Brands
Vodafone launches global design store
MUMBAI: Vodafone has launched a global design store in Kanpur. It is a one-stop-shop with exclusive service counters on 4G, M-Pesa, Vodafone Red & Self Service Kiosk. It provides live and engaging experience of Vodafone’s wide variety of products & services.
The store’s core services include:
• 4G Zone: 4G Zone offers customers an interactive experience to explore and discover a world of data services on the mobile phone.
• Vodafone Red Zone: An all-in-one, integrated, worry-free solution, exclusively for postpaid retail and enterprise customers
• Self Service Kiosk: A facility, where customers can drop by to pay their bills or recharge their plans with any amount at any given point in time
• M-Pesa Zone: Convenient service to transfer money across geographies and make payments.
• Zoo Zoo Merchandise: Customers can choose from a wide range of merchandise such as Vodafone Zoo Zoo dolls, mugs etc from the Take me Home section.
• Go Post-Paid Zone: Get instant post-paid connections activated through KYC.
With the increasing use of smart phones, mobile internet and new technologies, the customer is evolving at a fast pace. To provide this customer with an interactive, convenient and satisfactory service experience, Vodafone India introduced its Global Design Store in Kanpur.
Customers will be offered an array of services through special designated zones such as 4G Zone to discover and experience mobile internet, Vodafone Red Zone; – all-in one post-paid service, m-pesa Zone a unique mobile money transfer service, Self Service Kiosk; a facility for bill payment and recharge service, Vodafone Red Box; to enable customers to transfer content from an existing handset to a new age smart phone for free.
Vodafone India business head – Uttar Pradesh (East), Nipun Sharma, said, “The consumer has always been at the heart of everything we do. Vodafone is at the forefront to introduce innovative concepts, products and services that enrich the lives of our customers. Hence, keeping in mind the trend of increasing smart phone penetration and mobile internet usage, we have taken an innovative approach in retail design. The Global Design Store with an easy and simple design, welcoming and engaging staff will provide a one-stop shop experience platform for our customers.”
The new Vodafone Global Design Store retail concept is designed and equipped to be warm and customer friendly, to meet the evolving needs and expectations of the customers. The store offers live and engaging retail experience of Vodafone’s wide range of products and services. This store has been specifically adapted and customized after testing and validating a full suite of customer insights, which are relevant to customer needs in India.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
