TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards - The Loot - Jay Gupta

The Loot | 2004

Jay Gupta | Mumbai | Retail/ Consumer-based
Nominated on Jul 11 2008 7:14PM | by NEN

The Loot - Snapshot

Buy branded goodies at half the cost

Business Basics

Company Name	The Loot
Founded in	2004
Headquartered in	Mumbai
Company website/URL	www.thelootstore.com
Industry	Retail/ Consumer-based
Stage of the company	Scaling up
Source of idea	Discovered by chance
Awards & honors	Among the Tpo 50 Business Opportunities, The Franchising World, 2008; Retail Design and Visual, India Retail Forum, 2007; Retail Marketing Campaign, I...> Read more..
Awards & honors	Among the Tpo 50 Business Opportunities, The Franchising World, 2008; Retail Design and Visual, India Retail Forum, 2007; Retail Marketing Campaign, India Retail Forum, 2007; Innovative Concept, India Retail Forum, 2007; Value Retailer of the Year, India Retail Forum, 2006 < Back
Partnerships & Tie-ups	'The LOOT' is a multi-brand discount store, offering customers a wide range of products with discounts ranging between 25% -60% - throughout the ye...> Read more..
Partnerships & Tie-ups	'The LOOT' is a multi-brand discount store, offering customers a wide range of products with discounts ranging between 25% -60% - throughout the year. The store retails about 100 brands brands like Kappa, Bossini, Adidas, Nike, CAT, ID, Spykar, Lilliput, Giny & Jony, Disney, Ruff Kids, Lee Youth, W, Sepia, AND, Welspun, Puma, Reebok, Van Huesen, Allen Solly, Arrow, Lee, Lee Cooper, Wrangler, Pepe Jeans, Parx, Park Avenue, Blackberrys, Thomas Scott, Red Tape etc and international brands like Mercedes. The LOOT's strength as a retailer lies in proper procurement & an excellent supply chain management. This helps in getting better pricing from the manufacturer and thereafter passing the benefit on to the consumer. The LOOT currently offers the right mix of men's and women's semi-formal, formal, casuals, sports category of garments, footwear & accessories, kids wear etc < Back

Business description

"The LOOT" is a multi-brand discount store, offering customers a wide range of products with discounts ranging between 25% -60% - throughout the year. The store retails about 100 brands brands like Kappa, Bossini, �Adidas, Nike, CAT, ID, Spykar, Lilliput, Giny & Jony, Disney, Ruff Kids, Lee Youth, W, Sepia, AND, Welspun, Puma, Reebok, Van Huesen, Allen Solly, Arrow, Lee, Lee Cooper, Wrangler, Pepe Jeans, Parx, Park Avenue, Blackberrys, Thomas Scott, Red Tape etc and international brands like Mercedes.The LOOT's strength as a retailer lies in proper procurement & an excellent supply chain management. This helps in getting better pricing from the manufacturer and thereafter passing the benefit on to the consumer. The LOOT currently offers the right mix of men's and women's semi-formal, formal, casuals, sports category of garments, footwear & accessories, kids wear etc < Back

How does the business make money?

By giving value to the consumers, good negotiations, working harder and more productivity

Team information

R. P. Chhabra, CEO, MA, LLB, worked with RBI & IDBI, served as Director and CEO in Garware
Melwyn Rebeiro- V.P. Operations, MBA- Symbiosis Institute, Pune, 19 years of retail experience
Satyanarayan Guttula, V.P. Private brands, 19 years in Retail; Sunil Rathi - V.P. Finance, CA, worked for Bhartiya group, SFS Global Ltd. And Hakoba
Rahul Vohra - V.P. Brands, 28 years of experience from manufacturing, retail & export.

Competition

Competitors	Brand Factory and other Multi branded outlets like Shoppers Stop, Pantaloons, Lifestyle, Globus etc during their seasonal sales
How different is your product or service? It has...	Substitutes that differ in price or value
In what way is your product or service different?	Minimum 25% discount, Upto 60% discount, 365 days discounts, No Fakes No Seconds and Guaranteed price Guaranteed product

By The Numbers

	2006	2007
No. of employees	301-1000	301-1000
No. of locations	16-30	over 30
No. of customers	over 50	over 50
Turnover	15-30 crore	over 30 crore
Profits	1-5 crore	1-5 crore

Primary source of initial funding	Family & friends
Primary source of additional funding	Bank loans & mortgages
Raised institutional capital?	No

Why is this startup hot?

Great Steals on Big Brands! That's the core concept The Loot is based upon and who doesn't like discounts!! You walk into The Loot store anytime and get fabulous discounts of minimum 25% off which goes up 60% off 365 days of the year.This is very well accepted by the customers as its like having a second bite on the cherry pie. The Loot is considered a shopping haven especially amongst the youngsters due to the various aspirational brands that are avilable to them like Puma, Nike, Adidas, Red Tape, Kappa, Bossini, W, Sepia, AND, Welspun, Carmichael House, Disney, Gini & Jony, Lilliput, Little kangaroo etc.The Loot was nominated one amongst 12 'Small Ideas Big Changes' by Hindustan Times as the concept is quite unique and not just another retail store. < Back

What keeps the team awake at night?

Giving value is the motto and we strive towards achieving our goal. To work towards making each and every customer satisfied and make his/her shopping experience delightful. To achieve the target of hitting 100 stores in less than a year and 200 stores in 1 and a half years and be one of the most successful value retail format in India. We are a very young team and are constantly fighting various odds faced in various areas.


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Voting Closed

Experts' Comments

View experts' panel

“One sees this as a profitable business in the long run, as long as there is some differentiation beyond price....” > Read more..

The Loot, as the name suggests, thrives on giving the consumers deep discounts on varied range of products at all times of the year. While it solves a specific pain point of consumers and manufacturers, i.e., to get the best deal and the best price, it remains to be seen how this can scale up as a viable business. One sees this as a profitable business in the long run, as long as there is some differentiation beyond price. It will have to keep rediscovering itself by finding new brands to sell, at new locations and at new price points, while keeping its DNA of value for consumers intact. Retailing in India is taking off, but The Loot primarily focuses on apparels, which is the biggest risk to the business model. Also, competition from factory outlets and private labels will grow as both manufacturers and retailers get under more pressure to retain margins. < Back

“The concept no doubt at first thought sounds a good workable business opportunity in a good volumes and low margin business. It seems a growing market both in terms of numbers and scope....” > Read more..

The concept no doubt at first thought sounds a good workable business opportunity in a good volumes and low margin business. It seems a growing market both in terms of numbers and scope. It is a true in between offer between a Full service store/Franchisee and a unbranded unorganised outlet. The success over the past 3 odd years proves the feasibility of the concept and the growth prospects. The key is not so much as Location or visibility of the store (compared to a Shoppers Stop/Company store)as much as getting better discounts/deals with the supplying companies and assured availability of stock. Hence a strong continued model to ensure the same with the companies they deal with like Adidas/Nike/Lee/Bossini/Red Tape etc is essential. If THE LOOT ensures the same, it would seem like a workable model in the long run too. Simultaneously keeping Fixed costs like real estate to a minimum by going with the franchisee/lease model sound better with an eye to keep costs down and in turn offer better prices to customers as stores need not be in prime property necessarily. Inventory management is a key and could affect Interest costs on working capital in case non moving stock piles up. Also competing with the established stores for 5-6 months of the year when they too offer discounts needs to be strategically tackled. All in all a truly enterprising concept, and would seem to succeed considering management focus stems to tackle issues on Better Principal relationships(Adidas/Nike/Bossini and the other cos) prudent inventory management and selecting equally enterprising franchisees would be the key to further growth and success. < Back

Entrepreneur's Details
Name		Jay Gupta
Age		33
Hometown		Birgang
Family background		First gen entrepreneur
More than 1 company?		Yes (2)
Education		Bachelors
Graduated from		SIES, Mumbai
Former employer		Master Franchise
Former designation		Managing Director
Area of responsibility		Leadership
Favorite book/movie		Guru

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