karan bhalla, Karan Bhalla PMO, Karan Bhalla Encompass, karan bhalla arrest, karan bhalla fraud, karan bhalla cheating, karan bhalla CBI Craftsvilla to venture into offline space with first brick-and-mortar store in Mumbai

In an exclusive interview with Indiaretailing’s Charu Lamba, Co-founder, Craftsvilla, Manoj Gupta said, This year we are going Omnichannel. We are launching our own stores and also we are planning to open shop-in-shops in large format stores like Central, Lifestyle, Pantaloons and Reliance Trends by next quarter. All the brands will be available offline and online. We have also listed our brands on Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra.

He further revealed, Craftsvilla’s first store will open in Mumbai in November. Spread across 800-1,000 sq.ft. retail space, the store will be focussing only on Craftsvilla products.

The ethnicwear major is also planning on opening bigger stores spread across 2,000 sq.ft plus area, where it will house all its brands including Jharokha, Anuswara, Mirwasa and Craftsvilla. These stores will be opened in the later part of next year.

In the next two years, we are eyeing 2 lakh sq.ft. of retail space across general trade, large format stores and own stores. It is too early to say anything about how the area will be divided, said Gupta.

We are starting with Maharashtra as it is a big consumption state and then we are planning to go to South in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and then Delhi in the North. We are yet to create a formal strategy of location, he further added.

Private Labels

Craftsvilla has two lines of business – one is online marketplace where the brand entertain sellers across ethnic space i.e Craftsvilla.com and other is their brand business where they are creating their own brands.

And the reason for creating our brands is primarily because there is an immense opportunity in the ethnic space. We found opportunity in handloom. Handloom is a huge market but completely there is no brand, no one is collecting products and saying this is what I stand for. So we created Jharokha as our handloom brand. Similarly in authentic craft space, Mirwasa, which is our other brand, is about authentic craft apparels like kalamkari, chickenkari etc.

Craftsvilla is also launching another brand called Sutva which is a premium ethnic embellished wedding brand.

Apart from this, we are launching a few brands in the home and jewellery segments, but they will be coming the next year around January or February, said Gupta.

The brand, which has close to 5 million SKUs and 35,000 registered sellers, delivers to around 40,000 pin codes in the country.

Craftsvilla is targeting 300-400 per cent growth this fiscal and looking forward to focus more on men’s category which is an under-served market and also push Craftsvilla kids starting next year.

karan bhalla, Karan Bhalla PMO, Karan Bhalla Encompass, karan bhalla arrest, karan bhalla fraud, karan bhalla cheating, karan bhalla CBI JP Morgan Asset Management expands UK Funds sales team

JP Morgan Asset Management has expanded its UK Funds Sales team with five new appointments.

James Burdis has been appointed a Client Adviser in the Strategic Relationships Group and will report into Tim Mitchell, UK Head of Strategic Relationships at JPMAM. He will be responsible for developing and deepening relationships with key strategic clients including national discretionary fund managers, private banks, family offices and multi-managers.

He started his career at JPMAM in 2007, in London, before relocating to Hong Kong in 2008. Over the next decade, he developed relationships with wealth managers, private banks and consultants across the region. Burdis has been based in Singapore for the past two years and has recently relocated to London, where he will be based.

James Wring has been appointed Regional Sales Manager for South West England and will report into Dale Erdei, Head of UK Intermediary Sales at JPMAM. He will be based in Bristol. Wring will be responsible for developing and advancing relationships with independent financial advisers based throughout the South West. He will help deliver client solutions to the UK retail channel, working in close partnership with both the Strategic Relationships Group and our Investment Trust team.

Wring joins from Jupiter Asset Management where he covered clients based in the South West for several years. Prior to this he was at AXA for over 20 years, covering the broader Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) community.

Jordan Mildwater, Liam MacDonald-Raggett and Harry Boys have been appointed Sales Executives and will support JPMAM’s regional intermediary sales managers. Mildwater joins from Columbia Threadneedle Investments, MacDonald-Raggett joins from JPMorgan’s Corporate & Investment Bank and Boys joins from JPMAM’s UK Funds Marketing team. They will be based in London and report into Nicola Hayden, Head of Sales Executives at JPMAM.

Massimo Greco, Head of EMEA Funds at JPMAM said: We have made swift progress in bolstering the depth and quality of our UK sales team. Strengthening our activity across the UK IFA and wealth management communities to continue to provide our clients with the best solutions is one of my top priorities.

As senior hires, James Wring and James Burdis join with an abundance of experience in strategic relationship management and will hit the ground running with immediate and positive contributions to our clients. The talented additions to our sales executives team will ensure we continue to provide excellent service to our clients, which always drives our focus.

karan bhalla, Karan Bhalla PMO, Karan Bhalla Encompass, karan bhalla arrest, karan bhalla fraud, karan bhalla cheating, karan bhalla CBI House of Fraser owner to inject funding

The Chinese company behind House of Fraser will inject about £15m into the department store chain this week as part of a plan to allay concerns about the 169-year-old firm’s financial health.

The retailer, which employs 6,000, has been under the spotlight over fears it could become the next victim of torrid trading conditions for the UK retail sector that have already claimed well-known high street names such as Toys R Us and Maplin this year.

It is trying to slash the floorspace of its 59-strong store chain by 30% and reduce its rent bill after dismal Christmas trading figures, while its bank lenders have hired accountancy EY to review the firm’s finances. The chain has also held talks with Alteri – a turnaround firm that specialises in struggling retailers – fuelling speculation that is looking to refinance its £400m debts.

House of Fraser has since protested that it only agreed to a meeting at Alteri’s request and could not have sought fresh finance in any case, given the terms of its existing loans.

The picture has been further complicated by suggestions that China’s Sanpower, which owns 89% of the company, is seeking to offload the majority of its stake to fellow Chinese leisure firm Wuji Wenhua.

But the Guardian understands that Sanpower, which bought House of Fraser in 2014 in a deal worth £450m, will reaffirm its commitment to the business, starting with an expected £15m cash injection as soon as this week.

The Sanpower chairman, Yuan Yafei, reassured the trade minister, Liam Fox, that he wants to own House of Fraser for the long term, in a discussion last Friday at Hong Kong’s Great Festival of Innovation.

The entrepreneur, who started his business in 1993 with $2,000 (£1,415) and is now worth an estimated $12bn, is thought to have promised further investment, coupled with a wider overhaul and modernisation of the company and House of Fraser brand.

A spokesperson for Sanpower confirmed that Yafei will inject more money into House of Fraser via Nanjing Cenbest, Sanpower’s Shanghai-listed subsidiary.

We at Sanpower continue to support House of Fraser as it embarks on a year of significant transformation in 2018, he said. Sanpower, through the listed company, has invested £45m in House of Fraser and plans to inject further capital.

With the money on its way, the chief executive, Alex Williamson, wrote to House of Fraser’s suppliers on Monday to say that the company was continuing with business as usual.

The long-term puzzle for Sanpower is that business as usual is not exactly a high bar, at least not lately. After buying House of Fraser four years ago, Yafei laid out ambitious plans to create an international retailer with 50 Chinese stores.

Today it has just two Chinese outlets, while its main UK operation is feeling the pinch from flagging revenues and cripplingly high costs.

They’ve got too much space, inflexible leases, upward-only rent reviews and are also facing pressure from the national living wage, said Richard Lim, the chief executive of Retail Economics.

It’s all putting significant cost pressures on operating their stores, so operating costs are up 3% year on year, which outstrips the sales rise.

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Matches Fashion released the spring ’18 collection of kids’ Balenciaga speed trainers today, offering the luxurious kicks in smaller sizes to add a directional, contemporary edge to the childrenswear market.

The unisex line features mini versions of the adult-sized kicks in four colorways: black, white, red and neon yellow.


The sneakers can be purchased on Matchesfashion.com at a £225 ($313) price tag — a significantly lower price than the $750 for which its adult-sized counterpart retails.

Like Balenciaga’s full-sized speed trainer offering, the new kids’ kicks feature a high-top, sock-fit silhouette crafted from double-knit jersey. The sneakers feature a hot-stamped BB logo, terry-toweling lining and a waved rubber sole.

As a sock-fit sneaker option, Balenciaga’s speed trainers have been a popular choice since they were introduced in 2016. The label’s Triple S — heralded as one of the itugly sneakers — have also gained a cultlike following.

Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia introduced children’s sized versions of his ultrapopular hoodies and sweats, which feature the brand’s name written in a font inspired by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign logo.

Until December, Balenciaga — founded in 1917 — had yet to introduce childrenswear, but the market has become a point of interest for buzzy designers in recent years (case in point: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian launching Yeezy-inspired children’s clothing).