The Venture Intelligence Blog

One by one, well funded players in the foodtech and hyperlocal sectors - including leaders Zomato and Grofers - are announcing closing down of their operation in Tier II cities. The withdrawal reminds one of the early days (2006 - 2008) of Private Equity Investing in Real Estate when PE-RE firms had spread out beyond the metros to invest in cities like Jodhpur, Kochi, Jaipur, Nagpur, Nashik, Mysore, Indore and Vishakhapatnam. The stats highlighting the boom across Tier II & Tier III towns were, of course, supporting.  But, come financial crisis, PE-RE investors turned allergic to Tier II and started to explicitly state that they would henceforth focus on Tier I markets only . Does the Zomato and Grofers experience mean that the "pent up demand in small town India" phenomenon that works for big guys like Flipkart and Snapdeal, will not work for food and local delivery? At least until the road traffic in these cities and towns does not make going out to eat or t...

From a Businessworld  article: The assistants at the kiosk walk consumers through the process of shopping online, availing exciting discounts and buying products. Since its launch on 21 December, the pop-up store has already spiked new shoppers on its website by 70 per cent. “The idea was to get feedback on the products, brands, price points directly from the consumer,” says Sujal Shah, CEO and co-founder of Freecultr.  The pop-up trend for etailers started early last year, and has picked up pace over the months with increasing success. Brands use these temporary spaces in malls to engage with their customers and establish an interest in their products. “Pop-up stores create a touch-point for a business that is largely impersonal. They provide customers a sense of gratification that helps them in their purchasing decisions,” explains Chaitanya Aggarwal, founder-CEO of Juvalia & You India. Since it launched in India last year, Berlin-based jewellery etailer Juva...

Businessworld has a quick analysis: For the Future Group, the happy marriage means thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhat Rs 1,600 crore out of the Rs 5,256-crore debt will be wiped off PRIL’s balance sheet, giving Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani a breather. “This is the first of the many steps to reduce the debt of the Future Group,” says Devangshu Dutta, CEO of Third Eyesight, a retail consultancy. But is the union good for ABN, too? ABN’s business generates $4 billion in revenue, but its lifestyle business makes only $400 million. The new entity should change that for the better. ABN’s Madura Fashion is the largest premium-branded apparel player in India, with brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England as part of its stable, and retails through 1,082 exclusive brand outlets, apart from being sold in more than 1,250 departmental stores and multi-brand outlets. ABN has a distributorship tie-up with leading brand Esprit and it retails interna...

Extract from the Business Today article : There is quite a crowd on the kids' wear bandwagon, and segmentation has stretched in the past year to include luxury. While Big Bazaar is among those that cater to the mass segment, Gini & Jony and Lilliput operate in the medium category. Homegrown brand Lilliput Kidswear, which started in 2003, has the early mover advantage, with 261 exclusive outlets and 541 shop-inshops in the country. ...The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates that the industry is worth Rs 38,000 crore, and growing at a compound annual rate of about 20 per cent to reach Rs 80,000 crore by 2015. Kidology's same-store sales - a retail industry metric to distinguish a rise in sales within a store from an overall increase in sales due to the opening of new stores - have grown more than 40 per cent in the past year. Besides its own stores in Delhi and Mumbai, Kidology also sells through other retail outlets in Mumbai and Hyderabad. It is in talks ...