Things to Know While Buying CCTV Surveillance Cameras

With increasing crime, round-the-clock remote monitoring has become necessity as policing can’t be possible at all places and time. Closed Circuit TV Cameras have become more of the need than luxury these days. The law enforcement agencies want people to install CCTV surveillance cameras in their houses, apartments and commercial establishments to check crime. Civic bodies too have installed CCTV cameras at several sensitive and crime-prone public places to monitor/prevent unlawful activities.

For retail business houses, it is essential to monitor the premises to curb theft/pilferages, monitor workers or view customer footfalls for better store management. However, one can’t simply visit a store and buy CCTV cameras for his enterprise or home. One needs to analyze several factors before deciding to install cameras. Let’s discuss a few important things to keep in mind before buying a CCTV surveillance system.

Cheap can be Costly!

You may tend to settle for low cost cameras as service providers can show you several unbranded CCTV solutions at a very attractive price. While there is nothing wrong in buying things at lowest price, it is also important to check the quality. For CCTV too, it is wiser to invest in good quality system which will satisfy your security objectives. It is better to choose a camera which has good resolution in terms of visual and recording and also serve you for the next 3-5 years without any problem.

Go for reputed brands like CP Plus, Hikvision, Sony, Zicom, Dahua, etc., which may be little expensive than unbranded (low quality) cameras but will serve you better in terms of life cycle and return on investment.

Know your Camera Type

You can select CCTV cameras from the three types available in the market - Analogue, High Definition (HD) and Internet Protocol (IP) cameras.

Analogue cameras provide basic low resolution images which are suitable for simple monitoring and detecting people’s movement. These cameras can’t be used to identify faces or specific things.

HD cameras are the largely used among all as it offer better resolution than analogue and can provide images suitable to identify faces, numbers and characters. These High Definition (HD) cameras, though moderately priced higher than analogue, are ideal for most of the retail enterprises and residential houses.

IP cameras offer high quality images using digital technology. These cameras, though costly, can be used to detect theft or crime in highly sensitive areas which house expensive goods or at public places where one need to identify faces and numbers to solve crime.

Night vision cameras: If you need to monitor your workplaces round the clock, it is better to go for night vision cameras which offer very high resolution video footings even at feeble light. Compared to normal day light cameras, these cameras are costly but have immense use for commercial establishments and apartments to check crime and pilferages during night.

Moving and static cameras

A camera which can move constantly at 360 degrees can be very useful at times, when wrongdoers may choose blind spots to carry out their illegal activities. Though priced higher than static cameras, it is better to install this rather than shifting cameras from one place to another or zooming in and out. Static cameras are useful to detect theft when it happens within its focal areas, as these cameras are installed to look at a particular direction. But with automatic moving cameras, crime can be detected anywhere as it revolves at 360 degrees.

Know what you buy

When you purchase a CCTV system, check with your vendor whether it comes with recording facility, monitor and warranty, number of cameras, high resolution, night vision, storage power, power cables and adaptors and installation expenses. Make sure that you understand and check all these before signing the purchase agreement.

Get professional advice

Before you install the cameras, seek professional advice. Ask them to survey your place to understand the surveillance nature and need and ask them to give you a customized security solution which should satisfy your work/house environments.

Stay Connected with your Improvised POS System

If you have an advanced point of sale (POS) system and you are only using it for generating bills at sales counter, then you are not utilizing the POS to its fullest potential. Your POS system is capable of multi-tasking and can do multiple operations with perfection in just a fraction of time which your staff may take days to complete, that too with low quality and high degree of errors.

Hence it is essential to know the capacity of POS system in assisting retail business operations. Retailers should know the fact that these POS systems with suitable retail business application software should be integrated with several of the associated hardware and software applications.

Integrating with hardware

For example, for seamless front-end operations in a grocery retail store, POS systems should be integrated with a receipt printer, cash drawer, payment terminal, barcode scanner, electronic weighing scale, pole display and MSR.

Integration of POS system in business environment – restaurants, supermarkets, kirana stores or any other retail business entities, with essential backend and front end applications is vital for enterprises for their smooth operations, enhanced customer experience, high growth, and to have a competitive edge over peers.

For example, POS system not linked with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can lead to time consuming, error-prone and inefficient processes which in turn affect the business due to inaccurate data. 

Multi-tasking

A POS system in a supermarket should be capable of discharging multiple functions. Apart from providing fast and efficient billing to customers, these smart POS systems are capable of helping retailers to automate inventory management, monitor cash flow from multiple locations, get accurate data such as daily sales figure and compare with weekly, monthly and annual sales, generate various analytical data and graphs to carry out important business decision, manage customer data, CRM, staff management, payroll, vendor sales data, credits and so on.  

If your POS system has no links with the backend business operations, you will be limited in your operations as all your manual data can have errors, time consuming and lacks authentic business details.

Integrating your POS software with your retail applications can, not only improve customer experience but also enhance operational efficiency. In a supermarket, by integrating the POS system with the ERP system, the owners can get fast, accurate and error-free vital business data. An efficient POS system also helps retail business owners to reduce the cost in terms of having less number of staff and nil pilferages/wastages at POS counters and storage centres. 

Omni-channel

With the advent of Omni-channel business strategy, retailers expect that their POS system should be capable of doing business with customers through multiple windows such as brick-and-mortar, telephone, e-commerce, mobile POS, e-mail and m-commerce. These advanced POS systems are also capable of providing unparalleled service to customers thus enabling them to order via website and pick up from the store.

Integration of customer data with the POS system helps retailers connect with customers anytime they want to inform them about new arrivals, send discount coupons, loyalty credits, extend discounts for specific items, gift coupons or vouchers. 

With the advancement in POS technology, retailers have various options to keep customers happy and satisfied by offering excellent shopping experience with the help of their intelligent POS system. So, stay connected with an improvised POS system.

Posted @: https://www.justransact.com/pos-technology-blog/stay-connected-with-your-improvised-pos-system

How your Tab can Benefit Environment and Business!

The advancement in mobile technology has made a great stride in Point Of Sale (POS) sector which helped the retail businesses evolve rapidly in terms of serving customers and automating business.

Gone are the days, when shop owners and sales executives at POS counters used to make customers wait in queues to pay the amount for the merchandise, provide them hand-written bills, offer substandard service and have no means of reaching customers remotely.

With the advent of internet and mobile technology, POS manufacturers have come up with new POS devices which are not only handy, easy to use, custom-made and rugged but also cost-effective and packed with hordes of features to enthuse both retailers and customers.

Using tablet POS, retailers can now say that they contribute something to the environment. With internet-enabled mobile devices, people are getting their utility bill payment details and receipts for the retail purchases straight into their mobile and/or email boxes. Retailers can send payment receipts and purchase bills to customers’ mobile phone or their email accounts thereby avoiding the usage of paper, printed material and consumables such as ribbons, ink, etc used for taking printouts.

Tablet POS has immense usage in various business verticals including grocery retail, restaurants, hospitals, transportation, logistics, wholesale businesses, furniture showrooms, electrical and electronic stores, utility stores, to name a few.

In restaurants, table attendants and floor managers can take orders using Mobile POS or Tablet POS hence cutting down the usage of paper used for either take down order or taking printouts using electronic POS devices, which are bulky and highly inconvenient to use.

Orders taken electronically from the table can be directly passed to the kitchen instantly hence cutting down the errors and delay. Customers can also have the option of paying through their credit/debit card at the table itself and receive the payments directly to their mobile phones or email accounts.

Businesses adopt Mobile POS, IPad POS or tablet POS as it reduces the efforts of managing the whole business. With tablet POS in hand, which can be connected to main computer and several other similar devices as well, one can do multiple functions simultaneously in real time.

Apart from serving as billing and payment devices, these smart devices can be used for inventory management, staff management, payroll processing, customer relation management, extracting various analytical reports for business enhancement and support highly complex sales tax, service tax or GST calculation and payouts. Everything can be carried out in simple and accurate way without wasting time and energy in Excel spreadsheets and graphs to tackle sales and inventory.

Almost every iPad and Android POS apps available in the market are packed heavily with various features to manage multiple stores in real time and generate sales figure at any given point of time thereby saving human involvements and reduce errors which can cause financial loss to store owners.

Mobile iPad POS is a robust and flexible system which can run every aspect of a business from sales to inventory, expansion and marketing in addition to provide customers sophisticated shopping experience with sense of trust, security and loyalty.

How Technological Innovations Transformed Point-Of-Sale Systems

Technological innovations are inevitable for any industrial sector for growth and operational efficiency, and the ever-booming Indian retain sector is no exception to this dictum.

Point of Sale (POS) which forms the backbone of all retail operations has seen a sea-change over the recent years providing retail businesses the much advanced POS systems which can do multiple functions automatically thereby increasing operational efficiency, reducing error, cutting cost and increasing profits.

Modern POS systems are widely used in food services and restaurant businesses, grocery retail stores, super markets, healthcare, hospitality, food and beverage outlets, health and beauty salon, entertainment, utility shops, to name a few.

What is POS?

POS is a computerized system through which business managements can keep track of inventory levels, revenue streams, cash flows, accounting books, credits and debits, and several other mundane functions which, if carried through manual function, will be complex, error prone, involve more manpower and time consuming.

POS in retail industry

POS systems are seen immense usage in retail industry. With high level of credit card, debit card and cash charges flowing through POS systems at any given time, retailers need to have highly efficient and effective system to manage such activity. Every single rupee passes through a store’s account book can be easily tracked through a POS system.

However, the efficiency of any POS system depends on the quality of POS software which the retailers use for their business environments.

Features of the POS systems

POS systems can be designed for large-scale retail business applications across multiple locations. Medium-sized enterprises such as a supermarket or electronic and electrical store can manage up to 5 Lakh Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). More so, POS systems can be customized to suit your SKUs and operational needs. POS software can effectively manage both front-end and backend operations of your store business.

While on the front end, POS systems can manage your sales, pricing, qualities and inventory, on the backend they are capable of performing all rudimentary and advanced functions. POS systems can also be used to manage and schedule staff, monitor in and out time, purchases, operational efficiency, pay role management, accounting and individual transaction details.

Customer management is one of the familiar features of any POS system available where customer names, addresses, contact numbers, email IDs, buying pattern and transaction details are stored, either in local computer system or on the cloud. Such information are used by retailers to engage customers using different kinds of CRM activities.

Major Benefits of POS Systems

If you take restaurants for example, POS system has simplified the communication issue faced by staff doing different functions. Waiters and kitchen staff can now exchange communications quickly much to the satisfaction of customers as they get their orders quickly.

Effective inventory management can reduce purchase overlapping, lessen wastages, improve planning and up functional efficiency. An effective POS system can also be used for payroll preparations, which saves money in terms of human resources. Certain POS terminals can perform much advanced functions such as profit and loss, internal auditing, income statements, balance sheets and tax related activities.

For retail businesses which are planning to have POS systems to enhance their operations, it’s imperative to evaluate the cost criteria with respect to having obsolete POS systems and highly advanced and user-friendly modern POS system.

Why Electronic and Electrical Retailers Need Efficient POS Systems

Handling customers at any retail store during peak hours/seasons can be a daunting task for counter staff, workers and floor managers. Specially, when you are dealing with electrical or electronic components or devices, you have thousands of inventories to account for, and manually processing them will be time consuming, tedious and error prone which can prove pricey to store owners.

Automation and digitization have helped retailers selling electrical and electronic items to adopt Point of Sale (POS) technology to run their business operations smoothly and efficiently ensuring customers get excellent shopping experience.  

POS technology has evolved significantly over the years. Gone are the days when retailers provide hand-made bills for the goods purchased and manually prepare daily sales reports and inventory in excel sheets. But things have changed now. Automation has been ruling the retail businesses and store owners have no qualm in adopting this technology which offers them multiple benefits with little cost.

For electrical and electronic stores, one may require a computer system with POS software integrated with barcode scanner, thermal printer, cash drawer (optional), barcode printer, card reader and a payment terminal.

Let us discuss about the advantages of having advanced point of sale system for your retail store.

POS as efficient queue buster

POS devices with suitable retail software can help counter staff bill your customers fast and efficiently thereby reducing the time customers spend in queues to pay the bill. There are hand-held mobile POS (MPOS) devices available in the market, which can make your store staff bill customers on the spot. These devices can be connected to internet and hence stores can offer door delivery services too by providing MPOS devices to delivery personnel to collect payments (cash or card) at customer places.

Inventory tracking

These are the most important functions of a retail store where every retailer would want to automate and avoid complex manual operations. Since advanced POS software now become affordable, retailers selling electrical and electronic items can get tailor-made POS software to suit their business size and needs. When sales happen, the POS machines automatically adjust the inventory of the products sold and provide instant report to the store managers or owners about the current count of all the components.

Get Instant Reports and Plan Business Better

Not only this, store managers can get several vital information regarding sales such as peak sale duration, high and low demand products, daily/weekly/monthly/yearly sales reports, real time sales and inventory positions of multiple stores, sales target achieved by store executives, customer footfalls, customer buying pattern, most valued customers, etc. Such information can help them plan better for their business growth and provide improved services to their customers.

CRM initiatives

Apart from better sales and inventory tracking operations, POS devices can help store owners engage with customers and improve sales. POS devices controlled by suitable POS software can send discount coupons to customers during  special occasions, offer them spot discounts when they visit store, send them mails and SMSs regarding new arrivals and discounts on new products, etc.

So investing in POS can be wise decision for store owners who want to surge ahead with the competition with competent peers. 

Retail Sector Pins Hopes on Union Budget 2018 for Relief

Chennai, January 24, 2018: India’s fast growing Retail sector has been facing unprecedented situation ever since the government made two major initiatives -  demonetization of higher order currencies and introduction  of Goods and Services Tax. While the former was intended to promote digital transactions and make India a cash-free economy, the later was to introduce centralized tax regime, both had bearings on the retail sector.

As impacts of varied degrees are still being felt by consumers and retail businesses, with Budget 2018 is round the corner, Indian industry is pinning hope on Budgetary recommendations to ease out several pain-points being felt by retailers and consumers alike.

While the initiative to digitalize retail transactions across the country has created huge jump in digital transactions, the inefficiency of banks to provide adequate Point of Sale (POS) payment terminals to shop owners and steep Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) have played a spoil sport to India’s cruise towards becoming a cash-free economy.

“The digital payment eco-system requires excellent infrastructure and support system to increase its usage and reach.  The main issue is inadequacy of POS machines, which are not made-in India but have to be imported. To add to the woes of retailers and customers is the high MDR which has to be borne invariably by the customers when they make card payment every time. Though the RBI has recently reduced the MDR for payment up to Rs 2000, the government should remove MDR altogether to encourage more retailers to approach banks to install POS machines. Also, there should be more incentives for shoppers and merchants for adopting digital payments,” says Bhaskar Venkatraman, CEO and Director of Millennium India, a pioneer in introducing POS machines to Indian retailers to automate their business.

The GST which was introduced with an intention of integrating all state and central taxes for goods and services and creating a uniform tax regime, still faces a lot of flak from people and merchants for keeping certain essential items on high tax brackets.

“There are still a lot of POS terminals and peripherals which are being imported after paying huge duties and taxes.  The GST paid on POS machines supplied to merchants to automate their store operations are very high. This negates the very purpose of digitalization move as high cost discourages small and medium retail businesses, who form more than 80 per cent of retailers across India, from automating their store with digital transaction facility,” feels Bhaskar, who was instrumental in launching India’s first and exclusive ecommerce website (Justransact.com) for POS products to reach retailers in remote regions of India.

Though India currently has just over three million POS terminals as on November 2017, to fulfill the ambition of cash-free economy, the government should attract nine million more retailers by providing POS terminals free of cost to them, feels Bhaskar.

Also, since the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system is emerging as a cheaper and scalable option due to rise in internet connectivity and penetration of smart phones, the government should promote it by easing norms to bring more players who can provide seamless digital transaction services.

Press Release made for Millennium India, Chennai.

How Barcodes Can Improve Health Care Management

Barcodes have become an invincible portion of quality health care in the modern era. Till recently, patient’s treatment, medication procedures and other administrative activities have been taken care of by linear barcodes which are the simple single dimensional barcodes having rows of black and white lines. EAN barcodes, Code 128 as well as Datamatrix Code are some of the commonly used linear barcodes.

Linear barcodes are very useful not only for the medical industry, but also for several retail businesses which include grocery stores, electrical and electronic appliance shops, bakery stores and several such retail enterprises where barcode labels are affixed on the products to be scanned for billing, stock taking or logistics purposes.

Linear barcodes are easy to scan as the lines or stripes are vertical. Scanners can scan barcodes even if they are placed on curved surfaces such as drug bottles or test tubes. Linear barcodes are compatible with almost all types of scanners. However, there are several pitfalls which make linear barcodes unsuitable for medical industry.

Read Full Article Here.

Innovative POS Technology Products to Regale Visitors at Foodpro 2017

Chennai, September 6, 2017:   Millennium India, the pioneer in Point of Sale (POS) technology in India, will be part of over 300 strong contingent of business verticals who will be showcasing their products, services and technology associated with food and beverage industry at the three-day Foodpro 2017 exhibition which will be held from September 7 at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai.

Millennium has been partnered with Allmark Solutions, a leading weighing scale and other store infrastructure products supplier, along with well-known POS brands POSIFLEX, HONEYWELL and GoDEX to showcase their technology prowess on Point of Sale and other supportive products to business visitors, vendors and prospective entrepreneurs at the event.

Read full press release here.

Keep Your Money Safe In POS Cash Drawers!

Indian retailers are fast deserting the traditional and age-old habit of business transactions and are into modernizing their stores with latest technology to be at par with their neighbourhood supermarkets and hypermarkets which are posing serious threat to the small and medium retail businesses.

Check the checkouts!

First to see the sea change in the nearby kirana store or departmental stores is the customer-checkouts. Though retail shops are upgrading their business places with merchandises sitting comfortably on the neatly arranged racks, air-conditioning the entire store to provide maximum comforts to customers and enabling them to pick their own items instead of asking the store representatives to fetch the items for them, the most important thing which is getting the face-lift is the cash counters also known as POINT OF SALE (POS).

The traditional cash counters have given way to modern Point of Sale technology which has made retail transactions easy, convenient and fast much to the benefits of traders and enjoyment of customers who always long for the highest level of comfort while shopping. 

Read Full Article Here.

How LoT Can Transform Your Retail Business

Internet of Things (IoT) has been creating a lot of hype among retail shoppers, and business houses are making concerted efforts to use this technology to bolster their business prospects.

IoT can revolutionize the way we shop and automate several services which in today’s life need human intervention.  For example, in future IoT can make our fridges order food, our electrical and electronic appliances schedule servicing and our cars can go to the filling station for refuelling themselves.

Apart from making our life simple and easy by doing a lot of mundane works, IoT technology will be a game changer for the future retail business environment.

To read full article click here. 

Why POS An Essential Part Of Retail Business

Though India is one among the fastest growing markets for retail businesses, still for many of us the terminology ‘POS’ remains an alien. So, what is POS?

POS represents Point Of Sale, the place where customers pay to shopkeepers for the goods they buy from them. Point of sale can also be termed as checkouts, cash counters, payment counters or billing desk, and so on, in many places.

But in modern terms, POS not only denotes the place where the actual sales happen, but also indicates the technology (both hardware and software) used in dealing with customers by way of billing, payment and other engagement activities.

Read full article here.

Choose The Right Fire Extinguisher For Your Retail Business

Every office, enterprise and multi-complex structure must have fire extinguishers of suitable type to prevent major fire, reduce its impact and avoid loss of human lives and properties.

As cause of fire can be different, fire extinguisher types and sizes too can vary. Fire can happen due to faulty electrical circuits, inflammable chemicals or gases, defective machinery or equipment, human errors or unknown natural cause. As per the government regulations, every industry, irrespective of its size and nature, and building – commercial or residential complex - must have standard fire protection equipment.  

Read full article here.

Millennium India Receives Best Partner Award from Honeywell

Chennai, India, March 14, 2017: Leading POS technology provider Millennium Soft-Tech India has bagged the “Highest Growth Partner Award for 2016” from multinational conglomerate Honeywell India.

The award was presented to Millennium India, a pioneer in introducing Point of Sale (POS) technology products in India, at the recently held ‘REIMAGINE 2017 Leadership Forum’, an annual partner conference hosted by Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions, in New Delhi.

Honeywell India team presenting the award to Mr Bhaskar Venkatraman at the REIMAGINE 2017 Leadership Forum event held in New Delhi. Millennium Director V Nandakumar (second from right) also attended the event.

The event was held in an effort to unite top leaders from Honeywell's strong network of channel partners and distributors in India.

Commenting on receiving the coveted award from world’s leading engineering giant, Bhaskar Venkatraman, the CEO and Director of Millennium India said: “It’s a great honour to receive from the technology major with whom we have more than a decade of successful association. Honeywell, with their innovative and customer-centric products, has played a key role in automating retail sector in India.”

“With diversified industrial automation products, Honeywell has broken into many applications simplifying several core operations. For Point Of Sale applications in particular, Honeywell has been offering wide array of technology products which have revolutionised several core industries like healthcare, automobile, hospitality, retail businesses, food and beverage, transport and logistics, to name a few. We look forward to have even more stronger ties with Honeywell in the years to come and would like to see the Brand becoming synonymous with every retail business,” he further said.

For retail and non-retail sectors focusing point of sale and other applications, Honeywell has been the leader in providing several innovative hardware products like area imager scanner, barcode scanner, barcode printer, POS hand held terminal, laser scanner and linear imager scanner.

The partner conclave was a unique opportunity for Honeywell India business leaders and its partners to make deeper connections within the business and new relationships among its broad partner network, a top Honeywell official said.

Round table discussions, industry presentations, and networking sessions were attended by key customers, partners, and top SPS India and global leaders at REIMAGINE 2017 Leadership Forum in India.

PR appeared on:

http://eprretailnews.com/2017/03/13/0913445-millennium-india-bags-best-partner-award-from-honeywell/

https://www.prlog.org/12625594-millennium-india-bags-best-partner-award-2016-from-honeywell.html

http://eprnews.com/millennium-india-bags-best-partner-award-2016-from-honeywell-90521/

http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/millennium-india-bags-best-partner-award-honeywell

http://www.openpr.com/news/464552.html

http://www.justransact.com/media/press-release/millennium-india-bags-best-partner-award-from-honeywell

How to Get Ideal POS System for your Retail Store

Point Of Sale (purchase) (POS) is the hot seat of any retail business. More the customers at POS mean more business growth! But can retailers retain customers using traditional mean of operations?  

You may bring customers, but they may desert you if you don’t provide efficient check-out system and friendly staff. Customers these days least preferred to wait (waste time) at POS counters to pay bills after spending (enough) time in selecting their merchandise. Modern technology has paved the way to treat customers for easy checkouts, whether at POS or at anywhere in the store.

Read Full Blog Here.

POS can Automate Retail Pharmacy Business to Improve Sales

Retail Pharmacy business in India is highly fragmented and dominated by several mom and pop drug stores. Though some leading players in the market such as Apollo, MedPlus and Religare chain of Pharmacies are leading the organized retail side of the pharmacy business in India, it is still a long way to go for retail pharmacies to engage modern POS technology and become organized to improve sales & customer satisfaction.

Point of Sale (POS) technology, which helps retailers of various businesses to automate their daily operations such as regular billing, inventory monitoring and management, optimal staff utility, customer relation management, and several other back-end operations, can be more rewarding for retail pharmacies as it takes over several mundane works effortlessly and improves operational efficiency.

Read Full Blog Here.

Mobile Payments may Overtake Physical Cards in 2017

Driven by the much-talked about Demonetization by the Government, the Digital and Mobile payments will overshadow cash or card payment practices as the predominant cashless payment mode in India by 2017, according to Deloitte India in its recent report - Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions 2017. 

Mobile payment, unlike card swiping process using magnetic card readers kept at the Point Of Sale counters of retail stores, uses one’s own smart phone through which a customer pays his bills using either a mobile wallet application or through electronic money transfer, which are safe and secure. 

Read Full Blog Here.

Post Demo, India Emerges Top Destination for mPOS Services

Globally, Mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) service has become a highly competitive market with the presence of a large number of players making it difficult for them to set their service apart, according to Transparency Market Research (TMR).

With their innovative efforts and technology, VeriFone Systems, Ingenico S.A. and PAX Technology have been regarded as the leading mPOS service providers in 2015. They have made huge investments to make mPOS available across major smart phone operating systems - iOS, Android and Windows. Additionally, VeriFone and other leading names are spending significantly to improve their customer engagement methods and practices.

Read Full Blog Here.

How to Keep your Store Mobile-Friendly

As smart phones making a huge impact on millions of Indians with host of life-easing features, businesses take a leap to promote their interest using the advanced features offered by mobile technology.

When we look at the customers at retail stores in major cities, they are increasingly using smart phones to make their shopping experience at Point of sale counters hassle-free, unique and fast. Be it scanning the QR codes/barcodes printed on eatables, comparing price list of various items from nearby stores or paying bills through mobile wallets, shoppers enjoy every bit of their shopping, and so the retailers.

Read full blog here.

Retail and Warehousing Attract More Investments from PE Funds: Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri

Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head of JLL India, a leading market research analyst, speaks about the growth of Indian retail, logistics and warehousing sectors, investment scenario and impacts of government’s policies on the sectors in 2016. Excerpts…

• What are investment options Retail, warehousing and logistics sector offer to Overseas and PE funds in India?

Anuj Puri: Apart from the favourite asset classes of office and residential, private equity (PE) has been taking increased interest in warehousing, logistics and retail real estate. PE investors and overseas developers are already looking at opportunities to enter India’s industrial and warehousing sector by investing in various development projects.

Investors from other nations, in general, and Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea, in particular, have shown a lot of interest industrial development projects. A few key announcements that show their increasing interest are: 

·      

•    ‘    Wanda Industrial New City’; Dalian Wanda Group
• ·         Industrial Parks by China Fortune Land Development Company Private (CFLD)
• ·         Development of smart cities by ZTE Corporation
• ·         Neemrana Japanese investment zone
• ·         Mandal Becharaji, Japanese investment zone
• ·         SUPA, Japanese investment zone
• ·         Chinese industrial zone in Vadodara
• ·         Ascendas-Singbridge exploring multiple portfolios of industrial and logistics parks across India.

• What will be the impact on logistics and warehousing sectors when GST becomes a reality?

Anuj Puri: With the implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST), warehousing and logistics’ spaces will start to see a consolidation of assets. Unlike earlier (small assets in various states), developers will focus on the development of large-scale, technologically advanced warehouses. 

Such assets will attract private equity (PE) investors, since they can deploy a larger amount in fewer assets, making monitoring easier. If they perform well, such assets can even fetch a better valuation when monetising through REITs or other ways.

• How do you find the demand for commercial retail assets in 2016?

Anuj Puri: In the past few months, key leasehold retail assets across the country have come on the PE radar. A few reasons include well-managed Grade-A malls starting to enjoy better occupancy with rent escalation on the cards, after a lull of six to seven years. Such well-managed assets/ entities will attract investor focus.

A few key deals seen in 2016 were:

• ·         GIC bought a 50% stake in Viviana Mall of Sheth Developers in Mumbai
• ·         Blackstone acquired the retail portfolio of Alpha G Corp through an entity level deal
• ·         Blackstone has progressed well in acquiring a stake in the retail assets of L&T in Navi Mumbai
• ·         Blackstone buying 50% stake in Pune’s Westend Mall

• What are the impacts of Government’s recent regulations on retail sector?

Anuj Puri: Leasehold retail property usually has a higher probability of success as the developer is actively involved in the key functions of mall management, especially tenant management. Various new regulations like easing foreign investment for single-brand retailers, longer shopping hours and an updated framework for establishing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have attracted the attention of various private equity funds like Blackstone, Xander, GIC, Morgan Stanley, towards the Indian retail real estate sector. 

Various retail mall developers are also looking to sell their existing retail assets and raise funds for expansion.

Mall Owners Find New Way to Bridge Rental Loss

As commercial real estate growth remains sober in cities across India leading to high vacancy levels in Malls, space owners these days adopt new strategy to bring tenants to cover rental revenue loss.

As per the new trend, retailers agree to pay less monthly rental but part a percentage of their monthly sales revenue to the shop owners. However, in the absence of a reliable real time sales data capture system, retailers show tweaked sales data to pay low rent to the owners thus causing huge loss to the later.

But with the availability of new POS software to capture real time sales data from shops, mall owners sitting at remote place don’t have to need to worry over rental loss. Not only this! They can use these data to find seasonal footfalls, popular merchandise, peak time sales, customers’ shopping pattern and behaviour, and host of other information.

Read full blog here.