Amazon.com’s investment in retailer Shoppers Stop will help the Indian company boost revenue and add 25 per cent more stores, while the US firm expands its reach into smaller towns in the world’s second-most populated nation.
Shoppers Stop shares surged after saying it will raise US$28 million selling a 5 per cent stake to Amazon.Com NV Investment Holdings, the Mumbai-based company said late Saturday. As part of the deal, Amazon experience centres - which let customers test out the products available online - will be set up across Shoppers Stop’s network of 80 bricks-and-mortar stores in India. The company will add 20 stores in the next four years, said Govind Shrikhande, the managing director of Shoppers Stop.
The alliance will help Shoppers Stop tap part of the 400 million monthly visitors to Amazon’s online stores, Mr Shrikhande said. The Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos has allocated $5 billion toward Amazon’s expansion in India as it seeks to secure an advantage over local rivals in the South Asian nation. The e-commerce juggernaut has a lot riding in the country after its washout in China, where the dominance of Alibaba and other domestic players made Amazon’s entry difficult.
“The partnership with Amazon will really accelerate our revenue from online sales and we expect it to double every year for the next three years,” Mr Shrikhande, said on Sunday. “Amazon will give us space in its fashion segment online where its users will have access to about 400 brands from our catalogue.”
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Shoppers Stop, which has stores in smaller cities including Durgapur, Aurangabad and Kolhapur, is targeting 10 per cent of revenue from online sales by 2020 from 1.2 per cent, Mr Shrikhande said. The company’s board approved the issuance of 4.4 million shares to a unit of Amazon for $6.28 apiece.
Shares of Shoppers Stop surged as much as 20 per cent, headed for their biggest gain in eight years as of 9:33am in Mumbai. They have climbed 65 per cent this year, compared with the 19 pe rcent jump in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
Both the companies will gain from the deal, said Harminder Sahni, the founder and managing director of consulting firm Wazir Advisors.
“Only 5 per cent of sales are happening via online in the case of clothing, and Amazon can’t ignore the remaining 95 per cent in India as people still want to touch and feel clothes,” said Sahni. “For Shoppers Stop, this deal gives access to technology and new channel of distribution.”
Shoppers Stop, which sells cosmetics to clothing and home appliances at its outlets, will have an exclusive flagship store on Amazon’s Indian site where it will retail its entire portfolio, the company said.
The deal will be Amazon’s first investment in a publicly traded retailer in India. Shoppers Stop will issue 5 per cent of post-issue share capital to the Amazon unit.
“The investment is strategic and one really can’t read too much about whether the Amazon unit will raise its stake in the future,” said Mr Shrikhande.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
