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Ballooning inflation, high input costs and demand slowdown have badly impacted fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer durables firms, which are seeking a budget push to breathe life into their sagging businesses. "What the industry wants most is an operating environment that is conducive to business and an administrative process that is transparent and less bureaucratic," said Shantanu Das Gupta, vice-president - corporate affairs and strategy, Asia South, Whirlpool of India. The policy paralysis for months end is badly impacting sentiments as well as growth, feels Sarvesh Shahra, business head, FMCG and specialty ingredients, Ruchi Soya Industries. "High interest rate is not supporting large investments and expansion plans. While current account deficit is a big issue, it is improving due to certain good initiatives by the RBI," he said. Apart from the demand slowdown and policy issues, the industry are also facing operational problems with qu...

People love to shop, and advances in online retail now let consumers shop anytime, anywhere. This access is unprecedented—and not just for shoppers; retailers also have 24/7 access to their consumers. As a result, e-commerce has transformed the business model and changed how shoppers approach retail. Despite its momentous effect on shopping behavior, however, e-commerce is far from revolutionary; it’s simply an evolution. Many retailers and manufacturers have simply recognized the opportunities created by new technology. But some categories haven’t capitalized on these opportunities as well as others. For example, consumer packaged goods (CPG) purchases online have generally trailed categories like apparel, electronics and media. Still, the segment has been growing over 20 percent annually, and we expect online to account for 4-5 percent of total CPG sales in 2015. E-commerce can help CPG manufacturers and retailers boost sales by engaging with shoppers in new ways and providin...

Reliance Industries to debut in e-commerce business with Mumbai grocery venture by year-end Grocery will be the sharp edge of Reliance Industries' e-commerce wedge. It plans to offer express deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables to homes in Mumbai, making it the first such bid to bridge the last-mile connect by a large retailer. India's thirdmost valuable company will make its debut in the e-commerce business with the Mumbai grocery venture by the year-end. Reliance plans to extend its retail business into e-commerce with the promise of a wider range of goods than currently available online, battling it out with an array of rivals ranging from Flipkart to niche startups, not to speak of  Amazon  and eBay. Marketplace venture next fiscal As for the grocery segment, smaller firms such as localbanya. com and bigbasket.com currently deliver fresh products to consumers in some cities. The grocery venture, which will be run through a subsidiary, follows ...

The waters of rural India have been tested, and it can be concluded that the boom has only begun and it is there to stay with the certainty of positive growth. No stone can be left unturned in pursuit of great things, and to leave bigger stones unturned in the process is to risk accomplishment. In a country where two-thirds of its people live in rural areas, undermining the potential of rural markets can only warrant tardy growth of the economy and thus denying its people what they deserve.  It also stands true for companies as well; to shy away from making efforts to penetrate rural markets or failing to tap the markets is to miss out on the benefits they could sow and harvest. The true health of an economy is reflected in the state of its rural economy. The opposite picture of marvelous growth in the urban of a country and an economic failure in its rural spells troubles in the economy and its poor economic plans and policies.  We are at a time when the desire of ru...

Through a research, a group of students in Nasik district of Maharashtra studied the buying pattern in rural India and prepared a roadmap for actual field research with the help of NGO-YuvaMitra. It was found that retailers influence 67% rural consumers in promoting brands and they usually promote the high margin products. Challenge statement is defined as 'Role of Retailer in purchasing behaviour of consume for promoting the construction supplementary products effectively in the rural areas.'  Through initial secondary research about the challenge statement, we studied the various types of houses in India, some of the qualities and values of rural customers and their buying pattern. Secondary research helped us to identify the possible stakeholders that we need to study. Through the brainstorming sessions within our group we created the Possible Stakeholders Map.  The area selected for primary research was Sinnar Taluka in Nashik, Maharashtra. We prepared the road map...