Profiles of retailers

Pantaloon Retail India) Limited, has presence across multiple lines of businesses. The company owns and manages multiple retail formats that cater to a wide cross-section of the Indian society and is able to capture almost the entire consumption basket of the Indian consumer. Headquartered in Mumbai (Bombay), the company operates through 4 million square feet of retail space, has over 140 stores across 32 cities in India and employs over 14,000 people. The company registered a turnover of Rs 2019 crore for FY 2005-06.

Flagged off in April’02, Food Bazaar is a chain of large supermarkets with a presence in 25 cities and around 70 outlets. Food Bazaar has won Images Retail Award for “Best Food and Grocery Store” in 2006 and “Retailer of the Year” award in food and grocery for 2004 and 2005. In the financial year 2006-07, the company plan to add nearly 100 Food Bazaar outlets.

Food Bazzar offers best quality products at wholesale price. Most stores are located within Big Bazaar, Central and Pantaloons and act as strong footfall generators. There are separate stand-alone Food Bazaars as well. The business contributed just fewer than 50 per cent of value retailing, and about 20 per cent to the company’s turnover during 2005-06.

Food Bazaar offers a variety of daily consumption items, which include staples, soaps and detergents, oils, cereals and biscuits. On the product category side, the primary segregation is done on the basis of staples, fresh produce, branded foods and home and personal care products. Food Bazaar talks to the housewives of India and constantly learns from them and it is at the forefront of changing preferences.

The year saw Food Bazaar seeking alliances with the growers and millers in select rural areas, thereby facilitating a more direct channel between the centers of production and the areas of consumption. This has resulted in procurement of fresher produce at lower prices.

The western values of convenience, cleanliness and hygiene are offered through pre packed commodities and the Indian values of "See-Touch-Feel" are offered through the “bazaar-like” atmosphere created by displaying staples out in the open, all at very economical and affordable prices without any compromise on quality.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap

R2. Subhiksha

Subhiksha (the Sanskrit word for prosperity) is a Chennai-based leading retailer in south India with turnover of INR 330 crore (INR 3.30 billion).It started operations in March 1997 and from the research of three months, they found that consumers prefer buying groceries from closer home. So, they decided to set up 1,000 sq ft shops all across the city and not a 10,000 sq ft big store at one location in Chennai. Today it is among India’s biggest grocery and pharmacy discount retail chain with more than 500 discount stores. Its business model is focused on ensuring that the customers can procure daily needs near the home at reduced prices. It has a centralized purchasing system and purchases directly from distributors who sell at only a small margin above the mill prices and from 150 odd manufactures. Its mantra: small stores, low investment, large-scale of operations. Luxuries like air-conditioning are abjured, and average store sizes never exceed 1,500 sq ft which sounds like the neighborhood kirana. Its advantage is focus on foods and grocery (which constitute 85 per cent of his sales) where convenience is key. It’s counting on a combination of scale, no-frills and small retail size with a dependence on one category of goods to take the edge off the global challenge, should Wal-Mart come up in the neighborhood some time soon.

It has announced an Rs300-crore investment to support its huge rollout plans on a national scale. The company will soon begin operations in Delhi, Maharashtra & Gujarat in the West and Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka in the South. By end of 2007, Subhiksha plans to operate around 1000 stores across India and double its turnover.

Subhiksha is tweaking its model to align itself to global discount models .It is now tying up with vendors to create products ranging from toilet cleaners to noodles.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Flour	Good	Excellent	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Yogurt	Excellent	Average	Cheap

R3. Margin Free – The franchise model discount chain

The Margin Free Market is a co-operative venture of the Consumer Protection & Guidance Society registered as cooperative society in 1993 in Trivandrum, Kerala and entered the supermarket business in 1994. Today, it has emerged as India's leading super market chain with 150 stores and a turnover of INR 450 crores.

Margin Free purchases directly from manufactures at ex- factory price and sells at lower prices than the MRP, as it eliminates the margin accrued in the traditional manufacturer-stockiest-wholesaler-retailer network. Margin Free has a consumer base of 6 lakhs and it sells them consumer cards at INR 40 per year. Customers who buy this card get discounts on bulk purchases and also government subsidized products like INR 2 per kg rice.

Margin Free takes extreme care while pricing the products through all its stores. It has employed software, which evaluates the price by minimizing profits. Every store is computerized and utilizes the software to determine the pricing. This helps in ensuring that the products are rationally priced. Provisions, toiletries, gift articles, kitchenware, plastic goods, fans, mixers etc. are being sold at reduced rates varying from 1 to 40% less than the maximum retail price fixed by the companies.

Margin Free uses its customer base as a bargaining power to strike discount deals. Any dealer who wants to set up a Margin Free store has to buy at least rupees one lakh worth of share of the main Margin holding company. This is however a small price to pay, as he is assured of a viable business and large discounts on purchases. Margin Free also gets an average credit of 20-22 days from suppliers, which it sells, on an average of 10 days thereby even earning a notional interest on its sales also. Its strategy has made it flush with funds which can further expansion.

Margin Free has found exceptional success in its scalable franchised model. It is now looking to upgrade to a central warehouse concept, which will help it manage growth further.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Good	Cheap
Flour	Good	Good	Cheap
Fish	Good	Good	Very Cheap
Yogurt	Good	Good	Cheap

R4. Sabka Bazaar - Your Neighborhood store

Sabka Bazaar is a Delhi-based supermarket chain, currently operating 25 stores all across the National Capital Region (NCR). Located near the customer, Sabka Bazaar provides convenience of shopping to the customer. This experience is enriched with a clean, attractive ambience displaying a wide range of products. Plus, competitive prices & promotions only make it better.
According to A. C. Nielsen, Sabka Bazaar holds 40% market share of the modern format trade in NCR (October 2004). They sale a variety of products like staples & grocery, processes foods, beverages, cleaning aids, health & beauty and noon-food home utility items.

In 2001, Home Stores India) Limited ventured into the highly competitive and voluminous supermarket business. Two stores were launched in September 2001. Commencing 2002, HSIL started its expansion with a rapid pace. Today it has grown to be one of the largest retail chains in supermarkets.
Its core competence lies in a super buying power and hence transferring the benefits onto the consumers in terms of competitively priced merchandise and various promotional offers; a distribution setup to deliver all stores with the right product, at the right time, at the right price; whole new experience of shopping. The customers at Sabka Bazaar enjoy a comfortable, self-service, hygienic and convenient environment; and, unlike bigger retail formats like hypermarkets, Sabka Bazaar is conveniently placed near its customers hence preventing them from traveling long distances.

It has two franchise models
Sabka Bazaar and Sabka Bazaar Mini. For sabka Bazaar store area is1000-3000 sq. ft. whereas for Sabka Bazaar Mini area required is 300-1000 sq.ft. The target cities are National Capital Region or Master Franchise for Punjab, Haryana, West UP & Rajasthan; and store location is near residential colonies/shopping centers/high streets/malls/ high footfall areas

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Good	Good	Cheap
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Yogurt	Good	Excellent	Cheap

R5. Nilgiris

Nilgiris(which in Hindi means Blue Mountain is a mountain range in South India)is the oldest supermarket chain in India with origins dating back to 1905 and is very popular among the South India locals for its good quality products and self-service shopping experience. It has 40 stores and a turnover of INR 125 crores. It operates on a franchise model and its franchise network has a strong foothold in South India

All of its products (which include dairy and dairy products, bakery, chocolates and variety of other local foods and snacks) are sold under the brand name of "Nilgiris 1905". Also, unlike almost all other supermarkets and grocery shops in India, Nilgiris sells its own products among other brands.
In September/October 2006, Actis, a UK-based private equity investor, invested US$65 million in the Nilgiris Group in order to strengthen the group's manufacturing and franchising operations in South India. This investment has given Actis a controlling interest (more than 51% stake) in the Nilgiris group.

The new management team of Nilgiris, headed by Managing Director Mr N.C. Venugopal and Chairman Mr Raja Chellayan, has drawn up a plan entailing Rs 120 crore of investments to increase its store network strength to 500 from the present 40 stores by 2010. Nilgiris' expansion plan for the next three years will be confined to Southern India where its strengths and brand recognition are high. Nilgiris is in the process of setting up and enhancing its distribution and satellite centres in the four southern states.

The chain, while undertaking direct distribution of its milk and dairy products, is also looking to increase the presence of its Nilgiris brand of bakery and dairy products in other stores, apart from being retailed through the Nilgiris chain.

Nilgiris will make a series of changes in its business approach by increasing the pace of roll out of franchise stores, improve customer service and create a strong supply chain to make its product range widely available

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Average	Average
Flour	Excellent	Average	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R6. FoodWorld

FoodWorld was started in May 1996 as a division of Spencer & Co, a part of the RPG Group. The first store was opened on May 9, 1996, on Ramaswamy Road in a predominantly upper-middle-income residential area of Madras where over 8,000 target households were within a two-kilometer radius.

In August 1999, RPG spun off its FW division and entered into a joint venture with Dairy Farm International (DFI) of the Jardine Matheson Group to form FoodWorld Supermarkets Ltd. (FSL). DFI obtained a 49 percent stake in this by making an initial investment of $ 6 million before the rules prohibiting foreign direct investment in retail came into place in 2000-01. RPG held the remaining 51 percent stake in the company. In addition, DFI also obtained a 49 percent stake in RPG Guardian Ltd., which owned the Health and Glow stores

FoodWorld has become one of India’s largest and fastest growing supermarket chain. Today, over 89 stores offer customers a variety of brands at a very reasonable price. Food World aims at establishing 100 stores all over Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra by mid-2004 with a turnover of Rs.500 crores.

Both groups had signed an MoU to expand in retail together. However, according to sources in the RPG group, this MoU expired, and the FDI rules were also in place so DFI could not invest further. DFI and RPG departed ways in May 2005 and FoodWorld is now as a brand with DFI. Though the company is ten years old, it isn't making profits as yet. As a Fitch Ratings report on retail points out, FSL has been reporting losses at the net level over the past four years, largely due to low gross margins, high overheads and interest costs. However, Pillai insists that all FoodWorld stores are profitable today as standalone entities and since last year the company has been making profits at the operating level.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Average	Cheap
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Fish	Average	Average	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap

R7. Spencers’ Retail

Spencers Retail is a part of Rs 11,000 crore RPG Entreprises one of the largest Indian conglomerates comprises of more than 20 companies spanning across 7 business sectors - Retail, Technology, Entertainment, Power, Transmission, Tyres and Specialities.

Since 1895, the name Spencer’s has been a household name for the Indian consumer. When RPG retail took over Spencer’s, they pioneered the retail revolution in India, with the concept of specialty stores like FoodWorld, Health and Glow and Music World.

RPG Foodworld has started to rebrand its share of stores as "Spencers Daily” .After parting ways with Dairy Farm International in September 2005, Spencer’s store count has nearly doubled from 52 to 125 today. It has eight hypermarkets in the country and it is averaging in the range of Rs 3-6 crore per month in sales from its hypermarkets.(07/03/2007)

Spencer’s retail is one of the largest supermarket chains in India. They offer a complete range of products & durables, from bread to bed cover; from toothpaste to even television sets. Today Spencer’s offers its customers a customized and convenient shopping experience in 5 different formats. Each format, namely the Spencer’s Express, Spencer’s Fresh, Spencer’s Daily, Spencer’s Super and Spencer’s Hyper is differently sized and caters to the various needs of consumers. Spencer’s offer a pleasant and delightful shopping experience by ensuring convenient store locations, trusted quality, great value for money and a wide array of products. . Spencer’s is the shopping choice 2.8 millions across the country, who frequent the stores every month.

RPG group is on major retail expansion. It plans to increase the number of stores five-fold from 400 stores to 2,000 by 2009 and 4,000 by 2011. For this purpose, the company is planning to invest Rs 1,000 till 2009 and Rs 1,500 crore thereafter. Spencer’s Retail is looking for foreign retail partners for foraying into luxury retail as well as strengthening its presence in consumer electronics

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Good	Good	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Good	Good	Average

R8. Apna Bazaar

Apna Bazaar supermarket chain (in Hindi means “Our Bazaar”) is an initiative of a non-profit and charitable trust – Consumer Awareness & Research Society (Trust), better known as CARS in 1993. It is one of the biggest chains of supermarkets in India operating with more than 500 outlets throughout the Andhra Pradesh state, selling more than 6,000 essential commodities. It is with a customer base of over 20 lakh, plans to cater to an upwardly mobile urban population – a first for the 55-year-old chain that has mostly been identified with the ‘middle class’.

They want to get rid of all middle men involved in order to gain the crucial margin advantage. Towards this end, they are going to reach out to the farmers creating an exclusive supply chain that will stretch right from the farmer to our stores. The main reason behind the same is to set up a single and biggest distribution outlet in the nation catering to the need of the retailing community as well.

The aim to go global and the same has been taken considering the enormous leverage and power of NRI’s all over the world.They have attracted the attention of ETA (European Telugu Association) which has assured them its support in setting up APNA BAZAAR outlets in their places.

The plans include trimming and training the workforce, opening new outlets and focusing on the FMCG sector. Now, the cooperative has 80 outlets in Mumbai, Thane and the neighboring Konkan region. It has recently opened its first shop outside the state in Goa. The revenue target for 2003-04 is Rs 150 crore. The chain plans to remain open all days of the week and this itself is expected to fetch about Rs 10 crore a year.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Good	Good	Cheap
Flour	Good	Average	Cheap
Fish	Excellent	Good	Cheap
Yogurt	Excellent	Good	Cheap

R9. Trinethra

Trinethra Super Market Limited, Hyderabad is a multiple outlet retail store network founded in 1986, operating in the twin cities of Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Vizag, Vijayawada and some more cities of AP a . It is in the business of retailing mainly edible / FMCG products. Started as a partnership in 1986, the firm was reconstituted into a Private Limited Company (1990) and subsequently converted into a Public Limited Company in 1998 under the name Trinethra Super Market Limited. On April 16, 2003 the name of the company has been changed to Trinethra SuperRetail Limited. In Dec 2004 it acquired Fabmall India Pvt Ltd, a grocery retail chain of Bangalore. The company is acquired by Aditya Birla Retail in Jan 2007.

It has over 100 food and grocery retail stores in south India. Trinethra recorded a turnover of Rs. 1.7 billion and has 83 stores in Andhra Pradesh, 26 in Bangalore, where it operates under the Fabmall name, and 15 in Chennai. A few new stores are also coming up in Kerala and other smaller Tier II cities in south India.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Good	Average
Flour	Good	Average	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Good	Good	Average

R10. FieldFresh Foods (P) Ltd

FieldFresh Foods (P) Ltd was incorporated in the Year 2004, with a vision to Link Indian Fields to the World, by making India a global food basket. FieldFresh Foods (P) Ltd is an equal partnership venture between Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business and insurance and ELRo Holdings India Ltd, an investment company of the Rothschild family, formed by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild & Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild.

Thanks to the diverse climatic and soil conditions, FieldFresh has an exotic range of premium quality fresh fruits and vegetables to offer to the markets worldwide. The product range includes both exotic and ethnic varieties.

In order to maintain high quality levels and food safety standards, FieldFresh has partnered with SGS, a world leader in quality control. All FieldFresh farms are HACCP, EurepGap, BRC and AVA accredited.

FieldFresh has partnered with growers across the country. With over 5000 acres of land already under cultivation, FieldFresh is aiming to double the acreage by exit March’07.

FieldFresh through its robust international collaborations is building a strong marketing network for year round & timely delivery of produce. The initial focus is on the distribution of fresh fruits & vegetables in European Union, Eastern Europe, South East Asia, Middle East & the CIS Countries.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Pricey

R11. Reliance Retail

“Growth through Value Creation”

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Group's annual revenues are in excess of USD 22 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company in India.

Reliance Retail is gearing up to revolutionize the retailing industry in India with a retail initiative without a parallel in size and spread. The company has a Rs. 25,000-crore ($5.60 billion) retail plan. The company would have a pan-India footprint with multiple formats covering 1,500 cities and towns and embracing all strata of the society. Reliance Retail would build a business that would focus on "competitive offerings'' to Indian consumers across several verticals: Integrated food and grocery, items of daily household consumption, apparels and footwear, electronic goods, lifestyle products and services, home essentials and improvements, farm implements and inputs, distribution of energy products and services, distribution of travel and financial services, entertainment and leisure experiences, health and well-being products and services and educational products and services.

Reliance Fresh started operations by opening new retail stores at Hyderabad in Nov 2006. The 'Reliance Fresh' store would have an average space of 2,300 sq. ft and will sell only food items like Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy products, Grains and Processed Food.

Reliance expects to take its retail formats to 784 cities and towns, besides over 6,000 rural 'mandi' towns by 2010,
with over 100 million square feet of retail space. The roll-out of Reliance Fresh would be followed by other formats -- a nation-wide chain of hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores, department stores, convenience stores and specialty stores at an investment of more than Rs 25,000 crore in (Rs 250 billion) the next five years.

Having already created the supply chain, the company would ultimately look at supplying to small time kirana shops and push cart sellers by setting up a separate structure to cater to this segment

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Cheap
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R12. Bharti Retail (Pvt.) Limited

Bharti Retail (Pvt.) Limited will invest US $ 2 to 2.5 billion by 2015 and open multi-format retail outlets across all cities in India with a population of over one million. It is looking at approximately 10 million square feet of retail experience

Bharti Retail will launch its retail outlets in multiple consumer friendly formats, which will include Hypermarkets and Supermarkets. For the small store format, Bharti Retail is also looking at partnering with existing local store owners across India through a franchise model. Bharti Retail proposes to serve all regular shopping requirements of an average Indian household. This will include all food and grocery categories, fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry, dairy products, staples, FMCG and processed foods, electronics and appliances, clothing and footwear, furniture and furnishing, and other household articles.

In addition to providing choice and quality to consumers at affordable prices, the efficient supply chain management and ‘on time’ availability of goods will help fight inflation. Bharti’s retail chain will provide ready outlets to the relatively ‘unknown’ brands of small manufacturers, which are sold as private labels. A significant percentage of the overall volumes are expected to be sourced from the small-scale sector.

Bharti- Wal Mart Colloboration: In November 2006, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (Wal-Mart), the world's largest retailer, and Bharti Enterprises Ltd. (Bharti), a leading business group in India, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore business opportunities in the Indian retail industry. This joint venture marked the entry of Wal-Mart into the Indian retailing industry.

The joint venture with equal stakes will operate in areas where the government allows foreign investment in retail like cash-and-carry and logistics. The retail shops will be owned by Bharti Enterprises under the Wal-Mart franchise. The idea is to give Indians the lowest price everyday. They expect to commence operations in August-September 2007. Wal-Mart stores in India might not carry the famous ‘Wal-Mart’ name since Bharti Enterprises will be taking care of the front end retail operations and Wal-Mart focusing on back-end operations such as logistics and supply chain. Bharti has been conducting consumer research and weighing its options on finalizing a brand name.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R13. ITC Choupal Fresh

ITC is one of India's foremost private sector companies with a market capitalisation of over US $ 13 billion and a turnover of US $ 3.5 billion. ITC has a diversified presence in Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Greeting Cards, Safety Matches and other FMCG products.

The company forayed into retail with its first Choupal Saagar for villagers near Sehore in Madhya Pradesh in August 2004. First ITC Choupal Fresh was opened in Hyderabad. Currently, the company runs three stores in Chandigarh, Pune and Hyderabad with 11 different places feeding the stores. The fourth store would come up in Kolkata. ITC is planning a mega rollout of Choupal Fresh, its fresh food retail chain, in urban India by leveraging its extensive backward linkages with farmers and supply chain efficiencies.
ITC plans to open in 54 Indian cities over the next three years. That's an investment of Rs800 crore.

Unlike other major players, the ITC format consists of both the wholesale and retail formats. The stores are open between 4-7 a.m. for wholesale sales and then for retail sales. The effort for Choupal Fresh is backed up by the work ITC do on the farm front. The end-to-end effort includes focus on demos, crop calendar, enhancing farm productivity and cold-chain support wherever needed. The focus is on an integrated approach.

As it expands to other cities, ITC, which pioneered in engaging with farmers directly by offering a host of services to them, would scale up its engagement with farmers and streamline the supply chain mechanism to make them feeders for the stores. While the feeder villages around the towns attend to the product requirements of the stores during the season, the company also developed some back-up feeders for the off-season requirements.

ITC has designed the supply chain in collaboration with Ingersoll Rand and Mitsubish's Snowman. Ingersoll Rand has designed the climate-control shelves, the freezer trucks in which farmers send produce, the pre-coolers, and Snowman manages the logistics of the produce. We have apples from Kashmir and potatoes from Hassan. The store stocks only fresh fruit and vegetable, sourced directly from farmers. And it expects the organised retail market for fresh produce will touch Rs5,000 crore in the next three years. That coincides with the culmination of its expansion

The international business wing of the agri business division is already exporting fresh and processed fruits and vegetables for the last few years and is targeting doubling its revenues from this line next year from Rs 50 crore in 2005-06.

The company had approached the officials of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, seeking permission for grounding 300 pushcarts in Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R14. Carrefour

THE 86-billion-euro French retail giant, Carrefour, the second largest in the world after Wal-Mart, has postponed its entry into India. Carrefour, which runs over 9,600 stores including hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores and cash-and-carry trading operations across the world, is pulling back its officials who were posted in New Delhi to chart its business plans in the country.

"We have postponed our plans for India. It is an important market and we hope to revisit it at a later date. We don't want to comment further," Mr Jean Chritophe Goarin, an official who spearheaded Carrefour's retail plans, said. Mr Goarin is expected to shift back from India by this month-end.

Informed sources said Carrefour's decision was influenced by lack of clarity and direction on foreign direct investment in various formats of trading, including retailing. Also, the problems faced by German retailer Metro AG, which received approval to undertake cash-and-carry operations, and the South African retailer Shoprite that entered through franchisee route with Nirmal Lifestyle in Mumbai, has added confusion to the role of foreign investment in the domestic trading sector.

Carrefour, which had appointed a retail management company to study the market, also looked at the franchisee route for retailing but found out that there are too many complexities involved in setting up the shop through that channel.

"As the investment is huge, it was necessary to be in direct control of the operations," sources added.

The company's decision comes at a time when the Union Government's approval to Metro AG for 100 per cent FDI in wholesale cash-and-carry operations has come under attack from the old guard of the Indian trading sector, which accuses the German company for using cash-and-carry as a cover to indulge in direct retailing to the consumer.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R15. METRO Cash & Carry India Pvt. Ltd

METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the world's important retail companies. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, the METRO Group is one of the largest stock market listed companies in Germany. The group, which generated a turnover of 55.7 billion euros in 2005 employs more than 250,000 people in 30 countries.

METRO Cash & Carry India Pvt. Ltd. entred India in October 2003.First two stores at Banglore in Nov 2003 and third at Hyderbad in Nov 2006.It is slated to open its fourth centre in Kolkata in June 2007. It plans to open more such centres across India. Investnment made in India is Rs 330 Crores with selling space of 6500square meters. Food articles in assortment 8,000 and non-food articles 10,000.Share of local products 98%.

METRO’s Cash & Carry Distribution Centres bring together small, medium and large sized producers, farmers, agricultural cooperatives and manufacturers with the dispersed community of traders, retailers and small to medium business enterprises under one roof. Globally, this model has proved beneficial to small – scale and medium retailers who are able to source high quality products from a one stop location in the quantities they need at the time they require. By bringing the two ends of the supply chain together METRO also ensures that its business customers are able to get their merchandise at the best prices possible thereby making them more competitive in the market place.

Interestingly, it first studied the Indian market in 1995 but decided to stay out after concluding that the market wasn't ready. Metro managing director Harsh Bahadur says: "In 1995, we found India did not have the variety of products or business customers to sustain the supply chain we would set up." In 1999, Metro did another study. By then things had changed. A wider range of products and many more customers were available. Also, real estate costs had come down. The survey aided decision making, says Bahadur, adding that any market which is very fragmented - among buyers and sellers - is usually ripe for the picking.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R16. Trent

The Tata Group is one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates, with revenues in 2005-06 of $21.9 billion (Rs 967,229 million), the equivalent of about 2.8 per cent of the country's GDP, and a market capitalisation of $55.7 billion. The Tata Group comprises 96 operating companies in seven business sectors: information systems and communications; engineering; materials; services; energy; consumer products; and chemicals. The Tata Group has operations in more than 54 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 120 nations.

Established in 1998, Trent operates some of the nation's largest and fastest growing retail store chains. A beginning was made in 1998 with Westside, a lifestyle retail chain, which was followed up in 2004 with Star India Bazaar, a hypermarket with a large assortment of products at the lowest prices. In 2005, it acquired Landmark, India's largest book and music retailer.In a recently signed deal, Trent has agreed to anchor 12 malls set up by DLF Universal Ltd across the country, at its Westside, Landmark and Star India Bazaar outlets. This amounts to about 27 locations, totalling to about a million square feet of space.

Trent retails garments and household accessories for men, women and children, cosmetics and perfumes at Westside, food, beverages, health and beauty products, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, consumer electronics and household items at Star India Bazaar and books, music and stationery at Landmark.

Launched in 2004, Star India Bazaar a hypermarket provides a large assortment of high quality products made available at the lowest prices coupled with a unique shopping experience. Star India Bazaar is located in Ahmedabad and offers a wide choice of staple food, beverages, health and beauty products, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, consumer electronics and household items at the most affordable prices. Its motto is 'Chota Budget, Lambi Shopping'.

Creating a brand for the products is another step to adding value to them. They have followed a three-pronged approach.Where the input is limited to packaging — with rice, sugar, etc — products sell under the Star India Bazaar name. Within this, the better quality is called ‘select’. The starting price-quality product is called ‘popular’.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Good	Excellent	Cheap
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

R17. TESCO

Tesco plc is a UK based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. It is the largest British retailer by both global sales and domestic market share, is the world's third-largest grocery retailer and is the fourth-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart, Carrefour and The Home Depot.

Originally specializing in food, it has diversified into areas such as clothes, consumer electronics, consumer financial services, selling and renting DVDs, compact discs, and music downloads, internet services, consumer telecoms and most recently budget software.

Tesco seeks partner to target India's £150bn stores sector. Tesco has begun talks with a series of prospective partners in India, including the conglomerate Tata Sons, as it seeks a way of breaking into the country's £150bn-a-year retail sector.

Britain's biggest retailer is pressing ahead with plans to form a joint venture in India following the breakdown of talks with Bharti, the group which recently decided to pursue a deal with Wal-Mart. Tesco is understood to be holding discussions with a number of Indian groups and it was not clear last night what stage its conversations with Tata had reached.

"We are interested in India and are researching the market," said a Tesco spokesman. He declined to comment on specific talks.

Tata Sons is part of the Tata Group, the Indian conglomerate chaired by Ratan Tata who recently pulled off India's largest foreign deal with the £6.7bn acquisition of steel group Corus.

Tesco, like other non-domestic retailers, is not allowed to operate stores in India unless they sell only one brand of goods. Recent indications that the Indian government is planning to relax foreign investment restrictions in the sector have led to an outcry among small retailers that they will be put out of business. Politicians, including the high-profile Sonia Gandhi, leader of the opposition, have also voiced their concern about a potential influx of international chains.

Executives from Wal-Mart faced protests this week as they met with counterparts from Bharti to thrash out the terms of their proposed deal. The anticipated format of the joint venture will see the Wal-Mart name used by Bharti on a franchise basis, with the US company providing back-office services and expertise.

The rapidly-growing affluent middle class - up to a third of India's 1.1bn population - is expected to double retail spending by 2015, according to consultants Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Product Type	Product Quality	Workflow Quality	Pricing
Juice	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Flour	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Fish	Excellent	Excellent	Average
Yogurt	Excellent	Excellent	Average

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Battleground India

Battleground India: Profiles of Food Retailers

R1. Food Bazzar