<ul><li>India’s largest retailer, <keyword id="44949" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Future-group">Future Group</keyword> is set to scale up its share in laundry market with new liquid and powder detergent brands. </li><li>The move is set to cut shelf space by a third and hit <keyword id="6365619" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="hindustan-unilever">Hindustan Unilever</keyword> and <keyword id="316422" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Procter">Procter</keyword> &amp; Gamble’s market share. </li><li>Future Group owner <keyword id="44950" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kishore-Biyani">Kishore Biyani</keyword> announced his company’s new plans. </li></ul>India’s largest retailer, Future Group is planning to scale up its share in the laundry market with its own line of liquid detergents and powders. The Founder of the group, Kishore Biyani said that he wants to take on giants like Hindustan Unilever and Procter &amp; Gamble (P&amp;G) by cutting their shelf space by a third in the segment, says an <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/kishore-biyani-sees-bright-future-in-own-brands/articleshow/70166924.cms?from=mdr">Economic Times</a> report. The Group’s Future Consumer (FCL), the consumer arm of the group which runs <keyword id="6357823" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="big-bazaar">Big Bazaar</keyword> stores, already launched its own liquid detergent brand, Voom. It soon plans to come up with a powder format of it, in two weeks. On the Shelf Biyani wants to gain disproportionate share in the market, building on its vast retail presence. “Consumers will finally decide which brands to pick but we have to push our own brands on shelves too,” Biyani told ET. The Future Group operates around 1,500 stores across supermarket chains like Big Bazar, Easyday, <keyword id="162215" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hypercity">HyperCity</keyword>, Easyday and Nilgiris. Together, they account for around 5% of the HUL and P&amp;G’s annual sales worth ₹4,000 crores. FCL is leaving no stone unturned to get its brands into the market. It is planning to stock its new laundry brand Voom across fashion stores too owned by the group like FBB, <keyword id="370284" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Brand-Factory">Brand Factory</keyword> and Central stores. Ambitious targets Laundry is the biggest market category for both HUL and P&amp;G. The largest segment in the home and personal care space is worth ₹24,000 crore. HUL and P&amp;G have flagship brands like Surf, Rin, Ariel and Tide, which control more than half of the market. But, Future has set ambitious targets to get 70% of sales from their own brands in the next few, said the ET report. Laundry is a big part of this grand plan. Biyani restructured his retail company into a fast moving consumer goods company (FMCG) company, nearly a decade back. Future Consumer has its own brands and private labels. FCL already has a 20% share in the biscuit segment. It is also the third largest player after household brands like <keyword id="6359432" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="britannia">Britannia</keyword> and Parle. Within their own stores, FCL has a majority share in the body wash segment and also snacks.

Kishore Biyani’s Big Bazaar wants to take Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble to the cleaners, with its own laundry brands

<ul><li>Amazon recently acquired Perpule, a retail tech startup and reportedly paid $14.7 million for it.</li><li>The latest acquisition comes as Amazon gets ready to further go deep into India’s retail industry, where it is already fighting with Ambani’s Reliance.</li><li>Early this month, Amazon had made its first investment in an Indian consumer brand – MyGlamm.</li></ul>Amazon, which has already pumped in billions of dollars into India, is now turning towards the country’s <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> as it accelerates the retail war against Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. The US-based e-commerce titan recently acquired Perpule, a retail-tech startup and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/amazon-acquires-indian-retail-startup-perpule/">reportedly</a> paid $14.7 million for it. Perpule, which was founded in 2016, claims to have built India's first self-checkout solution and then scaled that into an end to end billing platform called UltraPOS (POS stands for Point of Sale). This has been implemented by popular retail brands such as Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop, Starbucks, HyperCity, Vishal MegaMart, among others. And it was this software that caught Amazon’s attention and the POS team is joining Amazon. “Perpule has built an innovative cloud-based POS offering that enables offline stores in India to better manage their inventory, checkout process, and overall customer experience. We are excited to have the Perpule team join us to focus on providing growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes in India while raising the bar of the shopping experience for Indian customers,” said an Amazon spokesperson. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Amazon vs Ambani – startup acquisitions and investments" comment="subhead" text="Amazon vs Ambani – startup acquisitions and investments"><keyword id="11021281" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon-vs-ambani">Amazon vs Ambani</keyword> – startup acquisitions and investments</cmsannotation> The latest acquisition comes as Amazon gets ready to go further deep into India’s retail industry, where it is already fighting with Ambani’s JioMart. Amazon had earlier picked up a 49% stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Group’s – Future Coupons for ₹1,431 crore. But when Future Retail, another Future Group company, got acquired by Reliance, it led to a long legal battle with Amazon. Jeff Bezos-led Amazon is actively looking at startups in India for acquisitions and investments, much like its rival Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which in the last year has gobbled up startups like Urban Ladder, Netmeds and many more. Earlier this month, Amazon had made its first investment in an Indian consumer brand – MyGlamm, which raised ₹175 crore from Amazon, Wipro Consumer and Ascent Capital. However, Amazon’s individual investment amount remains undisclosed. Amazon also counts investments in the likes of insurtech firm BankBazaar, home services startup HouseJoy among others. The e-commerce giant has also launched an early-stage accelerator programme Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP), where startups can pitch their businesses to VC firms like Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures. The startups will also get a chance to win $50,000 in an equity-free grant from Amazon. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/inside-ritesh-agarwals-family-office-aroa-ventures-and-its-early-investments/articleshow/81772098.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Inside Ritesh Agarwal’s family office and its early investments</a>

Amazon is eyeing India's startups as it gears up for a fight with Asia's richest man in retail

New Delhi, Deb 13 () Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd on Thursday reported a 16.72 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 164.56 crore for the third quarter ended December. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 197.60 crore in October-December quarter a year ago, Future Retail said in a regulatory filing. Total income fell 3.07 per cent to Rs 5,208.89 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 5,374.12 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Total expenses were 2.58 per cent lower at Rs 5,042.46 crore as compared with Rs 5,176.52 crore a year ago. Future Retail has a network of 1,500 stores in over 400 cities. Its hypermarket and supermarket business is led by Big Bazaar, Big Bazaar GEN NXT, HyperCity, Foodhall, fbb, Food Bazaar, Easyday Club and Heritage Fresh. Shares of Future Retail Ltd on Thursday closed 1.86 per cent higher at Rs 377.10 on the BSE. KRH RVK

Future Retail Q3 net profit down 16.7 pc to Rs 164.56 cr

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53283858.cms" /> 
At a time when India’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=food+startup&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">food startup</a> sector looks gloomy, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Coca-Cola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Coca-Cola</a> India’s former marketing head <keyword id="1457486" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Shripad-Nadkarni">Shripad Nadkarni</keyword> has done the unthinkable. He has joined hands with three other former executives of major consumer goods firms to set up <keyword id="4008149" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="food-startup">food startup</keyword> Fingerlix which will sell fresh, ready-to-cook food items like curries, batter and mixes. 
 Fingerlix is the brainchild of Shripad Nadkarni (Director), Shree Bharambe (CEO), Varun Khanna (VP-Sales &amp; Operations) and Abhijit Berde (Product Development &amp; Executive Chef). With experience in companies like <keyword id="6391475" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Coca-Cola">Coca-Cola</keyword>, J&amp;J and Colgate besides consulting experience, the team is looking to leverage their extensive experience in the food sector. 
 
"The ready-to-cook sector is a white space we're hoping to address; we are addressing convenience and freshness with the brand," Nadkarni, director at Maverix Platforms, promoter of Fingerlix said. 
 Fingerlix's cuisine, at present a mix of Indian and Italian food with a shelf life of five days, would be sold across modern and general trade and hyper local deliveries. The brand is being retailed in <keyword id="6357823" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Big-Bazaar">Big Bazaar</keyword>, Reliance Retail and Hypercity stores in Mumbai. The startup also has a website, mobile app (Android &amp; iOS) and call centre services with home delivery. As for its products, all Fingerlix products are preservative-free. 
 
Post <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Coca-Cola&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Coca-Cola</a>, Nadkarni had started marketing consulting firm MarketGate in 2005. He later sold the company to Publicis Groupe around four years ago. Maverix has already brought on board brand consultant Santosh Desai as an investor along with a few others. 
 
According to reports, the packaged foods market in India is pegged to be about $48 billion, while the major contributors like meat, bread, dairy, staples and fruit and vegetables, is estimated to be at $200 billion. 
 
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/45775196.cms">Image Source</a>

This former
Coca-Cola Marketing Head has launched his own food startup with a twist

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/54897293.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 <keyword id="3087980" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bonhomia">Bonhomia</keyword>’s journey into revolutionising the way India views and drinks its <keyword id="6354798" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="coffee">coffee</keyword> started way back in 2012 when <keyword id="2484467" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kunal-Bhagat">Kunal Bhagat</keyword>, the CEO of Indulge Beverages, the Delhi-based company that owns and distributes <keyword id="3757119" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="premium-coffee">premium coffee</keyword> and tea brand Bonhomia, moved back to the country from U.K. 
 At that point, all Bhagat was armed with was the love for single serve <keyword id="3757117" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="coffee-capsules">coffee capsules</keyword> and his desire to start a company of his own. In November 2013, he got Tuhin Jain, an ex-Pepsi executive on board as the company’s COO. Both the co-founders realised that they had to get their technology in place before anything else and thus the first two years were entirely dedicated for the same. 
 
It was only in 2014 that the duo decided to test out the market and launched with two flavours. Today, they house 12 flavours. 
 
Needless to say, they were a big hit. Bonhomia soon became not only a category leader, when it came to premium single-serve coffee capsules, but also a category creator. 
 
Elaborating on the reason behind the success, Bhagat makes an interesting analogy. “Single serve consumption has done to coffee what internet has done to the world,” he says. 
 
What more, they have also brought to India the Nespresso-type experience of capsule beverages with individual coffee machines which are available on their website. 
 
<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/54898401.cms" style="width: 800px; height: 600px;" /> 
 
 
“Bonhomia has redefined coffee consumption in India and our figures show that the trend is here to stay. We were the first people to launch single served capsules in the country. What’s special about our Indian angle is that the entire product portfolio is India sourced. All our coffees and teas are 100 pc Indian origins since India is the world largest producer of coffee and tea combined. Another Indian angle is that all our products are manufactured here locally in New Delhi, using state-of-art machinery and technology,” Bhagat further reiterates. 
 
Apart from measuring success in the form of an ever-increasing base of customers hungry for their products, the duo have also managed to raise USD 2 million in two tranches last year from a group of super angels including Kanwaljit Singh, Shripad Nadkarni, Apurva Salarpuria, Ashok Dhingra, Nita Mirchandani, Sarvesh Sahara , Ramrod Advisors, Gidwani family, Tolmolbol and Nitesh Kripalani. 
 
Bonhomia’s target audience, according to Jain are both, the older well-travelled consumers and also the younger generation who can’t do without their daily dose of coffee and will pay for quality coffee. 
 
At the moment, Bonhomia’s distribution presence has expanded to all major cities in the country and their capsules and brewing machines are widely available across outlets, such as Croma, Foodhall, Hypercity &amp; Nature’s Basket. 
 
The founders believe their brand not only provides a coffee solution, but also, a lifestyle solution.

This startup makes India’s first single-serve coffee capsules
so that you have a better brew

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47989753.cms" /> 
India’s online grocery retail industry is bustling with activity. With estimates pegging the business as close to $20 billion by 2020, several players are stepping up to grab a share of the bright yet challenging market. 
 
While Indians are now increasingly confident about ordering electronics or clothes online in a market largely dominated by the three big daddies – Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, online grocery retail is yet to pick up on a large scale. 
 
What fuelled the interest among investors and entrepreneurs are the numbers. Around 67% of India’s retail spending is dedicated to food and groceries. With organized retail accounting for a mere 15%, they see big moolah in online grocery retail. And they are not wrong. 
 
According to Technopak, the market for online grocery retail is growing at a steady 25-30% in Indian metros and is driven by urban residents who are in a hurry and prefer convenience to kiranas. 
 
An advantage of shopping online is that you get products not available in your local kirana. Amazon confirms the speculations. The company launched its gourmet &amp; specialty food store in October last year. 
 
“Online grocery shopping in India is very nascent and we see potential in it, particularly for emerging segments like gourmet, organic food and specialty products which are not easily available”, Amit Agarwal, VP and Country Manager, Amazon India says. 
 
The year has seen enormous activity in the space with the success of players like Big Basket and Local Banya, and Reliance Retail planning to scale up to serve new markets. 
 
Big Basket claims it has over 5,00,000 active customers and that its revenues are growing by 12-16% every month. Local Banya on the other hand already has over 1,00,000 users. 
 
Many of the new players have struck partnerships with bigger brick-and-mortar retail stores like HyperCity, More and others for sourcing and storage. Solo or via partnerships, there is no stopping e-commerce trying to barge into your grocery basket. 
 
(Image credit: Indiatimes)

Convenience
over Kiranas

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/46768925.cms" /> After gadgets, fashion and home appliances, it’s time to buy groceries online as <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> is planning to redefine on-demand delivery. While requirement of all other products can be managed if delivery is delayed, grocery, being an essential daily-need product category, its delivery always needs to be on-time. And to ensure this, Amazon’s new ‘Kirana Now’ programme will deliver orders from small neighbourhood stores to your door step in two to four hours. 
 Instead of building warehouses, delivery-based models are asset-light by default, making it easier to scale up in an industry that traditionally has high financial entry barriers, according to the Economic Times. Amazon may start deliveries from kirana stores in select areas of <keyword id="6354321" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bengaluru">Bengaluru</keyword> for customers who submit orders on their mobile phones. 
 Just like Amazon, yet another <keyword id="1640900" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Online-grocery">online grocery</keyword> store in Bengaluru, <keyword id="2690396" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ZopNow">ZopNow</keyword> has also shifted its focus from owning warehouses to delivering for HyperCity stores. ZopNow has spent over a million dollars to set up each warehouse, while $15,000 to $20,000 are required to start delivery operations in a city. Market watchers are of the opinion that the time is ripe enough to invest in delivery based services. "From a company perspective, this is much more capital efficient," Mukesh Singh, co-founder of ZopNow has told the ET. 
 <keyword id="2047523" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="LocalBanya">LocalBanya</keyword>, an <keyword id="2789983" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="online-store-operative">online store operative</keyword> in Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad, too does over 1,000 orders a day and plans to launch delivery services in 12 cities this year. "Over the last 15 years, modern trade and other unorganised players have pumped in 90% of their investment into first-mile supply chain and inventory-based warehouses, whereas nobody had really been able to crack the last-mile distribution and delivery to the customer. Instead of competing, we'd rather partner with them and focus on innovating in the areas that need attention in the industry," said Karan Mehrotra, co-founder and CEO of LocalBanya told ET. 
 While the inventory based models take years to get established, this market place model however just takes around 3 months. On demand delivery startup, <keyword id="2789985" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gofers">Gofers</keyword>, which had raised Rs 63 crores from Tiger Global last month, had already grown well in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru. 
 
(Image : Reuters)

Amazon knows that when delivering groceries, time is of essence in the Indian market

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47782306.cms" /> 
Last two months have made consumers aware. Thanks to Maggi controversy, people buying food items at retail stores are looking at the back of the pack more attentively to check the nutritional information and the date of manufacture. The retailers are now demanding to shrink the timeline of delivery in the stores from manufacturers’ end to ensure fast movement of products. 
 
A news report in The Economic Times informs, products take an average of at least 10 days to reach store shelves from the plants, except for perishables such as dairy products, which are delivered overnight. Retail development in the country has been impeded by poor roads and the lack of a cold-chain infrastructure. 
 
Retailers have started to request for fresher stock with higher shelf life. While modern trade always had shelf-life policies, it is getting stringent now," Mayank Shah, deputy marketing manager at top biscuits maker Parle Products told The Economic Times. 
Reliance Retail has introduced an extra round of safety checks across products in its 600 stores amid fears of a consumer backlash if a sub-standard or expired product is sold, said a person familiar with the development. 
 
"Any product that has 70% of its shelf life remaining does not enter our stores," an executive of Reliance Retail said. 
 
The FSSAI is preparing an adviso- strinry for retailers, which will hold them accountable for products they sell, including any that haven't been approved. 
 
Yudhvir Singh Malik, the CEO of the food regulator, told ET last week that retailers could be vulnerable to regulatory and legal action if found to be defaulting on these parameters. 
 
Tata Starbucks has earlier said, it has "initiated the suspension of applicable ingredients from certain products served in our stores" and is providing the regulator with documentation needed for its pending applications. 
 
Organised grocery chains including Big Bazaar, Walmart India's Best Price Modern Wholesale, Easy Day, Nilgiris, K Raheja's HyperCity, Savemax Wholesale and Spar had started pulling Maggi off the shelves even before the FSSAI ban on the two minute snack and Nestle's recall. 
 
"As a policy, we accept only those products which have 75% of their shelf life when they hit our stores," a senior official of a leading supermarket firm told the financial daily. He also added that most national companies have plants spread across the country and it's not always possible to distribute their products within a short span of time. "In the case of beverages or food products, where shelf life is less than a week, companies tend to keep production facilities near retail locations since most of them are regional players." 
 
Following the Maggi controversy, a top consumer goods firm has postponed two launches, while some are allocating additional funds for research and development. "We are stepping up spends on product testing, especially in collaboration with external labs," Sunil Duggal, CEO at Dabur, which makes Real juices, told the ET. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

You Searched For "Hypercity" and got 8 results

Kishore Biyani’s Big Bazaar wants to take Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble to the cleaners, with its own laundry brands

BI India Bureau

Amazon is eyeing India's startups as it gears up for a fight with Asia's richest man in retail

Sanchita Dash

Future Retail Q3 net profit down 16.7 pc to Rs 164.56 cr

PTI

This former Coca-Cola Marketing Head has launched his own food startup with a twist

Saikat Pyne

This startup makes India’s first single-serve coffee capsules so that you have a better brew

Poulomi Das

Convenience over Kiranas

Saikat Pyne

Amazon knows that when delivering groceries, time is of essence in the Indian market

BI India Bureau

Maggi Fallout: Retailers want products from the factories within 5 days of manufacturing

BI India Bureau