Symphony making a global impact

Leading air cooler brand Symphony has made its mark in the global market with the acquisition of North America based Impco. The move has made Symphony one of the leading air cooler brands in the world as the collaboration will go a long way in enhancing the brand’s reach among international retailers such as Walmart, Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, Famsa and Costco. 
 

Symphony’s CMD Achal Bakeri said, “The global market is huge and we have still just scratched the surface. With global warming leading to higher temperatures, the demand for environment-friendly air coolers is growing fast in developed countries. Even a generally ‘cold’ country like Russia has seen a spurt in demand for air coolers and the potential market there is so significant that we have appointed a country manager for Russia. We were the first air cooler company in Mexico to undertake an extensive brand building exercise through a TV and print ad campaign in Mexico. We will look at further acquisitions globally in the future.”

Air cooler market

According to brand expert Enakshi Kundu, “With more money in the hands of the middle class consumer, the demand for air-coolers is definitely on the rise. The competition in the market is quite stiff.”

Through a widening of its global footprint, Symphony is also reducing its dependence on seasonality. When it is winter in India, it is summer in a number of other countries, marked by a potentially robust demand for air cooling solutions. For instance, in the US, summer extends from May to August; in the UK, from April to October; in the Middle East, from April to October; in Southern Hemisphere i.e. in South Africa, from October to February; in Australia, from December to February.

By focusing on sales across the world, Symphony has successfully transformed what would have been a business disadvantage into a potential opportunity. 

Source: Tias Chakraborty, Retailing360

Organised Retailers Change Tactics – Fewer, Smaller Stores

All across India, companies in the business of organized retail have tweaked their strategies, some for the second and even the third time, as well as consolidated their operations. This trend can be seen in nearly all retail companies, in terms of changes in their management teams and their business models. The main reason for this can be attributed to higher rentals, power bills, excise duties, etc. that increase operating costs and also the slowdown in the economy which reduces consumer spending.

A formula that was popular in 2008-09, is slowly emerging as the success mantra for today as well. Fewer formats and stores, and smaller ones are the way to go for the retailers nowadays.

Take the case of Reliance Retail and the Aditya Birla Group, who plan to focus on hypermarkets, while Shoppers Stop plans to open more departmental stores and two hypermarkets in the coming year. Reliance Retail, which has 22 formats from hypermarkets to specialty stores, exited two formats in 2008-09—Reliance Kitchen, which sold modular kitchen furniture, and Reliance Wellness, a beauty and lifestyle chain. The retailer now plans to downsize its new hypermarket stores by 60% and new departmental stores by 15% as it looks to increase its profitability for every square foot of store space.

According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), modern or organized retail accounted for USD 35 billion, or about 7-8% of the USD 470 billion Indian retail market in 2011.


Source: Livemint