Reliance Brands signed an agreement with UK-based Pret A Manger, a sandwich and coffee chain

 

Reliance Brands announced a strategic partnership with global fresh food & organic coffee chain to launch and build the brand in India.

Reliance Brands Ltd will bring the UK-based fresh food and organic coffee chain Pret A Manger to India, marking a foray into food & beverage retail space.

Pano Christou, CEO, Pret A Manger said: “Two decades ago, we opened Pret’s first shop in Asia and it’s been an inspiration for all of us to bring our freshly made food and 100% organic coffee to new cities across the continent. We’re looking forward to working with them on what is our most ambitious global franchise partnership to date.

With this long-term master franchise partnership, RBL will open the food chain across the country starting with major cities and travel hubs.

Pret A Manger, French for ‘ready to eat', first opened in London in 1986. Over 35 years later, the brand currently has 550 shops globally across 9 markets including the UK, US, Europe, and Asia, offering organic coffee, sandwiches, salads and wraps freshly made each day.

“Our partnership with Pret is rooted in the strong growth potential of both Pret as a brand as also of the food & beverage industry in India. RBL closely follows the pulse of Indian consumers and there is an increased consciousness of what we eat – rapidly making Food the new Fashion. Indians, like their global counterparts, are seeking Fresh and Organic ingredient-led dining experiences which has been synonymous with Pret’s core offering. Couple that with the high recall the brand enjoys in the country, it’s undoubtedly a recipe for success.”.

As India’s largest luxury to premium retailer, RBL has over 14 years nurtured and grown global brands in the country. RBL’s portfolio comprises Armani Exchange, Bally, Bottega Veneta, Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Canali, Coach, Diesel, Dune, Emporio Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, G-Star Raw, Gas, Giorgio Armani, Hamleys, Hugo Boss, Hunkemoller, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade New York, Manish Malhotra, Michael Kors, Mothercare and Muji.

Bebe an American women fashion brand enters India, Myntra gets the master distribution rights.

 

The San Francisco-based fashion marquee brand will cater to the mass premium segment and is set to offer an extensive range of apparel across categories for women in India, particularly targeting the urban and fashion forward group, spread across the country's metros and tier 1 cities.

As part of the licensing agreement, Myntra will assist bebe with wholesale distribution through a network of independent third-party franchise partners and distributors.

 

Flipkart group firm Myntra Jabong has been granted the master distribution and management rights for US-based women's fashion brand 'bebe', according to a statement.

''This association will eventually help bebe to establish a customer base in India,'' said Manohar Kamath, CXO and Chief - House of Brands, Flipkart Group.

Reliance Retail to launch 7-Eleven stores in India

Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), the country’s largest retailer with over 12,800 active stores, is all set to enter the fast-growing convenience store segment after it struck a crucial franchisee deal with American major 7-Eleven, Inc (SEI).

Days after 7-Eleven’s franchise deal with Future Retail (FRL) fell through, RRVL grabbed the master franchisee for the Dallas-based convenience brand for the India market, paving the way for its foray into the space.

RRVL has already formed a wholly-owned subsidiary - 7-India Convenience Retail - and will be inaugurating the first 7-Eleven store at Mumbai’s Andheri East on Saturday.

According to sources, in line with the emerging trend in the country, the upcoming stores will be larger (at 200 square feet) than the convenience stores usually found at gas stations. With its initial plan to launch back-to-back stores in the Greater Mumbai region, RRVL has the blueprint ready to rapidly expand into other crucial markets, like the National Capital Region (NCR) and Bengaluru, among others.

Isha Ambani, director, RRVL, said in a statement, “At Reliance, we pride ourselves in offering the best to our customers and we are proud to bring 7-Eleven, the globally trusted convenience store, to India. 7-Eleven is among the most iconic global brands in the convenience retail landscape. The new pathways we build together with SEI will offer Indian customers greater convenience and choices within their own neighbourhoods.”

With this deal, 7-Eleven is the latest addition to RRVL’s dozen-odd retail chain brands - including Reliance Fresh, Reliance Trends, and Hamleys that it had acquired in 2019.

Founded in 1927 in Dallas as a small grocery store, 7-Eleven got its current brand name in 1946, when its hours of operation were extended to 7 am and 11 pm. Since then, it has expanded to 77,000 stores, with presence in five continents and 18 countries.

The 7-Eleven stores aim to provide shoppers with a unique style of convenience, offering a range of beverages, snacks and delicacies specifically curated to appeal to local tastes, along with refill of daily essentials, having affordability and hygiene at its very core, it added. RRVL is a subsidiary of RIL and holding company of all the retail companies under the RIL Group.

Shalby launches orthopedic, joint replacement franchise in Udaipur

 

The hospital-chain inaugurated its first orthopedic & joint replacement franchise at Udaipur in Rajasthan under Shalby Orthopedic Centre of Excellence (SOCE) on 12 September 2021.

This is Shalby Hospital Ahmedabad's first orthopedic speciality franchise hospital in India. It will offer Out Patient Department (OPD) as well as In Patient Department (IPD) services to patients. It will benefit the people of Udaipur and the region in availing world-class orthopedic treatment.

Thomas Cook India enters Jammu and Varanasi market

 

Thomas Cook, a travel firm has inaugurated its first Gold Circle Partner franchise outlet in Jammu‘s Bahu Plaza with a focus to leverage the growth potential of the region it has been on an expansion spree despite the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic. Jammu‘s consumers will benefit from Thomas Cook India’s range of end-to-end travel solutions, including international and domestic holidays (group tours, personalized and luxury holidays, cruises, etc.), travel insurance and visa services.

“We have been observing strong and increasing travel appetite from Jammu and hence we are delighted to announce our first Gold Circle Partner franchise outlet in Jammu. We have selected Bahu Plaza given its prime location that provides us with a viable catchment across families, young working professionals and corporate travellers." It said.

The firm has also expanded its footprint in Uttar Pradesh with the launch of a new Gold Circle Partner franchise outlet in Varanasi at RathYatra Chauraha. This expansion augments Thomas Cook India‘s distribution and reach in Uttar Pradesh to seven consumer access centres, which includes one owned branch and six Gold Circle Partner (franchise) outlets–across Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj and Varanasi.

In its Holiday Readiness Report, Thomas Cook India highlighted two key insights: a significant 67% respondents are keen to travel in the next six months and a sizeable 84% prefer reputed brands—especially when travelling amid the threat of covid. The company said that it will continue to enter new markets leveraging the growing demand for trusted travel brands.

 

Reliance Retail is all set to Rope in Kirana Stores as Franchise Partners for Jio Mart.

 

The Mukesh Ambani-owned firm Reliance Retail will exit direct sale of packaged food, grocery and FMCG goods on its e-commerce platform JioMart by roping in kirana stores as franchise partners that will sell these products to consumers in their respective neighbourhoods. This marks a shift in strategy that differentiates it from other big online grocery platforms.

Reliance has also decided to shelve its B2B cash-and-carry store format, Reliance Market, which will be turned into fulfillment centres for B2B delivery of products to kiranas. The neighbourhood stores will place their orders online and get deliveries at their stores.

The kiranas will source goods from Reliance or elsewhere, said two senior industry executives aware of the plans. In the case of products ordered on JioMart and not in stock with the kiranas—which typically sell the 300-400 most popular items—Reliance Retail will supply them and the margins will be shared equally.

Also, Reliance will continue with the sale of perishables like fruits and vegetables from its stores or fulfilment centres.

In order to pilot this system, JioMart has signed in nearly 56,000 kiranas from 30 cities. Reliance Retail is looking at enrolling kiranas in more than 100 cities by April and will eventually implement this format wherever JioMart has operations.

Jubilant Food works is all set to bring US-based fast food chain Popeyes to India, neighbours!!

 

Food services company Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL) on Wednesday announced to introduce American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants 'Popeyes', to India.

The company announced to enter into an exclusive master franchise and development agreement with PLK APAC Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International Inc (RBI), said a joint statement.

It added that the pact has been signed "to develop, establish, own and operate" hundreds of Popeyes restaurants in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the coming years, said a joint statement.

JFL Chairman Shyam S Bhartia and Co-Chairman Hari S Bhartia said, "We are happy to announce the signing of a multi-country agreement to acquire the exclusive rights to operate and sub-license the iconic Popeyes brand in India and neighbouring countries."

He added that chicken is one of the largest and fastest-growing categories in India and is expected to grow rapidly in years to come.

Popeyes will be an exciting addition to the JFL portfolio and is expected to become one of the key drivers of growth for us in the coming years, he added.

Founded in New Orleans in 1972, Popeyes has over 45 years of history and culinary tradition.

It is one of the world's largest chicken quick service restaurants with over 3,400 restaurants in over 25 countries around the globe.

Since its acquisition by RBI, Popeyes has expanded successfully into Spain, Switzerland, China, Brazil, Sri Lanka and the Philippines in the past few years.

"Popeyes will also enter the United Kingdom and build its presence in Mexico starting in 2021, with plans to open several hundreds of restaurants across both countries," it said.

Jubilant FoodWorks, part of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, already holds the master franchise rights for two international brands Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts.

The company also launched its first homegrown brand, 'Hong's Kitchen', in Chinese cuisine segment.

Marco's Pizza plans 400 stores across India in 5 years!!

 US-based pizza chain Marco's Pizza today stepped into Indian market by opening its first outlet in Vadodara and plans to have 400 stores in the country in the next five years.

Marco's Pizza who’s Headquarter is in Ohio, currently operating 650 stores in 36 states of US, Puerto Rico and the Bahammas.

The firm has now started its first outlet unit branch in VADODARA, INDIA

The company is planning to have 400 outlet stores across the country in the upcoming five years and have planned to open 700 more stores in US in next five years

It’s a great opportunity to local entrepreneurs to grab this opportunity to be a part of one of the renowned pizza chains from USA

The company is setting its foot in India through the franchise route

"This big step from Marco's USA will not only put the company on the financial radar in USA but also influence local economy in India since the product is geared towards Indian consumer market. Also it will create lots of jobs, not to forget that all ingredients were sourced in India specially the blend of cheese was manufactured in India for the first time keeping in mind Make In India model, and has a large potential of exporting to other nation where ever Marco's Pizza grows," 

Market your business right

 Use your marketing budget wisely and be patient and persistent to see results. Here’s how

The beginning of every year offers the chance for a fresh start and the opportunity to define how we would like the next 12 months to unfold. Aside from the personal resolutions that most of us have made and are doing our best to keep, a lot of businesses also use this time of year to identify new goals they would like to achieve throughout the year.

 

What are some of the resolutions for your company in 2021?

 How exactly do you decide the correct approach to garner the results you’re looking for?

It’s easy to get caught up with the ‘hot’ trends you hear about or the specific initiatives your competitors are focused on, but at the end of the day, every brand has unique needs to fill, and thus it requires a unique marketing plan to fulfill them. 

A Great strategy

The first step of any excellent marketing plan is always a strategy. This Period of research and planning is how you can gauge what’s going to work best for your brand, and how to distribute your marketing budget.

You shouldn’t be jumping into something because you think it’s probably the right channel, because your competitors are doing it, or because it’s the most cost-effective option. A strategy outlines which channels will provide the highest  return and generate the most impactful results based on your unique value.

You’ll often hear percentages thrown around as to how much you should be spending on marketing. In reality, those numbers don’t work for most of the brands because they lack a deeper understanding  of their sales funnel. The simplest way to determine your marketing budget is to identify how much a sale is worth, or how much you’re willing to spend for a qualified lead, and base it off of that.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts, and massive wins don’t usually happen with a tight or unrealistic budget . Gone are the days of inexpensive campaigns, or getting to page one on google without efforts.

Encourage Repeat Visits

A significant portion your marketing budget should be used for tactics that help to drive repeat visitors to your website. Users coming to your site once are far less likely to convert or make a purchase than a user who is familiar with your brand because they have been to your site a few times before. As consumers, we do our research before making a purchase. If we’re looking for a running shoe for example, typically we’ll visit a few sites to look at styles, brands, or prices, before making our final decision and clicking “buy now”. As marketers, bringing visitors back to your site after they’ve visited once is essential to fostering a conversion, generating a lead, or making a sale.
When you already have captured the interest of the user, you don’t want to lose them.
Email marketing is one of the most effective approaches to generating repeat website traffic and staying top of mind with users that are slightly familiar with your brand.
Encourage audience to take a look at your products one more time, offer an exclusive  discount for your service, or share a case study that shows how your company has helped improve other businesses with the product or service you’re offering. Show your value through email, generate brand awareness, and ultimately drive users back to your website once again.
Retargeting advertisements are essential in terms of staying top of mind with your consumers and making sure that you’re not losing any traction with your users as they consume content on other websites. Once a potential customer has visited your site, you’re able to serve them with banner advertisements on other sites that they visit.

 

Persistence and Patience

Whatever channel you’re focusing on, understand that in order to see results from it, you need to allow time. Making decisions based off findings from a few weeks’ worth of campaign data won’t give you a clear picture of what is going on. Your budget must allow for each channel to take the necessary time it needs to start performing as you need it to. To exemplify the importance of time, consider a marketing tactic such as search engine optimization.

In the past , SEO was much simpler. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, While SEO doesn’t require actual dollars to secure a ranking, it does take a great deal of time and effort, which is a cost itself. However, at the end of the day, the long term results of proper SEO practices are indispensable.

Paid and organic collaboration:  Using paid and organic initiatives collaboratively is the ideal marketing mix. Simply focusing on paid digital advertising spots , or focusing  on generating  only organic website traffic won’t work well, however using both paid and earned media in tandem will provide results that are much more significant and meaningful.

Consider social media, facebook, twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram are all great resources for reaching a specific audience and providing them with engaging content. However, while they are completely necessary, organic posts alone won’t get you anywhere. You need to allocate some of your marketing Budget towards promoted posts to drive real brand awareness. You can’t completely eliminate additional social spending or you won’t produce results .

 

2021 Marketing Resolutions

For all marketers doing their best at starting best their year off right and accomplishing their 2021 resolutions, a well developed business plan with a reasonable budget, milestones, and trackable events is necessary. Take advantage of digital marketing and your ability to track all of your initiatives in realtime, measure them, and shift your resources as needed to help certain areas perform better.

You cant jump into your marketing plans blindly  and throw some money as you feel it is needed. Remember that at the end of the day persistence and patience is quintessential to any successful campaign.

Burger singh to expand its domestic and global presence

 

Burger Singh (A unit of Tipping Mr Pink Pvt Ltd) is a Gurgaon based Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain that specialises in Indian flavoured fusion burgers. Burger Singh is one of the highest selling burger brands in the country now, with 50 outlets in 10 Indian cities and 3 in the United Kingdom & 20+ Franchise outlets currently in the pipeline. It is one of the rare brands that has continued to show phenomenal growth even through the pandemic period. 

TMP also runs another brand called Bowl Hub which spans 17 outlets and is in the process of launching two more brands in the next quarter. 

 

The spread across various cities in India, tier 1 and tier 2 has been fueled by the fact that Burger Singh targets a wide audience with its good quality product, familiar Indianised palette and affordable menu prices. 

Tipping Mr Pink Pvt Ltd (TMP), the parent company of Burger Singh, prides itself on creating delivery focused brands, which can operate out of cloud kitchens, smart stores and dine in outlets. The outlets focus on business models with low rentals, low Capital Investment, low operational expenses and an early Return on Investment.

 TMP makes heavy use of technology to integrate a strong supply chain with the front end marketplace. Using the delivery aggregators (Zomato and Swiggy) and research partners like Nielson, they identify opportunity areas in the delivery business that can be fulfilled through an efficient supply chain and distributed through a large network of cloud kitchens, smart stores and dine in outlets. 

 

FADA Calls For Franchise Protection Act in India

 

With the announcement of Harley-Davidson to close its India manufacturing facility, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) called for the need for a Franchise Protection Act in the country to avert brands from abruptly closing their operations leaving their channel partners and customers in a fix.

"It goes without saying that dealers who have invested their hard-earned capital in this iconic brand are left like an abandoned baby without any compensation package."

Consequently, FADA called for a Franchise Protection Act in India.

"With every brand closing its shop in India, India's capital flow goes down the drain. With a luxury brand like Harley, setting up its dealership costs anywhere between Rs 3-4 crore and with a total of 35 dealerships, Rs 110-130 crore will go down the drain," the statement said.

"Moreover, there will be customers who will not receive glitch-free service as spares will now be in shortage thus leading to cases and harassment to dealers from their customers."

 The association pointed out that a luxury two-wheeler dealership on an average employs 50 people.

"With 35 Harley dealers, around 1,800-2,000 people at dealerships will lose their jobs," FADA said.

According to the company, it is changing the business model in India and evaluating options to continue to serve its customers.

"Harley-Davidson plans to close its manufacturing facility in Bawal and significantly reduce the size of its sales office in Gurgaon (Gurugram)," the company had said in a statement.

"The company is communicating with its customers in India and will keep them updated on future support. The Harley-Davidson dealer network will continue to serve customers through the contract term."

Burger Singh to open 40 outlets in Gujarat

Burger Singh, a brand of fusion burgers has signed a master franchise deal in Gujarat through which it will open 40 outlets in the next two years in various cities, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. 

The 40 outlets will be a mix of dine-in and take away outlets along with some strategically placed cloud kitchens. The Master Franchise will seek suitable sub-franchisees in the area, stated an official release on Friday.

“Gujarat has a vibrant food market with huge potential… There is also a massive market for vegetarian food. We are already known for our wide range of vegetarian burgers, and we are introducing some very special vegetarian products, especially for Gujarat,” said Rahul Seth, Chief of Staff, Burger Singh. The company already has 50 outlets in the country.

The Master Franchise in Gujarat has been taken up by Balaji FoodWorks, a company established by entrepreneurs Harshil Soni and Yash Patel.

 

Seekruit India’s First Recruitment Process Aggregator Platform Expands its presence

Virtual Recruitments: A New Era of a LOW TOUCH ECONOMY

With the pandemic affecting all our industries and modifying business and consumer behaviour for years to come, it is very evident that technology will play an extremely crucial roles in the survivability, sustenance, evolution and growth of businesses. All industries have to adopt Digital Transformation with utmost urgency and one of the industries most affected by this disruption is evidently the man-power driven recruitment industry. We foresee large aspects of the recruitment industry will go through partial or full automation using technology and digital platforms that will aid social distancing and reduce un-necessary human travel and human contact.

 At Seekruit, the mission is quite simple. In fact, it is not different from what all companies aspire for – to be the best at what they do. Seekruit HR Technologies Private Limited wants to establish itself among the leading providers of HR and Recruitment Services in India. The aim is to build rock-solid relationships with clients while delivering tailor made solutions and ensuring total satisfaction.

Seekruit thrive on a single-minded philosophy of “providing complete solutions to the patrons”. They provide total and transparent services to the clients so that they incur cost, which is to their benefit. This in fact forms the basis for Seekruit existence. Seekruit is focused towards providing different solution to  different hiring needs which makes them different from traditional HR service providers.

Their strength is the information and the knowledge base added to the experience of its people who are experts in the industry with a support of Technology can provide tailor made solution to cater all  recruitment needs. The company is strongly working on Data Management with a strong Big data team and use of artificial intelligence to provide strong database of right fit and certified talent. Seekruit is proud of the fact that the clients value their ability to deliver the right service for them.

There has been some initiation of using technology for recruitment however the scope of that has been very limited. In current situation, virtual recruitments are done through video calls over skype and other video calling apps which requires the hr and candidate to synchronise their availability at all time . This type of process has been challenging hence difficult to scale.

There has also been virtualisation that has tried to remove some of the stake-holders of the recruitment process like the recruiter, assessor, data team etc. and this is also not practical for a successful and scalable business model as each stake-holder has their unique proposition to the process.

Seekruit is India’s First career aggregator technology platform, which connects Corporate, i.e. who are looking forward to recruit the staff, and the candidate, i.e. who are looking out for a job.

Trek Bicycle looks to expand presence in India.

American cycling brand Trek Bicycle plans to expand its reach to around 125 cities in India by adding 20-25 retail stores each year for the next three years, a top company official said. The company, which sells premium and super premium bicycles, currently has presence in around 41 cities in the country with about 45 retail stores based on franchise format.

"In terms of expanding our presence in the country, we plan to open 20-25 stores each year with an aim to be present in 125 cities by 2022," Trek Bicycle India Country Manager Navneet Banka said. There is a huge shift in the mindset of people towards healthy lifestyle and fitness which is fuelling growth of cycling industry in the country, he added.

Besides fitness, a lot of youngsters are also taking up cycling as a sport which is also a positive sign for the industry, Banka said. The Trek range in India starts at Rs 29,000 and depending on consumer specifications and customisation, the performance bicycles can cost up to Rs 20 lakh.

The company has so far sold over 30,000 bicycles in the country and has even tied up with financial institutions for finance options to buy its products from its authorised retail stores. Trek started selling premium bicycles in India via distributors in 2007 and last year established a 100 per cent subsidiary in the country.

When asked if the company plans to set up local manufacturing in the country, Banka said that for the time being it will keep on making its products available by importing them from various countries like the US, Germany, China and Taiwan. Trek currently offers more than 30 bicycle models in the country across road, mountain, and hybrid range along with accessories, merchandise and riding gear.

As per industry estimates, the size of cycling market in India is around 16.3 million units per year currently. Trek caters to the super-premium segment which is currently around 30,000 units annually and has grown at a CAGR of 20 per cent over the past five years.

Radisson Hotels to introduce Spanish cuisine in India

Radisson Hotel Group has signed an exclusive master franchise agreement (MFA) with Tapas Club, a Singapore-based food and drink (F&D) brand, to roll out a series of stylish Spanish restaurants across its extensive portfolio of hotels in India. 

Under the new deal, Radisson Hotel Group will have exclusive use of the Tapas Club name in India, allowing it to introduce premium Spanish cuisine to its guests, who are always on the lookout for new experiences. These lively restaurants will also attract local residents and non-resident guests to dine at Radisson Hotel Group’s hotels. 

“Tapas Club is an excellent strategic fit for our business in India, where F&D trends point to the rising popularity of innovative cuisine. We are excited to introduce a new era of dynamic Spanish dining, tailored to Indian palates, to our hotels across the country. We aim to become flagbearers of Spanish cuisine in India,” Katerina Giannouka, president, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group, said.

The company plans to open more than 10 restaurants in the next four years and will deploy top chefs trained in Spanish cuisine across its Indian hotels and resorts.

Tapas Club was conceived to bring contemporary Spanish cuisine to the Asian market. Already present in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, its restaurants specialize in authentic dishes that embrace the vibrant colors and flavors of the Iberian Peninsula. This makes it the perfect addition to the Indian F&D market, where diners – especially millennials – are increasingly seeking fresh and unique culinary adventures. According to a study by Deloitte, millennials now account for 34% of India’s population and spend almost a third of their disposable income on entertainment and eating out. 

“We are delighted to bring Tapas Club to India and look forward to adding value to our esteemed guests and partners. F&D is an important area for our business in India and we are exploring strategic tie-ups with other leading, high-quality culinary brands to further uplift our presence in this sphere,” Zubin Saxena, MD and VP, operations, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, said.

Rakesh Sethi, Radisson Hotel Group’s corporate executive chef in India, will work alongside the Tapas Club team to create extraordinary dishes that blend Indian flavours with Iberian flair. The menu will comprise of specialty dishes such as paella, Spanish omelette, croquettes, contemporary tapas and delectable desserts. All dishes will reflect Indian palates, with plenty of vegetarian options.

“It is our privilege to partner with Radisson Hotel Group in India, where the brand has operated for over 20 years and earned a huge brand equity. We are working with experts like chef Sethi, to delve deep into India's rich culinary culture and develop new dishes that will delight foodies all over the country,” Jose Alonso, executive chef, Tapas Club, said.

Radisson Hotel Group now operates 94 hotels in India and this strategic partnership with Tapas Club is the latest in a series of moves to enhance the group's F&D offerings in India, the company added.

IIFL Group acquires majority stake in Infigo

IIFL Asset Management Ltd (IIFL AMC) has acquired a majority stake in Infigo Lifesciences through IIFL India Private Equity Fund through an unspecified amount.

Infigo, which started with six centres — four eye care hospitals and two 3D eye clinics in Mumbai, is planning to start a chain of speciality eye care centres in India.

The company plans to open a total of 15 centres within one year, with ten centres in Mumbai and the remaining five spread across Maharashtra. IIFL India PE Fund will look to invest up to ₹70 crore in multiple tranches to pre-defined business milestones for setting up over 20 centres, the company said.

 “India is witnessing an interesting trend with people preferring to visit branded specialty centers for their healthcare needs. In a country where most eye care practices are individually-run and often lack protocols or standards, there is an opportunity to create a pan-India franchise of speciality eye care centres. The current gap in demand and supply and increasing consumer preference for branded chains presents a unique opportunity,” said Prashasta Seth, Senior Managing Partner, IIFL AMC. 

“There is a huge void for quality eye care service at an affordable cost and IIFL’s support and guidance will help us fill this void and build an accountable institution with qualitative clinical outcomes. All our hospitals will be eyeing at NABH accreditation in immediate future,” said Dr. Shridhar Thakur, Founder of Infigo Lifesciences. 

IIFL AMC launched the IIFL India Private Equity Fund, a close-ended SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Fund, in May 2018. The fund seeks to back professional entrepreneurs at an early stage in emerging sectors like healthcare, technology, financial services and consumer goods. 

Korean lifestyle brand Mumuso planning to boost their retail presence

South Korean lifestyle brand Mumuso expansion strategy is to expand its presence all over India and is aiming at a business turnover of Rs 1,000 crore with over 300 outlets by mid-2022, a top company official said.

As part of its expansion, Mumuso would have a blend of both the company-owned and franchise stores.

It would invest between Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore towards setting the company owned and franchise stores.

The company, which had entered the Indian market in September, 2018 with its stores in Kolkata and Mumbai, plans to expand to other metro, tier I and tier II cities as it is banking on range of affordable products.

Besides, the company plans to go online to tap into the rapid growing   e-commerce business in the country.

“ India being a fast emerging market for retail industry, they are expecting an accelerated growth in a short span of time,” he said.

Mumuso offerings includes health and beauty products, fashion home accessories to apparel and digital products. 

The new stores are expected to open  in cities such as Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, 
Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Indore and Surat. 

The company is also planning to source locally special apparels and small leather products. 
As per the FDI norms, it is mandatory to source 30 per cent goods from India in single brand retail trade. 
Currently, Mumuso has presence in around 30 countries.

Myntra to sub-franchise Mango stores in India

Myntra.com, the country’s largest online fashion retailer, is close to signing up two sub-franchisees to manage Mango stores in India, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

Myntra, which took over the offline and online franchisee rights for the Spanish fashion and lifestyle brand in India earlier this year, is likely to appoint Samarth Lifestyle and G&B Fashion as the subfranchisees. 

Jaipur-based Samarth operates more than 100 outlets of Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger, US Polo, Puma, Lee, Wrangler and Calvin Klein, while New Delhi-based G&B operates 25 outlets of Benetton in the National Capital Region. 

Samarth Lifestyle and G&B declined to comment on the possible deals with Mango. Myntra has decided not to run the Mango stores itself, at least in the initial stages, due to high capital expenditure, operational costs and the need to maintain a separate team for offline stores, the people said. 

“We have not inherited any stores from the earlier franchisees as we did not find a feasible way to work with them,” a Myntra spokesperson said in an e-mailed response. 

“We will be setting up new Mango stores in prime locations in all metros and are working with our franchisees and malls to determine the location of these new stores.” 

Mango’s former franchisee Major Brands has already given notice to vacate a prominent mall in New Delhi. The mall operator hasn’t decided whether to lease the premises to Mango. 

One person said Myntra’s decision to let franchisees operate the Mango stores stems from the fact that its own entry into brick-and mortar retail a month ago with a Roadster-branded store has so far received a lukewarm response in Bengaluru, which the company said wasn’t correct. 

“This is absolutely baseless. While the Roadster store has been launched to create experiences for customers, it has been very well received and has performed beyond our expectations,” Myntra said in an emailed statement. 

“We have seen over 4,500 footfalls in the first month itself which is 2X of the footfalls of other leading brands on the street, with 60 per cent of the shoppers being new customer acquisitions.” On the other hand, Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart in 2014, said sales of Mango products have surged 25 per cent on its platform since it signed on the Spanish fashion and lifestyle brand in February. 

“We are using a hybrid model of retail and sub-franchisees where all the investments in the store will be borne by us and the day-today operations of the store will be managed by the subfranchisees,” the company spokesperson said in the email. “In phase two of the launch, Myntra will operate and manage a few Mango stores end-to-end.”

CarXpert Plans to open 100 franchise Outlets by 2018

Indian automobile industry is the largest in the world and accounts for more than 7% of the country’s GDP. Several initiatives by the Govt of India and increasing presence of major automobile players in the Indian market are expected to make Indian car market a world leader by 2020.

Resultantly, the car servicing business is growing faster to meet the increasing demand from this large car population in the country. The market research data states that only one third of the cars go back to dealer workshops post warranty and rest opt for local multi brand garages, which can provide reliable and cost effective service with closer home advantage. 

It is typically seen that car care ends up becoming a massive issue, with restriction in budget coming in the way of proper servicing. Owners tend to pay a visit to authorised workshops for many of the services as a compulsory check-up ensures that the functioning of the vehicle is in high order. 

Mandated workshops square measure expensive and can't be afforded for normal maintenance. Hence, once the warrantee amount nullifies, customers tend to estrange from the authorised workshops particularly for nominal updates like oil change/paid services and minor accidental repairs. This is where the unorganised sector takes its share from.

The affordability and adaptability of local garages square, measure a large success amongst owners. Additionally the 24x7 handiness of those little repair retailers signify convenience. Their economical cost of repairs guarantees that the engagement remains intact. However, there's no guarantee on the experience of workmanship or maybe the spare parts used by such garage. Owners require the boost of expert auto parts, at an affordable price-range. CarXpert aims to be that middle road of multi brand workshops- providing quality service at costs as low as local garages.

CarXpert Car Service is a franchising business under Skylark Group, an Indian Business Conglomerate with business Interests in EPC, Highways O&M, Security Services and automobile aftermarket industry. With pan India presence and a team of over 22,000 employees it is one of India's fastest growing companies. 

With core values of Customer Delight, Speed & Excellence; CarXpert through its dedicated franchise network is designed to offer complete peace of mind to a car owner looking for reliable and cost effective car servicing solutions. Introducing a completely new business model to automotive aftermarket industry, CarXpert is quickly expanding its business to grasp the lucrative market opportunity through COCO and franchise car service stations.

Founded by Navneet Pratap Singh and Col Yogeshwar Singh Katoch and formally launched in Dec 2015,  CarXpert has 1 COCO workshop in Palam Vihar, Gurgaon and a network of 19 Franchisees.

After having consolidated their business model in August 2016, Carxpert has rapidly expanded up a franchise network of 19 franchisees in mere 6 months, getting the title of India’s fastest growing multi brand car service franchise company. The organization provides the A-Z of car servicing- from repairs, car care to insurance renewal, extended warranty. The CarXpert business model involves setting up of COCO and FOFO workshops, interspersed across the country.

The USP of the franchise lies in providing high quality service at low cost to all stakeholders i.e. Car Owners, Insurance Companies and Franchisee Owners. They look at augmentation of existing unorganised multi brand car service stations to organize and elevate their business. In comparison to their competitors, they believe in creating car service centres rather than car service showrooms, thereby focusing on cost effective quality repairs rather than frills. 

CarXpert looks forward at organizing the local multi brand service stations by providing them support in terms of systems & processes, provision of spare parts, training, customer connect and most importantly cashless tie ups with insurance companies. The organization intends to scale up gradually to a level of 100 franchisee workshops in 2017-18 while gaining close to 500 franchise partnership by 2020. Plans to start Pre-owned car franchise business in FY 2018-19 are also in the pipeline.

Maroosh to expand its domestic and global presence

Maroosh a quick service restaurant brand, owned by Impresa Hospitality, is expanding its domestic and global footprint through Franchise Route. 

Impresa Hospitality managing director and chief executive Ketan Kadam said: “Expansion through franchisees is an ideal route for expansion in the existing market environment. The business model does not require capex, so we can focus on brand building.” 

For expansion in the domestic market, the company has signed a master franchise deal  for setting up stores in the Delhi NCR region besides Bangalore, with the plan to set up over a hundred stores over a three-year period, Impresa Hospitality said. 
Kadam added that the company now planned to foray in the ready-to-eat packaged foods space.