Walmart Inc plans to increase its exports from India by almost three times to $10 billion by 2027. The retailer currently exports $3 billion worth apparels and textiles form India. The rise in exports will boost India’s micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises as the US giant will source from hundreds of suppliers in food, pharmaceuticals, consumables, health & wellness, general merchandise, apparel, homeware among other key export categories. It has already launched vendor development programs such as Flipkart Samarth and Walmart Vriddhi in India.

By accelerating India exports, Walmart also aims to support the government’s Make in India initiative and help more local businesses reach international customers, while creating jobs and prosperity at home in India. The move will also help Walmart bring more high-quality, India-made goods to millions of customers all across the world.

India is already a top sourcing market for Walmart and it already exports items worth about $3 billion including apparels, homeware and jewelry among various other products.

As per a recent Edelweiss report, though the second wave of pandemic dampened sentiments, an early onset of winter in many parts of the country along with the ongoing wedding season has helped revive spirits. As Lalit Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, V-Mart, said in conversation with Business Today, consumers are dressing up and celebrating occasions at their homes. The overall trend has been one of casualization, he adds.

Demand for athleisure and products such as socks and inner wear has also peaked, says the the Edelweiss report. Luxury brands such as Gucci focused on the athleisure segment with their hoodies and track pants through this year. The pandemic also pushed weddings to the later part of the year, which benefited jewelry brands. Titan registered a 15 per cent growth during the festive season, bunching up of weddings in November has also helped this.

However, industry demand remained muted with gold imports declining by 48 per cent YoY from April-October. Titan's jewellery segment declined 26 per cent in H1FY21. However, it posted 15 per cent growth post this period.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approached the Karnataka High Court to cancel the stay of a probe into alleged anti-competitive practices and preferential treatment of sellers among other charges against online retailers Flipkart and Amazon. CCI approached the HC almost two months after the Supreme Court (SC) refused to entertain its plea. The Karnataka HC had stayed an investigation by CCI after Amazon filed a writ petition in February this year.

The Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM), a group representing small- and medium-sized businesses, had complained to the CCI alleging business malpractices by Amazon and Flipkart, which included preferential treatment to sellers affiliated with, or controlled by, the companies, predatory pricing and exclusive arrangements with mobile phone brands. In the court, Amazon argued that CCI’s order to investigate the former had been passed without application of mind and likened it to an open-ended fishing expedition as well as jurisdictional overreach.

As per Goldman Sachs, Flipkart and Amazon have the biggest share of India’s booming e-commerce market that is expected to reach $99 billion by 2024. The report titled 'Global Internet: e-commerce's steepening curve', states that India’s growth rate in the sector would outdo more developed economies. It further states that COVID-19 pandemic had helped double the penetration of e-commerce globally.

Womens wear brand, Madame, has launched a Wonder Woman inspired collection in collaboration with Warner Bros. The Autumn/Winter 2020 collection offers a mix of garments, from t-shirts to cozy sweatshirts and warm sweaters for the winter days ahead. The collection has an international appeal with stylish and inventive outlines and textiles, to make the collection diverse and extraordinary.

The collection is available in stores across India. An ode to the modern women’s qualities of courage, strength, truth and compassion, the collection blends in her personal fair and is affordable and stylish at the same time. It uses a bold color palette to express positivity and energy and kindles her soul to embrace her feminine form and energy.

Started in the early ’80s, Madame was born with the idea to dress up young women in latest styles and designs. Keeping in mind this vision, Madame has marched ahead into the hearts of women everywhere. Decades later, the brand has made a name for itself in both the fashion as well as quality of products offered.

In addition to her present role as lead marketing and PR functions at United Colors of Benetton India, Jasleen Kaur Gumber has been appointed its new CSR Head. Gumber has been associated with Benetton India for over five years and been at the helm of multiple marketing campaigns launched by the brand over the years.

Jasleen comes with a rich experience of nearly a decade in the marketing domain and is an alumna of Management Development Institute, Gurgaon. She is an avid researcher and has many copyright papers to her credit. She has also authored a book titled ‘Ginger and Honey’ and is a part of guest lecture series at various IIMs and university colleges.

Benetton Group S.r.l. is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy founded in 1965. Benetton Group has a network of about 5,000 stores worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Benetton family's holding company called Edizione.

Flipkart-owned fashion marketplace Myntra has launched a new virtual mall feature on its app to give brands prominent display for an additional fee. This app offers apparel and accessories brands an offline official store experience on the marketplace as malls continue to receive low footfall amid the pandemic. About 30 brands including Hennes & Mauritz, Decathlon, Puma, Max and Mothercare have signed up for the online mall.

Myntra states, the virtual mall was a pre-pandemic plan accelerated now to strengthen its market position. The fashion marketplace is targeting brand-conscious customers who can now directly navigate to their selected brands, shop for new arrivals, latest collections and interact with customized interface like in a physical mall. The pilot for the new feature was launched a few weeks ago when the platform learnt that one-third of the search terms on the app had a brand name in them.

Myntra will also hold its End Of Reason (EORS) in the third week of December. In its first edition of EORS in June, Myntra had noted 86 per cent increase in the number of customers from Tier II and III cities, indicating a shift in consumer behavior and preference for online shopping amid the lockdown.

Apparel brand Fablestreet has appointed Adarsh Sharma as its new chief revenue officer. Sharma will lead the brand’s online business besides driving the strategic initiatives for its next leg of growth. An alumnus of IIM Indore, Sharma has over a decade of work experience. He has earlier worked in several leadership positions at Rebel Foods, Zomato and Junglee Games. He also ran his own startup, Plowns in the kids-technology space for three years before joining FableStreet.

His experience in online and digital space will help Fablestreet diversify its product portfolio and expand online over the next few months. Launched three years ago, Fablestreet has already tapped into the growing demographic of Indian female professionals and is looking to make deeper inroads in this segment in the coming year.

Nykaa's retail’s fashion and accessories arm, Nykaa Fashion plans to open 15 new stores over the next few months across metros. The company opened its first store at Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, its biggest market for fashion and beauty.

This is a lifestyle store that offers men’s kids’ and women’s designer wear. After Delhi, Nykaa will open stores in Mumbai and Bengaluru followed by other metros.

Nykaa Fashion was launched by entrepreneur Falguni Nayar in 2012. It later stepped into brick-and-mortar retail and currently has over 73 stores across India and stocks over 1,500 brands. With 100 per cent genuine brands and over one lakh products, Nykaa Fashion offers a comprehensive selection of makeup, skincare, haircare, fragrances, bath and body, luxury, and wellness products for women and men.

The Nykaa Design Studio houses commendable labels such as Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, Masaba Gupta, Anita Dongre, Ritu Kumar, Abraham & Thakore, Payal Pratap Singh, Abhinav Mishra, Payal Singhal, Gopi Vaid, etc

Luxury traditional wear brand Sabyasachi has reopened its flagship stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata for private appointments. The brand has launched in-person on-appointment visits at five of its flagship stores in India with strict social distancing measures. These stores will sell the brand’s new bridal collection which offers a contemporary take on the classic bridal lehenga using handwoven silk matka and featuring embellished, embroidered borders. Lehengas in this collection are paired with Benarasi dupattas and the brand’s signature Kanthi blouse in textured silk.

The stores will also feature textiles with custom hand painted and print artwork by the Sabyasachi Art Foundation and a range of handbags. Sabyasachi Mukherjee is an Indian fashion designer, jewellery designer,retailer and couturier from Kolkata,India. Since 1999, he has sold designer merchandise using the label Sabyasachi. Mukherjee is one of the Associate Designer Members of Fashion Design Council of India and the youngest board member of the National Museum of Indian Cinema. He has designed costumes for Bollywood films such as Guzaarish, Baabul, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Raavan, and English Vinglish.