Organised players go aggressive on branding, market segmentation and price differentiation
When Australia-returned Lina Asher came to Mumbai to volunteer as a teacher, she saw a terrific opportunity in the absence of an organised pre-school player in the market.
Asher then borrowed Rs 30 lakh from her dad to float her own chain of pre-schools— Kangaroo Kids Education (KKEL). “I promised my dad a good investment and today we are a chain of 60 schools in 17 cities across India, with centres in Dubai and Maldives,” says Asher.
While the segment is still dominated (95 per cent) by the aunty-next-door-model kind of pre-schools, organised players are focusing on branding themselves better to reach the target segment. At present, India has around 11 major chains and approximately 10 smaller players active in the space.
And most of them operate just like an FMCG or consumer durables firm would do in marketing themselves – be it in branding, product differentiation and market segmentation according to the specific profile of customers within a locality.
“Branding is vital for us as we aspire to be a national player. We market ourselves with women magazines, newspapers and television channels to increase the enrolment focus,” says Prajodh Rajan, Vice President and Project Head, EuroKids.
EuroKids, present in 258 towns with 650 pre-schools, will spend Rs 4.5 crore on branding and marketing compared to Rs 3 crore last year. Educomp Solutions has also launched a brand ‘Roots to Wings’ with 60 pre-schools at present. Educomp acquired a 50 per cent stake in Euro Kids in 2008 for Rs 39 crore.
These schools have evolved their own pricing model. So while a market like Mumbai may see four-five different pricing strategies, other towns may see uniform pricing. “We have divided our pricing model into four—A B C and D. While for A model pre-schools (upmarket locations) have a standardized fee structure between Rs 30,000 to 40,000 per annum, we charge Rs 20,000 to 30,000 in suburban Mumbai markets. For other locations our charges vary between Rs 12,000 to 20,000 per annum,” says Rajan.
While Kangaroo Kids is primarily a premium brand at an average annual fee of Rs 35,000-45,000, Kid Zee charges anywhere between Rs 100,000 and 500,000 per year for its schools in upmarket metro locations. However, in suburban Mumbai or Delhi or Bangalore, the school's charges could vary between Rs 10,000 and 20,000.
Pre-schools do not follow any structured curriculum. As pre-schools are neither a state or centre subject, the regulatory mechanism does not come in play. That is probably the reason why the sector has been receiving a flurry of investments from the private equity players.
According to a recent report on education by Kaizen Management Advisors, a private equity fund, pre-schools are estimated to be a Rs 2,300 crore segment, and the market is expected to grow to Rs 4,600 crore market by 2012 (35 per cent CAGR).
The growth is due to low penetration (one out of 100 children enrolled), of the 119 million children between the ages of one to four.
“The market is expected to expand by more than two times in size by 2012,” the study reports.
This is evident from the fact that Zee Learn, which runs the pre-school chain — Kid Zee — plans to expand from its 600 odd pre-schools at present, to 2,000 schools in the next three years.
“It’s a service market. If you focus on doing the right thing on child development, an image is being created automatically,” says Sumeet Mehta, CEO - Zee Learn.
Pre-schools require a low upfront investment. Rentals form the major expense along with staff cost.
Organized players have largely scaled up using the franchisee route — 1,700 schools catering to 200,000 students at present.
While these chains also formulate their own curriculum and train their own teachers, infrastructure offerings at the schools vary in accordance with the fee. So while the schools in upmarket areas might have an additional frill of an air conditioned class room and outdoor toys, the ones priced less would do sans these facilities. Teaching methodology and curriculum however, remains the same.
“The sector appears attractive due to its non-regulatory framework. With the kind of aggressive growth plans the organised players have in place, there is a lot of money chasing very few opportunities. It’s only going to get bigger and bigger,” said a senior executive from a private equity firm.
Tags:Franchise Marketing, Franchise Branding, Preschool Marketing, Franchise Advertisements, Lina Asher, Kangaroo Kids, Eurokids, Prajodh Rajan, Zee Learn,sumeet mehta,
Source:Pre-schools learn the ABC of promotions/Business Standard/Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai July 29, 2010, 0:54 IST
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Re-feel Cartridge Gets 20 Cr Funding From TLG Capital For Expanding Franchisee Network
UK based Private Equity firm TLG Capital has invested $4.46 Mn(Rs 20.5 Crore) for a 36% stake in Re-feel Cartridge Engineering Pvt Ltd in its first Indian private equity deal. The deal values the startup which provides printer cartridge refill and laptop repair services at $12.40 Mn(Rs 57 Crore).
The funds will be used by Re-feel for expanding its franchisee network and expanding its laptop repair business. TLG Capital’s Sidarth Menon has been appointed chief financial adviser at Re-feel Engineering.TLG is also planning to replicate Re-feel’s overall business model in sub-Saharan Africa due to the similarities it sees between the two markets.
In 2008, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), publishers of ‘The Times of India’ and ‘The Economic Times’, had completed a private treaty deal with Refeel Cartridge. As part of the deal, BCCL has invested around Rs 15 crore in the company.
Refeel Cartridge was floated in February 2007 but the first store was set up only in August 2007.The company claims refilling inkjet cartridges at their store will enable price saving of 75% than buying an OEM cartridge and 60% for laser cartridges. Little wonder, the company has more than 50 corporate clients.
Refilling printer cartridges is a way by which companies can cut their printing costs by at least 50-60%. Typically, a large organisation has a printing budget of around Rs 5-7 lakh per month.Around 40% of our revenue is expected from the enterprise segment and the balance from the small office home office (SOHO) and retail customers said an official from Re Feel Cartridges.
Re Feel Engineering also owns the Club Laptop franchisee which operates in the laptop service segment.Club Laptop offers a one stop solution for laptop repair and laptop accessories.
Tags:refeel cartridge, refeel franchise,franchisee, franchisee network, laptop repair franchise, sidharth menon, TLG Capital, Franchise Funding, Franchise Venture,service franchise.
Source:India Micro Finance.July 28, 2010.
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
The funds will be used by Re-feel for expanding its franchisee network and expanding its laptop repair business. TLG Capital’s Sidarth Menon has been appointed chief financial adviser at Re-feel Engineering.TLG is also planning to replicate Re-feel’s overall business model in sub-Saharan Africa due to the similarities it sees between the two markets.
In 2008, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), publishers of ‘The Times of India’ and ‘The Economic Times’, had completed a private treaty deal with Refeel Cartridge. As part of the deal, BCCL has invested around Rs 15 crore in the company.
Refeel Cartridge was floated in February 2007 but the first store was set up only in August 2007.The company claims refilling inkjet cartridges at their store will enable price saving of 75% than buying an OEM cartridge and 60% for laser cartridges. Little wonder, the company has more than 50 corporate clients.
Refilling printer cartridges is a way by which companies can cut their printing costs by at least 50-60%. Typically, a large organisation has a printing budget of around Rs 5-7 lakh per month.Around 40% of our revenue is expected from the enterprise segment and the balance from the small office home office (SOHO) and retail customers said an official from Re Feel Cartridges.
Re Feel Engineering also owns the Club Laptop franchisee which operates in the laptop service segment.Club Laptop offers a one stop solution for laptop repair and laptop accessories.
Tags:refeel cartridge, refeel franchise,franchisee, franchisee network, laptop repair franchise, sidharth menon, TLG Capital, Franchise Funding, Franchise Venture,service franchise.
Source:India Micro Finance.July 28, 2010.
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Bisleri Franchise Growing Across India
New Delhi: Bisleri, a company owned by Mr. Ramesh Chauhan, Ex- owner of Brands like Thumbs Up, limca & Mazza, is all set to expand its network & distribution in North India by putting 8 new plants in different parts of Rajashtan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana & Jammu. To cope up with the ever growing market competition and consumer demand, it has decided to increase its network.
After their successful and strong penetrations of the market, they are ready to cater to the consumers through their new franchisee in Varanasi. This would help them to cater the huge markets of Gorakhpur, Allahabad, and Varanasi etc.
Adding to the above,” Director, North of Bisleri “Mr R.K. Garg” said that “In an initiative to strengthen its Supply Chain and cater to its customers in a more convenient manner and to decrease the dependency on outside services, we are adding new vehicles in our own fleet”.
Bisleri offers a range of Packaged water in “Vedica” and” Bisleri with added Minerals” which occupy a market share of around 60% of the organized market in Mineral water segment. The products are available in different pack-sizes varying from 250ML to 20 Ltr Jars. These pack sizes are introduced considering consumer needs.
About Bisleri
The award for “Most Trusted Brand” by Economics Times and that too twice has been the proof of the company’s goodwill. Since it’s inception has been into social service to the nation. Out of 1000 lt of water sourced 956 ltr is returned back to the public as pure & safe water, the rest is lost in process. In India, Bisleri has given birth to pet recycling industry of sorts by creating value for recycled plastic bottles. All bottles after crushing and reprocessing have good economic value and are used as raw material in various industries other than the food industry.
Tags:Bisleri Franchise, vedica franchise, mineral water franchise, packaged drinking water franchise, pure water franchise, water franchise, ramesh chauhan, bisleri, water business
Source:27-Jul-2010 06:18:18 PM/Archit Puri/Mynews.in
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
After their successful and strong penetrations of the market, they are ready to cater to the consumers through their new franchisee in Varanasi. This would help them to cater the huge markets of Gorakhpur, Allahabad, and Varanasi etc.
Adding to the above,” Director, North of Bisleri “Mr R.K. Garg” said that “In an initiative to strengthen its Supply Chain and cater to its customers in a more convenient manner and to decrease the dependency on outside services, we are adding new vehicles in our own fleet”.
Bisleri offers a range of Packaged water in “Vedica” and” Bisleri with added Minerals” which occupy a market share of around 60% of the organized market in Mineral water segment. The products are available in different pack-sizes varying from 250ML to 20 Ltr Jars. These pack sizes are introduced considering consumer needs.
About Bisleri
The award for “Most Trusted Brand” by Economics Times and that too twice has been the proof of the company’s goodwill. Since it’s inception has been into social service to the nation. Out of 1000 lt of water sourced 956 ltr is returned back to the public as pure & safe water, the rest is lost in process. In India, Bisleri has given birth to pet recycling industry of sorts by creating value for recycled plastic bottles. All bottles after crushing and reprocessing have good economic value and are used as raw material in various industries other than the food industry.
Tags:Bisleri Franchise, vedica franchise, mineral water franchise, packaged drinking water franchise, pure water franchise, water franchise, ramesh chauhan, bisleri, water business
Source:27-Jul-2010 06:18:18 PM/Archit Puri/Mynews.in
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
UCMAS expanding into School Education After Massive Franchise Expansion Across India
UCMAS Global Education Group is holding talks with state governments in India to introduce the abacus programme in the local school curriculum to enhance mathematical skills among children.
Dr Dino Wong Hoon Wan, founder President of UCMAS, said the company had submitted proposals to two state authorities, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, to promote the abacus programme.
"As a pilot project, we will introduce it in Gujarat, once the government there approves our proposal.We are also in talks with the Tamil Nadu education department.
"Our moderators will train the teachers in these schools.
"The cost will be borne by the states, while teaching materials and training will be undertaken by us. This will help poor children who cannot afford to attend private classes," Wong told Bernama.
He was in Chennai recently to attend the 10th All India UCMAS Abacus Mental Arithmetic Competition-2010, organised by UCMAS India franchisee.
The Kuala Lumpur-based company, which pioneered the Abacus programme and promoted it globally, has about 250,000 students currently mastering the mental arithmetic technique in 3,000 private centres across India.
Malaysia's Consul-General in Chennai, Anuar Kasman, who presented prizes to the competition winners, said the event would provide a platform for children to use their mental skills in calculating arithmetic systematically.
"The continuous efforts of UCMAS will discover genius' and smarter children. It will also create talent for the new generation in arithmetic calculation skills, using their imaginative power," he added.
The company is also in talks with authorities in Botswana, Bahrain, Egypt, and Sudan to introduce the abacus, an ancient art of mental mathematics which originated in China,at the school level.
Tags:Hoon Wan, UCMAS Franchise, Ucmas india franchisee,maths franchise, child development franchise, children education franchise, mental arithmetic franchise, mental maths franchise.
Source:P. Vijian/Bernama/CHENNAI, July 26
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Dr Dino Wong Hoon Wan, founder President of UCMAS, said the company had submitted proposals to two state authorities, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, to promote the abacus programme.
"As a pilot project, we will introduce it in Gujarat, once the government there approves our proposal.We are also in talks with the Tamil Nadu education department.
"Our moderators will train the teachers in these schools.
"The cost will be borne by the states, while teaching materials and training will be undertaken by us. This will help poor children who cannot afford to attend private classes," Wong told Bernama.
He was in Chennai recently to attend the 10th All India UCMAS Abacus Mental Arithmetic Competition-2010, organised by UCMAS India franchisee.
The Kuala Lumpur-based company, which pioneered the Abacus programme and promoted it globally, has about 250,000 students currently mastering the mental arithmetic technique in 3,000 private centres across India.
Malaysia's Consul-General in Chennai, Anuar Kasman, who presented prizes to the competition winners, said the event would provide a platform for children to use their mental skills in calculating arithmetic systematically.
"The continuous efforts of UCMAS will discover genius' and smarter children. It will also create talent for the new generation in arithmetic calculation skills, using their imaginative power," he added.
The company is also in talks with authorities in Botswana, Bahrain, Egypt, and Sudan to introduce the abacus, an ancient art of mental mathematics which originated in China,at the school level.
Tags:Hoon Wan, UCMAS Franchise, Ucmas india franchisee,maths franchise, child development franchise, children education franchise, mental arithmetic franchise, mental maths franchise.
Source:P. Vijian/Bernama/CHENNAI, July 26
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Baskin Robbins Franchise Strategy To Penetrate Upto Tier 4 Cities Of India.
Baskin-Robbins turned 65 this month. It is much younger in India. Owned by the US-based Dunkin’ Brands, Baskin-Robbins entered the country 17 years ago in 1993 with a couple of company-run outlets in Mumbai and Delhi. Over the years, it has expanded to 400 franchisee outlets spread across 95 cities and is also available at some 600 hotels and restaurants and at about 600 modern-format retail stores. The chain, which is run by Graviss Foods in India and the SAARC region, says it has always grown close to 25 per cent year on year in India.
Now, Baskin-Robbins wants to penetrate deeper and denser. It’s targeting to grow 30 per cent this year. While it wants to expand the number of outlets in cities it is already present, covering pockets where it is not there, the chain is also planning an aggressive roll out in a large number of Tier II and III cities. Says Baskin-Robbins India Chief Operating Officer Subroto Mukherjee, “In cities we are already there, we want to cover the entire geographical spread. For instance, in Mumbai, we have 92 outlets, but there are pockets where we are not there. In and around Delhi, we have 45 outlets, but I see potential for at least 200 outlets.” The chain is looking at activating 80 to 85 ice cream parlours every year. Besides, it is also targeting aggressive growth from food service (hotels and restaurants) and modern-format retail segments.
As for Tier II and III cities, Mukherjee says, “They are yielding excellent results. We’ve seen some startling trends; for instance, parlours in cities like Nagpur and Guwahati have been our top grosser. These cities have got a lot of money with not many places to spend. They are certainly a key growth driver. While we’ll enter newer markets in Tier II and III cities, we’ll also explore opportunities in Tier IV cities.”
Baskin-Robbins is perceived as a premium brand — a regular scoop costs Rs 45, while a premium one costs Rs 50. It is thus positioned between the mass brands such as Amul, Kwality Walls and Vadilal and the super-premium brands like Häagen-Dazs and Movenpik. It thus faces some competition from both the categories as well as other dessert brands like Café Coffee Day and Barista. Mukherjee says the positioning has actually benefited the brand. “We are a very affordable brand and with brands like Movenpik, which cost Rs 150-plus a scoop, coming up, it has made life easier for us. Baskin-Robbins is perceived as excellent quality at a lesser price.” He adds, “We are slightly more expensive than our nearest competitor; however, we are confident that the value the customer gets out of a superior product along with our healthy portion sizes makes it great value. Today, hygiene and quality are critical to the customer and that is where Baskin-Robbins scores over others.”
Baskin-Robbins plans to support its expansion creating some buzz around the brand. Currently, it’s running a promotion campaign on radio as well as print and outdoors celebrating its 65th anniversary. It will also promote the product through kids’ camps, sampling of product through schools, colleges as well as society campaigns, as it has done in the past.
Tags:Baskin Robbins, Baskin Robbins Franchise, Baskin Robins, graviss foods, Ice Cream Franchise, Amul, Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Haagen Dazs, Movenpik, cafe coffee day, barista, ice cream business, ice cream dealership,
Source:Amit Ranjan Rai / New Delhi July 26, 2010, 0:01IST/Business Standard
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Now, Baskin-Robbins wants to penetrate deeper and denser. It’s targeting to grow 30 per cent this year. While it wants to expand the number of outlets in cities it is already present, covering pockets where it is not there, the chain is also planning an aggressive roll out in a large number of Tier II and III cities. Says Baskin-Robbins India Chief Operating Officer Subroto Mukherjee, “In cities we are already there, we want to cover the entire geographical spread. For instance, in Mumbai, we have 92 outlets, but there are pockets where we are not there. In and around Delhi, we have 45 outlets, but I see potential for at least 200 outlets.” The chain is looking at activating 80 to 85 ice cream parlours every year. Besides, it is also targeting aggressive growth from food service (hotels and restaurants) and modern-format retail segments.
As for Tier II and III cities, Mukherjee says, “They are yielding excellent results. We’ve seen some startling trends; for instance, parlours in cities like Nagpur and Guwahati have been our top grosser. These cities have got a lot of money with not many places to spend. They are certainly a key growth driver. While we’ll enter newer markets in Tier II and III cities, we’ll also explore opportunities in Tier IV cities.”
Baskin-Robbins is perceived as a premium brand — a regular scoop costs Rs 45, while a premium one costs Rs 50. It is thus positioned between the mass brands such as Amul, Kwality Walls and Vadilal and the super-premium brands like Häagen-Dazs and Movenpik. It thus faces some competition from both the categories as well as other dessert brands like Café Coffee Day and Barista. Mukherjee says the positioning has actually benefited the brand. “We are a very affordable brand and with brands like Movenpik, which cost Rs 150-plus a scoop, coming up, it has made life easier for us. Baskin-Robbins is perceived as excellent quality at a lesser price.” He adds, “We are slightly more expensive than our nearest competitor; however, we are confident that the value the customer gets out of a superior product along with our healthy portion sizes makes it great value. Today, hygiene and quality are critical to the customer and that is where Baskin-Robbins scores over others.”
Baskin-Robbins plans to support its expansion creating some buzz around the brand. Currently, it’s running a promotion campaign on radio as well as print and outdoors celebrating its 65th anniversary. It will also promote the product through kids’ camps, sampling of product through schools, colleges as well as society campaigns, as it has done in the past.
Tags:Baskin Robbins, Baskin Robbins Franchise, Baskin Robins, graviss foods, Ice Cream Franchise, Amul, Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Haagen Dazs, Movenpik, cafe coffee day, barista, ice cream business, ice cream dealership,
Source:Amit Ranjan Rai / New Delhi July 26, 2010, 0:01IST/Business Standard
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Amul To Franchise Its Way To Double Its Presence to 10,000 Retail Stores By 2012
Gujarats State's largest milk producer, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets Amul brand of dairy products on Saturday said it will double it's retail outlets pan-India from existing 5,000 to around 10,000 by 2012.
"We aim to double the count of Amul Preferred Outlets (APOs) pan-India from the existing 5,000 to 10,000 by 2012. By end of this fiscal we would add close to 2,000 such outlets," National Head retail Amul India, Debashis Chattopadhayay said.
"The outlets shall be opened on franchise model," he said, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of Franchise India organised 'Fro2010-30th National Franchise show' here.
"Contribution from retail segment in GCMMF's turnover of over Rs 8,000 crore stood at Rs 300 crore, in the year ending March," Chattopadhayay said adding that through this segment we are targeting contribution of at least ten per cent of Federation's total turnover.
In the past three years, the Federation has been adding close to 1,500 to 2,000 Amul Preferred Outlets per annum, he said.
"The sales of our dairy products from each outlet has been brisk ranging between Rs 10,000 to 50,000 per day," Chattopadhayay said.
Meanwhile, the board of members of GCMMF are likely to meet on July 27. The agenda for the board meeting consists approval of audited accounts of the Federation.
Tags:Amul, Amul Franchise, Dairy Franchise, Milk Franchise, Co Operative Franchise, Dairy Business, GCMMF, Retail Franchise, Preferred Outlets Franchise, Amul India, FRO, franchise show, franchise expo.
Source:24 Jul 2010, 1746 hrs IST,PTI.
"We aim to double the count of Amul Preferred Outlets (APOs) pan-India from the existing 5,000 to 10,000 by 2012. By end of this fiscal we would add close to 2,000 such outlets," National Head retail Amul India, Debashis Chattopadhayay said.
"The outlets shall be opened on franchise model," he said, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of Franchise India organised 'Fro2010-30th National Franchise show' here.
"Contribution from retail segment in GCMMF's turnover of over Rs 8,000 crore stood at Rs 300 crore, in the year ending March," Chattopadhayay said adding that through this segment we are targeting contribution of at least ten per cent of Federation's total turnover.
In the past three years, the Federation has been adding close to 1,500 to 2,000 Amul Preferred Outlets per annum, he said.
"The sales of our dairy products from each outlet has been brisk ranging between Rs 10,000 to 50,000 per day," Chattopadhayay said.
Meanwhile, the board of members of GCMMF are likely to meet on July 27. The agenda for the board meeting consists approval of audited accounts of the Federation.
Tags:Amul, Amul Franchise, Dairy Franchise, Milk Franchise, Co Operative Franchise, Dairy Business, GCMMF, Retail Franchise, Preferred Outlets Franchise, Amul India, FRO, franchise show, franchise expo.
Source:24 Jul 2010, 1746 hrs IST,PTI.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
GridBots Looks at 85 Retail Franchise Stores In 2010-2011.
"We are looking to open another 85 retail franchise stores pan-India, besides the existing 15 such outlets to showcase our entire range of Robots," Founder Grid Bots Pulkit Gaur told PTI.
"The concept of Robot retail stores is new in India and is fast drawing attention from people, as we are ushering into a technology driven era," Gaur said, who founded the company in 2007, with the assistance of Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahemdabad(IIM-A) here.
"The response at our existing outlets, including cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Rajkot has been very encouraging, as people coming there get a chance to understand everything they ever wanted to know about robots," Gaur said.
"Amongst the start up companies incubated in CIIE at IIM-A, Grid Bots is instrumental in setting up Robotic laboratories in schools and engineering colleges," Joint CEO CIIE Pranay Gupta said, adding that the company has been doing well since there business model is very knew to India.
The company manufactures Robots for educational purposes, besides those providing working solutions for small and medium enterprises and petty household chores.
"We have leads for setting up 25 robotic laboratories in schools and engineering institutes across India," Gaur said.
"The company can also offer course material for starting robotics in schools or colleges," Pranay Gupta said.
"Robots manufactured by them are capable of cleaning large tanks of industrial units, they can scrub the tank floors," Pranay Gupta said adding that they have recently launched a robot, which is customised for performing jobs in hospitality industry.
"The robot is capable of acting as a waiter in any hotel," Gupta claimed.
"In the education sector they are manufacturing robots, which even a 6-7 year-old child can programme to perform certain tasks like for operating personal computer, follow a line," he said.
CIIE at IIM-A provides financial assistance to companies coming up with innovative ideas in preferred sectors like Internet and Mobile, Healthcare and Clean technology solutions, Gupta said.
The Centre provides financial assistance to select start up companies between Rs 3 lakh and 30 lakh, he added.
Tags:Robotics Franchise, Retail Franchise Stores, Grid Bots, Gridbots, robot retail stores, robot franchise, pulkit gaur, pranay gupta, financial assistancet, Start Up Franchise, innovative franchise, emerging franchise,Top Franchise,
Source:Ahmedabad, July 24, PTI
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
"The concept of Robot retail stores is new in India and is fast drawing attention from people, as we are ushering into a technology driven era," Gaur said, who founded the company in 2007, with the assistance of Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahemdabad(IIM-A) here.
"The response at our existing outlets, including cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Rajkot has been very encouraging, as people coming there get a chance to understand everything they ever wanted to know about robots," Gaur said.
"Amongst the start up companies incubated in CIIE at IIM-A, Grid Bots is instrumental in setting up Robotic laboratories in schools and engineering colleges," Joint CEO CIIE Pranay Gupta said, adding that the company has been doing well since there business model is very knew to India.
The company manufactures Robots for educational purposes, besides those providing working solutions for small and medium enterprises and petty household chores.
"We have leads for setting up 25 robotic laboratories in schools and engineering institutes across India," Gaur said.
"The company can also offer course material for starting robotics in schools or colleges," Pranay Gupta said.
"Robots manufactured by them are capable of cleaning large tanks of industrial units, they can scrub the tank floors," Pranay Gupta said adding that they have recently launched a robot, which is customised for performing jobs in hospitality industry.
"The robot is capable of acting as a waiter in any hotel," Gupta claimed.
"In the education sector they are manufacturing robots, which even a 6-7 year-old child can programme to perform certain tasks like for operating personal computer, follow a line," he said.
CIIE at IIM-A provides financial assistance to companies coming up with innovative ideas in preferred sectors like Internet and Mobile, Healthcare and Clean technology solutions, Gupta said.
The Centre provides financial assistance to select start up companies between Rs 3 lakh and 30 lakh, he added.
Tags:Robotics Franchise, Retail Franchise Stores, Grid Bots, Gridbots, robot retail stores, robot franchise, pulkit gaur, pranay gupta, financial assistancet, Start Up Franchise, innovative franchise, emerging franchise,Top Franchise,
Source:Ahmedabad, July 24, PTI
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
International Ice Cream Franchise Brand Baskin Robbins Looks to Expansion In Tier 2/3 cities Of India
World's largest ice-cream chain, Baskin Robbins, is planning to enter tier II and tier III cities in India [ Images ] as a part of its expansion plans.
Graviss Foods, the master franchisee for Baskin Robbins ice creams in India, said that the company plans to launch new products, such as sticks and cones, targeting middle-class customers.
Speaking to rediff.com, Subroto Mukherjee, COO, Baskin Robbins - South Asia said, "We plans to add 80-90 stores year-on year and in line with our aggressive penetration plan. However, we will also re-focus our resources and energies in penetrating newer markets."
The company plans to add more parlour operations this year in South Asian countries also. A lounge concept in the cities is also on track and the company plans to introduce more of dessert-based ice-creams, added Mukherjee.
Baskin Robbins was launched in India in 1993. Since then it has posted a growth of 25 and 30 per cent in the Rs 800-crore (Rs 8 billion) organised ice-cream segment. Today, it has 400 stores across 93 cities across the globe.
"As we operate through a sub franchisee format, we have the franchisee invest into the business. Currently, our factory has the capacity to take care of the business needs for another two years without any significant capex requirements," he said.
Baskin Robbins will introduce new and possibly cheaper formats in small towns, to make the brand more affordable. The premium ice cream brand now sells a scoop between Rs 45 and Rs 50.
The company plans to introduce low fat and a low sugar variety in the menu to cater the taste buds of health conscious customers.
The company is also planning to launch a TV campaign to highlight its new product range and intends to bring in one new flavour as 'flavour of the month"
Source:Deepa Menon/Mumbai/Rediff.com
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Graviss Foods, the master franchisee for Baskin Robbins ice creams in India, said that the company plans to launch new products, such as sticks and cones, targeting middle-class customers.
Speaking to rediff.com, Subroto Mukherjee, COO, Baskin Robbins - South Asia said, "We plans to add 80-90 stores year-on year and in line with our aggressive penetration plan. However, we will also re-focus our resources and energies in penetrating newer markets."
The company plans to add more parlour operations this year in South Asian countries also. A lounge concept in the cities is also on track and the company plans to introduce more of dessert-based ice-creams, added Mukherjee.
Baskin Robbins was launched in India in 1993. Since then it has posted a growth of 25 and 30 per cent in the Rs 800-crore (Rs 8 billion) organised ice-cream segment. Today, it has 400 stores across 93 cities across the globe.
"As we operate through a sub franchisee format, we have the franchisee invest into the business. Currently, our factory has the capacity to take care of the business needs for another two years without any significant capex requirements," he said.
Baskin Robbins will introduce new and possibly cheaper formats in small towns, to make the brand more affordable. The premium ice cream brand now sells a scoop between Rs 45 and Rs 50.
The company plans to introduce low fat and a low sugar variety in the menu to cater the taste buds of health conscious customers.
The company is also planning to launch a TV campaign to highlight its new product range and intends to bring in one new flavour as 'flavour of the month"
Source:Deepa Menon/Mumbai/Rediff.com
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Automobile Dealership Franchise Opportunities In india Renewing Faith In The Growth Story Of The Segment: Mercedes Benz India Excerpts.
Mercedes-Benz was the first amongst German luxury car makers to set up shop in India. It is only recently that it has been challenged by arch rivals BMW and Audi. The volumes in the luxury car market might be small but the fight is intense. Some time in the future, India could become a big market. Whoever makes the first inroads could have the last laugh as well. Mercedes-Benz India sold 2,401 cars between January and June 2010, up 79 per cent from the same six-month period in 2009. Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director & CEO Wilfried Aulbur discusses his strategy with Bhupesh Bhandari. Excerpts:
Your first-half numbers look good. Which way is the market headed?
We are bullish. We think that India is a country that has a very bright future, and we think with our investments in the network, in the factory, in our engagement with our customers, in our people, in processes and with the kind of exciting products that we are able to bring to the market, we have what it takes to profit from India’s growth and exuberance.
We expect strong double-digit growth in the luxury car segment. We think that there is a lot of untapped potential because of the increasing wealth in the country and the changing attitudes. We believe there’s a very good potential for significant Mercedes-Benz sales in the country.
What is the return on investment for your dealers or the break-even period?
I’m not going to disclose that. But what I can tell you is that our franchise is attractive. If you look at our partners, all of them have invested and re-invested huge sums into the business. It is more than Rs 200 crore across the country. These commitments by partners clearly signify that they have faith in the brand, and that they have made money in the past and they expect to make money in the future.
Are you satisfied with your price points in India?
I think what should happen is a reduction in CBU (completely built units) import duties to enable more import of vehicles into India at reasonable prices. Currently, duties add about 115 per cent to the cost of the vehicle. With reduced duties and correspondingly improved prices, we would definitely see a significant surge in volume; and with that surge in volume we would see more investment in the country in terms of production.
Do you have a local vendor base at the moment?
Yes, we work with various local vendors. We have people who assemble the engine for us, the power train, the gear box, the axles, the underbody of the vehicle and the cockpit. So, there is value addition with local vendors as well, besides the value addition that we are doing in the factory.
And how many of the components are made in India?
What is happening is that we work with Indian suppliers and try to get them to become our global suppliers. For an Indian company, it doesn’t make sense to invest in tooling for just a few thousand vehicles. The only thing that is of value to an Indian company is when it becomes a supplier to our global range of products. A good example is Bharat Forge. It is doing the crankshaft for our new four-cylinder diesel engines.
And how many such vendors do you have?
We currently work with 30 to 40 vendors and we have a list of about 300. We have also invested in sourcing out of India. We used to have an Asian procurement office in Singapore. Now we’re sourcing out of China and India.
What does the audit of your brand show? How does it compare with other German car makers?
Our brand claim is: The best or nothing. For us, this clearly means that we want the best or nothing for our customers. That means the best or nothing in terms of infrastructure on the retail side — sales and after-sales. It means the best or nothing in terms of the kind of products we bring into the country, the kind of technologies we bring into the country, and the kind of customer connect that we have.
What will be the average age of your customer?
It will be 35 to 40. That’s quite low compared to other markets.
Has it been coming down over the years?
Absolutely. Wealth generation in India is happening rapidly, and it is happening with young people — either as entrepreneurs or as high-level executives in multinationals and large Indian companies. This is the kind of clientele we are tracking.
Some experts say that Mercedes-Benz is a car for the previous generation.
Not at all. If you look at our DNA, our heritage, you will find that as a company, we take advantage of changing platforms to make sure that we design vehicles that speak to Indian customers. We have a very aggressive and sporty C Class, we have a very aggressive and sporty E Class, and we have a very dominant S Class. These are designs and interpretations of Mercedes-Benz that attract not only the young at heart but also the young.
Till a few years ago, Mercedes was the undisputed choice of the CEO. Is it still the No.1 choice?
If you look at the S Class segment, we’re clearly the leader by a significant margin. In the E Class segment, we are the leader. We’re also the leader in the M Class segment. In the C Class segment, we’re currently a little behind but we’ll change that by the end of the year. So, I think we’re doing quite well both at the entry level as well as the top level where you simply want the best vehicle money can buy. There’s only one luxury brand in this country that has proven its worth on Indian roads time and again and that’s Mercedes-Benz. We’re able to offer a three-year warranty on our vehicles. Again, nobody else does it. Why? Because we have faith in the performance of our vehicles and in the experience of our vehicles in an Indian environment that makes it feasible to do this.
Do you see a Mercedes-Benz car built just for India or are the volumes still too low?
The volumes are too low. If you look at China, it has now over 100,000 Mercedes-Benz cars on the road. So, that clearly means you will ask the Chinese customer what he or she wants when you design your new vehicle. China today is the largest S Class market, twice as large as Germany. So, we will design the next S Class according to the Chinese taste. And I think this again takes us back to my point about bringing down import duties.
Your trucks are perceived as very expensive. You need to bring down the prices.
You need to bring up your purchasing power. The fact of the matter is that the right way is not to say, “Oh! You are too expensive”; the right way is to look at it, say, on a GDP-per-capita basis. A truck is a business proposition. My product in terms of total cost of operation vis-à-vis the revenue it generates needs to make sense to customers. If you look at truck operations, you’ll find that in terms of maintenance cost, uptime, fuel efficiency, load carrying capability, Mercedes-Benz trucks for mining operations make sense. That’s why we’ve been able to sell more than 800 trucks already in the country, and we’ve been able to do that in a profitable way — we were cash flow positive in the second year and broke even in the third.
For buses, last year was very difficult. We sold only nine buses in 2009 because our target market segment collapsed. We wanted to sell to the private operators but they simply did not have the money.
Tags:Automotive Franchise, Automobile Franchise, Automobile Dealership, Automotive Dealership, Wilfried Aulbur, Mercedes Benz, BMW, AUDI,attractive franchise, automobile business,Automotive business
Source:Bhupesh Bhandari / New Delhi July 23, 2010, 0:25 IST/Business Standard.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Your first-half numbers look good. Which way is the market headed?
We are bullish. We think that India is a country that has a very bright future, and we think with our investments in the network, in the factory, in our engagement with our customers, in our people, in processes and with the kind of exciting products that we are able to bring to the market, we have what it takes to profit from India’s growth and exuberance.
We expect strong double-digit growth in the luxury car segment. We think that there is a lot of untapped potential because of the increasing wealth in the country and the changing attitudes. We believe there’s a very good potential for significant Mercedes-Benz sales in the country.
What is the return on investment for your dealers or the break-even period?
I’m not going to disclose that. But what I can tell you is that our franchise is attractive. If you look at our partners, all of them have invested and re-invested huge sums into the business. It is more than Rs 200 crore across the country. These commitments by partners clearly signify that they have faith in the brand, and that they have made money in the past and they expect to make money in the future.
Are you satisfied with your price points in India?
I think what should happen is a reduction in CBU (completely built units) import duties to enable more import of vehicles into India at reasonable prices. Currently, duties add about 115 per cent to the cost of the vehicle. With reduced duties and correspondingly improved prices, we would definitely see a significant surge in volume; and with that surge in volume we would see more investment in the country in terms of production.
Do you have a local vendor base at the moment?
Yes, we work with various local vendors. We have people who assemble the engine for us, the power train, the gear box, the axles, the underbody of the vehicle and the cockpit. So, there is value addition with local vendors as well, besides the value addition that we are doing in the factory.
And how many of the components are made in India?
What is happening is that we work with Indian suppliers and try to get them to become our global suppliers. For an Indian company, it doesn’t make sense to invest in tooling for just a few thousand vehicles. The only thing that is of value to an Indian company is when it becomes a supplier to our global range of products. A good example is Bharat Forge. It is doing the crankshaft for our new four-cylinder diesel engines.
And how many such vendors do you have?
We currently work with 30 to 40 vendors and we have a list of about 300. We have also invested in sourcing out of India. We used to have an Asian procurement office in Singapore. Now we’re sourcing out of China and India.
What does the audit of your brand show? How does it compare with other German car makers?
Our brand claim is: The best or nothing. For us, this clearly means that we want the best or nothing for our customers. That means the best or nothing in terms of infrastructure on the retail side — sales and after-sales. It means the best or nothing in terms of the kind of products we bring into the country, the kind of technologies we bring into the country, and the kind of customer connect that we have.
What will be the average age of your customer?
It will be 35 to 40. That’s quite low compared to other markets.
Has it been coming down over the years?
Absolutely. Wealth generation in India is happening rapidly, and it is happening with young people — either as entrepreneurs or as high-level executives in multinationals and large Indian companies. This is the kind of clientele we are tracking.
Some experts say that Mercedes-Benz is a car for the previous generation.
Not at all. If you look at our DNA, our heritage, you will find that as a company, we take advantage of changing platforms to make sure that we design vehicles that speak to Indian customers. We have a very aggressive and sporty C Class, we have a very aggressive and sporty E Class, and we have a very dominant S Class. These are designs and interpretations of Mercedes-Benz that attract not only the young at heart but also the young.
Till a few years ago, Mercedes was the undisputed choice of the CEO. Is it still the No.1 choice?
If you look at the S Class segment, we’re clearly the leader by a significant margin. In the E Class segment, we are the leader. We’re also the leader in the M Class segment. In the C Class segment, we’re currently a little behind but we’ll change that by the end of the year. So, I think we’re doing quite well both at the entry level as well as the top level where you simply want the best vehicle money can buy. There’s only one luxury brand in this country that has proven its worth on Indian roads time and again and that’s Mercedes-Benz. We’re able to offer a three-year warranty on our vehicles. Again, nobody else does it. Why? Because we have faith in the performance of our vehicles and in the experience of our vehicles in an Indian environment that makes it feasible to do this.
Do you see a Mercedes-Benz car built just for India or are the volumes still too low?
The volumes are too low. If you look at China, it has now over 100,000 Mercedes-Benz cars on the road. So, that clearly means you will ask the Chinese customer what he or she wants when you design your new vehicle. China today is the largest S Class market, twice as large as Germany. So, we will design the next S Class according to the Chinese taste. And I think this again takes us back to my point about bringing down import duties.
Your trucks are perceived as very expensive. You need to bring down the prices.
You need to bring up your purchasing power. The fact of the matter is that the right way is not to say, “Oh! You are too expensive”; the right way is to look at it, say, on a GDP-per-capita basis. A truck is a business proposition. My product in terms of total cost of operation vis-à-vis the revenue it generates needs to make sense to customers. If you look at truck operations, you’ll find that in terms of maintenance cost, uptime, fuel efficiency, load carrying capability, Mercedes-Benz trucks for mining operations make sense. That’s why we’ve been able to sell more than 800 trucks already in the country, and we’ve been able to do that in a profitable way — we were cash flow positive in the second year and broke even in the third.
For buses, last year was very difficult. We sold only nine buses in 2009 because our target market segment collapsed. We wanted to sell to the private operators but they simply did not have the money.
Tags:Automotive Franchise, Automobile Franchise, Automobile Dealership, Automotive Dealership, Wilfried Aulbur, Mercedes Benz, BMW, AUDI,attractive franchise, automobile business,Automotive business
Source:Bhupesh Bhandari / New Delhi July 23, 2010, 0:25 IST/Business Standard.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Find a New Franchise Business In Hyderabad:Franchise Your Existing Business.
Have you been looking out for new business opportunities which you can begin? Hyderabad Franchise Expo on August 7/8 is the perfect platform to choose a new franchise business. You can visit more than 30 franchisors showcasing their businesses and seeking franchisees in Hyderabad and surrounding regions. You could also visit the franchise bazar booth which will showcase 100's of reputed franchise business opportunities. If you have an existing business that you want to expand using the franchise model, you could have a free franchise counselling session with a senior franchise consultant at the venue.
Show Will Be at:Hotel Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.
Tags:Franchise Exhibition, franchise expo, franchise show, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise Business, Franchise Hyderabad, franchise andhra,franchise vizag, franchise vijaywada, business hyderabad
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Show Will Be at:Hotel Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.
Tags:Franchise Exhibition, franchise expo, franchise show, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise Business, Franchise Hyderabad, franchise andhra,franchise vizag, franchise vijaywada, business hyderabad
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Edify Education From DRS Group Looks To Start 50 School Franchise By 2015.
Hyderabad-based Edify Education, which aims to start 50 schools across the country by 2015, has announced its plans to start eight schools in the state, with an aim to provide international education. The group is assessing locations like Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh, to name a few for setting up schools on franchisee model.
Edify Education is an initiative of DRS Group, which has interests in logistics, warehousing. The group forayed into education in May this year and will be setting up three schools in Ranipet (Tamil Nadu), Nagpur and Amravati (Maharashtra) in 2010-11. Besides Gujarat, the group aims to start more schools in the coming years in prominent centers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and other states.
AK Agarwal, director, DRS Group said, "We plan to start two schools in Gujarat in the academic year 2011-12 and eight across the state by 2015. There is a huge demand-supply gap for quality education at affordable prices and Edify Education has been launched to tap this demand. Edify will provide quality international education with global orientation pan-India and will be in easy access to even middle class families. We have an aggressive growth plan to launch 50 branches by year 2015."
The evaluation process in these schools will be skill based and will assess the child's ability to conceptualize, process information and apply the same in a creative manner. While, the schools will follow CBSE curriculum; it will also bring in global orientation like learning by participation. All these campuses will have temperature controlled classrooms, and all other facilities which will help in the development of mind, body and soul, a release from the group stated.
In the process of exploring franchising options for the state, Edify will host a Franchise Expo on July 24-25 in Ahmedabad.
Tags:Edify Education, franchisee model, School Franchise, DRS Group,AK Agarwal,franchising options, franchise expo, Education Franchise, school franchising, k12 franchise, pre-school franchise,
Source:Business Standard: July 20, 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Edify Education is an initiative of DRS Group, which has interests in logistics, warehousing. The group forayed into education in May this year and will be setting up three schools in Ranipet (Tamil Nadu), Nagpur and Amravati (Maharashtra) in 2010-11. Besides Gujarat, the group aims to start more schools in the coming years in prominent centers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and other states.
AK Agarwal, director, DRS Group said, "We plan to start two schools in Gujarat in the academic year 2011-12 and eight across the state by 2015. There is a huge demand-supply gap for quality education at affordable prices and Edify Education has been launched to tap this demand. Edify will provide quality international education with global orientation pan-India and will be in easy access to even middle class families. We have an aggressive growth plan to launch 50 branches by year 2015."
The evaluation process in these schools will be skill based and will assess the child's ability to conceptualize, process information and apply the same in a creative manner. While, the schools will follow CBSE curriculum; it will also bring in global orientation like learning by participation. All these campuses will have temperature controlled classrooms, and all other facilities which will help in the development of mind, body and soul, a release from the group stated.
In the process of exploring franchising options for the state, Edify will host a Franchise Expo on July 24-25 in Ahmedabad.
Tags:Edify Education, franchisee model, School Franchise, DRS Group,AK Agarwal,franchising options, franchise expo, Education Franchise, school franchising, k12 franchise, pre-school franchise,
Source:Business Standard: July 20, 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Barista To Look At City Franchisee Model For Further Expansion
Mumbai, July 18 (PTI) Barista Coffee Company plans to increase the number of outlets to 300 from the existing 225 by 2012, a senior company official said. Currently, the company has around 225 Barista Lavazza Espresso Bars and Barista Lavazza Cremes in over 30 cities across India.
"We want to increase the number of outlets to 300 by 2012," the company''s Vice-President, Supply Chain Management and Commissary, Sandeep Sharma, told PTI here. However, the growth would be more consolidation-driven than expansion, he added.
The cafe market in India is currently worth over Rs 5,000 crore, in which Caf Coffee Day (CCD) is a major player with a 60 per cent market share, followed by Barista with 30 per cent. "There is a huge potential for the market to grow in the near future.
We want to take advantage of this and make certain corrections in our strategy by adopting the consolidation method. Increasing the number of outlets would also be a part of the consolidation phase," he said.
The company will look at expansion during the 2012-2015 period. "After 2012, once the market picks up, we will take the necessary steps for expansion," Sharma said.
He, however, refrained from commenting on the investment the company was planning to commit. About the company''s plans for exploring the franchisee model in the country, Sharma said, "Currently, we have no franchisees (in India) and all the outlets are owned by us.
However, in the future, we might go in for city franchisees, where a franchiser could open four to five outlets in a city." The company is currently operating international franchisees in Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai and a few other countries, he said.
Tags:International Franchisees, cafe franchise, Barista Franchise, franchise model, barista franchise, cafe coffee day franchise,sandeep sharma,lavazza franchise, lavazza Creme, city franchisees,
Source:Yahoo News, 18 July 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
"We want to increase the number of outlets to 300 by 2012," the company''s Vice-President, Supply Chain Management and Commissary, Sandeep Sharma, told PTI here. However, the growth would be more consolidation-driven than expansion, he added.
The cafe market in India is currently worth over Rs 5,000 crore, in which Caf Coffee Day (CCD) is a major player with a 60 per cent market share, followed by Barista with 30 per cent. "There is a huge potential for the market to grow in the near future.
We want to take advantage of this and make certain corrections in our strategy by adopting the consolidation method. Increasing the number of outlets would also be a part of the consolidation phase," he said.
The company will look at expansion during the 2012-2015 period. "After 2012, once the market picks up, we will take the necessary steps for expansion," Sharma said.
He, however, refrained from commenting on the investment the company was planning to commit. About the company''s plans for exploring the franchisee model in the country, Sharma said, "Currently, we have no franchisees (in India) and all the outlets are owned by us.
However, in the future, we might go in for city franchisees, where a franchiser could open four to five outlets in a city." The company is currently operating international franchisees in Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai and a few other countries, he said.
Tags:International Franchisees, cafe franchise, Barista Franchise, franchise model, barista franchise, cafe coffee day franchise,sandeep sharma,lavazza franchise, lavazza Creme, city franchisees,
Source:Yahoo News, 18 July 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
NDDB to set up Franchise Veterinary Centres
To provide subsidised livestock health care services, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) subsidiary, Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), will set up 1,000 veterinary centres all over the country in the next three years.
Of the 1,000 centres christened as ‘Raksha’ Veterinary Centres, about 300 would be set up in Uttar Pradesh alone.
These centres were started in western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh on a pilot scale to offer quality veterinary health care services at affordable cost to livestock owners.
Nearly, 200 such centres, including 100 in Uttar Pradesh, are currently operated by the company’s franchisee veterinarians.
“India’s milk requirement is estimated to touch 180 million tonnes a day by 2020 from about 100 million tonnes at present. Unless, the country’s livestock is provided better veterinary services, including prevention of diseases, the milk production may not match the heightened demand,” IIL’s head (animal health) marketing N S N Bhargav told Business Standard.
He said the country lost an estimated Rs 20,000 crore annually due to livestock diseases and the cost incurred in their treatment, besides loss of business in meat exports.
IIL is the largest veterinary vaccine manufacturer and exporter in the country and caters to nearly 80 per cent of the domestic vaccine requirement for Foot and Mouth Disease.
The company is setting up a new vaccine manufacturing unit at Hyderabad at an investment of Rs 150 crore and it would be functional by mid 2011. It would produce both human and animal vaccines.
“We will soon launch two veterinary and two human vaccines, including the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, which will be launched in December after human trials are completed and it is approved by the Drug Controller General of India,” Bhargav added. IIL would increase the number of ‘Abhay Clinics’, which are franchisee vaccination centres for humans, pan-India, from 3,000 at present to 5,000 in the next five years.
Tags: Raksha Veterinary Centres, Franchisee Veterinarians, govt franchisees, franchisee vaccination centres, abhay clinics,government franchise,public franchise,
Source: Business Standard / Virendra Singh Rawat / New Delhi/ Lucknow July 19, 2010, 0:40 IST
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Of the 1,000 centres christened as ‘Raksha’ Veterinary Centres, about 300 would be set up in Uttar Pradesh alone.
These centres were started in western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh on a pilot scale to offer quality veterinary health care services at affordable cost to livestock owners.
Nearly, 200 such centres, including 100 in Uttar Pradesh, are currently operated by the company’s franchisee veterinarians.
“India’s milk requirement is estimated to touch 180 million tonnes a day by 2020 from about 100 million tonnes at present. Unless, the country’s livestock is provided better veterinary services, including prevention of diseases, the milk production may not match the heightened demand,” IIL’s head (animal health) marketing N S N Bhargav told Business Standard.
He said the country lost an estimated Rs 20,000 crore annually due to livestock diseases and the cost incurred in their treatment, besides loss of business in meat exports.
IIL is the largest veterinary vaccine manufacturer and exporter in the country and caters to nearly 80 per cent of the domestic vaccine requirement for Foot and Mouth Disease.
The company is setting up a new vaccine manufacturing unit at Hyderabad at an investment of Rs 150 crore and it would be functional by mid 2011. It would produce both human and animal vaccines.
“We will soon launch two veterinary and two human vaccines, including the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, which will be launched in December after human trials are completed and it is approved by the Drug Controller General of India,” Bhargav added. IIL would increase the number of ‘Abhay Clinics’, which are franchisee vaccination centres for humans, pan-India, from 3,000 at present to 5,000 in the next five years.
Tags: Raksha Veterinary Centres, Franchisee Veterinarians, govt franchisees, franchisee vaccination centres, abhay clinics,government franchise,public franchise,
Source: Business Standard / Virendra Singh Rawat / New Delhi/ Lucknow July 19, 2010, 0:40 IST
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
L'Occitane Debuts In India With Devi Resorts Signs Master Franchise With Sanghvi Brands
L'Occitane, the natural skincare and beauty brand, is on an expansion mode. After recently becoming the first French company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and being oversubscribed 160 times, it is now entering the Indian spa market in partnership with Devi Resorts.
“India is now a priority for us. Our three stores in the country have been very successful. Our original plan was to open 20 stores in the next five years, but returns have been promising and we are planning to open four more by the end of this year. Internationally L’Occitane spas are present on the high-streets, in stores and resorts. The idea of opening the spa here is to extend the entire experience to our Indian customers as well,” says Guillaume Geslin, country manager, L’Occitane India.
Apart from the L’Occitane signature treatments, new treatments are being developed using local ingredients from Rajasthan. “We are trying to bring together the concepts of Indian and mediterranean well-being,” says Geslin.
Christened ‘Devi Spa by L’Occitane’, the spa will premier in Devi Garh palace, Udaipur, and two upcoming properties of Devi Resorts in Jaipur—the Devi Ratan and Rasa. The spas will be operational in October this year. “Devi Ratan resort will have a 20,000 sq ft spa, making it one of the largest in the country. The Rasa resort, adjacent to a wildlife reserve and sharing a boundary with the 400-year-old Amer fort, will have 500 sqft luxury tents with private spa pavilions,” says Rajnish Sabharwal, president, Boutique Hotels India.
Sanghvi Brands has been given the master franchise to operate the spas by L’Occitane in India. “We intend to launch at least five spas in India over the next 24 months covering metros and tourist destinations,” says Darpan Sanghvi, MD, Sanghvi Brands.
Tags:L'Occitane, Healthcare franchise, beauty franchise, Spa Franchise, Spa Business, L'Occitane India, Sanghvi Brands, Darpan Sanghvi, wellness franchise,best spa franchise,
Source:FE Bureau,July 18, 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
“India is now a priority for us. Our three stores in the country have been very successful. Our original plan was to open 20 stores in the next five years, but returns have been promising and we are planning to open four more by the end of this year. Internationally L’Occitane spas are present on the high-streets, in stores and resorts. The idea of opening the spa here is to extend the entire experience to our Indian customers as well,” says Guillaume Geslin, country manager, L’Occitane India.
Apart from the L’Occitane signature treatments, new treatments are being developed using local ingredients from Rajasthan. “We are trying to bring together the concepts of Indian and mediterranean well-being,” says Geslin.
Christened ‘Devi Spa by L’Occitane’, the spa will premier in Devi Garh palace, Udaipur, and two upcoming properties of Devi Resorts in Jaipur—the Devi Ratan and Rasa. The spas will be operational in October this year. “Devi Ratan resort will have a 20,000 sq ft spa, making it one of the largest in the country. The Rasa resort, adjacent to a wildlife reserve and sharing a boundary with the 400-year-old Amer fort, will have 500 sqft luxury tents with private spa pavilions,” says Rajnish Sabharwal, president, Boutique Hotels India.
Sanghvi Brands has been given the master franchise to operate the spas by L’Occitane in India. “We intend to launch at least five spas in India over the next 24 months covering metros and tourist destinations,” says Darpan Sanghvi, MD, Sanghvi Brands.
Tags:L'Occitane, Healthcare franchise, beauty franchise, Spa Franchise, Spa Business, L'Occitane India, Sanghvi Brands, Darpan Sanghvi, wellness franchise,best spa franchise,
Source:FE Bureau,July 18, 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
VIP Industries Growth On The Backdrop Of Franchise Expansion
When ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala picks up stake in a company, you are likely to seriously consider investing in it and, more often than not, you will hit the bull’s eye. Of late, the stock of VIP Industries has been making headlines for the interest shown by investors such as Jhunjhunwala and Ramesh Damani. Last month, Jhunjhunwala added 1.34 per cent stake to take his total holding in VIP Industries to about 6 per cent. “They saw potential in our company and invested, and are extremely happy today,” says Dilip Piramal, chairman of VIP Industries, whose stock price jumped 10-fold over the past 16 months — from Rs 33.80 on 31 March 2009 to Rs 365.30 on 12 July 2010. During the same period, Piramal’s personal wealth also swelled from Rs 41 crore to Rs 450 crore.
Piramal says this stellar growth is the result of a strategy shift last year. “We had increased prices of our mass premium product (VIP brand); the strategy didn’t work. In fact the competition ate into our market share. Last year we repositioned our brands, which gave us very good results,” he says.
The results were tangible. VIP overtook Samsonite’s American Tourister last year in the mid-segment market. The company’s revenues and profits also improved. It reported a net profit of Rs 50 crore in FY2009-10 against Rs 9 crore in the previous year, and revenues of Rs 636 crore against Rs 525 crore. “In any given year, if the sales go up by 15 per cent with the overheads remaining the same, the net margin can increase by 30-45 per cent,” says Piramal, who credits the company’s growth to his daughter Radhika, who took over as managing director on 1 May 2010. “Long-term planning, adapting to situations and the ability to carry managers along with her have been her strong points,” says Piramal, a music buff who is now busy selecting 100 songs for Saregama for a collection of CDs to be launched this Diwali.
By this year-end, VIP plans to become debt-free. Last year, it brought down debt from Rs 135 crore to Rs 85 crore and in the first quarter of FY2011, it further reduced it to Rs 35 crore. The company earns 90 per cent of its revenues from the domestic market, with the major chunk coming from the mass segment. It has 350 exclusive retail outlets, of which 125 are company-owned. “Our approach has been mostly through the franchise model. But if dealers aren’t willing to open franchises in certain regions, we open our own stores,” says Piramal.
Despite buying premium luggage maker Carlton of the UK six years ago, VIP had not launched the brand in India as it was offering Delsey at the top-end. “The premium segment being quite small, we felt it did not make sense to have two brands,” says Piramal. “But with the termination of the contract with Delsey, we plan to introduce Carlton in India.”
Piramal hints at getting into other lines of business, but doesn’t give details. However, the market seems to have already sensed it. No wonder the stock is still attractive despite trading at a PE (price-to-earnings) multiple of 21 times on a one-year trailing basis. Jhunjhunwala seems to have got this one right, too.
Tags:Samsonite Franchise, VIP Franchise, Luggage Franchise, Luggage Store Franchise,Radhika Piramal, Dilip Piramal, dealer franchise, dealership franchise, Delsey Franchise, Brand Franchise
Source:Mahesh Nayak (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 26-07-2010).
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Piramal says this stellar growth is the result of a strategy shift last year. “We had increased prices of our mass premium product (VIP brand); the strategy didn’t work. In fact the competition ate into our market share. Last year we repositioned our brands, which gave us very good results,” he says.
The results were tangible. VIP overtook Samsonite’s American Tourister last year in the mid-segment market. The company’s revenues and profits also improved. It reported a net profit of Rs 50 crore in FY2009-10 against Rs 9 crore in the previous year, and revenues of Rs 636 crore against Rs 525 crore. “In any given year, if the sales go up by 15 per cent with the overheads remaining the same, the net margin can increase by 30-45 per cent,” says Piramal, who credits the company’s growth to his daughter Radhika, who took over as managing director on 1 May 2010. “Long-term planning, adapting to situations and the ability to carry managers along with her have been her strong points,” says Piramal, a music buff who is now busy selecting 100 songs for Saregama for a collection of CDs to be launched this Diwali.
By this year-end, VIP plans to become debt-free. Last year, it brought down debt from Rs 135 crore to Rs 85 crore and in the first quarter of FY2011, it further reduced it to Rs 35 crore. The company earns 90 per cent of its revenues from the domestic market, with the major chunk coming from the mass segment. It has 350 exclusive retail outlets, of which 125 are company-owned. “Our approach has been mostly through the franchise model. But if dealers aren’t willing to open franchises in certain regions, we open our own stores,” says Piramal.
Despite buying premium luggage maker Carlton of the UK six years ago, VIP had not launched the brand in India as it was offering Delsey at the top-end. “The premium segment being quite small, we felt it did not make sense to have two brands,” says Piramal. “But with the termination of the contract with Delsey, we plan to introduce Carlton in India.”
Piramal hints at getting into other lines of business, but doesn’t give details. However, the market seems to have already sensed it. No wonder the stock is still attractive despite trading at a PE (price-to-earnings) multiple of 21 times on a one-year trailing basis. Jhunjhunwala seems to have got this one right, too.
Tags:Samsonite Franchise, VIP Franchise, Luggage Franchise, Luggage Store Franchise,Radhika Piramal, Dilip Piramal, dealer franchise, dealership franchise, Delsey Franchise, Brand Franchise
Source:Mahesh Nayak (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 26-07-2010).
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Moti Mahal Franchise Restaurant Reaches Shimla.
On an expansion drive, Moti Mahal Delux announced opening of franchise restaurant with Bridge View Regency, on The Mall here today.
Speaking on the occasion Ashim Gujaral, executive director of privately held chain of restaurants, said that food outlets were facing competition in the Indian market but their unique cuisines, were not in direct competition with McDonald’s and other fast food outlets as they mainly catered Indian curry tastes centered around lunch and dinner.
Where as in large cities, the chain had opened specialty restaurants that served either Indian, Chinese and continental, or coastal foods, but in small cities, a multi cuisine menu was catered to.
With the Shimla opening, the Rs 300 crore Moti Mahal chain has established 75 restaurants in India and 4 abroad, which are one each in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai and London.
Mukesh Malhotra, managing director of Bridge View said on the occasion, besides the Shimla restaurant they were seeking out opportunities for opening restaurants in Manali and Dharamshala, under the popular franchise.
Among the famous customers that have had a meal at Moti Mahal eatery, the chain counts India’s first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, former American president Richard Nixon, former Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto among others who have eaten at the Daryaganj outlet in Delhi.
Starting out from Peshawar in 1920, Moti Mahal established its first eatery at Daryaganj after Independence. From a popular Dhaba, the group has expanded and hopes to increase the number of outlets to over 100 in the next few years.
Tags:Moti Mahal Franchise, Indian Food Franchise, North Indian Food Franchise, Moti Mahal Chain, Ashim Gujaral, Speciality Restaurant Franchise, Moti Mahal Eatery,Fast Food Franchise,Moti Mahal
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Speaking on the occasion Ashim Gujaral, executive director of privately held chain of restaurants, said that food outlets were facing competition in the Indian market but their unique cuisines, were not in direct competition with McDonald’s and other fast food outlets as they mainly catered Indian curry tastes centered around lunch and dinner.
Where as in large cities, the chain had opened specialty restaurants that served either Indian, Chinese and continental, or coastal foods, but in small cities, a multi cuisine menu was catered to.
With the Shimla opening, the Rs 300 crore Moti Mahal chain has established 75 restaurants in India and 4 abroad, which are one each in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai and London.
Mukesh Malhotra, managing director of Bridge View said on the occasion, besides the Shimla restaurant they were seeking out opportunities for opening restaurants in Manali and Dharamshala, under the popular franchise.
Among the famous customers that have had a meal at Moti Mahal eatery, the chain counts India’s first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, former American president Richard Nixon, former Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto among others who have eaten at the Daryaganj outlet in Delhi.
Starting out from Peshawar in 1920, Moti Mahal established its first eatery at Daryaganj after Independence. From a popular Dhaba, the group has expanded and hopes to increase the number of outlets to over 100 in the next few years.
Tags:Moti Mahal Franchise, Indian Food Franchise, North Indian Food Franchise, Moti Mahal Chain, Ashim Gujaral, Speciality Restaurant Franchise, Moti Mahal Eatery,Fast Food Franchise,Moti Mahal
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Keen To Clean Founder Brij Purohit Looks To Franchise In India
Domestic and commercial cleaning franchise, Keen to Clean, has plans to launch into the Indian market before the end of the year.
Founder and franchisor Brij Purohit, who comes from India, told Franchising "The market in India has a huge potential and I know the market very well."
The structure of the franchise business in India is yet to be finalised, said Purohit, who launched his one-stop cleaning business in 2003 and began franchising two years ago. There are now 13 franchises in Victoria and one in New South Wales, offering carpet, blind and upholstery cleaning as part of the service.
Tags:Cleaning Franchise, commercial cleaning franchise,Service Franchise, Keen To Clean, Brij Purohit, Franchise Business, Franchise Structure, franchise model, Franchising In India,
Source:Franchising.com 16 July 2010
This Blog/News Item has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Founder and franchisor Brij Purohit, who comes from India, told Franchising "The market in India has a huge potential and I know the market very well."
The structure of the franchise business in India is yet to be finalised, said Purohit, who launched his one-stop cleaning business in 2003 and began franchising two years ago. There are now 13 franchises in Victoria and one in New South Wales, offering carpet, blind and upholstery cleaning as part of the service.
Tags:Cleaning Franchise, commercial cleaning franchise,Service Franchise, Keen To Clean, Brij Purohit, Franchise Business, Franchise Structure, franchise model, Franchising In India,
Source:Franchising.com 16 July 2010
This Blog/News Item has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Pot Pourri and Lemon Grass Cafe Franchise Expanding
Mumbai-based Zrii Hospitality which is licensed to use restaurant brands like Pot Pourri and Lemon Grass Café, plans to promote its brands through franchising. The Group is seeking potential partners for franchise mode of operations. Pot Pourri is a world cuisine café operational in Bandra and Navi Mumbai in Mumbai, whereas Lemon Grass Café serves cuisines from South-east Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, China, Burma, Vietnam and Korea), which has its outlet in Bandra and Malad in Mumbai.
Speaking with Hospitality Biz, Nitin Tandon, Chef Owner and Food Stylist, Zrii Hospitality said, “As a brand management company, we would expand through franchising, company owned and management contracts. Franchising is a great way to expansion. Working with right partners one can delegate entrepreneurship and capital infusion too is easier for projects. Management contracts for the food and beverage (F&B) world is nascent and lack of technical expertise in F&B will always keep the door open for management contracts, coupled with strong growing brands.
Tags:zrii hospitality, nitin tandon,lemon grass cafe franchise, pot pourri franchise, world cuisine franchise, south east asian restaurant franchise, cafe franchise, speciality food franchise,
Source:Hospitality Biz India
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Speaking with Hospitality Biz, Nitin Tandon, Chef Owner and Food Stylist, Zrii Hospitality said, “As a brand management company, we would expand through franchising, company owned and management contracts. Franchising is a great way to expansion. Working with right partners one can delegate entrepreneurship and capital infusion too is easier for projects. Management contracts for the food and beverage (F&B) world is nascent and lack of technical expertise in F&B will always keep the door open for management contracts, coupled with strong growing brands.
Tags:zrii hospitality, nitin tandon,lemon grass cafe franchise, pot pourri franchise, world cuisine franchise, south east asian restaurant franchise, cafe franchise, speciality food franchise,
Source:Hospitality Biz India
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
The CADD Centre Franchise
Explore the franchise opportunities at CADD Centre, Asia’s largest network of CAD, CAE, and Project Planning Management (PPM) training centres.
From a “single-product”, “single-unit” training centre in Chennai, in 1988, CADD Centre, today, is offering authorized courses for over 20 market leading products in CAD, CAE, PPM and Modeling & Animation domain. It has over 280 franchises in about twelve countries including Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nigeria, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and UAE.
We attribute this phenomenal success to our domain focus and to our “Franchise first” expansion model. Our multi-faceted growth has been driven by our steadfast adherence to the core values, core vision, and core vocation of excellence.
CADD Centre started Franchising in 1995, and from then on its expansion plan has always been through franchise growth. It regards franchisee of CADD Centre as a CADD Centre that “we do not own”. Except the ownership, it takes responsibility for the franchisee revenues and profitability month after month. The performance of CADD Centre employees is assessed by the profitability of the franchisee centres.
Among the key promises of CADD Centre include:
• Centre quality
• Software compliance
• End customer satisfaction
• Course quality
• Course delivery quality
• Course compliance
• Instructor training
• Viable franchise business plan
CADD Centre takes complete control of the quality of the courses and course delivery.
Core Values:
We place the franchise’s interest first and accord foremost importance to the quality of services in: identifying market needs, conception of curriculum, course delivery, franchise support and partnering with product developers. Our values-driven approach has bestowed on us the market leadership and made us a premium training partner for global product companies.
Core Vision:
We strive to create our presence world over as a provider of high-quality training, products and services in CAD, CAE, Project Management and Modeling & animation domains. We expand through franchising, which we consider is a sustainable model of co-operative entrepreneurship. Our franchise model is homegrown and proven successful within India as well as outside.
Core Vocation Of Excellence:
At CADD Centre, we consider that “training the trainers” is our core competence that brings in standard quality and uniformity of superior customer experience across all our franchises. We continuously engage software product companies in our training.
We also facilitate the knowledge transfer and collaboration within our franchise community by organizing various events. Besides, we associate ourselves with industry bodies that work for the promotion of computer aided engineering and management education.
CADD Franchise Expansion
Through franchising, CADD Centre has increased its presence from one centre in 1995 to 280 centres in twelve countries today. However, the company does not expand for the sake of expansion. CADD Centre looks for a steady growth. It signs a few franchises, works with them for some time till they stabilize and then go for signing the next batch of new franchises. The preference for the long-term growth has helped CADD Centre to achieve over 95% success rate and a 40% year-on-year annual growth rate in franchising for many years now.
The positive feedback from customers, good word of mouth references, and increase in the network are good evidences to show that the CADD Franchise system is a success. Reference and positive word of mouth are two very important ways CADD Centre attract new franchisees. This enables a new franchise to come on board with the right expectations.
CADD Centre is keen to promote entrepreneurship (“intrapreneurship”, rather) among its employees. What stands testimony to the company’s drive towards creating entrepreneurs is the fact that many CADD Centre franchises are owned by its past employees and students, who are familiar with the company’s culture and value system.
Franchise Support - Operation
CADD Centre is a process driven organization. The day-to-day operations of the Centre are well defined and the franchisee employees are trained and retrained to carry on the business as per the process chart. The franchise is not left to any thinking or imagination when it comes to course delivery or deliverables to customer. This ensures there is a uniform delivery of knowledge and skill to every individual registering for the program. Also, the regular monitoring of the Centres, gives a good amount of control in ensuring that the Franchise system is consistent.
CADD Centre is where it is today because of its close working relationship with the franchisees. The Centre offers an induction program for three days for all franchises to provide them with guidelines for handling the operations of the centre. The franchises are guided through a handholding approach.
Franchise Support – Marketing
CADD Centre franchisee is one of the most profitable education franchisee systems in India and hence growing even in challenging times. CADD Centre does not compete with but differentiates itself from its competitors. It builds its growth on referral marketing. It regularly invests in making referral marketing work. CADD Centre believes that “word of mouth” sales are much effective than any other mode of selling. It does not encourage franchises spending too much on promotion, as providing quality education will do a great deal of marketing. However, it does use traditional media and advertisement, in association with its franchises. The shared marketing expenses help both the franchisor and the franchise invest more and get better results.
CADD Centre discusses its marketing plans and brain storms ideas with every franchisee, and facilitates in the creation of marketing plans that are unique to every centre. CADD Centre runs six regional support centres across the country to provide support to the franchises and market test the programs before they are launched at the franchise centres. The Regional Support Centres study the patterns and device/test new marketing plans. Public Relation activities are handled in every location at regular intervals to make sure CADD Centre is on the news for good reasons.
CADD Centre supports its franchises in Creatives, media planning and Market Strategy promotional plans. It designs art works for marketing that is most suited for the target and the event.
CADD Market Leadership
CADD Centre is a 22 year-old CAD training company. It has embraced franchising as a sustainable model of cooperative entrepreneurship, for the last 15 years. Through franchising, the company has increased its centres from one in 1995 to 280 today. In the very first year of its operations, CADD Centre trained 40 people but the number of people trained by the CADD Centre has crossed the 500,000 mark! All these make, CADD Centre one among the world leaders in CAD/CAE/PPM training, Asia’s largest training network and India’s most influential launch medium for any CAD/CAE/CAM/PPM product companies in the world.
CADD Centre demands a premium from the principals (software product companies) as well as the customers (students and corporate employees). It offers the most comprehensive range of training programmes in its domain. CADD Centre believes that it is able to achieve gain and retain its market leadership in a very specialized segment only because of its deep insights into the franchise business.
CADD Franchise Revenue Sharing
CADD Centre has a very unique franchisee model where by the franchisee is allowed to earn in proportion to the efforts they put in the business. CADD Centre does not charge royalty based on the revenues – CADD Centre believes that when a franchise puts in a lot of efforts to increase its collections and profits, it is only fair to allow the franchise to retain a lion’s share.
The revenue sharing is based on a percentage – an annual fee – that is worked out at the very beginning, adhering to the business principles, size of operations and market potential. The annual fee model helps CADD Centre and its franchises keep their level of commitment at peak. Based on the track record of the performance of franchises, CADD Centre reworks the revenue sharing model to reflect the aspirations of franchises.
Franchise Requirements
CADD Centre franchise needs to be a local person. CADD Centre believes that a local person is the best to deliver the services exactly the way an end customer would want it. That is one of the reasons why it has taken the franchise route for expansion.
At CADD Centre, the franchisee is not just an investor but an entrepreneur responsible for success of the franchise centre. The franchise owner looks after the day to day operations of the Centre and sets and meets the targets to make the Centre profitable. CADD Centre works closely with the franchise in initial investments. It teaches the franchise how to work the costing and the investment. As an extension the franchise also understands how to handle the returns.
The franchise invests in physical infrastructure including hardware and software – the initial investment varies depending on the market size. CADD Centre charges an annual fee, which is not fixed based on the revenue. This means there will be no increase in the annual fee in proportion to the increase in the franchise’s revenues.
As for the centre premise is concerned, CADD Centre insists on a comfortable space with ventilation to accommodate class rooms labs, meeting rooms, sales cabins, manager cabins, staff room, store room, toilets, and of course, reserved parking space. There could be spare capacity to be used for walk-in demonstrations and special training on software.
CADD Franchise Relationship
CADD Centre treats its franchises as customers and evolves a win-win strategy. It gives a lot of value and priority to its relationship with the franchise. The company listens to its franchises and hand holds the franchise in business operations
Many franchisees of CADD Centre are its long time associates. For instance, its first franchise partner, Mr.V R Chander started CADD Centre at Coimbatore in a 1200 sft space in 1995. The first year revenue was Rs 24 lakhs. Today, he runs 3 centres in Coimbatore in over 10,000 sft space with revenue of around Rs 200 lakhs.
Tags:cadd franchise,Training Franchise, Education Franchise, Cadd Centre, franchise model, software franchise, franchise expansion, franchise system,franchise support, franchisee system,Franchise Business,
Source:franchise.caddcentre.ws
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
From a “single-product”, “single-unit” training centre in Chennai, in 1988, CADD Centre, today, is offering authorized courses for over 20 market leading products in CAD, CAE, PPM and Modeling & Animation domain. It has over 280 franchises in about twelve countries including Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nigeria, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and UAE.
We attribute this phenomenal success to our domain focus and to our “Franchise first” expansion model. Our multi-faceted growth has been driven by our steadfast adherence to the core values, core vision, and core vocation of excellence.
CADD Centre started Franchising in 1995, and from then on its expansion plan has always been through franchise growth. It regards franchisee of CADD Centre as a CADD Centre that “we do not own”. Except the ownership, it takes responsibility for the franchisee revenues and profitability month after month. The performance of CADD Centre employees is assessed by the profitability of the franchisee centres.
Among the key promises of CADD Centre include:
• Centre quality
• Software compliance
• End customer satisfaction
• Course quality
• Course delivery quality
• Course compliance
• Instructor training
• Viable franchise business plan
CADD Centre takes complete control of the quality of the courses and course delivery.
Core Values:
We place the franchise’s interest first and accord foremost importance to the quality of services in: identifying market needs, conception of curriculum, course delivery, franchise support and partnering with product developers. Our values-driven approach has bestowed on us the market leadership and made us a premium training partner for global product companies.
Core Vision:
We strive to create our presence world over as a provider of high-quality training, products and services in CAD, CAE, Project Management and Modeling & animation domains. We expand through franchising, which we consider is a sustainable model of co-operative entrepreneurship. Our franchise model is homegrown and proven successful within India as well as outside.
Core Vocation Of Excellence:
At CADD Centre, we consider that “training the trainers” is our core competence that brings in standard quality and uniformity of superior customer experience across all our franchises. We continuously engage software product companies in our training.
We also facilitate the knowledge transfer and collaboration within our franchise community by organizing various events. Besides, we associate ourselves with industry bodies that work for the promotion of computer aided engineering and management education.
CADD Franchise Expansion
Through franchising, CADD Centre has increased its presence from one centre in 1995 to 280 centres in twelve countries today. However, the company does not expand for the sake of expansion. CADD Centre looks for a steady growth. It signs a few franchises, works with them for some time till they stabilize and then go for signing the next batch of new franchises. The preference for the long-term growth has helped CADD Centre to achieve over 95% success rate and a 40% year-on-year annual growth rate in franchising for many years now.
The positive feedback from customers, good word of mouth references, and increase in the network are good evidences to show that the CADD Franchise system is a success. Reference and positive word of mouth are two very important ways CADD Centre attract new franchisees. This enables a new franchise to come on board with the right expectations.
CADD Centre is keen to promote entrepreneurship (“intrapreneurship”, rather) among its employees. What stands testimony to the company’s drive towards creating entrepreneurs is the fact that many CADD Centre franchises are owned by its past employees and students, who are familiar with the company’s culture and value system.
Franchise Support - Operation
CADD Centre is a process driven organization. The day-to-day operations of the Centre are well defined and the franchisee employees are trained and retrained to carry on the business as per the process chart. The franchise is not left to any thinking or imagination when it comes to course delivery or deliverables to customer. This ensures there is a uniform delivery of knowledge and skill to every individual registering for the program. Also, the regular monitoring of the Centres, gives a good amount of control in ensuring that the Franchise system is consistent.
CADD Centre is where it is today because of its close working relationship with the franchisees. The Centre offers an induction program for three days for all franchises to provide them with guidelines for handling the operations of the centre. The franchises are guided through a handholding approach.
Franchise Support – Marketing
CADD Centre franchisee is one of the most profitable education franchisee systems in India and hence growing even in challenging times. CADD Centre does not compete with but differentiates itself from its competitors. It builds its growth on referral marketing. It regularly invests in making referral marketing work. CADD Centre believes that “word of mouth” sales are much effective than any other mode of selling. It does not encourage franchises spending too much on promotion, as providing quality education will do a great deal of marketing. However, it does use traditional media and advertisement, in association with its franchises. The shared marketing expenses help both the franchisor and the franchise invest more and get better results.
CADD Centre discusses its marketing plans and brain storms ideas with every franchisee, and facilitates in the creation of marketing plans that are unique to every centre. CADD Centre runs six regional support centres across the country to provide support to the franchises and market test the programs before they are launched at the franchise centres. The Regional Support Centres study the patterns and device/test new marketing plans. Public Relation activities are handled in every location at regular intervals to make sure CADD Centre is on the news for good reasons.
CADD Centre supports its franchises in Creatives, media planning and Market Strategy promotional plans. It designs art works for marketing that is most suited for the target and the event.
CADD Market Leadership
CADD Centre is a 22 year-old CAD training company. It has embraced franchising as a sustainable model of cooperative entrepreneurship, for the last 15 years. Through franchising, the company has increased its centres from one in 1995 to 280 today. In the very first year of its operations, CADD Centre trained 40 people but the number of people trained by the CADD Centre has crossed the 500,000 mark! All these make, CADD Centre one among the world leaders in CAD/CAE/PPM training, Asia’s largest training network and India’s most influential launch medium for any CAD/CAE/CAM/PPM product companies in the world.
CADD Centre demands a premium from the principals (software product companies) as well as the customers (students and corporate employees). It offers the most comprehensive range of training programmes in its domain. CADD Centre believes that it is able to achieve gain and retain its market leadership in a very specialized segment only because of its deep insights into the franchise business.
CADD Franchise Revenue Sharing
CADD Centre has a very unique franchisee model where by the franchisee is allowed to earn in proportion to the efforts they put in the business. CADD Centre does not charge royalty based on the revenues – CADD Centre believes that when a franchise puts in a lot of efforts to increase its collections and profits, it is only fair to allow the franchise to retain a lion’s share.
The revenue sharing is based on a percentage – an annual fee – that is worked out at the very beginning, adhering to the business principles, size of operations and market potential. The annual fee model helps CADD Centre and its franchises keep their level of commitment at peak. Based on the track record of the performance of franchises, CADD Centre reworks the revenue sharing model to reflect the aspirations of franchises.
Franchise Requirements
CADD Centre franchise needs to be a local person. CADD Centre believes that a local person is the best to deliver the services exactly the way an end customer would want it. That is one of the reasons why it has taken the franchise route for expansion.
At CADD Centre, the franchisee is not just an investor but an entrepreneur responsible for success of the franchise centre. The franchise owner looks after the day to day operations of the Centre and sets and meets the targets to make the Centre profitable. CADD Centre works closely with the franchise in initial investments. It teaches the franchise how to work the costing and the investment. As an extension the franchise also understands how to handle the returns.
The franchise invests in physical infrastructure including hardware and software – the initial investment varies depending on the market size. CADD Centre charges an annual fee, which is not fixed based on the revenue. This means there will be no increase in the annual fee in proportion to the increase in the franchise’s revenues.
As for the centre premise is concerned, CADD Centre insists on a comfortable space with ventilation to accommodate class rooms labs, meeting rooms, sales cabins, manager cabins, staff room, store room, toilets, and of course, reserved parking space. There could be spare capacity to be used for walk-in demonstrations and special training on software.
CADD Franchise Relationship
CADD Centre treats its franchises as customers and evolves a win-win strategy. It gives a lot of value and priority to its relationship with the franchise. The company listens to its franchises and hand holds the franchise in business operations
Many franchisees of CADD Centre are its long time associates. For instance, its first franchise partner, Mr.V R Chander started CADD Centre at Coimbatore in a 1200 sft space in 1995. The first year revenue was Rs 24 lakhs. Today, he runs 3 centres in Coimbatore in over 10,000 sft space with revenue of around Rs 200 lakhs.
Tags:cadd franchise,Training Franchise, Education Franchise, Cadd Centre, franchise model, software franchise, franchise expansion, franchise system,franchise support, franchisee system,Franchise Business,
Source:franchise.caddcentre.ws
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Gokaldas Plans Large Wholesale Stores In Chennai & Delhi
BENGALOORU: Blackstone Group Lp funded Gokaldas Exports Ltd is looking to expand its wholesale business to achieve an all-India footprint and reduce inventory.
The move by India's largest garment exporter comes at a time when growth in overseas orders, particularly from Europe, is uncertain, prompting many textile firms to eye the growing domestic market.
"At any given point of time, we have about Rs60 crore of inventory and this (cash and carry) format will be an effective means to dispose of it," managing director Rajendra Hinduja said.
Gokaldas's apparel business has a requirement of around 4 million metres of fabric a month, some of which is piled up as inventory if there aren't adequate export orders.
Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Blackstone Group.
The Bangalore-based firm, which employs 41,000 people, sees huge potential among small retailers and wholesalers, and plans to open large stores in Chennai and New Delhi after its 30,000 sq. ft wholesale store in Bangalore started doing well since it opened in late 2009.
In the past few months, the Bangalore shop has been earning about Rs 1 crore in revenue every month. This is set to double, said Hinduja.
The firm plans to open a 12,000 sq. ft store in Chennai's Nelson Manickam Road this year, followed by a 20,000 sq. ft shop in New Delhi.
"This format is new and pricing will be one of the key determining factors to decide whether it would work," said a Bangalore-based retail consultant, who declined to be named. "Exporters such as Gokaldas should keep the prices attractive to attract small retailers and shouldn't get lured by high margins."
Though cash and carry is uncommon among garment exporters, large firms such as Gokaldas and Mumbai-based Alok Industries Ltd have begun to use this route to better penetrate the local market.
Integrated textile firm Alok Industries launched its retail apparel brand H&A three years ago, but converted it into a wholesale format in December last year. "We have about 220 stores through a franchise model and will expand the network to 400," chief finance officer Sunil Khandelwal said.
"With the growth in India's organized retailing, exporters will increase their domestic business to 30% from the current average of 10%," said Prashant Agarwal, vice-president, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a management consultancy.
Gokaldas expects that around 10% of its net sales of Rs1,100 crore would come from its cash and carry business in a couple of years.
According to Technopak, India's textile exports are valued at above $20 billion (Rs93,400 crore), while domestic textile and apparel business is $40 billion.
Like many of its counterparts, Gokaldas Exports reported a loss in the March quarter. It posted a net loss of Rs14.41 crore in the three months compared with a net profit of Rs4.72 crore in the year-ago period.
Since many textile exporters are incurring losses and their margins are under pressure, they are likely to venture into new businesses in the fiscal year to March 2011.
Gokaldas, for example, has also started a high-margin industrial textile business this year and has secured its first order of 100,000 uniforms from the US.
Tags:Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Rajendra Hinduja, Sunil Khandelwal.
Source:Bharattextile.com
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
The move by India's largest garment exporter comes at a time when growth in overseas orders, particularly from Europe, is uncertain, prompting many textile firms to eye the growing domestic market.
"At any given point of time, we have about Rs60 crore of inventory and this (cash and carry) format will be an effective means to dispose of it," managing director Rajendra Hinduja said.
Gokaldas's apparel business has a requirement of around 4 million metres of fabric a month, some of which is piled up as inventory if there aren't adequate export orders.
Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Blackstone Group.
The Bangalore-based firm, which employs 41,000 people, sees huge potential among small retailers and wholesalers, and plans to open large stores in Chennai and New Delhi after its 30,000 sq. ft wholesale store in Bangalore started doing well since it opened in late 2009.
In the past few months, the Bangalore shop has been earning about Rs 1 crore in revenue every month. This is set to double, said Hinduja.
The firm plans to open a 12,000 sq. ft store in Chennai's Nelson Manickam Road this year, followed by a 20,000 sq. ft shop in New Delhi.
"This format is new and pricing will be one of the key determining factors to decide whether it would work," said a Bangalore-based retail consultant, who declined to be named. "Exporters such as Gokaldas should keep the prices attractive to attract small retailers and shouldn't get lured by high margins."
Though cash and carry is uncommon among garment exporters, large firms such as Gokaldas and Mumbai-based Alok Industries Ltd have begun to use this route to better penetrate the local market.
Integrated textile firm Alok Industries launched its retail apparel brand H&A three years ago, but converted it into a wholesale format in December last year. "We have about 220 stores through a franchise model and will expand the network to 400," chief finance officer Sunil Khandelwal said.
"With the growth in India's organized retailing, exporters will increase their domestic business to 30% from the current average of 10%," said Prashant Agarwal, vice-president, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a management consultancy.
Gokaldas expects that around 10% of its net sales of Rs1,100 crore would come from its cash and carry business in a couple of years.
According to Technopak, India's textile exports are valued at above $20 billion (Rs93,400 crore), while domestic textile and apparel business is $40 billion.
Like many of its counterparts, Gokaldas Exports reported a loss in the March quarter. It posted a net loss of Rs14.41 crore in the three months compared with a net profit of Rs4.72 crore in the year-ago period.
Since many textile exporters are incurring losses and their margins are under pressure, they are likely to venture into new businesses in the fiscal year to March 2011.
Gokaldas, for example, has also started a high-margin industrial textile business this year and has secured its first order of 100,000 uniforms from the US.
Tags:Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Rajendra Hinduja, Sunil Khandelwal.
Source:Bharattextile.com
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Factory Discount Store,The Loot Expands Its Reach To Tier II & III cities.
Jay Gupta doesn’t like MBAs. He feels they are too process-oriented. “They can drive a car from place A to place B. Ask them to create a road and they cannot do it,” says the 34-year-old founder and managing director of the discount store The Loot. “They don’t know how to deal with entrepreneurs who run our franchises in smaller towns. The franchise owners are much more street-smart than they are,” he adds.
Gupta should know about blazing new roads and negotiating deals with tough cookies. He is the person the Indian garment retail industry credits with pioneering the discount store format. Today, the company he started in 2004 has a turnover of Rs. 108 crore. It’s a far cry from his village in Raxaul-Briganj, at the Bihar-Nepal border where his family ran a food grain business.
Before getting into the details of the business, let’s understand what The Loot is and how it operates. The fashion industry works season to season. When one season comes to an end, the companies try and get rid of their excess stock by having an end of season (EOS) sale. “After EOS sales, companies are stuck with a large amount of unsold inventory,” says Deven Pabaru, business development head, Future Supply Chain Solutions, the logistics arm of the Future Group. The Loot buys this stock at 50-70 percent less than the MRP and sells it at 25-60 percent less than the MRP. The way The Loot operates is different from companies like Vishal Mega Mart which bargain with producers on bulk quantities and source it directly from the manufacturer or distributors.
Who are its customers? Anyone who loves a good bargain.
Here is where you buy a pair of Levi’s jeans for Rs. 600. Of course, there is no guarantee that you’ll get another Levi’s at the same cost the next time you visit.
The first store opened in Marine Lines, Mumbai in 2004. It stocked Levi’s, Lee Cooper, and Spykar among other brands. Sales in 2007 touched Rs. 23.5 crore. By then The Loot had 14 stores across Mumbai. Today it is present in 85 cities with a total of 150 stores and 600 employees.
Expanding on the Idea
Gupta has been in the garment retail business since his second year of college in 1996. He started off with a multi-brand store in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, before moving on to exclusive stores and then factory outlets. Eight years into the business, he realised that there was a section of consumers — value conscious bargain hunters — that no one was targeting. That was the start of The Loot.
Now, Gupta is expanding his business to tier II and III towns. For that, he needs money. He wanted to come out with a Rs. 100 crore initial public offering (IPO) last year but couldn’t do it because the market was depressed. “Let it [the Sensex] settle down above 18,000. Then we’ll take a call,” says Gupta. Till then, the company is getting by with a Rs. 40 crore loan from the State Bank of India and internal profits.
He wants to open 150 stores in the next two years. Why is he being so aggressive? Profits. Margins in the business are a measly 3-4 percent after taxes. He needs scale.
He wants to make sure he grows at such a pace that new entrants cannot catch up. Six years after he began, there have been copycats. But they are small players. No one has been able to replicate his model on a national scale.
Gupta believes his systems are in place; the time is right for expansion.
For that he also needs competent people to run his business. This is where the MBA conundrum comes in. In 2005, when The Loot began to expand, Gupta realised he hadn’t accounted for a lot of factors. “You need tech support, your management cost increases, warehousing comes in, branding, marketing… all these factors that never existed earlier become a cost,” he says. He hired people from the Indian Institutes of Management and poached some from companies like Adidas and Levi’s. But he found that they couldn’t help him with figuring out these processes.
He began employing people from “Hindi medium places”. “They might not be able to speak to you in English, but they’ll get the job done,” says Gupta.
Another solution to the manpower and real estate issue was to opt for the franchisee route, which it did in 2007. Today, out of the 150 stores, only 40 are company run. Franchisees get 28-33 percent of the purchase price depending on store size.
Of course, not having the MBAs has hurt the company. In the initial years, the company often used to misjudge the quality and quantity of stock it needed. Says Kanchan Gowda, who has been working with Gupta since 2000, “We used to get into problems. At the time Jay used to say, ‘We haven’t done any management course. So we did not see this coming. We’ll count this loss as our course fees,’” she adds.
Navigating the Challenges
A major challenge for The Loot is adequate merchandising. Brands do not supply to it throughout the year. Contracts are signed when brands want to offload unsold merchandise. One bad buy can wipe out a large chunk of profits. The Loot has four screenings before it buys merchandise. “The VP of the merchandise department takes a look, then the president, then the CEO and then me,” says Gupta. Even then, around 15 percent of the inventory remains unsold. But Gupta insists, “Everything is saleable. You just have to find the correct price.” The Loot sells it to the unorganised sector at a 20 percent discount to its purchase price.
Once merchandising is sorted, Gupta has to worry about how to supply all of his stores. When he had fewer stores, it was easier. Now stores run a risk of very limited choice because merchandise has to be shared. “We’ve divided our stores into different formats, depending on the size of the store: Small, medium, large and XL,” says Gupta. Only large and XL stores have all the Loot products. The company researches the other formats and only sells the most popular brands in the region.
Gupta has also started his in-house brands to compensate for times when brands may not have extra merchandise to sell. Two of them, Eccentrics and Bus Stop, are already in his stores. Two more, IOU and Road, will debut this Diwali. In 2008, Eccentrics and Bus Stop accounted for 25 percent of sales.
While he seems to have a handle on merchandising, Gupta is grappling with transport. The Loot has a 1 lakh sq. ft warehouse in Mumbai from where he supplies to stores as far away as the North East. A national transport agency is too expensive. But Sanjay Vakharia, marketing director, Spykar, one of India’s largest home-grown youth brands, doesn’t see this as a big hassle. “You have to remember that the garments industry in India is very well settled. So say, if The Loot has trouble supplying merchandise to a franchisee in Jabalpur, the Jabalpur guy will know someone in the town who gets materials from Mumbai. He will tag along with him,” he says.
One reason why transport is an issue is because of haphazard expansion — from Mumbai to Nashik to Delhi to Chandigarh to Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. “Yeah, we made a mistake then. Now we target a state, get into a city and move out into another region only when we have established ourselves properly there,” says Gupta.
With The Loot moving into smaller cities, it is expanding the market for other brands. “He has more reach than hyper-markets. He extends the customer base,” says Abhishek Ganguly, director, sales, Puma. But this could work as a double-edged sword for brands which do not have a presence in these places. “This will make it very difficult for brands to set up full price stores in previously unexplored areas. Once people are used to buying goods at a discount, they will be very hesitant to pay full price,” says Vakharia.
But Gupta isn’t thinking about that as he continues his expansion plan. He has the first mover advantage and he isn’t going to let it slip through his fingers.
THE FIVE WORDS OF CAUTION
Scale
Targeting 150 stores in two years. No guaranteed merchandise from any brand. Sourcing merchandise for 300 stores will be a huge task.
Solution Developing its own brands. Eccentrics and Bus Stop are in stores. IOU and Road will debut this Diwali.
Transport
One centralised warehouse in Mumbai. Rising cost of petrol, delays on road. Difficult to reach far-off stores.
Solution Team up with other retailers in the city. Use common transport.
Quality
The reason why brands sell merchandise to The Loot is because no one wants to buy it; 15 percent of The Loot’s merchandise remains unsold.
Solution Increase filtration levels. Introduce more quality checks.
Space
India is one of the most expensive markets for real estate. Realty makes up 15 percent of total costs.
Solution Continue to rent locations that are away from High Street. Move to the outskirts.
Technology
Tech support is a huge cost. Bar coding from different suppliers. Needs to know individual needs of stores.
Solution TCS is creating an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system for the company to manage internal and external resources.
Source: This article appeared in Forbes India Magazine of 16 July, 2010
Tags:discount store franchise, loot franchise,franchise owners, franchisee route, factory franchise, factory stores, brand factory franchise,low cost franchise,
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Gupta should know about blazing new roads and negotiating deals with tough cookies. He is the person the Indian garment retail industry credits with pioneering the discount store format. Today, the company he started in 2004 has a turnover of Rs. 108 crore. It’s a far cry from his village in Raxaul-Briganj, at the Bihar-Nepal border where his family ran a food grain business.
Before getting into the details of the business, let’s understand what The Loot is and how it operates. The fashion industry works season to season. When one season comes to an end, the companies try and get rid of their excess stock by having an end of season (EOS) sale. “After EOS sales, companies are stuck with a large amount of unsold inventory,” says Deven Pabaru, business development head, Future Supply Chain Solutions, the logistics arm of the Future Group. The Loot buys this stock at 50-70 percent less than the MRP and sells it at 25-60 percent less than the MRP. The way The Loot operates is different from companies like Vishal Mega Mart which bargain with producers on bulk quantities and source it directly from the manufacturer or distributors.
Who are its customers? Anyone who loves a good bargain.
Here is where you buy a pair of Levi’s jeans for Rs. 600. Of course, there is no guarantee that you’ll get another Levi’s at the same cost the next time you visit.
The first store opened in Marine Lines, Mumbai in 2004. It stocked Levi’s, Lee Cooper, and Spykar among other brands. Sales in 2007 touched Rs. 23.5 crore. By then The Loot had 14 stores across Mumbai. Today it is present in 85 cities with a total of 150 stores and 600 employees.
Expanding on the Idea
Gupta has been in the garment retail business since his second year of college in 1996. He started off with a multi-brand store in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, before moving on to exclusive stores and then factory outlets. Eight years into the business, he realised that there was a section of consumers — value conscious bargain hunters — that no one was targeting. That was the start of The Loot.
Now, Gupta is expanding his business to tier II and III towns. For that, he needs money. He wanted to come out with a Rs. 100 crore initial public offering (IPO) last year but couldn’t do it because the market was depressed. “Let it [the Sensex] settle down above 18,000. Then we’ll take a call,” says Gupta. Till then, the company is getting by with a Rs. 40 crore loan from the State Bank of India and internal profits.
He wants to open 150 stores in the next two years. Why is he being so aggressive? Profits. Margins in the business are a measly 3-4 percent after taxes. He needs scale.
He wants to make sure he grows at such a pace that new entrants cannot catch up. Six years after he began, there have been copycats. But they are small players. No one has been able to replicate his model on a national scale.
Gupta believes his systems are in place; the time is right for expansion.
For that he also needs competent people to run his business. This is where the MBA conundrum comes in. In 2005, when The Loot began to expand, Gupta realised he hadn’t accounted for a lot of factors. “You need tech support, your management cost increases, warehousing comes in, branding, marketing… all these factors that never existed earlier become a cost,” he says. He hired people from the Indian Institutes of Management and poached some from companies like Adidas and Levi’s. But he found that they couldn’t help him with figuring out these processes.
He began employing people from “Hindi medium places”. “They might not be able to speak to you in English, but they’ll get the job done,” says Gupta.
Another solution to the manpower and real estate issue was to opt for the franchisee route, which it did in 2007. Today, out of the 150 stores, only 40 are company run. Franchisees get 28-33 percent of the purchase price depending on store size.
Of course, not having the MBAs has hurt the company. In the initial years, the company often used to misjudge the quality and quantity of stock it needed. Says Kanchan Gowda, who has been working with Gupta since 2000, “We used to get into problems. At the time Jay used to say, ‘We haven’t done any management course. So we did not see this coming. We’ll count this loss as our course fees,’” she adds.
Navigating the Challenges
A major challenge for The Loot is adequate merchandising. Brands do not supply to it throughout the year. Contracts are signed when brands want to offload unsold merchandise. One bad buy can wipe out a large chunk of profits. The Loot has four screenings before it buys merchandise. “The VP of the merchandise department takes a look, then the president, then the CEO and then me,” says Gupta. Even then, around 15 percent of the inventory remains unsold. But Gupta insists, “Everything is saleable. You just have to find the correct price.” The Loot sells it to the unorganised sector at a 20 percent discount to its purchase price.
Once merchandising is sorted, Gupta has to worry about how to supply all of his stores. When he had fewer stores, it was easier. Now stores run a risk of very limited choice because merchandise has to be shared. “We’ve divided our stores into different formats, depending on the size of the store: Small, medium, large and XL,” says Gupta. Only large and XL stores have all the Loot products. The company researches the other formats and only sells the most popular brands in the region.
Gupta has also started his in-house brands to compensate for times when brands may not have extra merchandise to sell. Two of them, Eccentrics and Bus Stop, are already in his stores. Two more, IOU and Road, will debut this Diwali. In 2008, Eccentrics and Bus Stop accounted for 25 percent of sales.
While he seems to have a handle on merchandising, Gupta is grappling with transport. The Loot has a 1 lakh sq. ft warehouse in Mumbai from where he supplies to stores as far away as the North East. A national transport agency is too expensive. But Sanjay Vakharia, marketing director, Spykar, one of India’s largest home-grown youth brands, doesn’t see this as a big hassle. “You have to remember that the garments industry in India is very well settled. So say, if The Loot has trouble supplying merchandise to a franchisee in Jabalpur, the Jabalpur guy will know someone in the town who gets materials from Mumbai. He will tag along with him,” he says.
One reason why transport is an issue is because of haphazard expansion — from Mumbai to Nashik to Delhi to Chandigarh to Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. “Yeah, we made a mistake then. Now we target a state, get into a city and move out into another region only when we have established ourselves properly there,” says Gupta.
With The Loot moving into smaller cities, it is expanding the market for other brands. “He has more reach than hyper-markets. He extends the customer base,” says Abhishek Ganguly, director, sales, Puma. But this could work as a double-edged sword for brands which do not have a presence in these places. “This will make it very difficult for brands to set up full price stores in previously unexplored areas. Once people are used to buying goods at a discount, they will be very hesitant to pay full price,” says Vakharia.
But Gupta isn’t thinking about that as he continues his expansion plan. He has the first mover advantage and he isn’t going to let it slip through his fingers.
THE FIVE WORDS OF CAUTION
Scale
Targeting 150 stores in two years. No guaranteed merchandise from any brand. Sourcing merchandise for 300 stores will be a huge task.
Solution Developing its own brands. Eccentrics and Bus Stop are in stores. IOU and Road will debut this Diwali.
Transport
One centralised warehouse in Mumbai. Rising cost of petrol, delays on road. Difficult to reach far-off stores.
Solution Team up with other retailers in the city. Use common transport.
Quality
The reason why brands sell merchandise to The Loot is because no one wants to buy it; 15 percent of The Loot’s merchandise remains unsold.
Solution Increase filtration levels. Introduce more quality checks.
Space
India is one of the most expensive markets for real estate. Realty makes up 15 percent of total costs.
Solution Continue to rent locations that are away from High Street. Move to the outskirts.
Technology
Tech support is a huge cost. Bar coding from different suppliers. Needs to know individual needs of stores.
Solution TCS is creating an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system for the company to manage internal and external resources.
Source: This article appeared in Forbes India Magazine of 16 July, 2010
Tags:discount store franchise, loot franchise,franchise owners, franchisee route, factory franchise, factory stores, brand factory franchise,low cost franchise,
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Vithal Kamats Offer 100% Veg Franchise Outlets Across India in 3 Models.
He started his career as a dishwasher boy, earning a livelihood but supporting a family, late Shri Venkatesh Kamat had his start in humble beginnings. Through sheer hard work and keen business acumen, he started his first restaurant at byculla.
Not content with its doing well, his ambitions was supported by his wife, Smt. Indira V. Kamat, who pawned her jewellery including her mangal sutra to set up the flagship Satkar in 1938 . From there the group only went from strength to strength adding many restaurants under his fold such as Suruchi, Sanman etc…
Later he was joined by his sons, and the group opened their first ‘Thali’ restaurant - ‘Samrat’ in 1973 followed by ‘Status’ respectively. The growth of the group exploded after the efforts of our current Chairman Shri Vithal V. Kamat. Under his guidance 'Kamats' become a household name especially in Maharashtra & Gujarat with a 'Kamats' restaurant at almost every major junction of South Mumbai.
Born with keen business sense, Shri Vithal V. Kamat had the opportunity to tone his skills while working with his grand father Shri R.P. Kamat in Bangalore. With his hard work and determination, Mr. Vithal V. Kamat grew more larger than the general name 'Kamats' to become a brand in himself.
In 1997 Shri Vithal V. Kamat split from the family, as written in his famous autobiography - ‘Idli Orchid ani Me’ (Marathi best seller), and made his own path.
As guest came to except high level of quality, hygiene & service from Shri Vithal V. Kamat, it became more necessary for him to branch out on his own name. Therefore, to better identify with his fan following and to differentiate 'Vithal Kamats - Restaurants' from other general ‘Kamats’, in 2005 the group reinstated itself as 'Vithal Kamat – Original Family Restaurant' to be better identified for the quality and product that he stood for. He followed his zeal for restaurants under the flagship company - KRPL (Kamats Restaurants Private Limited), which is ambitiously growing from strength to strength on highways across India. KRPL owns and also franchises its restaurants across India and are offering franchisees in 3 formats now:
Highway Model
This model caters and serves the clientele that are traveling. Basic motive is to provide the Common Man with an option where he/ she can break the journey without any apprehension. The best example of Highway Model is Vithal Kamats at Panvel on Mumbai Goa Highway. Basic requirement from Franchise is: Highway Touching- Prominent Location Area Required: 3000 to 4000 sq ft (Seating 100- 150 People).
City Model
This Model is in the form of a Fine Dining restaurant that is present at the high traffic moving streets of a city and that serves the local crowd. The best example of City Model is Vithal Kamats at Vastrapur, Ahmedabad. Basic requirement from Franchise is: Road Facing- Prominent Location Area Required: 2500- 3000 sq ft (Seating 80- 100 People).
Kiosk Model
This Model is basically designed for Malls and places with minimal space acquirement. Serving in majority fast food and ready to eat items.The best example of Kiosk Model is Vithal Kamats at Hotel VITS- Andheri (Mumba). Basic requirement from Franchise is: Location in a high footfall area. Like in Malls, Commercial complexes, Institutions, Bus Stops, Railway Stations etc... Seating as per area available (may or may not be there).
kamat franchise, kamats franchise, kamath franchise, kamaths franchise, Thali Franchise,idli orchid ani me,kamat restaurant franchise, 100% veg franchise, KRPL,highway franchise,
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Not content with its doing well, his ambitions was supported by his wife, Smt. Indira V. Kamat, who pawned her jewellery including her mangal sutra to set up the flagship Satkar in 1938 . From there the group only went from strength to strength adding many restaurants under his fold such as Suruchi, Sanman etc…
Later he was joined by his sons, and the group opened their first ‘Thali’ restaurant - ‘Samrat’ in 1973 followed by ‘Status’ respectively. The growth of the group exploded after the efforts of our current Chairman Shri Vithal V. Kamat. Under his guidance 'Kamats' become a household name especially in Maharashtra & Gujarat with a 'Kamats' restaurant at almost every major junction of South Mumbai.
Born with keen business sense, Shri Vithal V. Kamat had the opportunity to tone his skills while working with his grand father Shri R.P. Kamat in Bangalore. With his hard work and determination, Mr. Vithal V. Kamat grew more larger than the general name 'Kamats' to become a brand in himself.
In 1997 Shri Vithal V. Kamat split from the family, as written in his famous autobiography - ‘Idli Orchid ani Me’ (Marathi best seller), and made his own path.
As guest came to except high level of quality, hygiene & service from Shri Vithal V. Kamat, it became more necessary for him to branch out on his own name. Therefore, to better identify with his fan following and to differentiate 'Vithal Kamats - Restaurants' from other general ‘Kamats’, in 2005 the group reinstated itself as 'Vithal Kamat – Original Family Restaurant' to be better identified for the quality and product that he stood for. He followed his zeal for restaurants under the flagship company - KRPL (Kamats Restaurants Private Limited), which is ambitiously growing from strength to strength on highways across India. KRPL owns and also franchises its restaurants across India and are offering franchisees in 3 formats now:
Highway Model
This model caters and serves the clientele that are traveling. Basic motive is to provide the Common Man with an option where he/ she can break the journey without any apprehension. The best example of Highway Model is Vithal Kamats at Panvel on Mumbai Goa Highway. Basic requirement from Franchise is: Highway Touching- Prominent Location Area Required: 3000 to 4000 sq ft (Seating 100- 150 People).
City Model
This Model is in the form of a Fine Dining restaurant that is present at the high traffic moving streets of a city and that serves the local crowd. The best example of City Model is Vithal Kamats at Vastrapur, Ahmedabad. Basic requirement from Franchise is: Road Facing- Prominent Location Area Required: 2500- 3000 sq ft (Seating 80- 100 People).
Kiosk Model
This Model is basically designed for Malls and places with minimal space acquirement. Serving in majority fast food and ready to eat items.The best example of Kiosk Model is Vithal Kamats at Hotel VITS- Andheri (Mumba). Basic requirement from Franchise is: Location in a high footfall area. Like in Malls, Commercial complexes, Institutions, Bus Stops, Railway Stations etc... Seating as per area available (may or may not be there).
kamat franchise, kamats franchise, kamath franchise, kamaths franchise, Thali Franchise,idli orchid ani me,kamat restaurant franchise, 100% veg franchise, KRPL,highway franchise,
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Pavers England Opens its second (franchise) store at Select City Walk
A year after it opened its first exclusive brand outlet (EBO) in Delhi, at Khan Market, premium leather footwear brand Pavers England has opened another EBO at Select Citywalk mall. The store is spread over an area of 670 sq.ft and offers footwear and accessories, including handbags, for men and women.
Utsav Seth, CEO and MD, Pavers England, said, “We are delighted to open our exclusive franchise store at Select Citywalk, one of India’s most vibrant malls, to showcase our world-class products to the people of Delhi. The collection is inspired by global fashion trends, keeping in mind the sensibilities of the discerning customers.”
Pavers England plans to open four more stores in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai within a month.
Besides the EBO format, the brand is present in leading department stores, such as Lifestyle, Central and Shoppers Stop, in the shop-in-shop format.
Pavers England was launched in 2008 as a result of a partnership between Pavers Foresight Smart Venture and Chennai-based Forward Group, a high-quality footwear exporter.
Tags:Pavers England, footwear franchise, premium footwear franchise, retail franchise business, franchise store, pavers foresight smart venture, forward group, footwear retail franchise.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Utsav Seth, CEO and MD, Pavers England, said, “We are delighted to open our exclusive franchise store at Select Citywalk, one of India’s most vibrant malls, to showcase our world-class products to the people of Delhi. The collection is inspired by global fashion trends, keeping in mind the sensibilities of the discerning customers.”
Pavers England plans to open four more stores in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai within a month.
Besides the EBO format, the brand is present in leading department stores, such as Lifestyle, Central and Shoppers Stop, in the shop-in-shop format.
Pavers England was launched in 2008 as a result of a partnership between Pavers Foresight Smart Venture and Chennai-based Forward Group, a high-quality footwear exporter.
Tags:Pavers England, footwear franchise, premium footwear franchise, retail franchise business, franchise store, pavers foresight smart venture, forward group, footwear retail franchise.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Just Books Library Franchise Founder Sunder Rajans Journey Of Starting The Library Chain
One afternoon last week I met R Sunder Rajan, the founder of Just Books at N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), IIM, Bangalore, where the two-year-old startup is incubated.
Rajan belongs to a new generation of entrepreneurs, who has slipped into something totally different after years of working in IT firms. Rajan spent 15 years at the IT firm IFlex, after joining them as a fresh graduate from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. The soft spoken and mild-mannered Madurai native in his late thirties says, “My father says I am the first in the family to ever handle a cash box.”
Rajan started a book library near his Whitefield home in mid 2008, since he couldn’t find a good library close to his home. So was the case for a lot of other Whitefield residents. He was surprised to see the tiny operation gain a thousand members in a couple of months.
The response prompted him to take a break from his job around the same time, and he felt he had an entrepreneurial streak; this was a creative pursuit different from his normal work. He explains, “Books looked like an easy thing to handle.”
140000 books, 60000 titles, ten branches and 10000 members, reports Rajan as he describes the growth of Just Books in a short time. One can visit the library to rent, read and return, or do the same online, with books door delivered. Just Books is positioned as a family centric, open to all library, with plans starting at Rs 150 a month, without a pay-per-book charge. They plan to focus primarily on books without getting diverted into coffee shops and movie rentals.
Rajan’s vision is that every neighbourhood has a Just Books store, and the book base is large enough so that every reader finds his or her book, and every book finds its reader. I talked to Rajan for a little over an hour about his journey.
What is innovative about Just Books?
It’s (mainly) the packaging. We had picked up retail industry concepts, like good ambience, good flooring, false ceiling, throwing technology – RFID, self service, and kept the library functioning at the core: take books, read and return and pick up.
How did the firm grow?
I took a break from work, spent a few months at the library, lot of people asked if I can do something like this in their neighborhoods. Why are you only here (in Whitefield), can you do something in Indiranagar? Essentially (it was) leading to franchises, so I read up on franchise model…didn’t want to go against natural momentum.
At one of the Franchise conferences, I bumped into a team from NSRCEL. So I went and gave them a presentation. We formally got incubated in May 2009 (NSRCEL supports startups with incubation facilities and mentoring help. Just Books got incubated there and NSRCEL helped Rajan firm up the franchise model. The JP Nagar branch opened early 2009, followed by many other franchise branches over the months. Just Books now has 30 employees in all, divided into the retail, technology and books teams.)
At the same time (January 2009), I though it’s good to experiment and look at another branch. I looked at JP Nagar and consciously looked at a different kind of neighborhood such as more traditional ones to find out if there are still takers for a library. Then the outline fell into place
Instead of one big library, there should be lots of small libraries, and connect them and let people know they could walk into any library.
How did you hire people?
We initially looked at people with library science background, but they were looking for corporates/schools and couldn’t connect to this. Most of them wanted to work from 9am-6pm. Most of them wanted to join IT companies and handle the libraries there. We ended up drifting to guys with retail industry background. They were quite okay with spending long hours, shifts, working Saturday and Sundays.
How do the staff connect with the readers?
We had a book centric approach, but since the people came from retail industry background, they could engage with the customers.
I thought I could use technology, to bridge the gap to provide book related interaction. I think there is still a missing connection, sometimes when a reader asks for a book, (the staff) don’t the know spelling of a popular writer.
But many of them (BA, BCom graduates) see it as a good career opportunity to learn, they are those who never got an opportunity.
How do you find the reading population of the various neighbourhoods?
The crowd in each area is unique; there is a lot of peer pressure in choosing a book. Whitefield community read a lot American authors such as Junie B Jones, Judy Blumes, whereas in places like Jayanagar, Amar Chitra Kathas are still popular. We try not be judgmental, all books are available in all branches. Enid Blytons and Hardy Boys are still popular, there are takers.
People take offence if you don’t have good Kannada collection in Jayanagar. JP Nagar has more of a mixed crowd, not so traditional.
What about regional language books?
Regional language books have their own takers if the right collection is available. They don’t want to read the old classics again and again. But there is a supply side bottleneck. There aren’t enough books getting published. I want to have a million books to meet the need of Bangalore’s reading population.
So what kind of books do you stock?
The regular popular books and we also have literary panels which recommend specific books.
How do you ensure every book finds its reader?
We have our reader base. We also ask publishers to send their samples to Just Books.
What’s your take on public libraries?
A library is considered a civic amenity for public good. Public libraries are book centric institutions where all kinds of books are available. But it is a volume game; it’s a challenge for a purely government run organisation to cater (to a large reading population like ours).
Do you think there is a trend of those moving out of IT?
It’s very visible. IT industry middle management phase is boring, fairly long phase..there is a strong ecosystem especially in Bangalore.
Is it an issue coming from a pure professional background?
It’s actually a big strength not to come from a business background. We are more into lifestyle and service. Also the book trade has people from family businesses, they find it refreshing to talk to people like us.
Tell me about your family.
Meenakshi, my wife, she is an integral part of this whole thing. We met at iFlex, she still continues there, we chose that one of us spends energy in this. I was comfortable stepping out of the system. When it was just an interest, whole family was extremely supportive, but I talked about switching to full time, there were mixed reactions. People were not sure. There were no serious objections, but they felt, why so much energy on a library chain. But they could connect to the idea of books (we were a reading family).
What do you yourself read?
I read more of non-fiction, little bit of many things. Currently reading Business at the speed of thought by Bill Gates. I read Malcolm Gladwell, Ramachandra Guha and so on.
What are your challenges now?
Expectations will run ahead of our capabilities, that is going to be our main challenge in the next year. A year back, even when we were sloppier, they would say nice things. Now they come with a certain expectation…we may be able to scale much slower than expectations. I am hoping people give us a little longer rope.
Tags:Just Books Store, franchise model, franchise conferences, NSRCEL, franchise branches,Library Franchise, Books Franchise, Reading Franchise, Just Books,R Sunder Rajan, Start Up Franchise.
Source:Meera K,Citizen Matters.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Rajan belongs to a new generation of entrepreneurs, who has slipped into something totally different after years of working in IT firms. Rajan spent 15 years at the IT firm IFlex, after joining them as a fresh graduate from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. The soft spoken and mild-mannered Madurai native in his late thirties says, “My father says I am the first in the family to ever handle a cash box.”
Rajan started a book library near his Whitefield home in mid 2008, since he couldn’t find a good library close to his home. So was the case for a lot of other Whitefield residents. He was surprised to see the tiny operation gain a thousand members in a couple of months.
The response prompted him to take a break from his job around the same time, and he felt he had an entrepreneurial streak; this was a creative pursuit different from his normal work. He explains, “Books looked like an easy thing to handle.”
140000 books, 60000 titles, ten branches and 10000 members, reports Rajan as he describes the growth of Just Books in a short time. One can visit the library to rent, read and return, or do the same online, with books door delivered. Just Books is positioned as a family centric, open to all library, with plans starting at Rs 150 a month, without a pay-per-book charge. They plan to focus primarily on books without getting diverted into coffee shops and movie rentals.
Rajan’s vision is that every neighbourhood has a Just Books store, and the book base is large enough so that every reader finds his or her book, and every book finds its reader. I talked to Rajan for a little over an hour about his journey.
What is innovative about Just Books?
It’s (mainly) the packaging. We had picked up retail industry concepts, like good ambience, good flooring, false ceiling, throwing technology – RFID, self service, and kept the library functioning at the core: take books, read and return and pick up.
How did the firm grow?
I took a break from work, spent a few months at the library, lot of people asked if I can do something like this in their neighborhoods. Why are you only here (in Whitefield), can you do something in Indiranagar? Essentially (it was) leading to franchises, so I read up on franchise model…didn’t want to go against natural momentum.
At one of the Franchise conferences, I bumped into a team from NSRCEL. So I went and gave them a presentation. We formally got incubated in May 2009 (NSRCEL supports startups with incubation facilities and mentoring help. Just Books got incubated there and NSRCEL helped Rajan firm up the franchise model. The JP Nagar branch opened early 2009, followed by many other franchise branches over the months. Just Books now has 30 employees in all, divided into the retail, technology and books teams.)
At the same time (January 2009), I though it’s good to experiment and look at another branch. I looked at JP Nagar and consciously looked at a different kind of neighborhood such as more traditional ones to find out if there are still takers for a library. Then the outline fell into place
Instead of one big library, there should be lots of small libraries, and connect them and let people know they could walk into any library.
How did you hire people?
We initially looked at people with library science background, but they were looking for corporates/schools and couldn’t connect to this. Most of them wanted to work from 9am-6pm. Most of them wanted to join IT companies and handle the libraries there. We ended up drifting to guys with retail industry background. They were quite okay with spending long hours, shifts, working Saturday and Sundays.
How do the staff connect with the readers?
We had a book centric approach, but since the people came from retail industry background, they could engage with the customers.
I thought I could use technology, to bridge the gap to provide book related interaction. I think there is still a missing connection, sometimes when a reader asks for a book, (the staff) don’t the know spelling of a popular writer.
But many of them (BA, BCom graduates) see it as a good career opportunity to learn, they are those who never got an opportunity.
How do you find the reading population of the various neighbourhoods?
The crowd in each area is unique; there is a lot of peer pressure in choosing a book. Whitefield community read a lot American authors such as Junie B Jones, Judy Blumes, whereas in places like Jayanagar, Amar Chitra Kathas are still popular. We try not be judgmental, all books are available in all branches. Enid Blytons and Hardy Boys are still popular, there are takers.
People take offence if you don’t have good Kannada collection in Jayanagar. JP Nagar has more of a mixed crowd, not so traditional.
What about regional language books?
Regional language books have their own takers if the right collection is available. They don’t want to read the old classics again and again. But there is a supply side bottleneck. There aren’t enough books getting published. I want to have a million books to meet the need of Bangalore’s reading population.
So what kind of books do you stock?
The regular popular books and we also have literary panels which recommend specific books.
How do you ensure every book finds its reader?
We have our reader base. We also ask publishers to send their samples to Just Books.
What’s your take on public libraries?
A library is considered a civic amenity for public good. Public libraries are book centric institutions where all kinds of books are available. But it is a volume game; it’s a challenge for a purely government run organisation to cater (to a large reading population like ours).
Do you think there is a trend of those moving out of IT?
It’s very visible. IT industry middle management phase is boring, fairly long phase..there is a strong ecosystem especially in Bangalore.
Is it an issue coming from a pure professional background?
It’s actually a big strength not to come from a business background. We are more into lifestyle and service. Also the book trade has people from family businesses, they find it refreshing to talk to people like us.
Tell me about your family.
Meenakshi, my wife, she is an integral part of this whole thing. We met at iFlex, she still continues there, we chose that one of us spends energy in this. I was comfortable stepping out of the system. When it was just an interest, whole family was extremely supportive, but I talked about switching to full time, there were mixed reactions. People were not sure. There were no serious objections, but they felt, why so much energy on a library chain. But they could connect to the idea of books (we were a reading family).
What do you yourself read?
I read more of non-fiction, little bit of many things. Currently reading Business at the speed of thought by Bill Gates. I read Malcolm Gladwell, Ramachandra Guha and so on.
What are your challenges now?
Expectations will run ahead of our capabilities, that is going to be our main challenge in the next year. A year back, even when we were sloppier, they would say nice things. Now they come with a certain expectation…we may be able to scale much slower than expectations. I am hoping people give us a little longer rope.
Tags:Just Books Store, franchise model, franchise conferences, NSRCEL, franchise branches,Library Franchise, Books Franchise, Reading Franchise, Just Books,R Sunder Rajan, Start Up Franchise.
Source:Meera K,Citizen Matters.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)