Indian franchising Industry

Despite the global recession and the economic uncertainty in India, the franchising industry grew promisingly at 20 per cent.
The industry saw some changes in franchise-franchisor relations and the franchising process during this period.
A change was also seen in the categories franchisers preferred to do business. Categories such as education, quick service restaurants and services retail (salons, fitness centres and so on) were preferred. Some brands such as KidZee, Adidas, Raymonds and McDonald’s have franchised 100 per cent of their stores.
Franchising models have also changed because of the economic conditions. Sales responsibility is being shifted to the franchisees, with minimum guarantees being replaced by sales incentives.
On the part of retailers and brands, franchising has posed to be a profitable venture because of the promised return on the capital invested, and at the same time, lower costs on monitoring and running the store.

Prescription eyewear market in India

The prescription eyewear market in the country was estimated to be Rs 1,350 crore in 2009.
In volume terms, the market is estimated to be around 25 to 30 million units a year.
The prescription eyewear market is growing at 15 to 20 per cent a year.
The market is highly fragmented, with the unorganised sector accounting for nearly 95 per cent share.
Although there are strong regional players like GKB, Saberi’s and so on, barring Lawrence & Mayo and Titan Eye+, there are no major pan-India brands in this category.
Despite the presence of global lens brands like Essilor in India, customers typically leave the choice of lens to the optician.

Food services Market - India

The Indian food services market was estimated to be $6 billion (Rs 26,000 crore) in 2008.
Organised players take up 13 per cent of this segment.
By 2014, the share of organised players is projected to increase to 27per cent.
This market can be categorised into cafés (such as Café Coffee Day and Barista), full-service restaurants, fast-food outlets/quick-service restaurants (such as McDonald’s and KFC) and street stalls/kiosks.
Of the overall share of these four categories in the organised segment, fast-food outlets/quick- service restaurants take up almost half the market at 47 per cent.
While the overall market is expected to grow at 10-11 per cent a year, the organised market is expected to grow at a much higher 25-30 per cent.

KRAFT in India

The country will be the new battleground for the world’s largest and second largest food companies
Kraft’s $19.7-billion acquisition of Cadbury Plc pits the world’s second-largest food company against its arch rival Nestle, the world’s largest player in the organised food space, in a market like India, which is an important one for most food companies today.
Till the Cadbury acquisition, Kraft had no meaningful presence in the country despite its best efforts to find a foothold here. At the moment, Kraft has a sales support office in Gurgaon, which it set up some four years ago after entering into a distribution agreement with two companies — Universal Corporation and Barkat Foods & Tobacco — to push three products, powdered flavoured drink Tang, chocolate brand Toblerone and biscuit brand Oreo. Of the lot, the most visible product is Tang with four flavours — Orange, Mango, Pineapple and Lemon — in both satchets and pouches.
A Tang satchet, for instance, costs Rs 4, while a 200-gram and 500-gram pouch costs Rs 35 and Rs 80 respectively. There are additional flavours as well such as grape variant, which is available via grey channels. A Kraft official says that Tang is positioned as a mass-market product in India. That is not the case with Toblerone or Oreo, he says, which are priced at Rs 50 for a 50-gram pack and Rs 45 for a 100-gram pack respectively. “The latter are premium products,” he adds.
The Cadbury acquisition, however, will give Kraft instant access to the mass-market chocolate and confectionery segment in India, helping it seal its presence at both the mass and premium ends of the spectrum. Cadbury, for the record, has a 70 per cent share in the overall chocolate market in India.
Moreover, Kraft will utilise Cadbury’s existing distribution network to push its own allied products such as Kraft cheese, say industry insiders. Indians, especially those with one or more members working in the Gulf, are familiar with the blue-coloured circular box that has the picture of a cow on it. Kraft cheese has been circulating in India through grey channels for long. The company, say industry observers, is likely to leverage this familiarity that Indians have for the product by quickly launching it in India.
This in a sense would mark its foray into the dairy products space — a market that is growing fast in India. Kraft, say industry insiders, has no desire to waste time in tapping the market potential that exists across segments of the food chain. So biscuits, snacks, confectionery, chocolates, dairy products, flavoured drinks are areas where its attention will be focused.
Analysts, however, say Kraft may find the going tough in the foods space in India. While giants such as Hindustan Unilever has been struggling with its foods business for long, there is enough competition already.
Nestle, for one, has had a presence in India for over four decades now with products in four categories — milk products and nutrition, beverages, prepared dishes & cooking aids and chocolates & confectionery. Groupe Danone, the world's largest yoghurt maker, on the other hand, formed a joint venture with Yakult Honsha Company of Japan in 2005-06, to launch its probiotic products in the country. At the moment, the company has Yakult, a pro-biotic health drink, endorsed by Bollywood actress Kajol, in the marketplace.
GSK Consumer Healthcare, another key player in the food & beverage space, has also been in India for long with products such as Boost, Horlicks, Maltova and Viva. It recently forayed into nutri bars under the Horlicks brand in addition to biscuits, which it did so in 2005. Then there are Heinz and Unilever with their portfolio of products in ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, cooking aids, beverages etc.
This is not to forget domestic foods companies like Amul which have aggressive plans in the food space and have a considerable market share already.

Source - Business Standard

Global Retailing scenario and Indian retail

Introduction -

Retail means selling goods and services in small quantities directly to customers. Retailing consists of all activities involved in marketing of goods and services directly to consumer for their personal, family and household use.
The Indian retailing industry is becoming intensely competitive, as more and more players are vying for the same set of customers. Although still at a nascent stage, organized retailing in India is witnessing a radical transformation. The increase in the number of retail chains across the country is an indication that organized retailing is emerging as an industry and will boom in a big way in the near future.
Retailing is one of the biggest sectors and it is witnessing a revolution in India. The new entrant in retailing in India signifies the beginning of retail revolution. The Windows of Opportunity shows that Retailing in India was at opening stage in 1995 and now it is in peaking stage in 2006. India shows a retail market of US$330 billion that is expected to grow 10% a year, with modern retailing just beginning.

The Indian Retail Scene
India is a country having one of the most unorganized retail markets. Traditionally it is a family’s livelihood, with their shop in the front and house at the back, while they run the retail business. More than 99% retailers function in less than 500 square feet of shopping space. The Indian retail sector is estimated at around Rs 900,000 crore, of which the organized sector accounts for a mere 2 per cent indicating a huge potential market opportunity that is lying in the waiting for the consumer-savvy organized retailer. Purchasing power of Indian urban consumer is growing and branded merchandise in categories like Apparels, Cosmetics, Shoes, Watches, Beverages, Food and even Jewellery, are slowly becoming lifestyle products that are widely accepted by the urban Indian consumer. Indian retailers need to take advantage of this growth and aim to grow, diversify and introduce new formats and have to pay more attention to the brand building process. The emphasis here is on retail as a brand rather than retailers selling brands. The focus should be on branding the retail business itself. In their preparation to face fierce competitive pressure, Indian retailers must come to recognize the value of building their own stores as brands to reinforce their marketing positioning, to communicate quality as well as value for money. Sustainable competitive advantage will be dependent on translating core values combining products, image and reputation into a coherent retail brand strategy. There is no doubt that the Indian retail scene is booming. A number of large corporate houses — Tata’s, Raheja’s, Piramals’s, Goenka’s — have already made their foray into this arena, with beauty and health stores, supermarkets, self-service music stores, newage book stores, every-day-low-price stores, computers and peripherals stores, office equipment stores and home/building construction stores. Every retail category has been attacked, by the organized players today. The Indian retail scene has witnessed too many players in too short a time, crowding several categories without looking at their core competencies, or having a well thought out branding strategy. To illustrate, the Indianlifestyle/fashion retail scene is already exhibiting the following characteristics, which do not augur well for its future.

Lack of store differentiation: Leading retail stores like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Ebony, Globus, and Pyramid, offer common brands, similar ambience, and a commitment to improved service. Where is the scope for differentiation and brand building?

Merchandising muddle: Some retailers have still been able to maintain their ground in the market inspite of the arrival of new entrants. This is because these retailers exploit what they know best — what the customer wants with regard to product, selection and price — and ensure their customers do not go back disappointed. Consumer insights built over their years of Experience in business is helping them to hold the fort against the onslaught of the new players on the horizon. India’s cultural diversity poses additional challenges to the merchandisers requiring them to be aware of local tastes and to be able to compete with the local retailer in terms of market knowledge and speed of response. While technology and systems are no doubt enablers, there can be little substitute for experience and insight.

Lack of labels/suppliers: Organized Indian retailing has to face the situation of lack of professional suppliers who are accustomed to deadlines, systematic in their production and consistent with their quality. Often, the local suppliers do not have financial strength or production infrastructure or discipline. Indian merchandisers are forced to compromise due to a true lack of choice — which leads to huge unsold stocks and reduced profitability to the retailers.

Discounting: Given widespread availability of the same brands, large retailers have to cope with the phenomenon of discounts offered by the smaller retailers. In a middle class dominated, price-sensitive market like India, price manipulation is a strong weapon in the arsenal of the small independent retailer. The large retailers themselves further dilute the strength of the retail market. Deep price cuts may not be the answer to maintain their relevance against the small retailers nor does it auger well for the brand building of the store.

Limited margins and high real estate costs: Cost of prime land for the retail store is prohibitive. Land prices in prime localities across the metros have themselves become a major deterrent to sustaining a profitable retailing model for organized players. A number of the new chains have therefore preferred to spread in smaller metros, hoping to offset lower revenue potential with lower real estate costs.

‘Time abundant’ consumers: In recent years, it would seem that the consumer has thrown the adage ‘time is money’ to the winds. The customer is willing to spend more time if he/she is getting a better deal. Scarcity of time seems to be the prerogative only of a few consumers.

Challenges of Retailing in India
In India the Retailing industry has a long way to go, and to become a truly flourishing industry, retailing needs to cross the following hurdles.
* The first challenge facing the organized retail sector is the competition from unorganized sector.
* In retail sector, Automatic approval is not allowed for foreign investment.
* Taxation, which favors small retail businesses.
* Developed supply chain and integrated IT management is absent in retail sector.
* Lack of trained work force.
* Low skill level for retailing management.
* Intrinsic complexity of retailing- rapid price changes, threat of product obsolescence and low margins.

Growth drivers in India for retail sector
o Rising incomes and improvements in infrastructure are enlarging consumer markets and accelerating the convergence of consumer tastes.
o Liberalization of the Indian economy
o Increase in spending Per capita Income.
o Advent of dual income families also helps in the growth of retail sector.
o Shift in consumer demand to foreign brands like McDonalds, Sony, Panasonic, etc.
o Consumer preference for shopping in new environs
o The Internet revolution is making the Indian consumer more accessible to the growing influences of domestic and foreign retail chains. Reach of satellite T.V. channels is helping in creating awareness about global products for local markets.
o About 47% of India's population is under the age of 20; and this will increase to 55% by 2015. This young population, which is technology-savvy, watch more than 50 TV satellite channels, and display the highest propensity to spend, will immensely contribute to the growth of the retail sector in the country.
o Availability of quality real estate and mall management practices
o Foreign companies' attraction to India is the billion-plus population.
Different Forms of Retailing: Emergence of new formats of retailing in India
Popular Formats
o Hyper marts
o Large supermarket
o Mini supermarkets
o Convenience store
o Discount/shopping list grocer
o Traditional retailers trying to reinvent by introducing self-service formats as well as value-added services such as credit, free home delivery etc.




The Indian retail sector can be broadly classified into:
a) Food Retailers
b) Health and beauty Products
c) Clothing and Footwear
d) Home Furniture & Household goods
e) Durable goods
f) Leisure & Personal Goods

Malls in India:
Over the last 2-3 years, the Indian consumer market has seen a significant growth in the number of modern-day shopping centers, popularly known as ‘malls’. There is an increased demand for quality retail space from a varied segment of large-format retailers and brands, which include food and apparel chains, consumer durables and multiplex operators.

Retail as an Employment Generator
The retail sector can generate huge employment opportunities, and can lead to job-led economic growth. In most major economies, ‘services’ form the largest sector for creating employment. The retail sector in India employs nearly 21 million people, accounting for roughly 6.7% of the total employment. However, employment in organized retailing is still very low, because of the small share of organized retail business in the total Indian retail trade. The share of organized retailing in India, at around 2%, is abysmally low, compared to 80% in the USA, 40% in Thailand, or 20% in China, thus leaving the huge market potential largely untapped. A modern retail/retail services sector has the potential of creating over 2 million new (direct) jobs within the next 6 years in the country (assuming only 8-10% share of organized retailing), according to Arvind Singhal, CMD, KSA Technopak. Retail can create as many new jobs as the BPO/ITES sector in India. A strong retail front-end can also provide the necessary fillip to agriculture & food processing, handicrafts, and small & medium manufacturing enterprises, creating millions of new jobs indirectly. Through its strong linkages with sectors like tourism and hospitality, retail has the potential of creating jobs in these sectors also.

The Global Retail Scenario
Retail has played a major role world over in increasing productivity across a wide range of consumer goods and services .The impact can be best seen in countries like U.S.A., U.K., Mexico, Thailand and more recently China. Economies of countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Dubai are also heavily assisted by the retail sector. Retail is the second-largest industry in the United States both in number of establishments and number of employees. It is also one of the largest world-wide. The retail industry employs more than 22 million Americans and generates more than $3 trillion in retail sale annually. Retailing is a U.S. $7 trillion sector. Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer. Already the world’s largest employer with over 1million associates, Wal-Mart displaced oil giant Exxon Mobil as the world’s largest
Company when it posted $219 billion in sales for fiscal 2001. Wal-Mart has become the most successful retail brand in the world due its ability to leverage size, market clout, and efficiency to create market dominance. Wal-Mart heads Fortune magazine list of top 500 companies in the world. Forbes Annual List of Billionaires has the largest number (45/497) from the retail business.


Global Retail V/s Indian Retail
Large format retail businesses dominate the retail landscape in the United States and across Europe, in terms of retail space, categories, range, brands, and volumes. Indian retail industry cannot hope to learn much by merely looking at the Western success stories in retail. Their scales of operations are very huge, the profit margins that they earn are also much higher and they operate in multiple formats like discount stores, warehouses, supermarkets, departmental stores, hyper-markets, convenience stores and specialty stores. The economy and lifestyle of the West is not in line with that of India and hence the retailing scene in India has not evolved in the same format as the West nor can we learn valuable lessons from their style of operations. In retailing, the conventional wisdom used to be, that, the critical success factor was location. But precise location no longer matters and geo-demographics are increasingly becoming irrelevant. The leading multiple chain retailers, superstores and malls create their own centers of gravity, attracting customers by car, bus, train or even by plane to wherever they are located. The following factors still pose a challenge for the Indian retailers:

Geographic saturation
The end of the nineties has signified a turning tide of retailer power. The limit to retail ambition is geographic saturation. Many retailers have started postponing their store expansion plans. The track record of some of their international store expansions is also not promising.

Category killer competition
The threat of saturation is accompanied by a new competition from the low cost category killers. Specialist competition is eating away at the market share and forcing down the prices and gross margins of the multiple chains.

Alternative shopping channels
The newest retail format that is showing growth and is more frightening for retailers than for consumers, is the internet. The potential for on-line shopping which is growing questions retailers’ investments in more physical sites and stores and makes it imperative that they too explore the new agenda of ‘E-retailing’ or ‘e-tailing’.

Conclusion
Many agencies have estimated differently about the size of organized retail market in 2010. The one thing that is common amongst these estimates is that Indian organized retail market will be very big in 2010.The current need of the hour in Indian Retail is developing a sound distribution channel and infrastructure. The status of the retail industry will depend mostly on external factors like Government regulations and policies and real estate prices. Besides the activities of retailers, demands of the customers will also impact the retail industry. By keeping these various parameters, it can be surely predicted that in the upcoming years, India will be the place to watch out for!! .

Handicraft Industry India

The handicraft industry the world over is estimated at $100 billion. India contributes around 1 per cent to it.
In India, handicrafts account for 1.5 per cent of the total exports. The industry here is highly labour-intensive and decentralised, concentrated in rural and semi-urban areas.
The US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Italy are the major handicraft export destinations for India.
India’s cultural diversity provides for a rich variety of handicraft. However, lack of infrastructure, innovation in product design and awareness of trends has resulted in slow growth of the industry.
The demand for handcrafted products is low because of factors such as high prices (as Indian consumers are price sensitive) and low consumer awareness about the novelty factor which these products have.

Organized book retail market in India

The Indian book retail industry is estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore, out of which organised retail accounts for only 7 per cent.
The industry is expected to grow by approximately 15 per cent a year.
Book retail contributes only about 1 per cent to the overall retail industry. Text and curriculum books account for about 50 per cent of the sales. Second-hand books are also a big chunk of the book retail market.
In the past few years, several large format book store chains have come up, such as Landmark, Crossword and Om Book Shop.
Book retailers are focusing on improved customer experience. Many book stores have also introduced coffee shops and provide a library-like atmosphere where customers can sit and read, while sipping coffee.

Aerated Drinks market in India

Growing at the rate of 6-7 per cent annually, the market for aerated drinks in India is primarily dominated by Pepsi and Coke, enjoying a combined share of 95per cent of the market. The market consists of cola products and non-cola products – of which the cola segment constitutes 62 per cent.
Aerated Beverages is an important sector in the country because it not only contributes to export earnings of the country, but is a revenue driver for other industries such as glass, refrigeration, transport, paper and sugar.
This segment is universal in its demand, catering to all income groups and age-brackets. However, the frequency of consumption is quite low. Taste is the main factor which drives the demand of the product. Urban areas report a dramatically high consumption of aerated drinks as compared to rural areas.
With the increasing preference for healthier beverages and the increase in the availability of packaged juices, the demand for carbonated drinks has fallen in the last few years. Although they still hold a predominant share of the beverage market in India, many of these companies are expanding their product range into non-aerated options and energy drinks.

Indian event management industry

The current size of the event management industry in India is about Rs 800 crore.

This industry caters to events in four broad categories: Leisure, cultural, personal and organisational.

At present, the industry is at a nascent stage and extremely unorganised, comprising mainly homemakers and self-employed businessmen.

Rising household as well as company incomes, growing number of corporate awards and conferences, television and sports events, reality shows and so on are helping this sector grow.

With rising incomes, people are also spending more on weddings, parties and other personal functions.

Few institutes offer specialised training for this industry, but with growing awareness on the opportunities, the number is likely to grow.

External storage drives market in India

The Indian external data storage market is estimated at roughly Rs 900 crore, growing at over 20 per cent since 2007. The mid-tier segment occupies almost one-third of the total market.

Growth in internet surfing and content building has contributed to an increasing demand for high-storage external devices. External hard disks of 250 GB and 320 GB capacities capture 75 per cent of the market demand, followed by portable pen drives, MP3 players and flash drives.

Storage capacity, speed of transfer, reduction in noise and portability are the main drivers for the demand for external storage devices. Of late, many companies have been able to cater to this demand, with storage capacities going higher (above 250 GB in a pen drive) and the devices becoming smaller in size.

A recent trend witnessed is that these devices have become commodity products sold through regular retail channels apart from specialised outlets.

Jewellery export market

The Indian export market for gems and jewellery grew by 1.45 per cent in fiscal year 2009 over the previous year.

The growth in the sector was primarily driven by gold jewellery exports. Exports of cut and polished diamonds saw a decrease.

The UAE is the largest export destination, followed by Hong Kong and the United States.

The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council is the apex body for this industry involved in promoting Indian gems and jewellery internationally.

School uniform market in India

The Rs 172,000-crore private education market in India is estimated to be growing at 11 per cent a year — this segment represents 51 per cent of this market. Thus, the market for school uniforms is huge and growing at a fast pace. At present, uniforms are almost 40 per cent of the Rs 32,000-crore kidswear market, with growth of 15 per cent over last year.

A large portion of the school uniform retail market is unorganised and fragmented compared to the uniform market internationally where organised retail brands have a strong presence.

Brands such as S Kumars and Mafatlal have shown interest in the school uniform market.

PLUS size apparel market

With an obesity rate of 5 per cent in India, the plus-size population in the country is in excess of 150 million, creating a huge scope for plus-size clothing.

Currently, plus-size clothing has a share of 0.15 per cent of the total Indian apparel market.

Earlier, plus-size apparel was essentially lingerie and maternity wear, but, of late, western apparel in womenswear and menswear has gained prominence.

Larger sizes, exposure to western culture and awareness about fashion trends have accelerated the demand for fashionable plus-size apparel in India.

Popular international brands specialising in this segment are Evans, Lane Bryant, Igigi and so on, while brands like Next, Marks and Spencer and JC Penney have a special line of plus-size clothing.

Indian brands such as Revolution, Mustard and Royal Classic Polo have also forayed into the segment.

Now DOSA with latté ??

We talk about "CUSTOMIZATION" whole time, now here we will see how this marketing word is being introduced by company like Barista.
Paratha (Rs 35)
idli-vada sambhar (Rs 30-35)
biryani (Rs 70-80)
lassi (Rs 50)
filter coffee (Rs 40-45)
Now, this is not the menu at your neighbourhood dhaba (like SKS), but at one of 230 Barista outlets across the country that by the end of the year will be offering a dash of Indian food along with Italian. Within the next three months, all 26 outlets in Bangalore will offer idlis, vadas, filter coffee and parathas.
And following a similar process — an experiment at Murthal on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway, a place famous for its Punjabi dhabas, this month — all the 70 outlets in Delhi and NCR region will see the Indianisation of their menus by end-2009.
Personally if I had a choice I’d never prefer vada and lassi over any of the existing items available in the shop. The reason is simple I go to Barista for coffee and i believe it will remain the core promise that Barista Lavazza delivers on and not the Dosa-Idli thing.

Indian Jute Industry at a Glance

Indian Textile Industry - Overview

Latest price list of textiles items during the year 2009

Videocon - brand makeover

Looking at an aggressive multi-fold growth with an emphasis on technology, quality, innovation, value and services penetration, Videocon Group has unveiled its new eco-friendly green brand identity and tagline: ‘Experience Change’.

The ‘V’ in the new Videocon logo is composed of two animated green, lava-like shapes — called Chouw and Mouw —with distinct identities of their own. Chouw and Mouw are ‘live’ characters, and will be used through a series of short videos to tell simple stories. Both have certain personality traits, based on their physical attributes.

KR Kim, vice-chairman and CEO, Videocon Group, said: “The brand reinvention will involve our employees and keep them engaged, energised and rewarded — as a strong workforce results in even stronger products.”

Subhiksha Debacle

"There cannot be smoke without Fire"
For a long time we have been hearing news of Subhiksha not making timely payments to vendors, having empty shelves as vendors have put Subhiksha in lower priority, reports of people looking out trying to jump the sinking ship, and so on. With the employees PF not being paid (Subhiksha has some 5 Crores of PF dues!) and the Satyam story fresh in everyone's eyes this time things are more in the open.
R Subramanian has been in denial mode for several months has now come out in the open. With empty shelves and deserted showrooms, Subhiksha is sinking and needs "Rs 300 crore immediately'' to re-start operations, the company's founder chairman R Subramanian said. "We got into trouble during the second half of last year, when we were unable to tie up funds for our ongoing operations. That slowly started choking and has lead to paralysis of operations completely now,'' he said.
Detailing his outstandings, Subramanian said that his company owed Rs 45 crore to suppliers, Rs 20 crore to employees as salaries and another Rs 24 crore as rentals for various stores. "Our outstandings are only so much, upon getting Rs 300 crore debt, we will then look at restarting operations'' he added.
Subhikhsa is now on the block available for grabs. Not the best time for Subhiksha to be in the market for sale as valutions for all retailers are pretty low. The contenders are Reliance Retail, Aditya Birla Retail, etc.

Dabur Retail - Dreams turn sour

Blame it on the recession!! Dabur NEW U stores that started operations early last year are on SALE.
Dabur, the Delhi-based FMCG company, has mandated Grant Thornton to get a buyer for its retail venture, people familiar with the matter said. They said Dabur has lost interest in the chain as the economic downturn has made the environment tough for the company to pursue its retail plans.
The venture had a struggling existence marked by slow growth — there are just 11 ‘new-u’ stores — and exits of CEO Peter Baker and merchandise head Graham Fraser a couple of months ago. A Dabur spokesman denied any plans to sell the chain. “In fact, we plan to set up 12 additional stores this year.”
Several retailers in India are facing a tough time with Subhiksha doing down under, and several new entrants having put a hold to thier expansion plans. The redeeming factor is that most of the organised retailers are backed by companies with deep pockets like the Tatas and the Birlas. But we need to keep a close watch as some other retailers might be in silent talks to get out of thier retail businesses.