Martha Stores Cancel Pension, Irish Employees Plan Christmas Strike

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< p > the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom < a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp" > Marks / Spencer Group PLC > /a > (LON:MKS) Martha department store employees in Ireland are going to strike during the period of "a" and "Christmas". During the period of "Christmas", the reduction of expenditure and the abolition of the fixed income plan for the pensions will make the Irish trade unions lively. The union voted and 94% of the employees approved the strike plan.

Now know the details with the little editor.

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< p > 2300 employees have authorized the union representatives to write to the company. They say they will strike on Saturday, December 7th. Besides, there will be another two strikes during the Christmas season, 12 and 20 days respectively.

The company union said that Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) < a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp" > Martha department store "/a" unilaterally closed the workers' pensions fixed income plan in October 31st. In addition, in addition to saving money strategy, Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) Martha department will also lay off some managers, while reducing Sunday, holiday overtime and cancel Christmas bonus.

Trade union secretary-general GerryLight said that "a href=" http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp "pension" /a "has a surplus of 17 million, while Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) Martha Department has launched a series of unpopular strategies in recent months. He said that although the staff understood the difficult situation of the company in the past two years, the employment clause was totally unsatisfactory.

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< p > November 5th, Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) Martha department store published the first half fiscal year's earnings report. Group a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp" > clothing sales < /a > has declined for ninth consecutive quarters, while sales of general merchandise departments based on clothing sales have decreased by 1.5% compared with the same period last year, with a drop of 1.6% in the first quarter, narrowing to 1.3% in the two quarter of September 28, 2013, better than analysts forecast 1.5%, and the smallest decline in more than two years.

MarcBolland, chief executive officer of Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) Martha department, said that early signs of improvement had been seen, which made investors hope for Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) Martha department store. Its stock price closed at 505.57 pence in November 5th, up 3.79%, and its market value was 7 billion 850 million pounds.

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< p > > a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp" > Marks&SpencerGroupPLC (LON:MKS) < /a > Martha said that negotiations on the Irish company strike have been carried out but failed to achieve the desired results. The group will be ready to restart negotiations at any time.

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< p > related links < /p >

< p > > strong > Martha general merchandise announces India as the largest overseas market growth point < /strong > /p >

< p > British retailer Martha Spencer (Marks & Spencer)'s a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp" > clothing < /a > and footwear sales suffered 9 consecutive quarters of decline.

Faced with the sluggish sales in the local market, Martha's Department announced this week that India will be the largest overseas market growth point in the next 3 years.

Is Martha's department too ambitious? /p

< p > 2001, Martha began to enter India, currently has 36 stores in the locals.

As for the reasons for the expansion of the India market again, the world-renowned analytical agency, Rui information consulting company, said that the size of the clothing and footwear market in India amounted to 51 billion US dollars, which is Martha's third largest market in the Asia Pacific region, second only to China and Japan.

In 2012~2017, the composite annual growth rate of clothing and footwear market is 7.6%, so it is expected that by 2017, sales will reach US $73 billion, which is expected to catch up with Italy and France.

"For the world's leading fast fashion retailers, India is undoubtedly an attractive new investment market.

But like other markets, opening up the India market is also risky and challenging.

Magdalena Kondej, President of Ou Rui clothing research.

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< p > < strong > is India the best candidate < /strong > < /p >

Martha, who struggled to curb the decline in domestic clothing sales, chose India's decision to be calm or messy. It is understandable that Martha's move is to shift negative attention from an English retailer into an international competitor, but does India have the market potential of being uniformly optimistic? {page_break} < /p >

< p > > a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp" > Martha department store < /a > currently there are more than 770 stores in the UK, and more than 430 in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It is estimated that by 2016, the number of stores in India will expand from 36 to 80.

Obviously, Martha has taken India as the target market to achieve the fastest growth in Asia, but experts have questioned Martha seriously regarding India as the key to market development.

Kondej pointed out that in terms of per capita expenditure, the average expenditure of India consumers in clothing and footwear was $41, while in China it was $200 and Brazil was close to 300 dollars.

Although the international brand may have huge potential demand in India, at least not now, it will take a long time for India's disposable income and consumption expenditure to catch up with other emerging markets.

Obviously, if India is chosen to compete with international competitors, Martha will face a challenging business environment.

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< p > in addition, considering the current development of India, the India road of modern retailing may still face many other development obstacles.

"In India, many recently opened shopping centers are struggling," Kondej said.

As we all know, in terms of rental price, Mumbai is the highest in the world.

Given these considerations, it would be surprising if Martha still insisted on setting India as a priority target for market development.

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< p > < strong > global purchasing advantage is difficult to play /strong < < /p >

< p > in the protection of local industry, the India government's mandatory demand for international retailers is that local purchases account for 30%.

Admittedly, there are many advantages in choosing local sourcing, such as the style and price requirement that meets the needs of the India market.

However, such restrictions are not conducive to the optimal allocation of global market resources that international retailers are good at. This is also the main reason why many international retailers who want to enter India eventually choose to retreat.

"For retailers who rely on imported goods, the increase of procurement cost in the supply chain means that the price of terminal products will be higher, which is undoubtedly a challenge to the competitiveness of enterprises," said ou.

Martha also made purchases in India and South Asia as the focus of this expansion plan.

At present, 33% of the basic commodities sold by Martha are produced in the local area, and 64% of the goods sold in India come from here.

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< p > apart from tariffs, logistics, management costs and the ability to communicate quickly with local suppliers, another challenge faced by international retailers in India in the past year is that the rupee depreciated more than 20% against the US dollar, which means that the cost of imports is even more expensive.

Kondej believes that the world's leading fast fashion retailers are heavily dependent on imports.

The main reason why H&M and UNIQLO choose to postpone the opening of stores in India is due to exchange rate fluctuations.

In addition, Martha did not have a large procurement base in India as GAP did.

If Martha wants to realize his expansion in India, he needs to establish a customized retail strategy. On the other hand, he also needs to create a protection mechanism against exchange rate fluctuations.

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< p > < strong > brand awareness needs to be improved < /strong > < /p >

< p > Martha had been involved in the market franchisee mode for the first time and was forced to shut down completely.

After positioning for the "a href=" http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp "high-end retailers" /a > strategy failure, we found a suitable location with the strategic partners Reliance company, but suffered the pressure of global economic slowdown and India consumer market weakness.

To succeed in India's clothing market, Martha's department store must establish a correct position and learn to communicate with consumers.

Do you want to become a high quality clothing brand, or a good price parity brand, or a brand that you want to compete with ZARA and other fast fashion brands? What you can see is that, considering the product demand and cultural characteristics of India market, Martha stores will move towards the second goal.

But Harminder Sahni, general manager of Wazir Advisors consulting, said that the future of Martha's department store in India is worrying, and it may be like a struggle in the UK.

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< p > in fact, Sahni said that the biggest challenge facing retailers is to find the best shopping center location, and focus on less investment and larger traffic market.

Since the joint venture with Reliance group, "a href=" http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_s.asp "> Martha department store" /a "has been committed to large-scale investment and readjustment of product mix to meet the needs of many middle-income consumers in India.

Although it is feasible to expand India's business, it also needs to be balanced with the establishment and international positioning.

In addition, it is particularly important to strengthen communication with consumers.

Martha brand is well known in the UK, but in India, outside the store of Martha store, there is hardly any information from the retailer such as advertising and public relations. Martha also needs to cultivate consumers' awareness of the brand.

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