Spencer's Retail goes on-ground to attract footfalls

Spencer's Retail, the multiformat retail chain owned by the RPG Group, has turned to below-the-line activities to increase footfalls in its stores. The company has identified two consumer segments that are key to influencing the family – women and children.

With a particular focus on children, Spencer's initiated the Good to Grow programme, which conducts theme based activities in schools every month. The programme has reached about 80,000 children in 150 schools across six cities. Recently, Spencer's concluded the month long second phase of the programme on Children's Day on November 14.

Speaking to afaqs!, Giri Manish, head, alliances and activation, Spencer's Retail, says, “As a retailer, we are a national brand, but we have to service customers locally, according to their requirements. Therefore, an above-the-line campaign works only to an extent and below-the-line initiatives serve our purpose better.”

The Good to Grow programme is targeted at children under the age of 10 years, who attend primary school. “A school gives us density under one roof to reach a large number of children,” explains Manish. Since the activity is carried out over a couple of days, this creates brand identification in the parents' minds as well, he adds.

“Spencer's wanted to give back to society through this programme, through the children,” says Atul Nath, managing director of Candid Marketing, the agency which executed the activity.

The Children's Day programme consisted of an activity in which children were asked to draw their favourite toy. The best pictures were awarded gifts such as discount vouchers at Spencer's.

For this activity, the company also tied up with an NGO, Mobile Creches, which helps the children of daily labourers. The schoolchildren were made aware of the needs of underprivileged children and asked to donate a toy to them or an unused sketch book.

In the first phase of the programme in September, Spencer's conducted an activity around Teacher's Day, in which children were asked to draw their favourite teacher. The most popular teachers received gift vouchers from Spencer's and its partners.

Around 36,000 submissions were collected from children as a result of these activities.

Other sponsors and partners were also involved in the programme. These included Max New York Life, which conducted a lead-generation activity. Spencer's also had trading partners such as ITC, Cargill Foods and Bush Foods.

At an event in Kolkata, where actor Aparna Sen was also present (Sen has been associated with Mobile Creches), Spencer’s presented the toys to the NGO and Bush Foods made a monetary donation.

The Good to Grow programme will conduct another activity in January 2009, says Manish, but doesn't disclose any further details.


For women, Spencer's has a programme called At Home with Spencer's. As part of this, the company organises regular workshops on subjects such as health, cooking and interior décor in residential apartments. Experts share their views at these workshops and the women are encouraged to share theirs.

Spencer's Retail has 400 stores across 66 cities in India and claims to receive around 4.5 million customers a month.

visit: http://www.afaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=22979

Spencer's launches international apparel brand Beverley Hills Polo Club

Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Vice Chairman of the Rs. 13500 crore RPG Enterprises, announced on Friday (14th November) that it’s retailing arm, Spencer’s Retail Limited, has signed an exclusive tie-up with BHPC International LLC, which owns the world-renowned apparel brand Beverly Hills Polo Club also known as BHPC. The announcement was made during a press conference held at The Grand, New Delhi. The conference was followed by a fashion show wherein popular models like Joey Mathews, Poonam Nath, Amanpreet Wahi, Aanchal Oberoi and Gunita walked the ramp showcasing the range of the global apparel brand. Also present at the launch event was BHPC International LLC’s Founder and Managing Director, Eli Haddad.

Giving an outline of the potent fashion industry in India, Mr. Sanjiv Goenka said “BHPC covers a wide range of lifestyle clothing for men and women. Fashion has been a significant segment in the evolution of Indian retail industry, not due to its size but the way it has influenced lifestyle. It was apparel that led multi-national brands to explore and invest in the Indian market, which set the ball rolling towards organized retailing. And now with the Indian consumer’s "LOOK GOOD - FEEL GOOD" attitude, fashion offers huge potential for deeper penetration into the Indian markets.”

Beverly Hills Polo Club® evokes casual, relaxed yet affluent and elegant Southern Californian lifestyle. It presents product categories in-tune with its image viz, T-Shirts, polo’s, sweat shirt & sweat pants, causal shirt & trousers, denims, winterwear, eyewear and watches for men and women. Formal shirts & trousers are an added category in the menswear segment. BHPC is very strategically developed by Spencer’s for the Indian market with fine product attributes that makes fashion, affordable.

Referring to the growing importance of fashion in Spencer’s retail business, Mr. Goenka said that the tie-up with BHPC LLC is the culmination of a world-wide search to secure for the Indian youth, a fashion brand that complement their lifestyle. “Beverly Hills brand epitomizes a refined comfort and stylish elegance for today’s successful and confident Indian youth”. Fashion currently contributes 10 % to the company’s revenue which is expected to increase to 25 – 30% in the years to follow.

The retail chain boasts of an extensive fashion section which has other internationally acclaimed brands for men, women and children. This range covers formal wear, casual wear, evening wear and active / sports wear. Spencer’s also has an extensive private label program in fashion which include established names like Mark Nicolas, Island Monks, Asankhya, etc. (please see below for the entire list) . The fashion strategy is to address need gaps in the fashion business in the Indian market, as well as create niches with specialized merchandise relevant to the target segment.

Mr. Sanjiv Goenka confirmed that the BHPC range will be available in a large number of Spencer’s stores which are currently located in 66 Indian cities.

“We are very happy with our association with the BHPC brand. BHPC is globally acclaimed as an aspirational lifestyle brand which commensurate with our new brand proposition – Taste the World – which embodies the best that the world has to offer to our consumers. This is yet another initiative by Spencer’s to differentiate itself by bringing new and exciting products and experiences to the evolving Indian consumers.”

Mr. Goenka added.

The first BHPC store at Spencer’s, Gurgaon, MGF Megacity Mall follows the Exclusive Branded outlet concept over an area of 1000sq.ft, with merchandize ranging from Rs.399/- to Rs.1499/-. Over the next three months, Spencer’s will dedicate about 12000 sq.ft space to the brand and target a turnover of Rs.1 crore, a month. It also plans to set up three standalone stores of an average 1500 sq.ft over the same period. The first standalone store is likely to come up in New Delhi by early next year.

List of Spencer’s private label brands in fashion:

Brand

Description

Island Monks

Men and women casual wear

Mark Nicolas

Men and women formal wear

Scorez

Men and women sportswear

Detailz

Men and women basic

Asankhya

Men and women ethic and fusion wear

Puddles

Infant ( 0 - 2 years)

Little Devils

Kids ( 2 - 14 years)

U n I

fashion Accessories - bags, junk jewellery, leather items, belts etc

Mark Nicolas

Men formal footwear

La Bonita

Women fashion footwear

- End -

About Spencer’s Retail Limited

Spencer’s Retail Limited, part of the Rs 13,500 crores RPG Enterprises, is a multi-format food-first retailer providing the widest range and assortment of products to its key consumer segment of female, SEC A in the age group of 25 – 34. The organization runs 400 stores, including about 32 large format stores across 66 cities in India, focusing on verticals like food and grocery, fruit and vegetables, electrical and electronics, home and office essentials, garments and fashion accessories, toys, food and personal care, music, books and mobility solutions, the later three forming part of specialty retail division.

Spencers is one of the earliest entrants into the retail space and literally introduced the Indian consumer to the concept of organized retailing. In fact, the first ever hyper store in India was launched by Spencers at Hyderabad in the year 2000. The journey onwards has been one of the most aggressive of all the retail players in India. In the last financial year, Spencers increased their stores from 150 to 400 with a target of expanding by 300 more this year. It employs over 12000 professionals who are specially trained to live up to the consumer needs and the business objectives of the organization. Spencers is on a high growth path with a target of Rs. 1500 crores sales turnover by the end of the current financial year.

Spencer’s was awarded the Turnaround Retailer of the year 2006 at the India Retailers Forum, 2007 in Mumbai And the “Most Evolved Retailer of the year 2007 at the same forum this year.

Media Contact:

Shakuntala Sarkar,

Manager, Corporate Communications

Email: s_sarkar@spencersretail.com

Mob: + 91 97487 73132

visit: http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/retail/2008111815587.htm

Spencers Retail plans more dining options

Business Standard - September 26, 2008

The food and bakeries section of the flagship food and grocery retail chain Spencer's, a part of the RPG enterprises, is looking at expanding its number of restaurants in exclusive tie ups with food chain outlets.

Within the next two to three months the retail player, in a tie up with eatery outlets, will expand in its food and bakery business.

Spencer's in partnership with Sankalp, specialising in Gujrati thali food, Rajdhani specialising in Indian authentic cuisine, Yo China, another fast food outlet specialising in Chinese cuisine and Singapore based Bread Talk will set up such a chain of outlets.

Sources close to the company said, that the outlets will follow a pattern like the one used in the recently opened eatery in Kolkata, under the brand name Orientum.

The outlets will be opened in Bangalore, Chandigarh and Baroda. All the outlets will be of a large sized format spread across an area of approximately 2500-5000 sq feet requiring an investment of Rs 1 crore by the partner, while the flooring, basic infrastructure and decoration is to be provided by Spencer's, as a part of the tie up.

The retail major is also in talks with McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Mainland China for opening such large format restaurants and as soon as the space required for setting up the outlet was selected, work would start.

With the expansion of the sub leased business, the company is eyeing a turnover of Rs 50 crore this year from the bakery and food services segment of Spencer's.

Food Courts which are a part of all Spencer's hyper outlets delivering a very high and good margin to its business, is expected to contribute about 35 per cent to the company's total turnover this year.

Spencer's currently has 160 shop in shop bakeries and food courts in the country.

visit: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=335525

Spencers Retail on course to expand rapidly

RPG Group’s Spencer’s Retail, one of the early entrants in Indian retail business, is on an expansion spree to take on its peers. The company is planning to invest Rs.3500 crore in its retail business during the next 3 years and also come out with a Rs.1000 crore IPO by next year.

The group operates under 5 retail segments – Spencer’s Hyper, Super, Daily, Express and Fresh. It expects to have retail sales of Rs.10000 crore in next 5 years. Apart from it, there are other retail outlets such as Music World, Books and Beyond, RPG Cellcom and Health and Glow. Apart from expansion, it is also renovating its existing stores.

Spencer’s Retail has also merged its power company CESC with Pathik Retail, the holding company of Spencer’s Retail, to draw synergies owing to different cashflow requirements of both the companies.

The company’s hypermarket chain Spencer’s Hyper would increase outlets from 11 to 60 within three years. It is not positioned as a discount store and besides 30000 products offers services like Insurance, health check, personal loans, travel assistance, live kitchens and specialty foods.

The supermarket chain, Spencer’s Super would go up from 6 to 20 by 2008. the smaller formats - Daily, Express and Fresh - would go upto 600 by 2008. The total number of all its retail outlets would grow from 400 to 2000 stores by 2009 and 5,000 stores by 2011.

visit: http://www.labnol.org/india/corporate/spencers-retail-on-course-to-expand-rapidly/729/

The Financial Express - Feb 01, 2008

Spencer's Retail, part of the RPG Group, said it will invest Rs 2,500 crore to ramp up its total number of stores by 2010.

"We will invest Rs 1,000 crore by March 2009 and another Rs 1,500 crore by 2010," RPG Group Vice-Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said, while inaugurating a Spencer's hyper store.

Spencer's is a subsidiary of RPG's power company CESC Ltd, after the merger of Spencer's holding company with the power utility.

Goenka said he has not yet decided the route to raise resources for the expansion. However, the company was open to all options, including private placement and public offer.

He said Spencer's has achieved Rs 100 crore sales per month and this would go up to Rs 250 crore per month in 2008-09.

Currently, there are 400 Spencer's stores across 60 cities in the country with a total area of 1.5 million sq ft, which gets annual footfall of 48 million people.

The company plans to add 30 to 40 stores per month to take on the competition.

Spencer's Retail has several formats, Spencer's Express, Daily, Super and hyper depending on the location.

Other RPG's retail brand stores include, RPG Cellucom, Books & Beyond, and Music World. Total retail stores of RPG's retail brands is 630.

visit: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Spencers-Retail-to-invest-Rs-2500-cr/267887/

The Financial Express - Jul 18, 2008

Spencer’s Retail Ltd, part of the Rs 13,500-crore RPG Group, is all set to re-brand its small retail format stores from “Spencer’s Daily” and “Spencer’s Express” to Spencer’s and relocate some of the stores to newer locations due to poor demand. On the other hand, plans are also on the anvil to focus on setting up 75 large-format hypermarkets in India by March 2010, Samar S Sheikhawat, vice-president - marketing, Spencer’s Retail told FE.

According to Sheikhawat, “With this move, Spencer’s Retail Ltd will now have only two retail formats. It includes, “Spencer’s” for small-format retail stores with an area size of 2,000 sqft to 10,000 sqft, and, “Spencer’s Hyper” with over 40,000 sqft for hypermarkets.” Currently, Spencer’s Retail Ltd runs 368 supermarkets, including 32 large-format stores.” As for the rationale behind the move, Sheikhawat explained, “It has been observed that rentals for large size properties are seen falling by about 40% in the metros, as the prices are now becoming negotiable. Hence, it is affordable to lease out larger properties for setting up hypermarkets than expanding more small-format stores. We have recently relocated Spencer’s supermarket store in Kolkata, Kerala and Hyderabad. Other cities too will witness similar trend.” By the year-end, Spencer’s Retail plans to set up a 70,000-sqft hypermarket at Thane and at Vasai. Sheikhawat said, these properties were signed even before Spencer’s hypermarket was launched at Malad.

Spencer’s Retail now plans to double the number of private label brands from 5,000 to 10,000 as private labels has contributed 15% of the 25% to Spencer’s Retail’s overall sales turnover in the past 18-20 months, he informed.

Sheikhawat added, “In order to combat rising inflationary trends, we are planning to start home meal replacement (HMR), a new take-away meal trend at Spencer’s hypermarket apart from launching ‘Innovative promotions’ such as food festivals -Thai, Brazilian among others. Plans are on the anvil to start at home contact programme for women, apart from contact programme for school children in order to promote various kids competitions as well.”

visit: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Spencers-set-to-rebrand-small-retail-format-stores/337209/