| Did someone say: "what's a mobile smoking lounge"? Godfrey Philips has bought two air-conditioned vans capable of seating 10 people, who can walk in, and light up without being harassed about smoking in public. The two vans have already done rounds in Delhi and Ahmedabad and are currently in Mumbai. |
| Says Sundeep Kumar, senior vice president, corporate affairs, Godfrey Phillips India: "The new tobacco act bans smoking in closed public spaces. This inconveniences the smoker, because they have to go out of movie halls and malls to smoke. So we started the pilot to see if the concept would work." Currently the company is gathering feedback about the service to see how smokers respond to the idea. |
| There are no charges to use the van and though there is a cigarette counter selling Godfrey Phillips brands inside, it's not compulsory to buy their cigarettes. The van will be placed in high footfall areas -- currently outside the Crossroads Mall at Tardeo and the other is at High Street Phoenix in Lower Parel. |
| "By placing the vans at such places we're trying to ensure exclusivity, but of course anyone can walk in to use the van," says Kumar. |
| Godfrey Phillips has a 12 per cent volume share of the cigarette market in India and about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of its turnover comes from its Four Square brand. The company is looking at using the inside of the van for branding exercises (like currently the new pack Four Square is being promoted) including having talks inside about the product range and the such like. |
| It may also try to earn revenue from retailing certain kinds of products like coffee or cold drinks inside the van, according to Kumar. Currently, the smoking vans are being funded from the marketing budget, but Kumar hopes they will soon be self-sustaining. |
| Fine dining at home |
| You've got the damask table cloth and the long-stemmed, crystal wineglasses from Bohemia. The mother of pearl handled cutlery has been put perfectly in place. Is there still something missing on your dining table? |
| Well, now Noritake one of the fanciest names in the porcelain tableware business is setting up shop in India. Noritake's dinner sets usually cost around Rs 2 lakh so they can certainly give the requisite touch of class to your table. Noritake mugs cost around Rs 200. |
| Last week the capital saw the opening of The Legend, a store which will showcase the best of Noritake's products. The Legend has been promoted by Inter Asia and Jyoti Trading Corporation. |
| While Inter Asia is the sole agent and distributor for Noritake products in India and Sri Lanka, Jyoti Trading has interests in commodities, real estate and stocks. |
| "The Indian consumer has matured in the last few years and we think this is the right time to offer our products," says Hiroyasu Hirozawa, deputy chairman, Noritake Lanka. |
| He adds that his company is targeting just 5 per cent of the Indian population. He says that within a year a second exclusive showroom will be opened in Mumbai to be followed by Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. |
| The promoters have invested around Rs 70 lakh in the showroom and expect to break even within the first year of operations. As Indians get more affluent the luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Bvlgari have all set up shop in India. Now Indians can dine in style "" at home. |
| A nine-minute promise |
| It's a tall promise to make. Topsgrup Security Systems has started an emergency response service called Topsline that promises to rescue Mumbaites from four kinds of emergency situations "" medical, fire, assault and accidents "" by getting to them in nine minutes flat. That's a tough proposition at any time and a near impossibility given Mumbai's traffic snarl ups. The company is owned by Rahul Nanda. |
| The Rs 100 crore Topsgrup, (which is in the process of launching an initial public offer) has 4,000 clients and is in the security and intelligence services business. It's betting big money on this venture. |
| It will be investing Rs 17 crore to set up the service in Mumbai alone and then follow it up with similar launches in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata in the course of the next year. |
| It has bought 100 ICCU ambulances and mini fire-fighting teams which will be placed across the metropolis.The company has trained 400 people at the Sainik School in Satara, Maharashtra and another 100 will man the 24- hour control room and offices. |
| "We increasingly realised that the average Mumbaite is extremely worried about safety issues, which is why we came up with the idea. In a way, it is also a natural extension of the parent's services," says Gurdeep Anand, chief executive officer, Topsline. The Mumbai service will be formally launched on 9/11 this year. |
| Clearly, the company is not doing this for philanthropic reasons. The service is only available to subscribers who will have to pay Rs 100 per person per month for it. |
| So if you're a family of three, you pay Rs 3,600 for the full year. Given the number of residents in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, Anand and team are projecting revenues at Rs 60 crore by the end of the next financial year. |
| To make sure they have their act together, Topsline roped in trainers from the Emergency Response Training school in Louisana, USA (they train police and other municipal workers) to come down and review processes. The company is also in the process of tying up with 90 hospitals in the city so that their clients get preferential treatment in beds. |
| If you are not a subscriber, you can still call but will be attended to after being charged Rs 6,000 on your credit card. |
| The question is whether the service will take off and whether the Topsgrup will be able to stay on top of their promises. |
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