Wal-Mart in India – Challenges and Opportunities

Posted by admin on Jul 16th, 2010 | 0 comments

Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt. today (May 31, 09) opened the cash-and-carry store in the northern city of Amritsar. This week, the two companies finalized a 50-50 joint venture to go into the business-to-business, cash-and-carry wholesaling sector. The venture plans to open 10 or 15 wholesale outlets and employ 5,000 people during the next three years.

For a retailer of Walmart’s size with a turnover $285 billion, future growth can come only from new markets. The size of India’s retail trade is estimated at $206 billion and growing at five per cent annually, according to KSA Technopak, a retail advisory which closely tracks the trade.

It is not exactly something to be sneezed at. Large retailers like Dairy Farm International of Hong Kong and Metro Cash and Carry GmbH of Germany that have tied up with the RPG group and Metro Cash and Carry India Pvt Ltd respectively, have raked in considerable profits. The JV now styled under the brand name Spencer, already has sales at more than $100 million. Dairy Farm operates 45 stores under the Food World brand name.

The Indian retail scenario is booming and Indian retailers are doing well across the board. Current profits in the organised retail trade are good and the future seems even more alluring. The average urban consumer is saving less today than he did a few years ago and importantly, spending his income on a wider array of goods than earlier. The current mood of the market is expansionist with consumers willing to lap up newer and better brands. By 2012, organized retailers are projected to account for 16% of the retail market, up from 4% today.

Worldwide, the whole Wal-Mart business revolves around running a very efficient supply chain, saving in every aspect of that supply chain. It’s not just about negotiating better prices with the suppliers; it is actually about working with suppliers to remove inefficiencies in the supply chain.

However, the biggest problem facing Indian retailers and consumers is a dysfunctional supply chain. Because the market is highly fragmented — about 96% of the retail marketplace consists of small shopkeepers — economies of scale are elusive and both producers and retailers depend on long chains of middlemen to bring goods to market.

The typical Indian consumer pays five times the amount the farmer actually receives. In the U.S., the ratio is closer to 2-to-1. Also, about 60% of the value of India’s agricultural output is lost between farm and market, due to processing delays and “wear and tear”. To haul a load over 1000 miles, it takes about 4 – 5 days for a trucker in India, while the same is done in 20 hours in the U.S currently!

Also, India is a price sensitive market and therefore WalMart has to devise its strategy very carefully. Retailing is like a game of three dimensional chess where WalMart operates as a local, regional and global player. So depending on the needs of the market they would have to change the format and adapt.

Walmart International, sourced approximately $1.2 billion worth of merchandise from India last year and are aiming to increase that by almost 30 per cent every year, thereby doubling the sourcing in the next three years. Products that are sourced include apparel, fine jewellery, home textiles and houseware. Known for the strict quality standards, and tight price levels it enforces, Walmart nonetheless has suppliers eager to supply merchandise to it. Some of Walmart’s suppliers are already enhancing their production facilities in anticipation of growing business.

If all goes as per plan, in the next 5 years WalMart should have several cash-and-carry operations in the important geographies in India, if not across the country. Also some valuable lessons would have been learnt!

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Modern Furniture in Canada

Posted by admin on Jul 15th, 2010 | 0 comments

DeBoer’s Furniture has been established in Canada since 1950 however it’s roots go back to the early 1900’s. Jan de Boer and his sons operated a store on a ship in Holland, traveling from town to town selling housewares and small home furnishings. In the 1930’s they decided to open their first on-land store in the town of Hoogeveen. This first ‘Jan de Boer’ store still operates in the same building today.

In the late 1940’s, Jan’s son Anne decided he would leave Holland and immigrate to Canada. The threat of another war and painful memories of being in a concentration camp during WW II left Anne longing for a land of new opportunities.

Once in Canada, Anne tried his hand in a wholesale business before establishing his first retail store – DeBoer’s Furniture – in 1950. Anne would travel to Holland and Scandinavia and bring a unique blend of quality modern home furnishings to Toronto. Torontonians loved this new look and over the years DeBoer’s grew to include four showrooms in Toronto and one in Ottawa.

Anne’s values and vision for the business continue today – tasteful, quality home furnishings at reasonable prices and excellent customer service. DeBoer’s has always offered complimentary design services to help clients plan the room of their dreams and make the shopping experience a pleasure.

Anne’s son John and granddaughter Suanne still travel the world in search of a unique blend of furnishings for their clients. The countries DeBoer’s imports from today have expanded to include all of Europe, North America and the Far East. By watching trends emerge and purchasing directly from manufacturers, DeBoer’s is able to offer the latest designs at the best price. Visit one DeBoer’s today.

Design Services:

De Boer’s is pleased to provide our on-line Room Planner. This easy to use tool is designed to help you visualize your room, and select the right furniture for your home.

Our decorators and designers are available to assist you with your floor plans to create the ultimate environment for your life style.

DeBoer’s Window Coverings:

Yes, De Boers offers a full selection of window coverings from luxurious drapery to modern and elegant blinds. Our staff will arrange for your complimentary in-home consultation.

DeBoer’s Floral Arrangements:

Our stores are filled with unique arrangements that don’t need water!

Custom made at our North York showroom, decorators at all locations will assist you with seasonal or perennial arrangements for any vase in any room.

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Follow these helpful tips when purchasing a car from government automobile auctions

Posted by admin on Jul 15th, 2010 | 0 comments

In today’s economy, everyone is out looking for the best deals on everything from basic housewares and clothing to cars and houses. Many people feel that they have found the best deal on purchasing cars and that would be from auction houses. The most popular belief about auction houses is that if you go to one, it will be the best deal because you’ll get the car for dirt cheap. People will always believe this, especially when they go to government automobile auctions. While there are deals to be had at those auctions, please be aware of a few things. Keep these simple tips in mind and you may walk away with the best deal of all.

The first thing to remember when going to Government Automobile Auctions is that you need to arrive early to find all the information you can about the vehicles that interest you. I’m not talking about showing up fifteen minutes early either. When I say early, you want to try to beat all the crowds there and that might mean a few hours early. The next tip is to either have access to a vehicle title checking application and some type of vehicle valuation site. If you don’t have those things available to you through a PDA or portable computer, try having someone available in front of a computer that you can call at a moment’s notice on a cell phone. These two applications are probably the best tools you can have while bidding at government automobile auctions. It’s extremely important to be able to have access to those two items because you always want to know what the vehicle is worth before you do your bidding. If you are not careful or educated about the vehicle’s value, you might end up paying much more than the car is worth. The other reason is because you want to make sure the title of the vehicle is a clean title. If it is not, don’t even bother bidding on it, because it might cost you more money and time than the car is even worth to get the title issues fixed.

Generally, those two things are the most important tips when you shop at government automobile auctions, but there are other things you should know too. Before you go to the auction, make sure you have enough cash to cover any check you might write out. Some government automobile auctions will require you have a blank check in order to purchase. And lastly, when you purchase a vehicle from these acutions, you’ll need to pay a buyer’s premium on the vehicle that is approximately ten percent of the auction price. So, with those tips in mind, you should be able to spot a deal if it comes up.

Jayson Park

Ready to get that dream car at a price you can afford? check out our site for a quick and easy way to gain access to government automobile auctions

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At ShopPreview.com you will find Thousands of Music CDs, DVDs, and Videos

Posted by admin on Jul 14th, 2010 | 0 comments

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Shoppreview.com has music for all age and style of people. Music for kids, romantic music, classical music, opera CDs and what not. It is quite easy to find your favorite music online without any hassle of scouring through music stores or confusing and poorly categorized online stores. Just check our stocks and see your music CDs, DVDs or videos laid before you.

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Tips for Gas Grills Smokers

Posted by admin on Jul 13th, 2010 | 0 comments

Smoking meat is all about cooking the meat slow and steady, unlike grilling where burgers and meats are seared at very high temperatures. If you are truly serious about barbecue and smoke flavored meat, then you need to learn a bit about it. Smoking meat is part skill, part experience, and part machinery. If someone is new to meat smoking, asking others about primary things one needs to learn will really help. Most burgeoning pit masters won’t share secrets about their recipes, but they will share the basics of what to do. One can look on the Internet for recipes and some of that great taste. The longer someone smokes meat, the easier information and secret recipes will be learned.

The indirect method of smoking allows you to use an ordinary grill as a smoker and believe it or not, you can create some interesting fare this way. Smoking meat is a great way to break down tough cuts of meat, such as ribs, brisket and pork shoulder. Smoking meat is cooking it between 190f and 225f while in the meat smoker. Cold smoking meat is primarily for cured meat like ham, bacon etc. And is done inside the meat smoker at temperatures below 80f. Cold smoking typically takes longer than hot smoking. You can short smoke meat like steaks and chops on the barbecue grill with gas grills smokers or long smoke meat inside gas grills smokers. Whether you smoke your meat inside a gas grill or meat smoker, any way that you decide to infuse the meat with smoke is a great way to enjoy it.

Smoking meat calls for acquiring the proper internal temperature. Because outdoor temperatures will determine cooking time, you cannot bank on on time alone. There are many recipes floating around but they cannot be applied across the board. Meat smoking is also a expanding trend for great flavor by adding taste to food without adding extra calories. When the smoke covers mild meats like pork, fish and poultry, it produces a scrumptious flavor and rich color that’s hard to resist. Smoking is simple to do and can be accomplished in a kettle-style grill using indirect heat and adding wood chips to banked coals. At least two hours before you plan to start cooking, place wood chips or wood chunks in water to soak. Estimate two chunks of wood or a good handful of wood chips for each hour of planned smoking time. If you have unused soaked wood after completing smoking, it can be dried and used at another time. Build the fire about 40 minutes before you plan to start smoking. Remove the grate from the covered cooker and build a mound of about 25-30 charcoal briquettes on one end of the fire grate, light them, and let them burn down to a hot glow, covered with gray ash. Leave only one of the bottom air vents open directly under the briquettes. Place an an aluminum pan filled two-thirds with water across from the briquettes.

Smoking meat is mainly used to break down and add flavor to the meat. It can also be a low heat and slow method that works superbly for fatty or tough meat like beef brisket, beef ribs, pork spareribs, or lamb shoulder. For that signature smoky flavor, you need wood chips. Apple, maple, mesquite, and hickory are the best wood chips to use. There is some discrimination when smoking meat on your own. To prevent food poisoning, be clean when working with uncooked meat. Wash surfaces and your hands regularly, separate meats in different stages of preparation, and cook & chill using proper temperatures. Defrosting the meat properly is an important step in the process. Defrosting while smoking can cause bacteria to breed within the meat. Remember, smoking takes longer. Regular grill cooking happens much faster and the bacteria would not have time to grow, but with smoking it is a real possibility.

Smoking meat is by far the paramount means of achieving that desired flavor but it also requires the most effort. With the benefits of our up to date barbecuing tools the equivalent results can be realized without all of the extra work involved. The fastest way to add the smoke flavor to any meat is by using liquid smoke. This can be added to any food from baked beans to grilled fish. There are several pitfalls to this item as it does not impart a true smoke flavor to your recipe nor should the liquid be employed on an ongoing regular basis. We recommend this product only to add flavor to homemade sauces. You can use your backyard gas grills smoker to smoke meats. Several producers of grills now include a smoke trough where you can insert a mixture of wood chips, pellets or chunks of hardwood for use as smoking material. The hoods on these grills generally call for closure when meat smoking is needed. If you have an older grill which lacks the trough don’t worry, as you can buy a smoke box at your local houseware outlet, or you can put together your own out of aluminum foil pockets to hold the wood pieces. The only problem with using the gas grill smoker for smoking is that the grill tends to cook the meat too rapidly. Do not forget that the art of correctly smoking meat is to cook the meat slowly over a longer period of time at lower temperatures. Making use of the typical backyard grill setup for smoking the meat can result in the food being done much too rapidly while failing to impart the desired smoked wood flavor. This is why you need low temperatures and the right tool for the job. Fortunately such equipment is available today without breaking the bank.

Smoking meat is great for providing a warm and friendly atmosphere for guests, perhaps inside a nice gazebo or around a picnic table. Most of us enjoy the simple act of staying outdoors and eating tasty grilled meat but it often doesn’t cross our minds that what appears to be healthy grilling can turn out to be less than healthy. Heterocyclic amines and polycylcic aromatic hydrocarbons may sound like complex words to most of us, but if we look closely into their meanings we may see grilling in a whole different way. Heterocyclic amines are cancer causing substances that appear linked with the grilling of muscle meat and they have been shown to possibly cause cell mutation in animals and perhaps even in humans.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, for example, are cancer causing substances produced by fats leaking onto the hot coals and then being released through the smoke. The smoke created releases these compounds which coat the meat. There is a silver lining though! The above cancer promoting compounds do not necessarily mean that you should ban grilling from your summer time gatherings. There are some steps you can take to reduce the amount|number of these substances from coating your meats. Marinate your meats before grilling and grill a lot of vegetables along with the meat to avoid filling up on meat alone. Also, do not overcook or char your meat. The more charring, the more cancer causing compounds will be formed and found on your chicken. Cook your meat slower and at lower temperatures, and grill every other night because in moderation, grilling and meat smoking can be guiltlessly enjoyed.

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