www.indiaretailing.com INDIA’S BEST SELLING MAGAZINE ON MODERN FUTURE OF BUSINESSES APRIL 2012 • VOL. 11 NO. 4 RETAIL `50 US$10 The art of closing stores to bounce back into profitability Entrepreneur: Vikaas Gutgutia MD, Ferns N Petals Opportunity: Taking Your Business Online Show Reports: India Fashion Forum; Food & Grocery Forum India Retail Excellence: Himanshu Chakrawarti CEO, The MobileStore APRIL 2012 • PAGES 108 • VOL. 11 NO. 4 Editor in Chief Amitabh Taneja There will rarely be an ambitious retailer who doesn’t Editorial Director R S Roy want to grow big and expand his presence nationwide. Publisher S P Taneja But geographical expansion is of little use if the store-level Chief Operating Officer Sandipan Singh profitability goes haywire. Indeed, the graveyard of the Editorial retail world is littered with retailers who tried to grow too Editor-in-Charge Sanjay Choudhry (Deputy Editor) fast and imploded because the new stores proved unviable Chief of Bureau (Mumbai) Nivedita J Pawar (Sr. Assoc. Editor) and dragged the entire company down. That is why the Copy Editor Shipra Sehgal art of closing stores and withdraw gracefully to a more Sr. Correspondent Payal Kapoor sustainable level is something that every retailer must Correspondent (Kolkata) Shubhra Saini Correspondent (Bangalore) Roshna Chandran know. Our cover story this edition focuses on the important issue of store closure, the many mistakes retailers make that Business Development lead to downing shutters down the line, and the best way to Assoc. Vice President (North) Vineet Chadha optimise the store count without harming the reputation of Assoc. Vice President (West) Santosh Menezes a brand in the market. Assoc. Pice President (South) Suvir Jaggi Assoc. Vice President (East) Piyali Roy Oberoi Our newly launched Retail Excellence column takes the Asst. Manager (North) Sachin Khanna spotlight this time to The MobileStore of the Essar Group, Asst. Manager (West) Udayan Awasthi which, with 800 stores across 145 cities, is one of the Asst. Manager (South) Ashraf Alom largest mobile phone retail chains in India. The retailer has Sr. Executive (East) Rohan Narayan carved out a niche for itself in its segment and plans to Circulation & Support grow aggressively to a 1,000 stores in the next few years. Assoc. VP - Circulation & Subscription Anil Nagar We believe that each successful entrepreneur has an General Manager – Administration Hemant Wadhawan interesting story to tell. That is why from this issue we have Sr. Manager – Circulation R P Singh begun a new section on retail entrepreneurs of India where Dy. Manager – Circulation Ranjeet Kumar Yadav we will tell their story to our readers in their own words. Dy. Manager – Operations Rajesh Kumar Sr. Executive – Subscriptions Kiran Rawat We begin the series with Vikaas Gutgutia, the down-to-earth founder of the flower retail chain Ferns N Petals who has Creatives carved out a niche in a category that is still dominated by Art Director Pawan Kumar Verma the ubiquitous footpath florist. His story proves that the Dy. Art Director Deepak Verma much-touted American dream can be lived in India too Sr. Layout Designer Prakash Jha Layout Designer Rakesh Kumar provided you have enough grit the and determination to Sr. Photographer Vipin Kardam make it big. Asst. Photographer Deepak Malik Photo Coordinator Kamal Kumar Production General Manager Manish Kadam Amitabh Taneja Sr. Executive Ramesh Gupta [email protected] IMAGES MULTIMEDIA PVT. LTD. All material printed in this publication is the sole property of Images Multimedia Delhi: S-21, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi - 110020, India Pvt. Ltd. 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Shed Okhla Industrial Area Phase -1, email: [email protected] New Delhi - 110020 and published by S P Taneja from S - 21 Okhla Industrial Area Phase – 2, New Delhi.110020 Editor: Amitabh Taneja Kolkata: 30-B, Anil Roy Road, Ground Floor, Kolkata - 700 029 Ph: + 91-33-40080480, Fax: +91-33-40080440, email: [email protected] In relation to any advertisements appearing in this publication, readers are recommended to make appropriate enquiries before entering into any commitments. Images Multimedia Bangalore: 523, 7th Cross, 10th Main (Jeevanbhima Nagar Main Road), H.A.L. 3rd Pvt. Ltd. does not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of products and services. Stage, Bangalore - 560075 The Printer, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the publication shall not be held for any Ph: +91-80-41255172, 41750595/96, Fax: +91-80-41255182 consequences in the event of such claims not being honored by the advertisers. email: [email protected] Copyright Images Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner is Business Development Associates: prohibited. All disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Ludhiana: Hemant Gupta: +91 9814019745 Delhi/New Delhi only. Images Retail does not accept responsibility for returning unsolicited Chennai: S.Venkataraaman: +91 9444021128 manuscripts and photographs. CONTENTS APRIL 2012 IN THIS ISSUE 34 .......................................................Interview 76 ..........................................................Column “For retailers today, the real opportunity lies beyond the metros” Malls Have to Respect Customers Ashish Garg, MD, Promart, talks about the company’s business Harminder Sahni insists mall managers to respect their customers philosophy and future plans. as customer footfalls define their success. 52 .............................................. Entrepreneur 78 ..........................................................Column Flower Power! Shifting Gears: From Offline to Online Vikaas Gutgutia shares the success story of Ferns N Petals and how The growing popularity of online retail has forced offline retailers to he changed the face of the Indian flower retail industry by creating a sell their goods online, says Amit Jain. category that did not exist before. 82 ............................................................. Event 62 .......................................... Retail Excellence India Fashion Forum 2012 Dial S for Success Top fashion industry leaders assembled at IFF 2012 to share their The MobileStore CEO Himanshu Chakrawarti has introduced a slew experiences and insights and thrash out issues facing the sector. of measures to consolidate the retail chain’s market position and expand it further all over the country. 98 ............................................................. Event Food & Grocery Success Recipes 70 .......................................... Online Marketing The Food & Grocery Forum India 2012: A report. Social Media: Are You There Yet? R EGULARS Sweta Sharma urges retailers to go social not only to engage with their customers directly but also to take the competition head-on. 12 ...................................International Updates 74 ..........................................Human Resource 20 .........................................National Updates Employees Are Your Partners! Treat Them Like One! Indian retailers should learn from their global counterparts about 28 ..............................................New Openings partnering with employees and treating them as equals, says Sheetal 102 .......................................Situations Vacant Choksi. 104 ............................................................Index CLOSING STORES MAY BE AN EMBARRASSING AND UNPOPULAR ACTIVITY WITH RETAILERS, BUT IT IS ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL ARTS THEY HAVE TO LEARN TO SURVIVE WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN. HOWEVER, THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN JUST PULLING DOWN SHUTTERS AND LETTING the employees go – there ARE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS INVOLVED. YET, RATIONALISING THE STORE COUNT IS CRITICAL IF A RETAILER HAS TO JUMP BACK COVER STORY INTO PROFITABILITY AND LIVE 40 TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY cover story CLOSING STORES MAY BE AN EMBARASSING AND UNPOPULAR ACTIVITY WITH RETAILERS, BUT IT IS ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL ARTS THEY HAVE TO LEARN TO SURVIVE WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN. HOWEVER, THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN JUST PULLING down shutters and letting the employees go – there Store ARE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS INVOLVED. YET, RATIONALISING THE STORE COUNT IS CRITICAL IF A RETAILER HAS TO JUMP BACK INTO PROFITABILITY AND LIVE TO FIGHT Count ANOTHER DAY Optimisation By Priyanka Dasgupta 40 . IMAGES RETAIL . APRIL 2012 cover story Parikshit Sharma COO, NewU Mohit Seth Business Head, Nautica Nasir Jamal The issue of optimising store count came into spotlight after Subhiksha became over-extended and imploded Founder, Citywalk Shoes The decision to rationalise of profitability. Best Buy is closing Factors such as managerial neglect, store count by closing down the 50 large-format stores and will now inadequate capital, poor sales, over- loss-making or unviable outlets is expansion, and insufficient or ineffective focus on smaller stores selling