NEXA 3RD LARGEST RETAILER OF CARS High-end retailers grapple with curbside pickup

Cipla India biz CEO, 2 other execs leave firm

Drug firm Cipla has witnessed three senior-level exits, including that of executive vice-president and CEO for India business Nikhil Chopra. The other two executives are Nikhil Lalwani, head of India prescription business, and Kunal Khanna, cluster head of chronic and emerging business development and portfolio. "They have served significant tenures in Cipla; we deeply value their contribution,”Cipla said.

Mumbai, Aug. 4: Maruti Suzuki's premium retail brand Nexa has become the third largest retailer of passenger cars in the country and it currently has a market share of 11 per cent, according to a senior executive.

Nexa contributes more than 20 per cent of Maruti Suzuki's annual volumes, grossing over 30,000 units per month even in this downturn. "Today, Nexa is the third largest retail automobile channel with a market share of 10-11 per cent. At present, Nexa contributes close to 20 per cent of our overall sales. With Nexa, we are able to attract modern urban consumers," Maruti Suzuki executive director for marketing and sales Shashank Srivastava said.

At present, there are 370 Nexa showrooms across 200 cities.

—PTI

To survive Covid-19, luxury retailers are being forced to master something they've always avoided: impersonal transactions.

The pandemic has driven high-end US retailers far from their roots of engaging shoppers with stylized, personal-and unfortunately, high-touch-service. Think makeup and jewellery counters, personal shoppers and in-house tailors. Now, with consumers staying away from public spaces, retailers like Bloomingdale's Inc and Neiman Marcus Group Inc are coming to terms with selling products via FaceTime and curbside pickup. But translating this into a lavish shopping experience sounds about as natural as turning a TV dinner into five-star dining.

"This is a transformative moment" for an industry that resists change, said Christophe Cais, chief executive officer of the Customer Experience Group, a consultancy for luxury companies.

Retail's new reality means that around 10 per cent of physical luxury stores may close worldwide in the next three years, said Deborah Aitken, a luxury analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. On the other hand, increased web sales could lead to wider marketing reach and more opportunities to target likely buyers using consumer data, she said. Aitken projects online sales could rise to 17 per cent of the total for luxury at the end of 2020-up from 12.5 per cent at the end of 2019.

Now, companies must figure out how to conjure up their signature atmospheres, from iconic colour palettes to warm smiles, when patrons aren't actually in the building. Upping the ante is the fact that these companies' customers expect perfection-a Birkin shopper in one of Cais's focus groups, for example, thought her bag was cheaply made when it arrived in six months instead of nine. This attitude stands in stark contrast to the rest of retail, where companies like Amazon.com Inc and

Walmart Inc have built up their shipping to get goods to customers as fast as possible.

Depending on the customer, speed may also be important for luxury shoppers. But overall, brands that have long prized personalised service must now learn how to control the user experience from shoppers' first click to when the product is unwrapped.

First off, luxury stores must nail down how and where their customers actually prefer to interact, Cais said. Patrons don't want the experience to feel too transactional or cheap. Calling customers to suggest products, for example, comes dangerously close to telemarketing. Drive-thrus and online shopping, meanwhile, move away from luxury's signature immersive experience.

In the short term, companies are betting on video chat, which can let sales associates connect with longtime customers who may be staying away from stores. Bloomingdale's has started letting customers shop by FaceTime, or even by phone call or instant message. And around 20 other luxury shops, including standalone brands like Gucci and Valentino, are making room for digital hand-holding via video software. —Bloomberg