http://www.moneycontrol.

com/competition/bombayswadeshistores/comparison/B SS01 - competition In the India Market and Financial Statement

The Bombay Store gets aggressive, to open 18 new stores and expand internationally
Posted by economic times retail news on February 22, 2010 1 Comment One of the oldest and best-known listed retail company, Bombay Swadeshi Stores, better known as The Bombay Store has drawn up expansion plans, following improved consumer sentiments. The lifestyle retail chain is setting up new stores in metros, airports and lucrative tier II cities since its consumer profile primarily comprises non-resident Indian clientele and foreigners. The company is also understood to be in talk for JV partnership with international players for setting up stores outside India. The Bombay Store, popular for its lifestyle products such as artefacts, wellness products and gift articles, has plan to escalate its presence from 12 outlets in seven cities to 30 by end of 2011. Currently, company will focus on metros, including more outlets in Mumbai and new locations like Chennai and Delhi. Tier II cities like Pune, Cybrabad (extended city of Hyderabad), Aurangabad, Chandigarh and Udaipur in radar where the company plans to expand as these cities have good consumer mix and a strong tourism base.

We are looking at major metros where our brand is well-known and people have that taste and disposable income to purchase such goods. These cities have a closer fit with what we are all about, said Asim Dalal, MD, The Bombay Store, to ET. The company is aiming to start 6 more outlets in 2010 and it will add 12 more outlets across India by 2011.

Recently, The Bombay Store has also done shop-in-shop agreement with the US based Chado Tea a specialty tea company to open a counter in its flagship store at Fort area in Mumbai. Once it successes here, the company has plan to take it to other locations also. With more than 25% of its clientele in most stores comprising foreigners, the company has also plans to go overseas. By the end of 2011, we could start looking at setting up stores in European countries such as the UK, Germany and France and international tourist destinations like Turkey, Egypt and South Africa. Revealing companys overseas plans, Mr Dalal says that they will form JV with local company in those markets, since its difficult to open stores abroad with own capacity without knowing the local market and consumer behaviour. However, he adds that overseas tie-ups will materialise only after making strong base in domestic market. To cater lifestyle stores non-residents customers and foreigners, company will also soon open its online shopping portal, which in future will work as barometer for opening overseas branches. Analysts say the companys move is a reflection of the improved scenario of the Indian retail sector. The Bombay Store is a conservative company as far as expansions are concerns. However, this time its a timely move by the company as the economy has revived and enough cash flow will help it to grow within their eco-system, says Sangeeta Tripathi, a retail analyst with Sharekhan Securities. The Bombay Store was established by countrys patriarch and freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak and inaugurated by countrys Grand Old Man, Dr Dadabhai Naroji on December 17, 1906, as the Bombay Swadeshi Co-operative Store. It became a listed entity in 1963.
http://retail-guru.com/the-bombay-store-get-agressive-to-open-18-new-storesand-expand-internationally/ http://pdf.marketpublishers.com/197/bombay_swadeshi_stores_ltd_swot_analysis _bac.pdf - For the report we need to pay $499 only.

The Bombay Store recently tied up with the NGO, Magic Bus. Here, Mr. Anaggh Desai, CEO, talks to us about this recent alliance.

Aadeetya Sriram (AS): What sort of merchandise Magic Bus is planning to introduce in alliance with The Bombay Store? Anaggh Desai (AD): The Bombay Store has entered into a strategic alliance with the Magic Bus and has introduced a variety of product range that is designed by Design Stack. These include T-shirts, key chains, coffee mugs, watches, satchel bags and card holders. Currently, these are exclusively retailed at The Bombay Store outlets with plans to be retailed at other outlets with other designs and

merchandise. We along with the Magic Bus also plan to introduce other range of merchandise in the near future.

AS: Who will be the target audience and what will be the price range of this merchandise? AD: The Magic Bus merchandise is youthful and contemporary that is designed keeping in mind the young audiences that are between the age group of 7-17 years. These products are priced keeping the marketing standards and hence are available from Rs. 75/- onwards.

AS: Have you done any kind of market survey prior to the launch of this merchandise? AD: There was an informal dip stick studies conducted via our stores, social media etc to see how people would respond to a cause. Besides this, we had the Magic Bus experience of the past couple of years where they had been selling some limited number of merchandise via the web.

AS: What is the USP of this range of merchandise? AD: The Magic Bus merchandise is designed keeping in mind the principles of the NGO that promotes gender equality, education and health & hygiene through the medium of sport. The merchandise reflects all these pillars in their product range.

AS: What's the idea behind such an initiative? How both the parties, The Bombay Store as well as Magic Bus, will be benefiting by such venture? AD: Keeping corporate social responsibility as one of the prime objectives of the Bombay Store and its mission to contribute towards the society and help in the betterment of contemporary India. The Bombay Store has entered into a strategic alliance with the Magic Bus to provide an exclusive range of merchandise that will help promoting the products and in increasing sales. The store is creating a special space that will be dedicated to display all the Magic Bus products. The revenues earned from the sale of this product range will be utilised for Magic Bus activities and child development programmes.

AS: Why did Magic Bus select The Bombay Store as its retail partner to launch its products? AD: Founder of Magic Bus and the CEO of The Bombay Store are old colleagues who were jointly responsible for some successful launches in the past and reconnected when MB wanted to display

posters at the TBS outlets. Reliving the old days over coffee, TBS said let's do something bigger, better & far reaching. From concept to execution, this was completed in less than 70 days.

AS: What other CSR initiatives have been undertaken by The Bombay Store? AD: As corporate social responsibility is our prime objective, we tie-up with a lot of NGOs as well as artisans and craftsman from various villages to sell their products. We also plan to open an NGO corner at our heritage store that will have showcase an array of products only dedicated for NGOs and help in the development of contemporary India.

http://retail.franchiseindia.com/interviews/retail-leaders/Riding-on-CSR-Bus-238/

Javeeds Itinerary And links of trade shows:

My itin:Europe - Frankfurt (1 night) -- Koln (1 night) --Dusseldorf (1 night) - Hannover Hamburg (2nights) Other cities can be considered Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Cologne, Bonn Also check this website, on the lefthand side there is a list of cities for Trade fair venues & conf.. http://www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/destination_germany/master_tlmesse.htm

http://www.biztradeshows.com/germany/germany-tradeshows.mp?industry=artscrafts

5. What are they doing to create an emotional bonding with the "M" resource. Bonding with customers Cadbury works on its promotion to create an emotional bond with its customers. Cadbury started their Advertisement campaign by concentrating on the kid segment but recently they have changed their promotion and are concentrating on the emotional sentiment of the Indian culture by concentrating on relating Cadbury to the various Indian festivals by starting a new packaging. Cadbury is trying to substitute chocolate against Mithais used during the festival season by packaging various chocolates into a single package called Celebrations. Bonding with supplier / farmer Cadbury as part of creating a connection with the local cocoa supplier which are the farmers of Kerala, Cadbury has been working with the Kerala Agriculture University to improve the yield of cocoa. Cadbury conducts farmers meeting and seminar to educate them on cocoa cultivation thus helping the farmer produce more and thus increasing their earnings from cocoa production. Bonding with employees At the Bangalore factory, Cadbury has created an artificial stop dam to preserve water which is one of the main resources and most used during the production of chocolate. Also Cadbury at its factory makes use of the solar panels to power their electricity needs. In this way it been able to win many award like the Parisara Premi (Preserver of the Environment) and also the respect from its employee and customers. Bonding with channel partners Since it is very difficult to create any product differentiation in the chocolate segment, Cadbury understand that it needs to create a very strong bonding with its distributors/retailers so that Cadbury gets the maximum shelf space as compared to any other brand. Cadbury has been able to achieve the same due its policy of providing higher margin to its retailer and by keeping the distribution channel short. Bonding with public at large Cadbury believes in giving back to the society and it has started programs like Akshaya Patra, Sarvam, Make-A- Wish, Sahyog and many more in the field of education. By starting these programs and encouraging its employees to participate in the same Cadbury is trying to build an emotional bond not only with its customer but also with its suppliers, employees and distributors. Cadbury

at its factories at 5 different locations have been working to optimally utilize its resources and wherever possible use environmental friendly resources. There is a video that Cadbury had made after the worm fiasco. This video was a big source of motivation for the employees, channel partners and other stakeholders of Cadbury. The video was attached to the presentation.