Nuances of Luxury Retail In India

I have been researching the luxury market in India and have come across very interesting facts, trivia and the like, sometimes what would appear hyperbole……but that’s what luxury has been in India. For instance, it was interesting to find out that during the great depression of 1930s. many a European fashion houses stayed afloat because of their Indian patrons…who else but the Maharajas…..interesting commissions like a diamond necklace which had a diamond the size of a golf ball , a bed which had statues of four naked women as the 4 posts. And all this in late 1800s or early 1900s. 

Having said that luxury has evolved noticeably since then. Now we have what is commonly known as the ‘massification’ of luxury. So, its not limited to a rich few but has truly spread out. Culturally, India is attuned to luxury in ways very different than the west. We have always worn custom made clothes and we have bought gold jewellery on weddings (and every other occasion if possible!). Talk of couture and fine jewellery.

And now with the burgeoning middle class and global connectivity, we want more of those brands …..more so given that in the North of the country (Read ‘Delhi’) brands and labels are a part of a person’s identity. So, luxury retailers of the world, bring it on!!!

Cooperative Buying in Retail

Cooperative Buying – The Mechanics

A buying cooperative is a group of people or organizations that come together for each person or group's mutual benefit. A cooperative buying model allows a group of buyers with a common interest to pool their buying power in order to negotiate more favorable pricing on goods and services. Cooperatives—also known as group buying organizations or buying consortia—are set up to aggregate buying volume from many different companies and increase the buying power from each individual.

According to the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA – An Amercian association), there are about 250 buying cooperatives in the U.S. offering group buying services.

Cooperatives are owned by members and are democratically structured. The important characteristics of a cooperative are:

• Voluntary and Open Membership
• Autonomy and Independence
• Objective is to benefit everyone and , in fact, run it like a business. The profit is shared among the member/owners.
• The only owners are the members of the co-op.

Some of the benefits that accrue to a member firm are :

Thus, cooperative buying can be an important element of any organization’s procurement strategy because it allows member organizations to aggregate volume of specific commodities, and in doing so, achieve bettering than they could have on their own.