Reliance Retail Ltd (BOM:500325) plans to launch Reliance Jewels outlet in Kolkata by October. Reliance Industries shares closed tad down 0.03 per cent from the previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Biju Kurien, president and chief executive officer of Reliance Lifestyle was quoted by the media saying that the firm has around 18 jewellery stores operational in the country mainly in the north, west and south. The company plans to expand in the regions they are already present and plan to launch their first jewellery store in Kolkata by October.

Reliance Lifestyle is a division of Reliance Retail. The company plans to add around 17 Jewels outlets by Mar 2011. Each of the Jewels outlets spread over 3,000-5,000 square feet.

Reliance Retail, which is owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, also plans to more than double its number of Time-Out stores by Mar 2011.

Currently there are 8 Time-Out stores operational in the country and we plan to take it to 24 stores by March 2011, Kurien said.

Each Time-Out store spreads over an area of 7,000-12,000 square feet and houses books, music, stationary, toys and gifts. Reliance Retail currently has 14 formats operational across the country.

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-retail-to-launch-jewellery-store-in-kolkata-by-october/

Reliance TimeOut, the one-stop destination for books, music and stationery enthusiasts, a specialty format of Reliance Retail, has opened its new store in Thane, at Korum mall, Thane. After successful launches in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, this is Reliance TimeOut’s 13th store in the country and 3rd store in Mumbai.

The new Reliance TimeOut store extends to its customers a host of books, music, stationery, toys and gifts. It offers a huge range of choice with over 24,000 books and magazines, over 15,000 music and movie titles, more than 4,000 Stationery items and a wide range of gifts and toys.

In addition to the wide range of product offerings, Reliance TimeOut has introduced ‘Summer Carnival’ which boasts of loads of events and exciting offers on a wide range of products which will go on till mid-June. As part of the summer carnival, Reliance TimeOut is offering up to 50% off on kids’ films and up to 10% off on Kids’ books, while the grown ups can take advantage of a discount of up to 25% on retro music CDs. The store has also got deals running on back-to-school products and their fragrance range.

On the occasion of the launch, Deepinder Kapany, Business Head, Reliance TimeOut said, “We are very pleased to open our third store in Mumbai and offer our customers a whole new experience to look forward to. We have received an overwhelming response from customers for our innovative and unique concept and the exciting range of interactive activities that enables customers to meet and interact with their favorite authors. We are sure that the books, music and movie enthusiasts in the city will enjoy the experience that we have especially designed for them.”

The store will also see a lot of performances from up-coming artists and will host tons of activities for children. These products combined together with services offered in a truly world class environment and with friendly, knowledgeable and energetic staff will surely make Reliance TimeOut a place to be.

Reliance TimeOut’s initiative called ‘Book Club’ launched on 2nd August 2008 is fast transforming Reliance TimeOut into a literary hub, with varied activities conducted at least twice a month at the store. The Reliance TimeOut Book Club provides its customers a platform to engage in discussions with their favorite authors and also get entertained through various book reading and enactment sessions. For people interested in books, plays, theatre, poetry and writing, membership of the Reliance TimeOut Book Club is an absolute must. A member gets invitations for all the events at Reliance TimeOut and will also enjoy a whopping 10% off on all books purchased at the store. Unisun Publications which has been organising the Unisun Creative Writing Competitions over the years, now organises the ‘Annual Writing Contest’ for budding writers in association with Reliance TimeOut every year, which gives budding authors the opportunity to win exciting cash prizes as well as a chance to get published.

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-timeout-launches-its-third-store-in-mumbai/

Five years after planning to bring most luxury brands into India, Mukesh Ambani is finally walking the talk.

No wonder after opening Hamleys and Diesel stores in the last two months, Reliance Retail is now in talks with US fashion brand Kenneth Cole and Italian bag maker Mandarina Duck to open their exclusive outlets in India.

Dheeraj Dogra, CMO of Express Infrastructure, said, “Reliance has signed up with Timberland, Diesel, Zegna, a number of international brands and last we heard it is also in talks with Kenneth Cole.”
That’s almost half a dozen international brands in Reliance kitty so far.

But now, the company wants to expand further. However, experts say it will take a while for these brands to mop up enough revenues.

Susil Dungarwal, Founder of Squarefeet Management, said, “These brands will not contribute significantly on its topline or bottom line, even if they sign with ten brands, not at least in the next five years.”

So this changing focus, experts feel, is because even its cash cow, food and grocery retailing, isn’t performing as per expectations.

That’s precisely why Reliance wants to focus on international brands like these, especially when the segment is less competitive and can offer much higher margins than its other formats.

Marks & Spencer Reliance India has announced the appointment of Mr Martin Jones as the new CEO.

He succeeds Mr Mark Ashman who headed the joint venture between Marks & Spencer and Reliance Retail since it was set up in 2008.

Mr Jones joined Marks & Spencer UK in 1997 and has worked in various roles within retail operations and buying and merchandising.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050151050700.htm

Hamleys, a 250 year-old toy retailer of the UK, on Thursday opened its first store in Mumbai in a franchise agreement with Reliance Retail, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reliance Industries. The tie-up is valid for 20 years. The company plans to invest Rs 150 crore in the next seven years to set up 20 more stores across the country, including tier-II cities.

The size of the Mumbai store is around 21,000 square feet, while the one being opened in Chennai within six months will be close to 10,000 sqft, according to Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive officer, Reliance Lifestyle division. The Indian division of Hamleys, though, is going to be headed by Sudhir Pai.

Hamleys is based in London and is one of the world’s largest toy companies. Its flagship store located at the Regent Street is a five-storey building spread over 54,000 sqft. It is considered one of London’s major tourist attractions.

The first store has seen an investment of Rs 6 crore. Kurien explains that the investment has been significant as far as setting up this store is concerned. “The hard investment for the stores in terms of occupying retail space is going to be made by Reliance Retail. As for the soft investment in terms of store design and staff training, it will be done by Hamleys.”

Reliance Retail in 2008 had said it was in talks with the UK toy retailer. The reason for the delay, as Kurien reckons, is “finding the right location for the store”.

Moreover, the company is also looking at spending around Rs 50 lakh on advertisement for the first store.

The total organised toy market is India is around Rs 1500 crore. It caters to about 30 crore kids upto 15 years of age. Reliance Retail will be looking to have a “sizeable” share in it.

The firm will open 20 stores in India over the next six to seven years in partnership with Reliance Retail, which has a 20-year-franchise agreement with Hamleys.

Hamleys will invest around Rs1.25bn (£18.3m) in the scheme and will open its next store in Chennai in the next few months, having already opened a 21,000 square feet store in Mumbai.

“The organised retail toy market in the country is close to Rs15bn (£220.5m) and Reliance Retail will be looking to have a sizeable share in it,” Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive – lifestyle, Reliance Retail, commented.

Reliance Retail will stock Hamleys merchandise, but also products that are exclusively available to the UK retailer.

Apart from stocking Hamleys merchandise, Reliance Retail will stock products that are exclusively available to the UK retailer. Other global brands from companies such as Mattel and Funskool will also be available at these outlets.

Reliance Solar, the solar energy initiative of Reliance Group, has successfully executed and commissioned India’s first one-megawatt (MW) solar plant to power Thyagaraj stadium to be used in the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2010. The Thyagaraj Sports Complex is a model Green Stadium with world class facilities in India and will host NetBall in the upcoming Commonwealth Games. The solar power generated through 1 MW solar PV power plant at the Thyagaraj Stadium is expected to result in emission reduction of more than 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year thereby setting a benchmark in terms of energy efficiency.

In addition, building-integrated photovoltaic concept is also implemented by Reliance Solar Group. So, the stadium can start feeding electricity to the grid. The good news is, henceforth, this power will be made available for public consumption, except during the period when the Games take place in October. The Government of Delhi is already in talks with NDMC, BSES and PWD to sell the electricity thus generated, for consumption. KK Sharma, principal secretary (PWD) said, “The amount of solar power generated is substantial, and we wanted to utilize the power plant properly, especially as around 1MW of power will be generated every day, depending on the weather.”

Reliance Solar Group installed and commissioned the country’s first 1MW solar plant in a record duration of less than 3 months. The power plant is expected to generate around 1.4 million units of electricity per year. It would cater to the power requirements of the stadium and the surplus would be fed to the grid at 11KV. Reliance Group has also implemented three 2.6 KWp solar PV power plants on the roofs of individual tennis courts in the R K Khanna Tennis Complex, which will play host to the tennis event during the games. Further, there are 34 back-up solar PV systems of 3 KWp each along with 180 solar LED street and 500 garden lights in the Commonwealth Games Village, which will house athletes, coaching and support staff.

Commenting on the achievement, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) said, “We have always believed that the renewable energy space is a natural extension of our strengths in the conventional energy platform. The nature of technical expertise and project execution demonstrated in developing the solar power infrastructure is a defining achievement for our Solar Group. We will continue our efforts in research, understanding and scaling up the deployment of these environment friendly sources of energy. Reliance Industries is privileged and honored to work with the Government of Delhi and Organizing Committee and be an integral green part of a show case event like the Common Wealth Games 2010.”

Important facets of the 1MW solar PV plant at the Thyagaraj Stadium include:

• A kalzip type roof that minimizes the use of mounting structures in the system
• A total of 3,640 no of 280Wp modules with one of the highest efficiency of 14.1% have been used in the project.
• The entire system has been installed within a roof-space of 10,000 sq. m. (2.5 acres).
The inverters and power evacuation systems used in the project are the best in class and have been executed by partnering with leading global companies to ensure best quality and results.

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-solar-to-power-the-common-wealth-games/

Reliance Vision Express, the 50-50 JV between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail and Pearle Europe is looking to expand its base nationally to tap the existing potential of the Indian eyewear industry. The company is not only targeting metro cities but also Tier I and Tier II cities. The Eyewear JV is setting up new stores in Indore, Bhopal, Nasik, and Nagpur.

“We are at present just a year old in the business and our main focus is to enlarge our customer base. We are hoping to capture the mid-market population and enforce our positioning by offering quality eyewear at very low prices,” said Guillame Brouwet, CEO of Reliance Retail’s eyewear JV. The eyewear range offered by the company is priced starting Rs 449 and goes up to Rs 6,000.

According to Brouwet, the density of opticians in these tier I and II cities is now and there lies a huge opportunity to develop customer base. “For every 1.5 lakh people there is only one optician, indicating the opportunity that one can make use of,” he pointed out. The optician market in India is worth $900 million, of which only 5 per cent belongs to the organised sector. Reliance Retail’s Vision Express is aiming to solidify its position as a market leader by 2012.

In keeping with the trend of all the other brands of Reliance Retail, Vision Express is also looking to expand its presence in the country by setting up 60-70 stores every year. Brouwet did not disclose the investment details. As of now, Vision Express has 50 stores across India within 500 days of its operation and going forward, the company intends to carry on with its ‘one new store every 10 days’ plan.

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-vision-express-in-expansion-mode/

Reliance Trends, the apparel retailing chain of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail Limited, has opened its first store at Vijaywada, which happens to be the fifth in Andhra. Reliance Trends is on an expansion spree and trends outlets have already arrived at Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Guntur. Reliance Retail group is planning to take the number of stores to 10 by covering towns like Tirupati and Warangal.

The Vijaywada outlet of Reliance Trends has a spread of around 20,000 square feet and offers more than 100 Indian and international brands for men, women and kids. Addressing at the launch press conference on Tuesday, Reliance Trends chief executive Arun Sirdeshmukh said that they were bringing the best and widest collection of designs at affordable prices to meet the needs of entire family. “We are confident that the discerning consumers will welcome our latest fashion and high quality products. We offer these at reasonable prices,” he said.

Reliance Trends is chalking out major expansion plans. Mr. Arun Sirdeshmukh had said in mid Jan, “You will see now and for the next two years, our growth rate would be far higher than any apparel retailer in the market.” According to senior company officials, with their incredible price offering, Reliance Trends is on its way to transform the apparel industry in India. Reliance Trends remains the only apparel outlet unaffected by the economic downturn and with the launch of Vijaywada store, Reliance Retail is looking all set to expand aggressively, thereby strengthening its foothold over the Indian Apparel industry.

Stating that the store would offer many brands to meet the needs of all categories, Mr. Sirdeshmukh said renowned brands like Peter England, John Players, Contra by Indigo Nation, Shapes, Reid & Taylor, Belmonte, Oxemberg and so on were available. Apart from the ready-to-wear garments, the store also caters to consumers who prefer to shop for fabric and tailor their clothes. Reliance Trends offers its own collection alongside renowned Indian and International brands at the store. It also caters not just to the ready-to-wear consumers but also fabric lovers.

Source:http://www.mynews.in/News/Reliance_Trends_comes_to_Vijaywada_N42676.html

Reliance Retail will soon pilot the retail venture of Office Depot and open the first Hamleys toy store as the Mukesh Ambani-led retailer beefs up its portfolio and expansion plans. Its offerings under the lifestyle umbrella range from books & music, apparel, toys and opticals to jewels and office supplies. ET caught up with Reliance Retail’s president & chief executive-Lifestyle Bijou Kurien for an exclusive interview. Edited Excerpts:

Are the multiple verticals under the Lifestyle division operating profitably?
Both Reliance Time Out, which will grow to 20 stores by 2011, and the relatively smaller-store-sized Reliance Jewels, which will have 50 stores by 2011, broke even last year. Almost half of our 46-odd optical retail stores Vision Express have also broken even. The Marks & Spencer brand has now been repositioned to compete in the mid-market segment in India. We intend to open bigger stores of around 15, 000 to 20, 000 sq ft where merchandise will be extended from apparel to personal care, home ware and accessories. India will also account for a larger sourcing component for Marks & Spencer.

Over a year after joining hands with US-based Office Depot how has the JV progressed?
The Office Depot JV currently operates through a business-to-business relationship where we’ve focused on the small, medium and large office supplies space so far through our joint acquisition of eOfficePlanet, a supplier of office products and services to corporates. We are testing our first retail foray through an Office Depot store in Bangalore.

Has the lifestyle division also set its sights on smaller cities yet?
Reliance Jewels is positioned as a mid-market retailer which doesn’t cater to the everyday low-priced diamond jewellery segment but targets the occasion (wedding, births etc) and adornment-led jewellery segments. Given the fact that the Reliance brand is strong, we’ve positioned some formats such that it can tap into the potential of rural retail without creating a separate brand for smaller markets like Dhanbad and Jamnagar. Vision Express also holds relevance because like jewellery there are few national optical retailers and sight correction is a need that cuts across population strata.
The lifestyle division will also make inroads into smaller cities by co-locating with Reliance Hypermart’s roll out. Classically, hypermarkets are designed in a manner where the area in front of the cash till is allocated for several independent stores. So, in areas such as Rajahmundry and Kolhapur we’ve opted for co-location opportunities for Reliance Jewels and Vision Express with the hypermart. From a cost point of view too, drumming traffic towards independent formats and affordability of standalone rent often becomes a challenge within smaller cities.

How did the discretionary-purchase driven Reliance Time Out perform in a year when consumer sentiment took a beating?
Time Out was the only format within Reliance Retail that grew substantially in the slowdown period. Although, the sheer market size of our offerings is only around Rs 10, 000 crore, as the categories are highly underpenetrated, sales can be strengthened by creating occasions that lend themselves for purchases. This is why we had 200 events across three of our stores within 11 months.
We’ve performed better than competitors because our stores are built on architecting merchandise in line with people’s lives as opposed to being in a purely product-selling mode. Products are just the ambassadors, if you go beyond that by building an exciting store experience then sales don’t get dictated by macro trends. In fact, despite being a discretionary category it clocked 47% like-for-like growth this January.

Time Out corners now also feature within Pantaloon Retail’s Central formats across Bangalore and Ahmedabad. What is the rationale of being present in a rival’s format?
It’s a win-win partnership for both retailers. Central is a premium format where the consumer traffic is relevant to Time Out and the offerings appeal to the audience. Being wants and aspiration-driven, the format’s presence itself drives consumption. From a competitor’s point of view, it offers the option of partnering with a competent player to add to other categories.

Will there be a product overlap given your franchisee agreement with British toy retailer Hamleys?
Given the size of the population, the toy category is fairly underdeveloped in India. If you don’t show toys through large stores, you won’t sell enough of this impulse-driven segment. Most Indian retailers have included toys only as an aspect of multi-category stores so far. Our experience with Reliance Time Out showed that there existed a larger opportunity in having a full-fledged toy store. We will open the first store in Mumbai this month, followed by Chennai.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/Reliances-new-thrust-on-retail-business/articleshow/5720460.cms

Indian Retail conglomerate, Reliance Retail Limited has launched its first Reliance Jewels outlet in Thane at Korum Mall. This is the seventeenth successful store launch of Reliance Jewels across India and the third in Mumbai. Reliance Jewels is offering a promotional offer of up to 50 percent OFF on gold jewellery making charges and up to 100 percent OFF on diamond jewellery making charges at the Thane store.

Commenting on the launch of the Thane Reliance Jewels, Mr. Bijou Kurien, President and Chief Executive – Reliance Retail said, “It has always been the endeavour of Reliance to provide consumers with a wide range of high quality products at competitive prices. Reliance Jewels is another step in that direction- we offer consumers an unparalleled range of jewellery, backed by the assurance of hallmarked gold and certified diamonds, in an unmatched shopping ambience. We are delighted to bring the Reliance Jewels experience to people residing in Thane. We have received very positive response from our Ghatkopar and Hughes Road customers and are confident that the Reliance Jewels experience will be appreciated by our Thane store customers too.”

Reliance Retail is leaving no stone unturned in tapping the lucrative jewellery retail industry in India. The total business ratio says that after food and apparel, jewellery is the next biggest industry and has got a very large scope and the competition is much lower compared to the other two which is why Reliance Jewels is all set for a major expansion.

The gold jewellery range encompasses Kolkata Filigree, Rajkot minakari jewellery, Kundan from Jaipur, Temple jewellery from Kerala, Jadau from Amritsar and much more. In Diamond jewellery, Reliance Jewels offers the finest quality of diamonds and the widest range of designs, ranging from daily wear to party wear, from diamonds for weddings as well as to celebrate every special occasion in a woman’s life.