New Business Opportunity

American lifestyle brand (BHPC) introduced by Spencer’s Retail last year, is making its brand visibility in Mumbai by opening a […]

Essar Steel announces its expansion plans in Madhya Pradesh for its exclusive steel showrooms, hypermart and retail outleta, Expressmart. The company launched Hypermart in Govindpura and the Pithampur industrial area. The company also plans to open more Hypermarts— exclusive one-stop shops for its steel products. Essar Hypermarts, established in Gandhidham (Gujarat), are known for their exclusive steel products like sheets and bars. The company operates its Hypermarts on a lease basis, while Expressmarts are retail franchisee stores. The new upmarket outlets will let in-store signage companies embark upon a new business opportunity.

Harley-Davidson, the US-based heavyweight bike maker, opens its dealership outlet in Chandigarh. Continuing with its plans of entering the Indian

Iken Store is India’s first-of-its-kind edutainment store shelving Iken range of products and services. Mexus Education, an education innovations enterprise, announces their strategic foray in education retail with the launch of Iken Store, India’s first edutainment store, in Mumbai. This will be the first store launch in Mumbai, in a chain of branded stores across India, which will feature innovative educational products under the brand name ‘Iken’. The concept of Iken Store is poised to introduce the realm of ‘edutainment’ to Indian audience. And the store will unfold a new business opportunity for in-store signage players, PSPs, and fabricators as well.

German furniture maker and exporter Hulsta is betting big on the growing branded furniture market and plans to open 14

Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is in talks with the Indian unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) to buy up to 30 fuel retailing outlets. The discussion between the two companies will result in Shell to sell 20-30 fuel outlets to Bharat Petroleum.  Shell recently announced that it was selling some of its fuel outlets and land sites in India and establishing new outlets as part of its strategy to reorganise the business. Indian Oil Corp Ltd and Essar Oil Ltd have also expressed their interest to buy the fuel outlets of Shell India. New face of the retail outlets in the oil sector will bring in a new business opportunity to the signage players as well as PSPs, fabricators, sign suppliers extensively engaging in the sector.

Tata Group is looking to find another niche in luxury retailing—interior designs. The group, through its subsidiary Tata Housing and

Buoyed by its licensing deal for the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in New Delhi in October, leading pen maker Luxor is expecting a 10-15 percent surge in sales during the month of August and October on the back of the merchandise sales for the upcoming games. It expects sales to jump by up to 15 per cent at the time of the sporting extravaganza. Besides, the firm will also ramp up its retail presence to 100 stores, in the Tier II and Tier III cities in the next three years from its existing 20 stores in India. For those signage players engaging in retail outlets will be delighted in Luxor’s growth trend.

With the government allowing petrol prices to be market driven, private retailers are now looking to tap urban markets, especially the smaller cities, where auto demand is on the rise. Essar Oil, which is now operating 1,340 outlets, is planning to increase to 1,700 by March 2010. The new retail outlets will be distributed across the country, including cities across the country. Now, these fuel outlets will pump up new business opportunities for those signage players engaging in this inbdustrial segment.

Reliance Retail Ltd plans to launch its Reliance Jewels outlet in Kolkata by October 2010. The firm has around 18

Tata group firm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will more than double its dealerships in India within this fiscal to increase

Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group announced that it is undertaking an internal consolidation, which may see some of the stand-alone stores moving into large format showrooms as shop-in-shops. The group may also bring its partners LeeCooper and Replay’s, with whom it has tied ups, to big format stores. The company’s consolidation programme is on and already started relocating some of its small format standalone stores inside the large format outlets as shop-in-shops. Such new set-ups in the Future Group retail outlets would encourage the in-store signage companies to unfold a new business.

Global retail major Wal-Mart after its tie-up with Bharti has said that it is committed to India for a long time and the company recognises value of the latter as its Indian partner. As the Indian partner has chalked out a bullish expansion plan across the country, it has been decided that Wal-Mart is committed in setting up 10-12 ‘Cash & Carry’ stores in the next 12-18 months. This new move will definitely help to generate new business in the signage sector, offering new business to in-store signage companies, PSPs, sign suppliers, fabricators, etc.

After successful forays of CoffeeDay, Barista and other international brew companies, it is now the turn of international brand Coffee

Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) is planning to open 500 retail fuel outlets in southern India after the government decided to de-regulate petrol prices in the country. The company, which is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, currently operates one petrol pump and its focused regions are Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa for setting up the new retail outlets. The new MRPL fuel outlets will ignite a new business opportunity to those signage players including PSPs, sign suppliers, fabricators and others engaged largely in the sector.

Interkrafts, an authorised dealer for Mercedes-Benz in Eastern India formally inaugurated its new showroom for Kolkata. Interkrafts has represented Mercedes-Benz

High street retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) is planning to double its retail presence in India, targeting 50 stores in

Shoppers Stop has increased its stake in Hypercity from 19 percent to 51 percent recently to squeeze maximum from consumers, whose spending on food items is around 65 percent. Now that the company has acquired a majority stake in Hypercity, its main aim will be its expansion and making it profitable. The retail chain conglomerate expects a break-even for Hypercity at the company level in FY 2012. Now, the Rs 1,500 crore lifestyle retailer now plans to focus on its food and grocery segment by opening eight more Hypercity outlets by next fiscal. The expansion plan of Shopper’s Stop in turn will bring in a new business opportunity for signage companies, particularly those engaged in in-store signage and displays.

Kolkata has done it, Delhi has embraced it and now Mumbai is all set to rock as the long anticipated

Spanish high-end fashion retailer Zara opens a new store at DLF Promenade mall in Delhi. Spreading over an area of 33,000 sq.ft, this is the retailer’s second outlet in Delhi, the first store was opened almost a month ago in Select Citywalk mall. DLF Promenade mall will have revenue sharing and minimum guarantee rental models – whichever goes higher – with the retailer. Those planning to open their outlets in the mall include Harley Davidson, Marks & Spencer, Mark Ecko and Espirit, which would be a new delight for signage companies operating in retail/in-store sector.