Radicals- Group B2- Source- Economic times & Mint

 

Reebok India plans to launch a new retail format

Tue, Jan 29 2013. 09 15 PM IST, Source Mint                       

By- Utsav Joshi

Reebok India last year had a major setback wherein financial irregularities to the tune of Rs.870 crores were surfaced. This led to exit of its top management and many employees were taken into custody. This had a negative impact on the financials of Reebok India and the image of the brand.

In order to revamp itself, the Indian unit of Reebok, the sportswear brand owned by Adidas AG, plans to launch a new retail format that will entail greater interaction with customers, seeking to reinforce its presence in a country.

The new retail format will be called ‘FIT HUB’ and the advertisement campaign will be billed ‘LIVE WITH FIRE’.

Reebok wants to position itself as a Fitness Focussed brand. The new store would be a place where consumers can come and not only find the right products but also get advice about what the right fitness regime for them would be, the right gym to go to etc. By end of 2013, it plans to open 50 concept stores.

Through this model, Reebok wants to have a more deep relationship with narrow group of consumers.

Implications: In order to revamp its market, Reebok India wants to target consumers who are fitness focussed, rather than going for mass audience. In order to retain consumers, they plan to build strong relationship with them through these concept stores.

 

Toyota to recall 752,000 Corollas in US for airbag problems

30 Jan, 2013, 01.10PM IST, Reuters

By- Kaushik Narayan

Review:- This article talks about Toyota Motor Corp who are going to  recall 1.1 million cars globally for defects which includes airbag and wiper malfunction this figure includes  752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the United States . The airbag problems have caused minor injuries and till now 18 cases have been reported. The main reason for this is an IC chip in the airbag control unit can malfunction when it receives electrical interference from other cars, causing the airbags to deploy when it is not necessary. The problem can be rectified by adding an electrical signal filter to the airbag control module of the recalled vehicles -- repairs expected to take an hour to hour-and-a-half. Although the company did not disclose the costs involved. Another defect was in the wiper of few models of Toyota such as lexus ls .This problem can be rectified with the use of  wiper arm nut of the front wiper in these vehicles which can  be tightened  and make the wiper efficient enough to  work under certain weather occasions, including in snow. Toyota is expected to exchange the nut in repairs that will take about 30 minutes.

Implications:- There are two implications here one is that the quality circle test which has changed in Toyota is not up to the mark, earlier the company used to  test the car by rating the car with the help of 100 engineers who rated the car and then 30 executives who took the final decision. This system was scrapped out and now only 30 executives are used for testing quality of the car. Second implication is that Toyota wants to prove that they are ready to rectify their mistake by providing 30 minute repair service for the above mentioned problems.

Prada said to be in  talks for India entry

By:- Jacob joseph

Italian luxury fashion brand Prada SpA is in talks with various prospective partners for an India entry and has even scoped out the market in advance of this. But finding the right retail space may prove to be difficult. Sellers of luxury products are seeking to move out of developed markets that have been hit by global economic uncertainty and find new buyers in emerging economies. According to an October 2012 report by Euromonitor, the value of luxury goods sold in India was pegged at $2.18 billion (around Rs.11,660 crore) in 2011, and is expected to rise to $7 billion by 2017.

Prada is one of the top few luxury brands that doesn’t have a retail presence in India. Globally, it competes with brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and specializes in men and women’s clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories.

Real estate is one of the stumbling blocks for Prada. “It’s a brand that Indian consumers are definitely aware of. They do shop for this brand outside India,” said Neelesh Hundekari, a partner at consultancy AT Kearney.

Nokia, Samsung, Sony are India’s most-trusted brands

Wed, Jan 30 2013. 12 10 PM IST, Source: Mint

By:- Sangeeta keni

Nokia, Samsung and Sony are India’s three most-trusted brands this year, according to the Brand Trust Report 2013.

Nokia leads the ranking for the third straight year, while Samsung and Sony have climbed two positions from last year to occupy the second and third slots.

BMW has made significant progress, climbing 20 ranks to become India’s fourth most-trusted brand. Tata slipped three positions to fifth after being in the second place in the previous two years. Godrej is India’s sixth most-trusted brand, having moved up five ranks from last year, and Reliance ranks seventh having gained three positions over 2012.

Bajaj slipped to number eight from the seventh position in the previous year, Airtel maintained its position at number nine and LG is India’s 10th most-trusted brand, losing seven ranks from last year.

The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2013, is the third in its series and this year the report lists 1,100 most-trusted brands in India across 211 categories.

The report, released on Tuesday, includes primary research based on 61 attributes called the brand trust matrix. The research was conducted among 2,505 influencer-respondents from 16 cities and generated more than three million data points.