Tag:

Retail

Amazon India’s FDI Proposal for Food Product Retail Approved by Government

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Amazon India's FDI Proposal for Food Product Retail Approved by Government

The government has approved American e-commerce major Amazon’s proposed $500 million investment in retailing of food products in India, an official said.

The proposal was pending before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) which has been abolished now.

Hence, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) gives the green signal to the proposal.

As per the proposal, the company will open a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to carry out the business. It will stock food products and sell online.

Currently, the government permits 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector. As per norms, a foreign company can open a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to retail food products produced and or manufactured in the country by way of opening stores or online.

The government had received investment proposals from three companies – Amazon, Grofers and BigBasket – worth $695 million for retail of food products.

While US-based retail giant Amazon is one of the major e-commerce players in India, Grofers and Big Basket are into online grocery space.

Amazon has proposed to invest around $500 million in retail of food products.

The government last year allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) through approval route for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and produced in India.

In 2016-17 (April-December), the food processing sector in the country received FDI of $663.23 million.

The Union Cabinet last month decided to wind up the 25-year-old FIPB, which had been vetting FDI proposals requiring government approval, to expedite the clearance process.

Under the new mechanism, proposals related to retail sector is being approved by the commerce and industry ministry.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Online Marketing

ONS figures show decline in retail store sales as online continues to grow

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Figures from the ONS show that retail sales fell 1.4% in the first three months of 2017. Average store prices increased by 3.3%, representing the largest growth since 2012.

The first quarter of 2017 is the third consecutive period of negative growth.

However, online sales increased year-on-year by 19.5%.

Retailers can no longer shun the truth that shoppers crave a more immediate, reliable and digitally driven experience

This represents an average weekly spend of £1 billion on online purchases, which accounted for 15.5% of all retail spending (excluding automotive fuel).

“The figures continue to show the decline in traditional bricks and mortar stores as retailers endured the biggest quarterly fall in seven years during the first three months of the year,” Hugh Fletcher, global head of consultancy and innovation at Salmon, said.

“Retailers can no longer shun the truth that shoppers crave a more immediate, reliable and digitally driven experience.”

Online card spending up

A separate study by the UK Cards Association reports that online card spending totalled £422 million a day in 2016. This is an increase of 28% since 2014.

A quarter of card purchases online are for entertainment purchases such as concert tickets.

The association states that the UK now spends more online per household than any other country.

Retailers must too embrace the change in shopping habits and feed consumers’ desire for convenient online shopping

“Since the early days of internet shopping there has been a host of innovations, from digital wallets to one click purchases, which bring enhanced security, choice and convenience for customers and which will lead to continued growth in the sector,” Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association said.

“The additional protection provided when using a card also gives consumers extra peace of mind when they are shopping online.”

The research shows that online spending is dominated by certain sectors:

– 37% of the total spent on travel

– 23% of clothing purchases

– 67% of concert tickets and 61% of cinema tickets

Hugh Fletcher continued:

“A shift towards a strong digital strategy is the first step in combatting the decline in the high-street but retailers must increasingly test and embrace innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality changing rooms and Zero UI (the move away from physical interactions in favour of sound, movement and other senses).

“As consumers shift online, retailers must too embrace the change in shopping habits and feed consumers’ desire for convenient online shopping or face the dark prospect of poor sales, profit slumps and sluggish growth.”

[Source:- marketingtechnews]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

News Update

How New Software Can Improve Retail Sales

by admin April 5, 2024

written by admin

Image result for How,New,Software,Can,Improve,Retail,Sales

Although the holiday season may be over, that doesn’t mean retail stores should happily see their overall sales drop. There’s still plenty that can be done throughout the rest of the year to ensure that customers are still coming in and buying everything they need from your store instead of a different one’s. Although it might be tempting to adopt any new technology that comes along your way, the truth is that this can be a mistake. When stores bring in too many new and complex technologies, it can actually have an adverse effect on the store’s overall productivity. In order to help avoid this issue, this guide has picked out a few of the most effective software advances that are currently available in the market. Each software platform outlined in this list has a clear purpose and can be easily adapted into virtually any retail store, ensuring that they begin improving store productivity at a rapid pace.

Inventory Management Systems

Barcode inventory software can be a useful tool for managing when items have gone missing, or when they need to be restocked due to rising popularity. As it stands, there are many different companies that sell inventor software systems, including tech firms like IT Systems. It’s difficult to overstate the value of inventory software systems, as they’re particularly useful to small businesses that have struggled in the past to keep track of inventory movements. Of course, inventory management systems are also a good choice for any business owners that prefer to let a computer handle any data-related tasks anyway.

eCommerce Platforms

Although most people tend to think of retail stores as being physical locations that rely on actual customers visiting them on a daily basis, it’s also important to keep the Internet in mind. Through eCommerce software platforms, companies can substantially boost their productivity when dealing with transactions over the Internet. Even if your retail store doesn’t regularly do business over the Internet, these platforms can still be a useful marketing agent, ensuring that people are still thinking of your brand even when they’re not at your store.

Adopting new technologies can sometimes be a scary and difficult process, but it doesn’t have to be. With these recommendations, you should feel a little more confident in your decisions, and hopefully you’ll begin to see the many improvements to productivity that new software platforms have to offer. Whether you’re hoping to improve your store’s inventory management capabilities, or simply want to give your digital marketing a little boost, there are plenty of options out there to help you get the job done.

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Gadgets News

Apple to offer paid parental leave and more sick days to retail employees

by Loknath Das February 8, 2022

written by Loknath Das

Workers staff a new Apple retail store during a media preview in San Francisco, California, U.S., May 19, 2016. REUTERS/Noah Berger

Apple will expand benefits for all of its retail employees in the US, beginning April 4th. Bloomberg reports the new benefits include increased vacation and sick days, paid parental leave and more. It will impact both full-time and part-time employees across all 270 Apple Stores nationwide.

The tech giant’s offer of more generous benefits didn’t come out of the blue. Apple, like many corporations, is having a tough time recruiting and retaining hourly workers in a tight labor market. A number of media outlets, including The Verge, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac and others have reported on the grim realities of Apple’s retail operations, which include low pay, stressful workloads and low employee morale. Staffing shortages due to Covid-19 led to many stores operating on reduced hours or closing altogether. Dozens of Apple employees staged a Christmas Eve walkout in order to protest their working conditions. The testimony of these workers presents a stark contrast to Apple’s financial standing during the pandemic, which has produced several consecutive record-breaking quarters.

Apple will double the number of paid sick days for both full-time and part-time employees. Full-time retail employees will receive 12 sick days instead of six. The company will also be more lenient in granting sick leave, allowing workers to use sick leave for mental health days or in order to take family members to the doctor. Part-time workers will also receive paid vacation days and paid parental leave for up to six weeks.

The company’s benefits expansion follows similar moves by Amazon, Walmart and Fedex to retain hourly and front-line employees. Thousands of frontline workers have since quit or retired due to stressful and dangerous working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic. But labor rights advocates point out that many of these improvements, such as bonuses or hazard pay, are either temporary or have since been rolled back.

[“source=engadget”]

February 8, 2022 0 comment

Internet

How RAIN RFID Prevents Retail Shrinkage & Evolves Store Security

by Loknath Das January 11, 2022

written by Loknath Das

Once an unpurchased product leaves the store, it’s gone. Cut your losses — that’s just the reality of retail shrinkage. Right?

Well, maybe not all is lost. With loss prevention solutions powered by RAIN RFID, retailers can gain insight into loss events, learn from them, and prevent them from happening again.

With traditional Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) systems, if an item passes a checkpoint with its security tag still attached, an alarm sounds — but the information stops there. You probably don’t know which items went missing, or how they moved within the store first. Security cameras can provide clues, assuming they were pointed in the right direction, but EAS systems generally alert loss events only after the fact, with no additional insight into exactly what left the store.

RAIN RFID changes that. When a product is tagged with an RAIN RFID tag and is tracked by RAIN RFID readers throughout the store and its exits, retailers can know exactly how many items were taken and from where, and trace where the products went (such as fitting rooms) before disappearing.

RAIN RFID tag chips can be attached to product tags, embedded in clothing labels, placed on high-value electronic items, or even incorporated into small packages for makeup. Hundreds of tagged items can be read simultaneously, without direct line-of-sight, and the data can interface with existing enterprise software.

By connecting item data with loss events, retailers can identify patterns, take preventative measures, and shift from reactive to proactive strategies in addressing shoplifting. RAIN RFID empowers retailers to prevent theft by adopting security measures that work for their store, such as moving high-theft items out of blind areas, reducing the number of targeted items on the sales floor, or increasing security in specific areas.

RAIN RFID also can complement existing security strategies, such as security cameras or EAS systems. With greater visibility into the details of loss events, retailers can pinpoint and respond quickly to new shoplifting tactics used by individual thieves or organized retail crime groups. With RAIN RFID solutions, this depth of insight stops at the door and does not interfere with customer privacy.

Preventing theft and shrinkage has long been a challenge for the retail industry. Now, with ongoing labor shortages making it even more difficult to both care for customers and provide security, proactive approaches to loss prevention are key for retailers.

[“source=impinj”]

January 11, 2022 0 comment