Smart seller

By no means is retail an easy business to crack; certainly not in India. Exorbitant real estate and rentals have made retail more of a realty game, and the lack of an evolved supply-chain only adds a layer of complexity to the business. Now add to that, consumers who are super price-sensitive and you know why retailers have by and large struggled in India. Be it hypermarkets, departmental stores or simply apparel retailers, there are very few retail success stories. Most Indian groups that had ambitious retail plans have had to scale back after costly mistakes. And the irony is, even before we have figured out the right recipe for success in modern retail, we have online retailers threatening to change the game.  

One of the rare retailers to have cracked the Indian market — although they have taken their own sweet time to get the moolah to trickle to the bottom-line — is Micky Jagtiani-owned Landmark Group. While it’s departmental store Lifestyle has been able to hold its own and grow its footfalls and revenue steadily, its value fashion brand Max is growing furiously. What did they get right? 

For starters, they did have prior experience of the business and did not have to reinvent the wheel altogether. But tailoring to India’s needs is no easy task — their success has come through patiently pursuing products that fit the bill perfectly in terms of price and value. Associate editor Krishna Gopalan expounds on their strategy in this issue’s cover story.

Sticking with retail, we have a story about Flipkart’s acquisition of Jabong. The latter was on the block for more than two years and was finally sold for much lower than the asking price. In that sense, it might look like a steal but whether it is truly one or not will depend on how Flipkart leverages Jabong and integrates it.

In the markets section, we have a lowdown on companies that hit the public market recently. Most of the stocks seem to be trending up, and valuations look stretched. Can they really hold on to their gains?