VORACIOUS READERS Group A4 Source 4P's 2/1/13

Can Monte Carlo beat the johnny-come-latelys?

1. ·         850-crore brand owned by the Ludhiana-based Nahar group.
2. ·         Known mainly for it strong presence in the woollens segment.
3. ·         The pioneer knitwear brand in the country has moved on to straddle other apparel segments catering to women, youth and kid’s wear.
4. ·         Seeking to transform itself into a complete solutions provider for all our clothing needs.
5. ·         Kid’s wear category constitutes over 15% of the overall apparel market in the country and is currently worth Rs.38000 crore and growing at an annual growth rate of 11%, according to retail consultancy Technopak.
6. ·         Winter wear still accounts for almost 75% of the company’s total sales, which stood at Rs.400 crore for the year ended March 31, 2012.
7. ·         The company plans to change the ratio and take its share of non-woollen wear to 50% in the next five years.
8. ·         Brand extension strategy- christened its kid’ wear brand as ‘Tween Monte Carlo’ and embodying it with the core values of quality, innovation and trendiness.
9. ·         Monte Carlo’s latest foray is not going to be easy, brands like Lilliput (largest player with an estimated market share of 14.3%), Giny & Jony (market share 11%), Catmoss (market share 7%), Mom & Me, Li’l Tomatoes are some of the better-known players dominating the market.
10. ·         To avoid pitfalls, Monte Carlo is making sure that its brand extension into kid’s wear is supported with adequate branding.
11. ·         The company is working to set up a separate manufacturing unit for kids clothing, and also intends to target its TG in the metros and tier 1 cities where kids and youngsters are avid consumers and make their own purchasing decisions.
12. ·         Major competition it would face will be from retailers like Pantaloons.
13. ·         The company plans to unleash a 360 degree promotional activity to help it gain visibility and attract its target audience. In line with this strategy they plan to spend significantly higher this fiscal on marketing and advertising than the Rs. 26.5 crore it spent last year.
14. ·         Good advertising and marketing strategy in place along with a strong positioning of the brand, Monte Carlo appears to be moving along well on the path to becoming a complete solutions provider for meeting the apparel needs of the Indian family.

• I have been informed by many about TAM manipulation!

·         TAM has been criticised for low sample size

·         The sample size should be increased by 300-400% from the current sample size

·         More than the sample size, the representation matters, since India is a country with wide demographic differences

·         India is diverse for two main reasons- first being the rural –urban population and second because of the geographical locations

·         The current sample size is not inadequate, it is just that India is too diverse and too heterogeneous for the sample size to be sufficient

·         The industry expects a new rating system for TV viewership which would be more representative in nature

·         The industry requires a real time information about viewership, as of now, the data is received every Wednesday

·         The TAM data should be strong, third party inbuilt audit should be performed

·         More level of confidentiality and protection of data is very important

·         Violators should be punished ruthlessly

·          There was a case 10 years back when TAM ratings were leaked

·         Develop an absolute ‘Zero level tolerance’ to manipulation

•  Who is the smartest of them all?

Numbers don’t lie about the present, but can lie when viewed in isolation and be very misleading. Nokia has learned hard ways as it went from the near denomination of the Indian mobile handset market from 80%   share to a situation where it is desperately fighting to defend every inch of share. And apparently it is fighting a losing battle.  Samsung and Micromax have climbed up to no. 2 and  no. 3 spots with the market share of 25.3% and 6.3% respectively according to Voice and Data 2011-2012 respectively. Nokia meanwhile had 38.2% market share with a fall of 8% yoy in the same period. In fact Gartner research reveals that Samsung market share rose from 15% to 49.8% in Q2 FY2011-2012. And with this growth rate it would reach a whopping 60% by the end of 2012.

When it comes to smartphones, blackberry currently has a lead with 12.3 %   market share. Beaten by Samsung 40.3% and Nokia   25.5%, reveals a Cyber Media Research, In FY 2011-12 both Micromax and RIM registered a fall in revenue by 14% and 25%  respectively. Karbon’s revenue soared by nearly 32% to Rs. 13.3 billion and HTC’s by a triple digit growth of 105 % to reach Rs.9.32 billion. Micromax and Karbon are looking to make deep quick inroads while HTC AND Blackberry have just about the opposite approach.

India would become nation of sales boys, sales girls: Jaitley

New Delhi: Claiming that the government’s argument for allowing FDI in multi-brand retail sector was based on “deception, concocted figures” and “exaggerated horror situations”, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the entry of big foreign corporations in the sector would make India a “nation of sales boys and sales girls”.

“The big stores that would be opened would be owned by the American or British companies, the goods would be of Chinese origin while India would become a nation of sales boys and sales girls,” Jaitley said during the debate on AIADMK’s motion seeking the withdrawal of the decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.