|
            
|
A clutch of speciality stores want to make men customers for life.
What does Jockey underwear, Rayban sunglasses, a Parker pen, a sleek Ericsson mobile phone, a pair of Gaitonde shoes, Louis Philippe shirt, Van Heusen trousers, and an Compaq Armada Laptop have in common? Besides being top-of-the-line brands, they are all part of the hi-flying men's essential gear. Or that's what some men's retail stores (yes, they do exist now) believe. Says Prakash Nedungadi, President, Madura Garments: ''The market potential in men's ready-to-wear segment is huge, and we want to tap it.'' Nedungadi puts the market size at Rs 6,000 crore, and the annual rate of growth at 15 per cent, making it a bigger market than those of women and children. Small wonder, then, that a rash of players has appeared on the retail horizon. Recently, Ravi Melwani (of Kids Kemp fame) launched Kemperor, billed as the world's largest men's apparel and accessories store. The 50,000 sq. ft store stocks everything from men's underwear to pricey Compaq Armada laptop. ''We want to offer a complete shopping experience to the Indian male,'' says Melwani. Players like Madura Garments have their own branded outlets-such as Trouser Town-present across six locations in the country. Nedungadi says that although the stores have been named as trouser town, shirts, and other men's accessories are also available in them. But purely from a consumer point of view, the retailers will need to stock more than one brand. Agrees Melwani: ''The customer wants choice, and that's why multi-brand outlets will stand a better chance of succeeding.'' Clearly, clothes maketh a retailer, too. -Venkatesha Babu T W O - W H
E E L E R S Confirming our suspicion that they knew more about kick-starters than kick-boxing, the Chinese eye India's thriving motorcycle mart. Six two-wheeled thingamajigs stole the show at the India Engineering Trade Fair held last month in the capital. The tedium at the otherwise capital goods and machine tools heavy fair was broken by the sleek motorcycles on display at the stalls of two Chinese vehicle manufacturers, Jiangmen Jincheng Motorcycle Company, and Yingang Company. If finish, styling, or other features are the metric, these bikes aren't very different from those on offer in the 2.8 million bikes-a-year, Rs 8,584 crore Indian market. Unfortunately, like with all things Chinese, these are unlikely to be the things that matter; price, it will be. Both Chinese companies are relative minnows in the 8.4 million units-a-year motorcycle market in China: Jiangmen has a manufacturing capacity of 150,000 motorcycles a year; Yingang, 250,000. But both are certain that their offerings-priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000-will find takers here. That they may. After all, even Bajaj's entry-level model costs Rs 25,000. Says Pankaj Gupta, Director, SIAM: ''Rs 25,000 is a great price-tag on a bike. No Indian manufacturer operates at this end of the market.'' Jiangmen and Yingang could well constitute the vanguard of the next invasion from our neighbour to the North. -Jaya Basu L A U N C H Even rivals concede that the Japanese major's Activa is something to watch.
Honda is targeting volumes of 40,000 to 50,000 in year one (financial year 2001-02). And would possibly want to double that in year two when it launches its second model. Considering that competing scooters are at Rs 36,700-plus, Honda may price Activa around Rs 35,000. Or maybe even lower, if it wants to corner volumes from geared scooters, which sell for around Rs 29,000. The Activa will come with two variants; self-start and kick-start, and the other, just kick start. Both are likely to provide 50 km/litre. Fortunately for Honda, while the geared scooters market declined by 35 per cent between April and December 2000, sales of gearless scooters (Kinetic, Scooty) grew at 15 per cent. Just the same, Honda should keep its fingers crossed. -Ranju Sarkar O F F - B E A T A little-known Delhi-based businessman has bagged a patent from the US for a chip with a nose.
Like he did when travelling to Indonesia during 1997. During the flight, the movie on the screen showed some clips of snow-clad mountains while it was hot and humid inside the plane. ''Why can't the ambience be appropriate to the scene on the video,'' he asked himself, albeit naively. That was when it occurred to him that devices could emit flavours and fragrances, and he began working on the idea. On May 13, 2000, Jaidka received a letter from the US Patent Office telling him that he was being given a patent (No. 6152829) for his Rudraksh R3. Meet India's patent man, otherwise a professional caterer by training. He already has two patents, and has filed for several more. It is not really fire in the belly that drives Jaidka (he is the only bread-earner in a four-generation, five-member family), but limited means has been a key motivator. Now, he is just waiting to make it big. But it hasn't been an easy ride for the boyish Jaidka, whom even the furniture in the Department of Science and Technology building now recognises. Paying regular obeisance to the babus earned him a princely grant of Rs 2 lakh, while part of his effort was funded from his pocket. ''The real investment was of the time that I took away from my business,'' he says. But what does the scientific community make of the political science graduate (and his invention), who studied science only till class 12? Says V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary (Science and Technology): ''The electronics behind it is not new. Only time will tell how successful it is, commercially.'' Jaidka shrugs any criticism off: ''How can you stop anyone from inventing? It is not the science students only who can invent.'' Point taken. Meanwhile, wait for the nappy alarm system and the eco-friendly pencil sharpener his six-year-old son is said to have invented. -Ashutosh Sinha C Y B E R C R
I M E It not only exists, but is growing by the day.
Here's something you probably didn't know: almost one out of every two infotech companies in India has had its network broken into. And three out of every four company acknowledge that there was some financial loss involved in such an attack, with at least two companies claiming that they lost $500,000 per intrusion. Or that's what a recent survey by the Computer Society of India reveals. What's worrying cyber security experts, however, is that innovations in electronic crime are growing by leaps and bounds (see know Thy e-Crimes). For instance, in the recent case of Playboy Enterprises Vs. Calvin Inc. in the US, Calvin had embedded a particular software (metatag) which ensured that whenever somebody typed the word 'Playboy' on a search engine, the result would lead to Calvin's own site. This was not visible on Calvin Inc.'s site, but the search engines-and in effect the users-were being misled. Given the rapid technological shifts in the industry and the ingenuity of cyber criminals, this is one catch up game that won't end in a hurry. -Venkatesha Babu
|
|
Issue Contents Write to us Subscriptions Syndication INDIA TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY
| TEENS TODAY
© Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
For a step-through coming into a declining
two-wheeler market, Honda Motorcyle & Scooter India's (HMSI)
four-stroke machine couldn't have been christened better. It's called
Activa, and symbolises Honda's desire to kick-start a sliding segment.
Even its rivals concede that the 1,765-mm long, 1,235-mm wide Activa is
something to watch. Says R.C. Chandramouli, Vice-President (Marketing),
TVS Suzuki: ''Considering the product features, the different looks and
the better fuel economy it offers, Honda can easily generate the kind of
volumes it is targeting.''
It took a ride through a polluted Delhi
street one morning in 1995, for Sandeep Jaidka to dream up, and patent, a
personal oxygen cylinder. Since then, this 37-year-old Delhi businessman
has learnt to sniff a good idea out.