The National Retail Federation kicks off its 2013 BIG Show at Javits Convention Center in NYC on Sunday, January 13th. JGA will be well represented at the show as JGA Chairman, Ken Nisch participates in two sessions. On Monday, January 14th, Ken will join author Liz Crawford in the Expo Hall, as they present The Shopper Economy on the EXPO Stage, Level 1 at 1:30 pm (featuring McCormick World of Flavors pictured above). On Tuesday, January 15th, Ken will join

a panel of global retailers to present Successful Strategies for Globalizing Your Retail Business at 2:00 pm in Room Hall E-1E, 14-16. The McCormick World of Flavors unique interactive display units will also be the featured at the Intel exhibit on the EXPO Floor, Booth #1539; just stop by to arrange a tour of the space. The McCormick project will also be recognized at the Retail Design Institute Awards Gala on the evening of the 14th as well. Read more here.

Now Open in
Boulder: kidrobot

kidrobot, the premier creator of limited edition art toys, signature apparel and pop culture accessories sought to create a space where art, design and surprise meet. Their new retail prototype in Boulder, Colorado is designed to highlight the product, create a sense of organization and flow, in turn allowing for the showcasing, storytelling, and grouping of products. Yet within the diversity of its defined divisions and segments, this kit-of-parts has been created to provide the building blocks for future kidrobot installations, whether shop-in-shop, pop-up, inline or flagship locations. The harmony between humble origins, yet sophisticated outcome, is a natural result of the marriage of product, design, and store environment. For more, click here.

Now Open in Vegas:
Scamp & Scoundrel

This new concept at the Miracle Mile Shops on the Las Vegas strip brings together a variety of accessories, gifts, jewelry, and "why-nots" for the "Scoundrel," who is considered an eccentric style maven, and the "Scamp," a rebellious ingenue. A common point of departure for the Scamp & Scoundrel, whether product, environment, collateral, or even the staff, is its uniqueness. It offers a sense of collected uniqueness without rules, never cookie cutter; always unexpected, and with something for everyone. The black-and-white environment with pops of raspberry and kiwi become signature brand colors. Scamp & Scoundrel is eclectic, found, gathered, yet at the same time curated and edited. For more, click here.

Project Showcase:
Make Meaning

In a recent feature in STORES magazine, JGA-designed Make Meaning is featured as a new "fun with creativity" concept for customers to create their own soaps, candles, painted ceramics, glassware and decorated cakes. This innovative store for families and kids first opened in late 2010 to create meaningful memories through creative activities. According to the feature, Make Meaning has built their customer count at their first location in NYC "to now top 160,000, with other store counts building steadily toward that level." For more on the unique "Concept2Watch," read here.

13 Hot Trends
for 2013

In a trend-focused editorial for Museums & More magazine, Ken Nisch details how many trends - practical, psychographic and attitudinal - are incubating during this "retail reboot" taking place in the new economy. Affecting all types and sizes of businesses, the key is putting the trends to work for you. Among the categories: Cheap and Cheerful, Personal Emancipation, Mix-and-Match Merchandising (like at the Kauffman Center store pictured above), Flash Sales, Technology, and more. For more on the Hot Trends, click here.

Retail Environments Magazine: Fantasy World - Working Abroad in Kuwait
Gondola Conference Colombia: Visual Merchandising as a Strategic Tool (Spanish)
McCormick World Of Flavors Uses HP Interactive Technology
JGA-Designed Sleep Number Among 10 Most Productive Stores

Awakening of the Elephant, by Surender Gnanaolivu

Part One of Two: This month's editorial addresses the growing middle class of India and how the New Age Indian Consumer is helping to drive the desire for international and luxury brands to be a part of the Indian retail scene. Next month, Surender will address how "The Race for Space" is on, with the demand for real estate ever-increasing, especially with the Indian government's decision to liberalize Foreign Direct Investment.

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Pushing against the odds of global downturn, organized retail in India is growing steadily, qualitatively and quantitatively, bringing more than 300 million footfalls through its doors every year. Pretty impressive for organized retail with a mere share of 8% of India's total retail size of around $450 Billion from about 12.5 Million stores! An exponentially annual growth of 26% takes India to fourth place in being the most attractive among 30 Emerging Retail Markets. The elephant is indeed awakening!

Emerging global trends and benchmarks in consumer expectations and retail experience clearly indicate that the market is reaching the tipping point. Three truths that testify this are about the consumer, the retail space and liberalization of foreign direct investments in India.

The New Age Indian Consumer
The growth engine is the aspirational middle-class which has grown to a staggering 300 million - 20 times in the last 10 years!! About 51% of this population is sub-25 years old, with great propensity for branded shopping. About 10 Million Indians globe trot annually and experience global brands overseas. The Experience global brands like Zara, Promod, Benetton, Sisley, Diesel, Accessorize, Body Shop, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger, Ed Hardy and many others in India have opened in malls, and High Streets in Tier-One and Tier-Two cities. Great customer response to these formats and the expansion of their footprint indicates the growing demand for brand offerings and experience.

The ethnic designer occasion wear market in India has seen a significant annual 40% growth and is likely to cross the $2 Billion mark by 2020. After being featured on international runways, Indian global designer labels like Ritu Kumar, Manav

Gangwani, JJ Valaya, Anita Dongre, Gaurav Gupta, Nandita Basu, Rohit Bal and others have evolved to appeal to the new age Indian consumer with fashion collections presented in exclusive plush fashion boutiques, shoulder-to-shoulder with international brands.

The Expanding Luxury Market
The Indian luxury market grew at an impressive 20% during last year, reaching a size of $5.8 billion, despite signs of the reemergence of a global slowdown, as stated in a CII-AT Kearney report on Indian Luxury. However, the growth has primarily been in luxury homes, furniture/interior design, cars, yachts, watches and travel.

In comparison to other global markets, India is still nascent in the consumption of luxury brands and existing brands, and they apparently don't plan to expand their business in 2012. The consumption of brands mostly is through the sale of watches, accessories and fragrances offered by brands like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Burberry, Chanel, Jimmy Choo, Cartier, Giorgio Armani, Kenzo, Prada, DKNY and a few more who have entered Indian shores with local partners, on their own in star hotels, rare luxury malls and lately in stand-alone iconic buildings. Not surprisingly Armani and Versace are lending their brand to luxury homes of the niche riche with great success.

The consumption of luxury is primarily driven by the 153,000 Indian millionaires, who are expected to double by 2015! The luxe market growth is banking on converting them from shopping overseas for luxury brands to shopping for them in India. New luxury consumers are expected to join from the young, informed and discerning segment of the middle class who are moving up to indulge in aspirational shopping.

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Surender Gnanaolivu is Executive VP - Store Development & Presentation for Mahindra Retail, India. Surender has 17+years experience in the Indian Retail Industry in Brand Activation, Strategic Retail Planning, Store Planning, Store Design, Visual Merchandising, Store Roll-Out Management, Writing, Training and Teaching. He also serves as Advisory Board Editor, VM&RD Magazine. Surender may be reached at: GNANAOLIVU.SURENDER@mahindra-retail.com.

Save the Date!
The 2013 In-Store Asia Conference will be held February 21-23rd at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India. Stop by the JGA/FRDC exhibit booth #8 to meet with Ken Nisch and learn about JGA's work in India. For more about the conference, click here.