Are you in the CLUB ?

To find world-class brands offered at insane discounts is every fashionista’s dream, and it is now being made a reality by exclusive online shopping clubs

‘A penny saved equals a penny earned’ goes an old adage and the latest fashion spreading like wildfire is pretty much piggyback riding on this wise saying, and on the fact, which researches would have us believe, that urban Indians in the age group of 20-35 spend more time over the Internet than watching TV. These two factors are becoming the raison d’etre for sites selling luxury brands, at discounted rates as steep as 70%! These sites are also maintaining the exclusivity factor attached with premium brands by ensuring the site remains members-only. 99labels.com, fashionandyou.com and brandmile.com are among the slew of online shopping clubs that have opened shop in the past few months, and their members not only include the urban crowd, but also people from small towns and out of India! As I write this, among the several items on sale are Satya Paul saris at a 50% discount, Cadini wallets, shoes and ties at 60% off and Roberto Cavalli and Moschino watches are being offered at half their original prices!

This isn’t a new concept though, and several websites from around the world have been following this model with great success. But when shopping for apparel, how does one gauge the fit and the fabric from photos alone? Divya, a 27-year-old from Delhi, shied away from making a purchase from Fashion and You for exactly this reason. “I was going to pick a GAS Jeans but at the last moment I decided otherwise, cos I wasn’t too sure of the size… GAS was selling according to US sizes, and I didn’t want to take a chance.” 99label’s CEO Ishita Swarup discussed the same issue with us and said, “Not all kinds of apparel work. We’ve realised clearly that fitted items don’t work. So, most bottoms will not work very well. Especially for women, the exact fit is critical. But there are lots of other apparels that have a slightly lose fit, which work very well. We also have a fairly detailed size chart so we have sizes small, medium, large, how they correspond with the UK size, the US size, and, even within that, what does small mean in terms of shoulder, bust, waist, etc. Lastly, we also have a very flexible return policy.”

Most Indians have been rather timid in making online transactions, but that is swiftly changing. While cash on delivery is an option, Ishita reveals that “almost 70% of our members use credit cards or electronic banking.”

These sites have also had to fight a tough battle convincing brands to participate in their sales. While they’re mostly wary about discounting their products around the year, some brands like Hidesign don’t go on sale at all as they don’t want to be known as a discount brand. But being able to liquidate their stocks, save on costs of retail and marketing, the closed-door member-only concept and access to a huge number of clients are all factors helping companies warm up to these shopping clubs.

In less than half a year, several such shopping clubs have sprung up, as the entry barriers are very low for Internet-run businesses. And in less than half a year, people from Mumbai, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Trichy and overseas have logged in and shopped from the comfort of their homes. These clubs are here to transform shopping, and they might even soon displace diamonds and become every lady’s, or maybe even every man’s, new best friend!

Anu Gulmohar

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Turning the heat on its head

An early summer and an inspiring growth last year have encouraged consumer durable players to plan aggressive volume expansions. B&E takes a look at the ‘cool’ factors that will enable them to beat the heat by Neha Saraiya

We are also extending a line of 65 AC models, which are 100% BEE star rated.” BMR (bottom mounted refrigerator) technology patent holder and white goods major Haier has earmarked a budget of around Rs.100 crore for its production facilities and is aggressively focusing on product categories like deep freezers and commercial AC’s as a part of its summer plans (besides home ACs and refrigerators).

Then there is the lower penetration level in rural and tier III cities, due to which, consumer durable players are raking their minds planning their distribution strategy to be able to service these markets. Godrej appliances recently launched a slew of entry level refrigerators to cater to such markets as the penetration level in these markets is just 5% currently. Similarly, LG India, whose rural contribution is 15% currently, is hoping to increase it to 20% this year. The company is operating mobile vans across the various grain markets in Punjab and other places in order to showcase its products and pull demand.

Apart from an early summer this year and increasing demand from the rural areas, another reason that has worked in favor of the durable giants is the replacement cycle of durable products, which is getting shorter. For instance, the replacement cycle for domestic appliances was 12 years earlier and has come down to 7-8 years now, which has helped trigger demand further. So durable players are leaving no stone unturned to bank on this opportunity. But it is still relatively hard to markdown their ability to scale up their production capacity and in turn play on volumes. Interestingly the consumer durables’ production, which is principally triggered by discretionary demand, has recorded a high growth in FY10 so far, but experts warn that pricing will play a crucial role in increasing the penetration level of white goods, which is in turn dependent on raw material costs and excise duties, which have already increased in this year and are subject to increase again. However, it may be noted that the widening of tax slabs has also put more money in the hands of consumers; giving a fillip to their ambitions to spoil themselves further.

While most of the input costs have been absorbed by the players in December 2009, it has necessitated a marginal increase in the prices of the products. Thus a marginal hike in prices of categories like refrigerators (by 3%) and ACs (by 4-5%) is unavoidable. Another reason for a hike in product prices is the expected excise duty increase from 8% to 10%, wherein the most affected products in the consumer durables and electronics category will be televisions, refrigerators and ACs, which will eventually escalate the prices further. The call of the hour for the industry is the speedy implementation of GST (Goods and Service Tax), which can lead to a significant diminution in the prices of products.

For that, the best they can do is to continue to lobby and hope that the FM delivers on his promise. But the coming summer months are not about passively hoping for better times. They have to build impressive sales numbers within the coming months, to align themselves better with their long term objectives; because India is a market too lucrative to let such short term blips come in their way.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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A look for every Mausam

Shahid Kapur doesn’t shy from experimenting with his looks. After the tanned and long-hair look in Kaminey, spiked hair was next for Shahid. And now he was recently spotted with a beard, and while he is finding it a bit uncomfortable, it is one of the looks being considered for his dad’s film Mausam. He will apparently carry off two or three different looks in this film. We can’t wait to see Shahid in all of his new avatars!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

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TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
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Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

“We should aspire & work for prosperity””

In this exclusive interaction with virat bahri of B&E, Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia discusses her views on the potential & challenges of the Indian economy

B&E: What are our most critical challenges with respect to urbanization?
IJA: We are much less urbanized as compared to many countries across the world. We are going to see a very rapid pace of urbanization in the coming decades. Are we preparing our cities? What should we be doing in order to plan for better functioning cities, larger cities, more cities? It is not just about building mega cities, but also about connecting villages to small cities and middle cities to big cities. We should ask ourselves, “What is the government’s principal responsibility? And which level of government is going to fulfill that?” If it is the municipal corporation’s responsibility to give us clean drinking water, do we have a secure revenue base for the municipality to deliver that? Does the municipal corporation have the systems which allow it to deliver that? Does the municipal corporation have accountability? For example, one of the major revenue sources for urban local bodies is property tax. Who levies the property tax? The state government. At one stroke before an election, the Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana governments abolished property tax. Out goes the major revenue base of the municipalities there. How can we see to it that we protect their revenue base and make our federal polity work? These are the real challenges. You need institutions in place. The 13th Finance Commission has just given its report on how fiscal transfers should be made to urban local bodies.

B&E: Urbanisation in India reveals a critical planning problem. For instance, cities saw a boom in personal transportation much before the roads were ready. What is the right way ahead?
IJA: Public-private partnership is an instrumentality. It can deliver results if it is structured in a manner where both partners clearly define their commitments and rewards, where risks to the project are accounted for and assigned clearly, and the contract is transparent and awarded through competitive bidding. The 24x7 water project in three cities of Karnataka has been a successful case of PPP. The Gorai project in Mumbai which has recently scientifically closed a landfill and earned carbon credits worth Rs.70 crore is another case of a successful PPP. My colleague, Ranesh Nair and I have written about these projects in our monthly column in the Indian Express. But no project or no model can be taken lock stock and barrel. It needs to be adapted to the specific case. As far as public transport is concerned, I agree with you. In New York, people have cars but they take them out only on weekends. On week days, they travel by metros, which are simply much more efficient. For that, the metro has to be of a certain quality and so well connected that people can efficiently move within the city. We have to do this; I agree with you.




For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Act

Hollywood hottie Megan Fox moved out of the “Transformers” franchise recently, and stepping into her shoes is Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. While 24-year-old Megan had angered Michael Bay, director of the “Transformers” series, by asserting in press interviews that her role in “Transformers II” didn’t require ‘a great deal of real acting’, it’s interesting to note that newbie model Rosie has no acting experience at all! Megan, meanwhile, has a plum role in “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” to concentrate on, in which she is to play a ‘beautiful mermaid who uses her powers of persuasion to trick Jack Sparrow!’ Well, with all this talk about acting, we can’t wait to find out if she can actually act!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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