivers Over 200 Cars On Dussehra & Navratri

    Mercedes-Benz India delivered a record 200+ cars to customers on the occasion of Dussehra and Navratri this festive season. The German automaker’s deliveries for the festive season surpassed those of last year with a concentrated customer base from Mumbai and the Gujarat state. The highest deliveries of over 125 vehicles were registered in Mumbai itself, while  74 car deliveries were registered in Gujarat, according to the carmaker. The customer profile comprised doctors, chartered accountants, lawyers and business professionals, said the company.

    Speaking on the occasion, Martin Schwenk, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, “The overwhelming customer response resulting in deliveries of 200+ Stars in Mumbai and Gujarat and some other markets during Dussehra and Navratri, underlines the unmatched popularity of a Mercedes-Benz vehicle for the luxury car customers in these important markets. Today’s deliveries also signify that we have a similar level of excitement and fascination from customers, which we witnessed in 2018; and that is a positive development for us. Our customers are the reason behind our success in India and we thank them for their continued patronage and brand loyalty. We have introduced multiple customer-focused initiatives that will keep our customers excited with the product and service offerings associated with Mercedes-Benz.”

    Elaborating further, Mercedes-Benz India said that it was the C-Class and the E-Class that remained top choices for customers in Mumbai, followed by the GLC and the GLE SUVs. In Gujarat, the brand’s entry-level luxury offerings – CLA, GLA and the C-Class continue to be popular choices. The automaker has one of the densest networks in the Indian luxury vehicle space and operates out of 94 outlets spread in 47 cities. With its ‘Go to Customer’ strategy, Mercedes is pursuing a curated network expansion strategy with the objective of moving closer to the customers.

    The record deliveries also point towards recovering for Mercedes-Benz and a positive fourth quarter. Luxury carmakers too saw a dip in volumes, much like the ailing auto sector over the past months, and the festive season favored by the tax cuts is expected to bring a much-needed respite to automakers. Mainstream automakers too reported a month-to-month growth in September 2019, despite registering an overall decline in volumes.

  • BMW Customers Can Give Real-Time Approvals For Service And Repairs With New Smart Video App

    BMW Customers Can Give Real-Time Approvals For Service And Repairs With New Smart Video App

    BMW India has announced introducing a new mobile application that will allow customers to give real-time approvals for service and repairs. Called the BMW Smart Video, the new BMW exclusive app allows the technicians at the dealership to make a video of the vehicle explaining the service/repair requirements and share the quotation online. Customers receive a link where they can understand the service requirements through the video and provide approval online without the hassle of visiting the dealership again.

    Designed to enhance BMW’s aftersales service experience, the company says by digitizing the aftersales service process, it ensures that there is complete transparency and offers faster turn-around time. In fact, BMW India claims that the new BMW Smart Video solution has already benefited more than 10,000 customers with a high rate of customer satisfaction.

    Talking about the new BMW Smart Video App, Rudratej Singh, President and CEO, BMW Group India said, “BMW is an immensely successful brand not only because of its best-in-class products but also because of its unparalleled aftersales service standards. Trust and transparency are the core BMW values that naturally extend in all our customer interactions. Leveraging new-age digital solutions, we are building numerous services and solutions that will further enhance interaction between our customers and their beloved machines. BMW Smart Video is a fine example of how an innovative solution helps our customers easily understand the technical aspects of their vehicles and its servicing. Thus, creating a joyful ownership experience.”

    The BMW Smart Video application is already live in the BMW network in 50 countries across the world, including Australia, US and UK, among others. Now, the new BMW Smart Video is also available at BMW dealerships in India.

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  • Skoda Dealerships Get A New Corporate Identity Theme Across India

    Skoda Dealerships Get A New Corporate Identity Theme Across India

    Skoda Auto India has redesigned and rebranded its entire dealership and service network across 53 cities in India. All 63 dealerships and 61 service stations have been designed according to the new corporate identity and design (CICD) theme. The rebranding is in line with Volkswagen Group’s India 2.0 project and all dealership will get the corporate architecture and functional interiors design concept in a bid to enhance and simplify the customer experience. Skoda along with its dealer partners has invested ₹ 1200 million in India for rebranding its dealerships.

    Zac Hollis, Director – Sales, Service and Marketing at Skoda Auto India said, “Skoda has successfully rebranded its entire network of dealership facilities with a Fresh, Modern, and ‘Simply Clever’ layout that elevates the presentation of the brand and is an important cornerstone of the Skoda led ‘INDIA 2.0’ project. Through our redesigned dealership network we are focusing on strengthening the brand in India while working closely with our channel partners to guarantee sustainability. The transformation of our sales and service facilities envisioned to provide enhanced customer experience, is rated positively by our customers, dealer partners, and sales and service personnel.”

    Skoda is leading the charge for the project India 2.0 which aims at local development and better positioning of the brands (both Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Skoda Auto India) in India. Apart from revamping its dealerships, both companies will also hire local staff in every demography who have a better understanding of the regional culture and are fluent in local language. Moreover, India will see a slew of indigenously developed Skoda and VW model in future which will be based on the MQB AO platform.

  • Tiitan Holdings plans to open 50 stores in India

    Tiitan Holdings plans to open 50 stores in India

    Hong Kong-based digital accessories firm Tiitan Holdings plans to invest US$5 million to set up its first 50 branded outlets in India by March next year.

    The company announced its foray into India in collaboration with distribution firm Mak Mobility – which also makes and sells fitness band Aq-Fit under its sister firm in the territory.

    “This alliance will help us in reaching the customers in India and boost our strategy of increasing our pan-India presence and thereby reaching to customers,” said Tiitan Holdings co-founder Piyush Sharma. “Also, this collaboration will help both the companies to further leverage its innovative product range to customers across India.”

    Tiitan Holdings has plans to make its smart accessories – bluetooth speakers, headphones, intelligent charger, wireless power bank, etc, – at Mak Mobility’s manufacturing facilities.

     

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  • New Benelli Motorcycle Launch Details Disclosed

    New Benelli Motorcycle Launch Details Disclosed

    Benelli India is all set to launch a new motorcycle in India towards the end of October 2019. We believe that it could be the Imperiale 400. At the launch of the Leoncino 500, the company had confirmed that it will be launching three new products by the end of 2019 which were TRK 250, Leoncino and the Imperiale 400. We believe that it is going to be the Imperiale 400, which will be launched in October 2019. The Imperiale 400 will go up against Jawa and the Royal Enfield Classic 350.

    What’s interesting to know is that the Benelli Imperiale 400 will see a lot more local content going into it than the TRK 502 and the Leoncino, which should help keep the prices competitive. While the company did not confirm the percentage of local content on the cruiser, we should get a fair idea on the same at the time of launch. The local assembly will help the Imperiale 400 stay accessible to bigger customer base with a price around the ₹ 2-2.5 lakh (ex-showroom) mark. It may not undercut the locally manufactured Royal Enfield Classic 350 or the Jawa at this price point, but certainly will be a compelling alternative.

    The Benelli 400 gets a 373.5 cc single-cylinder engine with fuel injection that churns out 19 bhp at 5,500 rpm and 28 Nm of peak torque at 3,500 rpm. The motor is paired to a 5-speed gearbox. The bike uses a double-cradle steel tube frame underneath and is suspended by telescopic forks upfront and dual shock absorbers at the rear. The vintage-looking cruiser comes with disc brakes at either end with dual-channel ABS as standard. The bike has a kerb weight of 200 kg and a fuel tank capacity of 12 litres.

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  • Indian pharmacy MedPlus new openings in Mumbai

    Indian pharmacy MedPlus new openings in Mumbai

    Indian pharmacy retail chain MedPlus is preparing to launch in Mumbai.

    The firm, which already has around 1700 locations predominantly in South India, plans to open 100 stores annually in the new territory. A hundred of its current locations are run as franchises.

    “In Mumbai, we will be setting up our own stores,” said MedPlus founder and CEO Madhukar Gangadi.

    The brand’s stores are serviced by hub warehouses linked via digital technologies to optimise supply-chain management.

    Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion data suggests that the Indian pharmacy retail sector is worth roughly US$18 billion, and should reach $50 billion by 2025. There are around 850,000 retail pharmacies in the country, only 6000 of which are structured pharmacy stores.

    “The combined market share of the big four e-pharmacies isn’t more than 2.4 per cent,” said Gangadi, “and that is on top of basically losing money like crazy, because they don’t have any value proposition … Now they have started talking about omnichannel; we are already omnichannel.”

    The firm raised around US$28.25 million from Wipro Chairman Azim Premji’s family office PremjiInvest last April.

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  • India’s Max Fashion opens 300th store

    India’s Max Fashion opens 300th store

    Max Fashion has launched a new outlet in India, marking its 300-store milestone.

    Max Fashion VP retail operations Sumit Ghildiyal said that the launch of the 300th Max Fashion store was just the beginning, as they were focused on achieving more milestones.

    “This is a huge landmark for us launching our 300th store, and we believe the market is ideal for our brand, which sets the newest styles and trends,” said the brand’s territory head of the Andhra Pradesh & Telangana regions Prashant Paul.

    “Max Fashion is the only brand that works on an eight-season cycle, which is as quick as 45 days per season, thus curating an unimaginable number of styles annually, which is unmatched by any fashion player in the world.”

    The 300th Max Fashion store launch ceremony was inaugurated by famous Telugu actress Lavanya Tripathi.

    Max Fashion has witnessed a significant growth since its first store opened in 2006. The fashion company serves approximately 100 million customers across the country, using the tagline “Anytime – Anywhere”.

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  • Uniqlo India to open its first store in New Delhi

    Uniqlo India to open its first store in New Delhi

    Uniqlo India will launch its first store on October 4 in New Delhi.

    The store marks the brand’s first foray into the Indian market, located in Ambience Mall Vasant Kunj. It has been promoted via a series of cube-like installations throughout the city that features elements of Indian culture.

    “We are very excited to announce the opening date,” said Uniqlo CEO Tomohiko Sei. “We look forward to formally opening our doors to the Indian customers and offering Uniqlo’s high quality, highly functional apparel that we call Lifewear starting from Delhi at Ambience Mall Vasant Kunj.”

    The first 500 shoppers at the new Uniqlo India store will receive t-shirts of their choice.

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  • Tata Motors Group Global Wholesale Down

    Tata Motors Group Global Wholesale Down

    Tata Motors group global wholesale has gone down by 32 percent at 72,464 units in August 2019 including the Jaguar Land Rover Business. In the same month, global wholesale of Tata Motors commercial vehicle (CV) division was down by 45 percent at 25,366 units while global wholesale of passenger vehicle (PV) division was down by 22 percent at 47,098 units. Global Wholesale of Jaguar Land Rover stood at 39,615 units which include 4680 units of the CJLR business, JLR’s China joint venture with Chery Automobiles. In August 2019, Jaguar sold 10,097 units while Land Rover sold 29,518 units of SUVs.

    The overall de-growth in Tata Motors business is due to the slowdown in the Indian auto business which has adversely affected its domestic business while JLR sales in global markets aren’t adding up substantially. Tata Motors PV sales were down by 58 percent in August 2019 at 7316 units as compared to 18,420 units which were sold a year ago. The company has announced attractive discounts ahead of the festive season in a bid to cash is the demand and recover its lost market share. In the April – August 2019 period, its market share went down by 1.39 percent at 5.41 percent.

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  • Indian traders lobby for ban on Flipkart, Amazon sales

    Indian traders lobby for ban on Flipkart, Amazon sales

    The Confederation of All India Traders is asking the government to ban pending sales events to be held by e-commerce rivals Amazon and Flipkart.

    The confederation, which represents 500,000 merchants and traders within the country, claims that the heavily discounted online sales violate India’s restrictions on online retail for foreign firms.

    “By offering deep discounts ranging from 10 percent to 80 percent on their e-commerce portals, these companies are clearly influencing the prices and create an uneven level playing field which is in direct contravention of the policy,” read a letter from the retailer body to the federal trade minister.

    Both online firms have defended the sales festivals, claiming they offer best value for money to consumers and help small-scale retailers reach broader markets.

    India forbids foreign investors from direct involvement in inventory-driven models of e-commerce in order to protect the country’s retailers who are unable to compete on price.

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  • AI for India’s BFSI & NBFC Sectors Move Beyond Experimentation

    AI for India’s BFSI & NBFC Sectors Move Beyond Experimentation

    As the global race for Artificial Intelligence (AI) leadership intensifies, India has begun to catch up with countries like United Arab Emirates, South Korea, the United States, Germany, Singapore and Japan in the mainstream adoption of AI-based technologies. The Indian BFSI & NBFC sectors are undergoing a dramatic change with the growing realization of AI’s importance among business leaders and have put them at the forefront of exploring the full enterprise potential of AI use-cases for their businesses.

    The applications of emerging technologies in the banking and non-banking sectors has become a critical topic of discussion today. Given that India is serious about digitization, Trescon hosted its 11th global edition of World AI Show which was a dedicated spin-off of the global AI series that focused on business applications of AI in BFSI and NBFC. The conference was held in Mumbai – ‘Financial Capital of India’ to hear what industry leaders had to say about the progress in AI adoption across India’s BFSI & NBFC sectors. On Friday, Mumbai saw top C-level executives such as Inderjit Sehrawat, Managing Director for Kryon; Vivek Zakarde, Head – Analytics, BI & DWH at Reliance General Insurance Company Limited; Dr. Puneet Kaur Kohli, CTO of Manappuram Finance Limited and Sunit Vakharia, CIO for Bank of Baroda Financial Services Limited among other top speakers who came together to break down real-world industry use-cases, workshops and discussions on adoption challenges of AI & RPA for enterprises.

    The theme for the conference revolved around “Enabling the Use of AI for the Future of Finance“, especially AI’s significant application in areas such as customer experience, automation, fraud and risk management and enterprise digitization growth in the Indian BFSI and NBFC industry.

    Few key high-level takeaways from the conference:

    • A Tech Talk from Amod Kabade, Head SSG (Specialist Solutions Group) at Boston Limited on how the challenge of digital transformation is leading to an explosion in technology opportunities.
    • Inderjit Sehrawat, Managing Director for Kryon gave a tech talk on automation at scale and the right way for organizations to accelerate its digital journey.
    • A comprehensive workshop was conducted by Rajkumar Devulapalli, Head of Professional Services and Support APAC at Spirent Communications on proactive Cybersecurity training which covered the Cyber Range as an important tool to effectively evaluate network elements and train cybersecurity professionals across enterprises and organizations.
    • Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, Product Manager – AI & Machine Learning for ManageEngine which is a division of Zoho Corp, delivered a tech talk on how to build an AI-powered IT infrastructure.
    • Maneesh Jhawar, Founder & CEO of QualityKiosk Technologies; Prateek Kapoor, Director Transformation & Automation COE for Aon and Ankit Goenka, Head of Customer Experience at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd, were part of a panel discussion that highlighted how AI is radically changing customer experience by creating human-centric digital services in the BFSI Sector.
    • Discussions at the conference also centred on how NBFCs can adopt AI into their current digital infrastructure to reduce time-to-decision and boost pro-active risk management.
    • AI’s ability to detect patterns in data to help identify fraudulent claims in the insurance industry.

    World AI Show (BFSI & NBFC) also featured the Big BFSI & NBFC Awards that honoured the top thought-leaders who are bringing about a significant change in their organisations and industries through technology implementation and strategies in applying future technologies.

     

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  • Nissan India Appoints Rakesh Srivastava As Managing Director

    Nissan India Appoints Rakesh Srivastava As Managing Director

    Nissan today announced the appointment of Rakesh Srivastava as Managing Director, Nissan Motor India and will report to Sinan Ozkok, President of Nissan India Operations. Rakesh joins Nissan after having worked as Director in charge of electric vehicle development, JSW Group. Prior to that, Rakesh has held senior management positions at Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Suzuki.

    Sinan Ozkok said, “I am pleased to welcome Rakesh to the Nissan India team. With his rich experience and deep understanding of the Indian market, I am confident he will strengthen our sales and marketing functions and successfully deliver our customer-centric strategy.”

    Nissan Motor India has had its share of ups and downs and now that the company looks to renew its outlook for India, Srivastava brings expertise and also strategy to the table. The company has big plans for India and this includes moving to a future with an electric car portfolio.

    Rakesh Srivastava said, “I am excited by the opportunity to build and strengthen Nissan operations for our customers, partners and employees in India. Nissan is an iconic global brand and its leadership in technology and innovation will be a key driver and differentiator towards delivering value and aspiration to our customers in this competitive market.”

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  • Apple plans three flagships and own online store in India

    Apple plans three flagships and own online store in India

    Apple India reportedly plans to open three brick-and-mortar outlets as well as an online store as it finally enters the world’s second-most-populous market.

    The US-headquartered tech company’s plans coincide with a further relaxation of government regulations affecting foreign retailers, easing the requirements of local sourcing and scrapping a law making it mandatory for brands to open physical stores before launching online.

    Apple has already taken steps to manufacture products in India, partnering with Taiwanese company Wistron to make the iPhone 6S and 7 models there.

    India’s population is growing at such a fast rate it will overtake China as the world’s most-populous nation within only a few years. Its rapidly growing middle class is making it an attractive destination for mobile phone brands as well as many large global retailers. But their ambitions have until recently been tempered by a raft of government laws protecting local ‘ma-and-pa’ retailers and Indian brands.

    According to sources privy to Apple’s submissions to Indian regulatory authorities, first reported by The Press Trust of India, Apple has confirmed its plans to open a physical store network of its own. It already operates single-brand stores in partnership with local partners but the new ones are likely to be of a scale of flagship Apple stores in major international cities

    As yet, there is no official word where the First Apple India store will open, but multiple sources are confident it will be in Mumbai.

    Brands wanting to develop their own retail networks in India must commit to manufacturing some products within the country. Several years ago, this may have been considered an encumbrance, but with the mounting Sino-US trade war, manufacturers reliant on Chinese factories are looking for alternative low-cost manufacturing bases. Indian government officials are keen to work with brands to help them relocate.