By: Pia Heikkila
Source: http://www.thenational.ae
Coffee shops in Mumbai are hip, happening places. There is all the latest Bollywood gossip to be shared, deals to be made and the internet to be surfed.
And then there is, of course, the coffee - and sandwiches and cakes.
Comfy sofas, muzak and armchairs invite guests to linger. And linger they do.
One of them is Neha Punjabi, an advertising director, who is sitting hunched over her laptop, sipping a latte and nibbling on a bagel.
"'I've been here for about four hours today and come here at least three times a week," she says. "I mainly come here to use the internet for work and meet my friends. For me it's the extension of my living room."
It is people such as Ms Punjabi whom the US coffee shop giant Starbucks wants to court as the Seattle-based company is believed to be weeks away from opening its first outlet in India, to be based at the renowned Taj hotel in the Mumbai district of Colaba.
Starbucks wants its slice of the juicy pie that India can potentially offer. The country's coffee shop market is worth a modest US$200 million (Dh734.6m) but in just four years it could be worth five times as much, according to Research In India. This is against the mature US market, which last year was worth about $18bn, according to the market research company Mintel.
Starbucks is not landing in India a moment too soon. The thirst for coffee is growing.
Market sources say Starbucks and the Indian multi-industry giant Tata have carved a joint venture that would allow the US company to operate in India. The country's foreign direct investment regulations would allow Starbucks to hold up to 51 per cent in the joint venture. Starbucks and Tata declined to comment on their plans.
The US company is clearly keen to boost its overseas revenue as it currently receives a fifth of its sales from non-US operations. Its net income for the three months to July 3 stood at $279.1m, up 34 per cent on a year earlier, with international revenue rising by 20 per cent versus 9 per cent in the US, according to the company's figures.
There are about 1,700 to 1,800 coffee-shop chain cafes operating in India, and the market can easily absorb more than twice those numbers in the top 50 to 60 Indian cities, says the research firm Technopak.
"The initial effort and work required to familiarise people with the concept has been done over the last decade," says Saloni Nangia, the senior vice president at Technopak.
"Now, meeting or spending time at a coffee shop or seeing coffee shops as an option for a quick bite is very much a part of the consumer's lifestyle in the top 15 to 20 cities. It would percolate further quite steadily as the smaller cities have fewer options currently."
As the trend for coffee shops spreads outside the big cities, it seems Indians of all ages are steadily developing a taste for cappuccinos, macchiatos and espressos instead of their traditional chai.
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/retail/india-meets-latte-and-latches-on
Source: http://www.thenational.ae
Coffee shops in Mumbai are hip, happening places. There is all the latest Bollywood gossip to be shared, deals to be made and the internet to be surfed.
And then there is, of course, the coffee - and sandwiches and cakes.
Comfy sofas, muzak and armchairs invite guests to linger. And linger they do.
One of them is Neha Punjabi, an advertising director, who is sitting hunched over her laptop, sipping a latte and nibbling on a bagel.
"'I've been here for about four hours today and come here at least three times a week," she says. "I mainly come here to use the internet for work and meet my friends. For me it's the extension of my living room."
It is people such as Ms Punjabi whom the US coffee shop giant Starbucks wants to court as the Seattle-based company is believed to be weeks away from opening its first outlet in India, to be based at the renowned Taj hotel in the Mumbai district of Colaba.
Starbucks wants its slice of the juicy pie that India can potentially offer. The country's coffee shop market is worth a modest US$200 million (Dh734.6m) but in just four years it could be worth five times as much, according to Research In India. This is against the mature US market, which last year was worth about $18bn, according to the market research company Mintel.
Starbucks is not landing in India a moment too soon. The thirst for coffee is growing.
Market sources say Starbucks and the Indian multi-industry giant Tata have carved a joint venture that would allow the US company to operate in India. The country's foreign direct investment regulations would allow Starbucks to hold up to 51 per cent in the joint venture. Starbucks and Tata declined to comment on their plans.
The US company is clearly keen to boost its overseas revenue as it currently receives a fifth of its sales from non-US operations. Its net income for the three months to July 3 stood at $279.1m, up 34 per cent on a year earlier, with international revenue rising by 20 per cent versus 9 per cent in the US, according to the company's figures.
There are about 1,700 to 1,800 coffee-shop chain cafes operating in India, and the market can easily absorb more than twice those numbers in the top 50 to 60 Indian cities, says the research firm Technopak.
"The initial effort and work required to familiarise people with the concept has been done over the last decade," says Saloni Nangia, the senior vice president at Technopak.
"Now, meeting or spending time at a coffee shop or seeing coffee shops as an option for a quick bite is very much a part of the consumer's lifestyle in the top 15 to 20 cities. It would percolate further quite steadily as the smaller cities have fewer options currently."
As the trend for coffee shops spreads outside the big cities, it seems Indians of all ages are steadily developing a taste for cappuccinos, macchiatos and espressos instead of their traditional chai.
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/retail/india-meets-latte-and-latches-on
No comments:
Post a Comment