Saturday, April 9, 2016

Brand Factory-the worthy successor to Loot?

In Mar-16, I read about Brand Factory( A Kishore Biyani led venture) claiming better prices on apparel as compared to the big online platforms of Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. An analysis of this is below, which attributes the pricing ability to selling off season merchandise which is in limited supply.
http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/47399_Flip-the-Kart-Amaz-Off-Snap-the-Deal-Says-Future-Groups-Brand-Factory

Yesterday, I noticed a Gudi Padwa(Harvest season in Maharashtra) sale offering 60% off on sports wear. Needing a new pair of sports shoes, I was however skeptical about the tactic of 'upto' which usually means the maximum discount on crappy merchandise with other normal discounts on rest.W When I visited the store at Sobo Mall however, I was astonished. There were discounts on even Nike, Puma and other reputed brands, and not just private label. The stock being a year old, is compensated by the steep 60%(or net of VAT, 55%) discount that I obtained.

Also, unlike a typical deep discounter with poor service, the service personnel in the outlet were EXTREMELY helpful, on part with any brick and mortar store. Also, the shopping experience is on par with a Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Westside or Pantaloons, which often keep the same brands.

As the below article might lead to infer-discount stores are dead, long live the discount stores
http://www.outlookbusiness.com/strategy/feature/end-of-discount-stores-1675

The So-What
Kishore Biyani seems regaining his mojo with Future Consumer Products riding the Patanjali wave, and now with this tasteful store which is seemingly not bleeding cash. So will be interesting to see what next

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