Brands
Spencer’s to finalise e-commerce plan next fiscal, aims to increase private labels
KOLKATA: RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Spencer’s Retail aims to finalise its e-commerce plan by April next fiscal (2015-16). Spencer’s Retail sector head Shashwat Goenka confirmed that prices at the brick and mortar stores and the e-commerce would be the same once the company offers the product online in April.
Additionally, Spencer’s Retail, a CESC subsidiary, also said that it has decided to augment and increase its private labels, mostly in food and apparels.
“We would freeze the e-commerce business model within next couple of months and implement it over a time period. We are likely to begin with a few categories of products for our on-line store,” Goenka said in Kolkata on Friday.
To make a differentiation and to cut down logistics cost, the company would depend on local sourcing more than pan-India collection. “In West Bengal, we are focusing on local food items including varieties of fish and rice,” he said.
It should be noted that within a short span of its operation, Spencer’s has become a family store since it offers regional flavours in the product vertical. “Spencer’s has decided to stress more on local sourcing and bring in regional flavours in the product baskets,” Goenka said.
Talking about the plans for apparel section, he said, “In the apparel segment, we are looking for a new sourcing point in Kerala. We have developed seven apparel brands including men’s, women’s, kids and sports wear.”
The retail chain is also looking to expand its chain but mainly through large-format in the range of above 25,000 square feet, said Goenka, explaining that all these efforts were geared to make Spencer’s profitable.
Speaking about the company’s expansion strategy, Goenka said that Spencer’s would focus on expanding in the eastern and southern markets of the country. “We would also be present in the north, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region,” he said.
However, western region will continue to see a token presence in Gujarat.
In the next fiscal 2015-16, Spencer’s is looking at commanding a presence in 12 – 15 large format hyper stores, with a majority of stores being in the eastern and southern regions.
Currently, Spencer’s has around 125 stores in 36 cities including 33 hyper stores. The total store area now stands at over one million square-feet.
For expansion, Spencer’s would spend approximately Rs 3 -5 crore for each hyper store. When asked about the funding for expansion, Goenka said, “CESC, our parent company, would fund the projects.”
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
