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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Independent luxury brands face pressure to sell or seek investment amid the market downturn.</li><li>Even the biggest and most successful independent brands with cult followings are under pressure.</li></ul>Sell up or get out.It's a decision some independent luxury brands are confronting amid an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lvmh-sales-drop-bad-indicator-luxury-market-kering-hermes-china-2024-10">industry-wide downturn</a>.With smaller budgets and fewer resources than counterparts owned by conglomerates like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lvmh-luxury-louis-vuitton-struggles-china-slowdown-2024">LVMH</a>, indie brands are feeling the heat of an increasingly challenging retail landscape.Even the biggest and most successful independent brands with cult followings are under pressure.Mere weeks after the grand opening of its first boutique in Soho, New York City, drew large crowds, the French-born indie luxury label <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/luxury-fashion-in-style-according-to-jacquemus-2024-1">Jacquemus</a> announced it's seeking outside investment."I value my independence," French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus told French outlet Le Figaro in October. "I want to pass down this company to my children, but I have to break through the glass ceiling by finding the right partner, who would only have a minority."<div type="image" title="Gigi Hadid walks the Jacquemus runway." height="2000" width="1333" msid="115416179" hostid="261" sizebytes="107156"></div>Founded by the French designer in 2009, his eponymous label has experienced a meteoric period of growth. The Business of Fashion reports its sales hit 270 million euros ($290 million) in 2023. Jacqumeus did not immediately respond to requests for comment.But as 2025 nears, the luxury landscape is proving to be more difficult to navigate, even for LVMH and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-arent-looking-great-gucci-kering-apac-slump-to-blame-2024-10">Kering</a>, both of which reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings in October."If all of these brands that are giant brands with gigantic budgets behind them are suffering this economic climate and this luxury downturn," Blanca Zugaza Escribano, a fashion and luxury consultant at Metyis, told Business Insider, "Imagine smaller brands that have way smaller resources."<h2 id="c138f4ef-aa24-4cfb-8439-dbf25775bf1a">Seize the moment or risk failure</h2>Escribano said there's been an uptick of independent brands seeking investors as a survival strategy.Earlier this year, a series of independent brands, including Vampire's Wife, a luxury British retailer beloved by Kate Middleton, Dion Lee, an Australian luxury brand that Taylor Swift has worn, and NYC-founded Mara Hoffman, found themselves on the chopping block.A combination of the slowing luxury market and the closure or decline of third-party retailers that these brands heavily rely on, took its toll.Others managed to survive by selling out, including Roksanda, the eponymous label of Serbian designer Roksanda Ilinčić, which was bought by The Brand Group in May.For independent brands, Escribano said, the thought process is "either we make it today or we're not here tomorrow."<div type="image" title="Kate Middleton departs a special reception hosted by the Gov. General of Belize in celebration of Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee in March, 2022 in Cahal Pech, Belize." height="1838" width="1280" msid="115416180" hostid="261" sizebytes="272002"></div>"It's just a very, very competitive category," Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, said, adding that independent brands often don't have the resources to scale their business by themselves."The margins are very low, and it takes a long time to achieve critical mass to have success," he said. "It's almost like a salmon swimming upstream in a very turbulent river."Successful marketing tactics, like Jacquemus's buzzy food-inspired beauty campaigns or its mini <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jacquemus-tiny-handbag-le-chiquiti-review-2020-1">Chiquito bags,</a> which the internet couldn't get enough of in 2019, can fuel brand momentum, but it takes more to make it last and compete against heavyweights.In his interview with Le Figaro, Jaquemus offered an example, saying its store in Paris' Avenue Montaigne saw a drop in visitors over the summer as some shoppers avoided the city during the Olympics Games, although he said they weathered it."In reality, we are doing quite well considering we're the smallest house on the avenue," he said.Nevertheless, being the smallest on the avenue means a drop in shoppers can hurt more if you don't have the resources in place."You have to feed this monster of growth to scale to achieve this critical mass," Pedraza said.It's no surprise that Jacquemus is seeking an investor as "they need fast money to capitalize on this momentum," Escribano added.But finding an investor post-COVID-19 is no walk in the park either, as many feel as though they "got burned" by brands "that were just asking for money and burning through it, not really achieving sales, not achieving results, and not having great products," Pedraza said."The consumers and the investors have so many choices out there that they can afford to be very picky," he added.<h2 id="98e6d44e-cb1f-47ae-a13c-19724d62dcc6">Safety in numbers</h2>Jaquemus may be relatively small, but its decision to seek an investor has some foreshadowing with bigger stand-alone brands.In the summer of 2023, Kering acquired a 30% stake in Valentino, a historically independent brand.Rumors have been squashed of a Moncler acquistion of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burberry-turnaround-plan-new-ceo-revenues-plummet-luxury-slowdown-2024-11">Burberry</a>, the beleaguered stand-alone British brand.Burberry, which reported a 22% sales decline in the six months ending in September, faces an uphill battle to regain a competitive position in the luxury market.Nonetheless, Pedraza believes that consolidation between brands and independent brands seeking outside investment will likely persist as they confront industry-wide issues, including the rise of artificial intelligence."It's going to be harder for new brands to penetrate into the life of the consumer, to get the attention, to get the eyeballs, to get the awareness," he said.<div type="image" title="Designer Simon Porte Jacquemus attends the opening of the Jacquemus' Boutique as part of Paris Fashion Week at 27 avenue Montaigne on September 26, 2022 in Paris, France." height="853" width="1280" msid="115416178" hostid="261" sizebytes="44988"></div>But going the safety-in-numbers route and doing so by being acquired by a conglomerate is a decision with consequences.Brands have historically feared certain acquisitions, Escribano said, as it can fundamentally impact brand identity and creativity.For Jacquemus to sell out, it could still lose what Escribano said its magic, which in her view, is its head designer's ability to do "whatever he wants without having to explain his decisions or his creative choices to a board of investors which, at the end of the day, is going to limit so much of his creativity because he's going to have to think purely about business."

Why founders of some small luxury brands are eyeing exits        

America's absurd war on 'organized retail crime'

<div type="image" title="In 2024, India has seen around $12.2 billion worth of IPOs, including mainboard and SMEs" msid="113878163" hostid="261" sizebytes="45300" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;In 2024, India has seen around $12.2 billion worth of IPOs, including mainboard and SMEs&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Missing some action, adrenaline rush, and thrill in your life? Are the good old, albeit mundane money investment avenues like mutual funds and fixed deposits not making the cut for you? Want to experience a heart-pounding, financial rollercoaster that will constantly keep you and your portfolio on tenterhooks? Well then, welcome to the world of initial public offers (IPOs), especially those brought to you by SMEs, or <keyword id="6375845" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Small-and-Medium-Enterprises" source="Orion">small and medium enterprises</keyword>. Truth be told, <keyword id="19938687" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sme" source="keywords">SME</keyword> IPOs have been all over the bourses this year. So far, 2024 has seen 206 SMEs debuting on both BSE and NSE, out of which 146 listed in gains and 46 listed in losses. Odds seem good, right? In contrast, the year has only seen 63 IPOs from the elder brother i.e. mainboard, only 48 of which managed to post any listing gains. And getting an allotment has also been a major uncertainty, given the unusually high demand this year. <h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.7em; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">So, what's an <keyword id="5559702" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="SME-IPO" source="Orion">SME IPO</keyword>, you ask?</h2>Think of a mainboard company as Shah Rukh or Salman Khan—well-established, financially stable, strong legacy of profitability, and fairly well-known. On the other hand, SMEs are your Prateek Gandhi (Harshad Mehta, Scam 1992), Siddhant Chaturvedi (MC Sher, Gully Boy) or Avinash Tiwary (Majnu, Laila Majnu). While they are doing super well, they are yet to make it big like the Khans. They’re currently underdogs, lesser known, but who knows? They can be the next big thing in the future! And SME IPOs are getting a stellar reception. In 2023, 182 such IPOs had raised a substantial Rs 4,967 crore. In 2024, more than 200 companies have already raised over Rs 7,500 crore, and we have four months to go. This, with one quarter of the year still remaining. <div type="image" title="In 2024, India leads IPO activity in the Asia-Pacific region" height="900" width="1200" msid="113875643" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;In 2024, India leads IPO activity in the Asia-Pacific region&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> But what does it take for a company to be classified as a small enterprise? The company has to have an annual turnover/income of up to Rs 50 crore, and for a medium enterprise to be called so, its annual income has to be up to Rs 250 crore. When such companies go public, in a bid to raise funds from investors and expand their operations, they launch an <keyword id="19898327" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ipo" source="keywords">IPO</keyword>, but not on the main exchange, but separately, on NSE’s Emerge and BSE’s SME platform. As of September 2024, <keyword id="4484133" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NSE-Emerge" source="Orion">NSE Emerge</keyword> has 147 listed participants, while <keyword id="1885131" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BSE-SME" source="Orion">BSE SME</keyword> has 155 market makers. Mounting an SME’s IPO is comparatively less stringent than their mainboard counterparts, as far as regulations are concerned since their DRHPs (draft red herring prospectus) are not filed with SEBI. So, wouldn’t a lenient treatment make them inherently riskier? Why are they so appealing, you ask? <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/a-company-with-8-employees-looking-to-raise-12-crore-ended-up-getting-applications-worth-over-4700-crore/articleshow/112824522.cms">Delhi firm with just 8 employees seeks ₹12 crore via IPO, gets ₹4,700 crore worth of investor applications!</a> Well, for one, some of them have delivered exceptional returns—we’re talking 100%, 200%. Consider this—Owais Metal and Mineral Processing, which launched its IPO in February this year, delivered a whopping listing gain of 201%. Another SME, Maxposure, whose IPO was out in January 2024, had earned its investors listing gains worth 317.40%! Apparently, higher risks also mean higher returns, and also super high investment. Most SME IPOs need a minimum investment of Rs 1,00,000 or more, as opposed to mainboard IPOs, where you can buy one lot of shares for anywhere between Rs 14,000-15,000. Even the minimum trading lot size for SME shares is about 10,000. In short, you’d have to potentially empty your pockets to invest in an SME IPO. And still, there’s no guarantee that the listing will fill your wallets. For all you know, your pockets before and after the IPO is listed might stay the same - EMPTY! There's also the question of whether or not these SMEs are able to maintain their listing day mojo, or do they just fizzle out thereafter? Data from Prime Database highlights more instances of the latter. As of August 2024, about 166 SME IPOs had made it to the exchanges. Around 72 of them, or close to 50%, could not sustain their momentum going ahead, and were trading below their listing day prices. Consider this. The post listing gains of Medicamen Organics, whose IPO came out in June 2024, earned its investors massive listing gains of over 300%, by listing at Rs 137.85, significantly higher than its price issue price, which was set between Rs 32-34. But as of October 1, 2024, the stock was trading at Rs 64.2. Talk about falls. Additionally, risks of pump-and-dump, and illiquidity, among others makes SME IPOs dangerous See, you're largely venturing into unknown, pitch-dark territories, without much light to guide you. For starters, SME IPOs face less scrutiny from market watchdog SEBI. This also means they are able to list quickly, just 3-4 months. On the other hand, mainboard IPOs can take upto a year before they are cleared for listing. Also, there is far less information and disclosures available about their financials, fundamentals and performance to investors for making an informed decision, as compared to mainboard stocks. Then there’s the issue of illiquidity. Once purchased, you might find it hard to sell off your SME stocks, since they are not traded as frequently in the market, which means lower liquidity. Trivesh D, COO, Tradejini explains that liquidity is a major concern for such stocks. “These stocks typically have a smaller free float, and are traded in lots, which can lead to volatility and sharp price swings. This means it can be challenging for investors to buy or sell shares without significantly impacting prices. Additionally, speculative trading practices, like 'pump-and-dump' schemes, can inflate stock prices, leaving retail investors vulnerable to sudden drops”. Recently, SME IPOs have gained notoriety for price manipulation via showing fictitious sales and revenue in their books of accounts, selling of promoter holdings at inflated prices, and being the facade for many infamous pump and dump schemes. This is where select people create frenzy, or mass euphoria over a particular stock or company, causing its prices to soar, and then dumping them, or selling their shares at this massive price to make a killing! Infact, it's not just the promoters, but also the investment banks floating these IPOs. At present, SEBI is investigating around 6 investment banks which have allegedly charged SMEs a staggering 15% of funds raised via IPOs as fee, as opposed to the standard 1-3%. In March 2024, SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had also highlighted witnessing signs of manipulation in the SME space. “We do see signs of manipulation in the SME segment. We are able to see certain patterns.” Buch had observed back then. Adds Kresha Gupta, Founder &amp; Director, StepTrade Share Services, “Investing in SME IPO comes with significant risks, despite their impressive returns in recent years. Limited participation from institutional investors and public in some SME IPOs also mean that those companies may lack the support and stability that comes with larger-scale investments” “Additionally, many SMEs may not have strong fundamentals to justify their valuations. High P/E ratios can be misleading, and while some IPOs have delivered impressive returns, they often come with significant volatility, continues D of Tradejini. <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em; font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; list-style: none; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">So, should I stay away?</h2>Yes, and No. Yes, if you don't want to do your homework of researching the company thoroughly beforehand. Anand K. Rathi, Co-Founder of MIRA Money suggests asking a couple of questions before investing your hard earned money: <ul><li>What is the company's financial performance over the past 3-4 years?</li><li>What is the company's governance structure?</li><li>Is the financial success driven by the IPO, or is it a result of consistent performance?</li><li>Does the company have what it takes to scale its operations to the next level?</li><li>Are the company’s promoters trustworthy, capable and experienced?</li><li>What is the level of participation by large, institutional investors?</li></ul> But staying away completely? Not necessary. Gupta adds that retail investors, in particular, should avoid viewing SME IPOs as quick money-makers based on their short-term performance, as this can certainly lead to poor investment decisions. “To mitigate risks, investors should always focus on long-term fundamentals rather than just short-term price movements. Key indicators include the participation of institutional investors like DIIs and FIIs. This often signals confidence in the stock”, she continues. A red flag you should look out for is if a company is only offering OFS, or Offer for Sale. This can indicate early investors looking to exit, potentially signaling weaker future growth. That's why it is better to look for companies which are raising capital for expansion purposes. This is a sign of healthy business growth prospects and improving fundamentals. In conclusion, backing the underdog, or SMEs, is not a bad proposition, but not without its risks. Investing in SME IPOs is like riding a unicorn—but you don't know whether you're riding it to rags or riches! So, take your pick.

SIMPLY PUT: Why investing in SME IPOs should not be on top of your adventure to-do list!

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Investment firms want to offer private-credit ETFs to ordinary investors, the WSJ reported. </li><li>It would give retail investors access to a $1.7 trillion market. </li></ul>A booming corner of the financial markets that has only been available to institutions might soon be open to everyday investors. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/wall-street-races-to-bring-private-credit-to-the-masses-8a25b624?mod=finance_lead_story">According to The Wall Street Journal,</a> some of the biggest private equity and investment management giants want to offer retail investors access to exchange-traded funds backed by private credit. The term broadly refers to loans made to companies and consumers by nonbank lenders. Historically, fund managers have sold "alternative assets" like private debt to institutional investors at a high cost, generating returns of around 10% in recent years — more than they would have seen from investing in the stock or bond markets.Now, as those institutions slow allocations to private credit, the biggest players in the space want to target a new class of investors. According to the Journal, firms like State Street, Apollo Global Management, and BlackRock are working to roll out private credit ETFs to regular investors. The challenge, though, is building a highly liquid ETF out of illiquid private loans. That hurdle is also what will likely draw the eye of regulators as they ensure the ETFs are appropriate for retail investors. But if these ETFs get approved, they will enable regular investors to tap into a booming market, one that BlackRock expects will more than double to $3.5 trillion by 2028. The race to launch private credit ETFs has heated up in recent months.In May, Capital Group and KKR teamed up to start offering funds investing in both public and private assets—including in private credit—starting next year.Last month, State Street proposed a private debt ETF to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The ETF would blend public debt with private debt on mortgage, corporate, and consumer loans purchased from Apollo Global Management. Anna Paglia, State Street's chief business officer, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://investors.statestreet.com/investor-news-events/press-releases/news-details/2024/State-Street-Global-Advisors-and-Apollo-Global-Management-Join-Forces-to-Increase-and-Broaden-Investor-Access-to-Private-Markets/default.aspx">said in a statement</a> the ETF would "democratize access to private asset exposures," and make them "more accessible to a wider swathe of investors.""It is our goal to bring these investments to scale and help facilitate the process of making private assets more accessible and liquid over time. We see this as only the beginning of a new wave of innovation as public and private markets increasingly converge," Paglia said. Alternative assets make up a small share—less than 3%—of individual investors' global investments, KKR's head of Global Client Solutions Eric Mogelof, told the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/wall-street-races-to-bring-private-credit-to-the-masses-8a25b624">Wall Street Journal</a>.But he says there is huge potential for that share to grow by over three times. "We anticipate these allocations to rise to 10% or greater in the future," he told the Journal.

Investing giants want to offer retail traders access to a booming sector of financial markets

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/walmart">Walmart</a>'s logistics business is pressuring Amazon's own, according to Wells Fargo analysts.</li><li>Walmart is offering a cheaper version of Fulfillment by Amazon, which could limit Amazon fees.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/amazon">Amazon</a>'s fulfillment business is feeling the pinch from another major retailer: Walmart.The big-box chain has spent years building its own logistics network. That's helping Walmart fill its own online orders, including from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-walmart-marketplace-for-third-party-sellers2023-12">Walmart Marketplace</a>, where third-party sellers can pay fees to list products on Walmart's website and let Walmart store and deliver them to customers.The model is similar to Amazon's "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-fba">Fulfillment by Amazon</a>," or FBA, which allowed small businesses to do the same with Amazon's own logistics network for years before Walmart.But Amazon "is no longer the only scaled marketplace in North America," Wells Fargo analysts led by Ken Gawrelski wrote in a research note on Monday.Walmart's third-party logistics offering is also about 15% cheaper than what Amazon charges through FBA, the analysts wrote.Amazon is likely to limit how much it increases its own fees "due to competitive pressure from Walmart Marketplace," according to the note. While Amazon has raised FBA fees for sellers by around 5% a year in the past, those increases could be closer to 2% in the next few years due to Walmart's rival offering, the analysts wrote.That could mean billions of dollars less in fees over the next few years and a hit to Amazon's operating income, the Wells Fargo analysts wrote.Gawrelski and his fellow analysts downgraded Amazon's shares to equal weight from overweight, according to the note. They now have a price target of $183 on Amazon's stock, down from $225.Walmart's logistics options for other businesses have only grown lately, the analysts wrote. They pointed to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/08/27/walmart-marketplace-accelerates-growth-launches-category-expansion-multichannel-solutions-and-omnichannel-innovations-for-sellers">Walmart's announcement</a> in August, for instance, that third-party sellers would be able to use Walmart's fulfillment network for orders placed outside of Walmart's website.The analysts cited the pressure from Walmart's fulfillment business as just one of the challenges facing Amazon's income. Others included investments in Amazon Web Services, less contribution to income from Amazon's advertising business, and spending on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-launches-first-satellites-to-challenge-elon-musk-starlink-spacex-2023-10">Project Kuiper</a>, Amazon's plan to provide global broadband access using thousands of satellites.Amazon's stock slid more than 3% on Monday to about $180.50 after the Wells Fargo analysts published their note.

One of Walmart's big bets is paying off in its retail battle against Amazon, analysts say

<div type="image" title="For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire" height="900" width="1200" msid="114064202" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Once upon a time, there thrived a wild, wild land. Here, it was all about super high monetary stakes, lightning-fast trade deals, and bucketloads of money shifting hands every single second. This wilderness lured millions of individuals with the promise of super duper high returns. But, at what cost? Welcome to the unforgiving, ultra-risky wild west of <keyword id="19991165" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-equity-markets" source="keywords">Indian equity markets</keyword> called the <keyword id="145718" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Futures-and-Options" source="Orion">futures and options</keyword>. Here, everyone seems to just fly right through the bright red-flagged warnings of financial risks to earn even a fraction of these promised returns. Most burn themselves in the process, but carry on nevertheless, as if nothing ever happened. <h2>Chasing the cloudy profits</h2>The data conclusively proves that every 9 out of 10 individuals only lost their hard-earned money in this land. But hey, what do the numbers know? Some hide their losses out of shame, some out of fear. The proponents, meanwhile, proudly boast unusually high returns on their investments, some open social media channels while others encourage their friends and family to take the plunge. Naturally, news of this unstoppable and humongous en-masse migration to the F&amp;O (futures and options) town has reached sheriff <keyword id="19901201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SEBI" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SEBI" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SEBI">SEBI</keyword>, galvanising them into action. After all, it was time to put a leash on this madness and save the common man. The inhabitants of this town doubled in the last 2 years, from 51 lakh in FY22 to 96 lakh in FY24—99.8% of whom were small and mid-income traders. But profits? Well, that's a different, rather completely absent story. <h2>Que Sera Sera, much?</h2>A recent report by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) that studied profits and losses made by traders in the equity derivatives segment between FY22-24 exposed the mad mania of futures and options trading in India, especially since the pandemic. Per the report, 91.1% of individual traders, or about 73 lakh traders had only lost money trading in futures and options in FY24. Between FY 22-24, over 1 crore traders, or about 92.8% of individual traders, had lost Rs 2 lakh each. But once bitten, twice shy? Well, not in this case. More than 75% of individuals, who had only made losses trading in F&amp;O in FY22 and FY23, continued to trade vigorously in FY24 as well, without any changes in the bottom line, which remained deep in red and negative. So, then all these traders must be uber-rich, with tons of cash and not much care to spare? Nope. 76% of traders in the F&amp;O space in FY24 had an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh. 2 years ago, their share stood at 71%. And their choice of poison? Options! In FY24, 60% of traders made losses trading in futures, but a whopping 91.5% burnt their funds trading in options. Mind you, futures are riskier than options. With futures, which require significant capital investment, the buyer and seller both are contractually bound to adhere to the pre-determined strike price of the futures or options contract, irrespective of whether the prevailing prices are higher or lower (and thus, resulting in losses for either the buyer or seller). With options, since this adherence ain't necessary, individuals end up taking debt to take highly leveraged positions while trading here. <h2>Scale of the explosion</h2>Anyone who trades even infrequently will tell you that a demat account is the mitochondria or powerhouse of the trading cell. As of August 2024, India had over 17.1 crore <keyword id="20957284" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="demat-accounts" source="keywords">demat accounts</keyword>, which are a prerequisite for trading in the markets. India is the 9th biggest country in the world, in terms of total demat accounts. Did you know that our demat accounts are at par with the entire population of Bangladesh? Talk about scale! Just 4 years ago, in March 2020, this number was a mere 4 crore. Naturally, the total F&amp;O turnover on both <keyword id="20004725" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NSE" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NSE" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NSE">NSE</keyword> and BSE has hit the roof, and also broken it. As of October 4, 2024, the total futures and options turnover on NSE stood at a massive Rs 4,78,27,27,750.30 crore. Good luck counting the thousands! <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Total Turnover (Both Futures and Options) (In Rs Crore) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2020-21 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">64,36,03,951.51 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2021-22 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1,69,52,33,134.47 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2022-23 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3,82,23,26,468.06 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2023-24 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7,99,27,67,152.43 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source : NSE Another metric that underlines the meteoric growth of trading in India is the collection of STT or <keyword id="20930760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Securities-Transaction-Tax" source="keywords">Securities Transaction Tax</keyword>. As of September 2024, India's STT mop-up had gone past Rs 26,000 crore. Traders have to pay STT whenever they buy or sell any security in the market. So, more trading brings in more STT, and hence, more revenue for the government, so they're not really complaining. After all, this is certainly what they'd call enviable growth. As of August 2023, our STT collection stood at about Rs 21,599 crores. And in FY20-21, India's STT collection had been Rs 16,000 crore. If only our salaries also managed to grow at this rate! <h2>So, what's happening?</h2>Two things. One, it's the big bulls who are raking in all the moolah. And it's the younger lot (those aged under 30) who are propping them up for this. In FY24, 43% of individual traders in the market were less than 30 years of age. In just one year, this number has swelled by 12 percentage points from just 31% of individual traders. But who says ageing is bad? Wrinkles and silver hair seemingly have a propensity of incurring lesser losses in the market. In FY24, only 79% of traders aged above 60 years made losses, as compared to 93% of those aged below 30. Small and mid-income traders, which make up 98% of the total trader base, witnessed average losses per person of Rs 65,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh in FY24 in futures and options, respectively. The winner here? Clearly, the big bulls, who declared an annual income of over Rs 1 crore, ended up with average profits of Rs 96,000 per person this year. <h2>What’s the sheriff up to?</h2>The government has finally swung into action, hiking the STT rate for F&amp;O during this year’s budget. Effective October 1, 2024, the STT on futures stands at 0.02%, up from 0.0125%. For options, it was upped to 0.1% versus 0.0625% previously. Small margins, but huge impact oncoming. Says Puneet Sharma- CEO and Fund Manager at Whitespace Alpha, “SEBI aims to enhance market stability while safeguarding investor interests, reflecting the regulator's intent to balance risk management with market participation”. But this might come with its own share of challenges, too. “Stricter norms around leverage, transparency, and capital adequacy could limit the ability of investors to determine their own risk appetite, thereby stifling innovation in trading strategies. Over-regulation in an environment that thrives on strategic flexibility and creativity could dampen the market’s dynamism, affecting India's competitiveness in the global derivatives landscape”, he observes. SEBI recently came out with a set of guidelines that aim to thwart <keyword id="19972907" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-investors" source="keywords">retail investors</keyword>' participation in futures and options and hinder them from taking undue risks. Here's a quick recap of what's to come for the residents of the F&amp;O town Margin Requirements: To battle the high volatility and chaos which is generally seen on expiry days(i.e the last mandated date, post which an option becomes invalid), SEBI will put in place an extreme loss margin (ELM) of 2% for all open short options on the day of expiry. Translation? Traders will need to pony up more cash upfront, leaving them with fewer funds to take on risky bets. It ain't a choice: No more of one expiry every single day! Going ahead, an exchange like BSE or NSE will just be able to offer weekly expiries, that too, only on one benchmark index, as opposed to an entire buffet it currently offers. At present, NSE offers weekly options contracts for its financial index, bank and midcap indices. But say goodbye to this, and hello to derivatives on only 1 index per exchange. Raising the bar: Effective November 30, 2024, the minimum contract value for index derivatives will be upped to Rs 15 lakh, from the present Rs 5-10 lakh. The hope is that by making it ultra-expensive to enter these trades, investors will be dissuaded from taking on risky trades. Pay upfront: Starting February 2025, those trading in options will have to pay the entire options premium upfront, even before their trades are executed. This is because options generally carry very high leverage, and paying a significant sum upfront can force traders to think twice. Invigilation Pro Max: Starting April 1 2025, to make sure that the number of positions for equity index derivatives does not slyly slip over the mandated limit, especially on expiry days when trade volumes are huge, the exchanges will have to take a minimum of 4 position snapshots randomly. The question is, will these injections of sobriety be enough to calm down the steroid-fed bull of the futures and options market in India? Well, only time and market turnover will tell! For more insights into the financial markets and business news, stay tuned to our site and social media handles. And don’t forget to subscribe to Business Insider India’s newsletters for your weekly dose of Simply Put! Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. We recommend readers consult certified, qualified and registered advisors for professional and personalised financial advice.

SIMPLY PUT: SEBI is on a mission to take on the wild, wild west of futures and options in India. Here’s why, what, and how

It took something surprisingly small — something that's been described as "teeny tiny" and "ultra-cropped" — to propel <keyword id="19948011" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prada" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Prada" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Prada">Prada</keyword> to its place as one of the year's few luxury winners. In fact, it measures under 10 inches long. <keyword id="20885719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Miu-Miu" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Miu Miu" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Miu Miu">Miu Miu</keyword>'s micro miniskirt, which debuted in 2021 and subsequently went viral, taking over both TikTok and magazine front covers, is emblematic of the brand's show-stopping couple of years — and has no doubt helped its parent company, Prada, do what few luxury companies have been able to do this year: grow. "I think the 'miracle' at Prada is Miu Miu," Luca Solca, a senior analyst at Bernstein, told Business Insider. Thanks to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miu-miu-revenue-jumps-93-gen-z-asia-sales-prada-2024-7">Miu Miu's hot streak</a>, as well as a series of smart business moves at Prada itself — a focus on a controlled retail pipeline and store productivity, plus some experienced new hires — the company is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-inditex-pandora-thrive-amid-luxury-downturn-aspirational-consumer-trends-2024-9">bucking negative luxury trends</a>. It's selling well in Asia, its stock is up, and investors are excited. Net revenue for the first half of the year was 14% higher than in the same period in 2023 and 34% more than 2022. At luxury bellwethers LVMH and Kering, first-half sales fell 1% and 11%, respectively, compared to last year.Its stock is up more than 30% year-to-date, even more than that of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hermes-became-ultimate-status-symbol-2024-2">Hermès, luxury's perennial market leader</a>. Along with Moncler, it's one of only two buy-rated luxury stocks at HSBC. The 111-year-old, family-run, Milanese leather goods shop turned cutting-edge fashion superhouse is now enjoying one of its greatest runs in history. <h2>The trendy little sister</h2>As any elder sibling knows well, sometimes the flashy, fun younger sister can outshine even the most well-prepared eldest. Miu Miu is doing just that. The more experimental brand has become the "It" girl of the fashion industry. It's number two on The Lyst Fashion Index, a quarterly measure of the hottest fashion brands. Searches for Miu Miu are up 47% this year on luxury resale platform The RealReal. The micro minis that stormed the runway in 2021, a sneaker collab with New Balance, and the quilted Wander bags have become must-have looks. That's translated into impressive results: <keyword id="19957111" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-sales" source="keywords">Retail sales</keyword> were up 50% in 2023 and 86% in the first half of this year. Last quarter, website traffic was up 110% year over year, Stifel's Rogerio Fujimori reported in his July note. The brand will likely hit $1 billion in revenue this year. <div type="image" title="Miu Miu micro miniskirt" height="3109" width="4663" msid="113815737" hostid="261"></div>Part of it is the brand's messaging. "Miu Miu is resonating with consumers because of a savvy mix of product and communication marketing," Solca said. In a recent note, he highlighted the brand's events — a tennis club, literary club, and film series — that go beyond just fashion to form a "cultural aesthetic." Miu Miu has embraced stars (Sydney Sweeney and Gigi Hadid were featured in recent campaigns), which has energized its following. The brand has also managed to tap into Asian markets — one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-luxury-retail-sales-slowdown-brands-fashion-2024-7">most challenging sectors for luxury brands</a>. Again, some smart marketing has helped. The brand enlisted K-pop icons as ambassadors and dressed Chinese stars Lexie Liu, Zhao Jinmai, and Wu Yanshu. It also increased spending on Little Red Book, a social media platform in China, and threw events in Tokyo, Taipei, and Nanjing. In short — pun intended — you can't get trendier than Miu Miu right now, and being trendy is good for business. <h2>The business behind the boom</h2>But Miu Miu's popularity, as attention-grabbing as it is, is only part of the story. The brand accounted for 15% of Prada's sales last year. HSBC analysts called its growth a "(big) cherry on the cake" — the cake being Prada (which didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider for this story). Behind Miu Miu's Mary Jane shoes and Arcade bags is a success story at its parent company. The group's namesake line is growing, albeit at a slower and steadier pace. Prada's retail sales were up 3% in the first half of the year compared to last year and 7% in 2023. It's been among Lyst's top five hottest brands since 2022. This didn't happen by accident: In 2017, Prada committed to a turnaround strategy following a few losing yearsand a drop in profitability. At more than 100 years old, Prada hadn't entered the new millennium: Its full product line wasn't available through e-commerce, and its advertising wasn't digitized. "In 2015, the tide really turned for them," Jelena Sokolova, a senior analyst for Morningstar, told Business Insider. "They fared worse than the industry: Sales were negative for a number of years; their earnings plummeted." In response, Prada focused on retail, a channel in which it can control prices and cut back on wholesale, which now represents only 11% of sales. It made an effort to cut down on discounts — a problem that has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-burberry-became-fashions-biggest-fail-stock-drop-ceo-ousting-2024-8">plagued labels like Burberry</a> and Gucci and can lead to diminishing brand perception. At its retail stores, new CEO Andrea Guerra, who arrived in 2023 from LVMH, has drilled down on productivity, or how much money each square foot of retail space generates, by launching in-store installations, forming one-to-one relationships between sales associates and customers, and infusing stores with wearable pieces and collaborations. The company closed stores that weren't performing and renovated the ones that were. It's worked: Retail productivity has increased 32.5% between 2019 and 2023. <div type="image" title="Prada store" height="3333" width="5000" msid="113815742" hostid="261"></div>There has also been a slew of management changes. In 2020, the company brought on Raf Simons, heralded as one of the biggest stars in the design world, as co-creative director, sharing the title with Muccia Prada — the company's billionaire heiress who The New York Times has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/style/miu-miu-chanel-louis-vuitton-paris-fashion-week.html">referred</a> to as "the most influential woman in fashion." Prada now has more time to use her keen sense of design at Miu Miu. In the years following, it recruited talent from LVMH and Goldman Sachs to join its top ranks. And then there is the sheer cyclicality of fashion and the fact that, after a few years of being less-than-hot, Prada is once again on the rise. It has embraced the 1990s and Y2K aesthetic — a heyday for Prada — popular with Gen Z and was the most searched brand among the demographic on The RealReal. Hit products pushed the profitable leather goods category to revenues of more than $2 billion last year. There was a reimagining of the early 2010s it-bag, the Galleria, complete with a Scarlett Johansson-led campaign. Other handbag rereleases, like that of the Nylon, have taken off, while new purse styles like the Buckle and Arqué got callouts in last year's earnings report. That momentum gave the brand an upper hand going into the luxury downturn. "People prioritize which brands they want to spend on. With a limited budget, first, you drop the ones that were not hot to begin with," Sokolova said. <h2>Can Prada's hot streak last?</h2>Just as fashion comes in, it can come out. And Prada's story — particularly Miu Miu's rapid-fire growth — in some ways mimics that of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gucci-sales-profit-reputation-falling-luxury-kering-michele-china-2024-5">Gucci's hype-driven rise and plummeting fall under Alessandro Michele</a>. "You kind of become a victim of your own success," Sokolova said. Both Prada and Miu Miu are susceptible to volatility, though for different reasons. Miu Miu is still relatively small, meaning its brand identity is not yet established enough to withstand the whims of consumers. CEO Guerra has acknowledged that such incredible growth can lead to a challenge. "There appears to be a glass ceiling," Solca wrote in a recent note. "Being prominent brings fatigue: after a while, consumers feel they have seen and done enough with these brands and move on." Prada, meanwhile, is more exposed in the cyclical ready-to-wear category — which makes up 32% of sales — than other brands like Gucci and YSL. But there are signs of continued growth: Miu Miu is adding 10 to 15 stores next year, while Prada is adding five to 10, the company has said. The brand's retail footprint is particularly underpenetrated in the US. The company's beauty business is still nascent. Last year, it launched skincare and makeup through a partnership with L'Oréal, and there is more money to be made in that sector. With so much control of its sales chain, the company can raise prices and limit overexposure through low-end collaborations or expansion into cheap categories. Plus, the slowdown hasn't happened yet: Miu Miu website traffic and sales continued to grow between the first and second quarters, and the company maintains it's not a flash in the pan. "This is a result of many years of work on the brand, on the products, on the people," Guerra said about Miu Miu's success on the company's most recent earnings call. Meanwhile, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prada-white-tank-top-status-symbol-2024-2">Prada has maintained its brand value</a>. But the woman Miuccia Prada herself knows the pressure is on. "I was very nervous for this show," she told reporters backstage at the line's fashion show earlier this month about the new collection, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/style/prada-fendi-milan-fashion-week.html">The New York Times reported</a>. "Much more than usual." September 30, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Miuccia Prada.

How Prada is beating the odds and bucking the luxury slump 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Small-format stores are becoming a significant part of the evolution of US retail.</li><li>Macy's and Best Buy are two prominent retailers who are leaning into the shift.</li></ul>For decades, the American shopping experience <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopping-mall-rise-fall-timeline-1950s-to-today-2023-1">was defined by department stores</a> and big-box retailers, with consumers poring over vast amounts of products in untold numbers of large-scale buildings.But many retailers are scaling back their physical footprints to reduce costs and boost customer convenience as they look to open new locations, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/02/retailers-small-stores-macys-best-buy/">according to The Washington Post</a>.Macy's and Best Buy are two of the latest retailers to embrace the strategy further. Both announced last week that they would open more small-format locations. Retailers like Nordstrom and Target have also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nordstrom-opens-more-local-stores-for-returns-and-pick-ups-2019-9">opened more compact locations</a> recently as consumers have increasingly embraced online shopping.For Macy's, the announcement comes as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/macys-stores-closing-locations-list">the company announced last week that it would close 150 underperforming stores</a> — including 50 locations in 2024 alone — over the next three years.During an analyst call last Tuesday, Macy's CEO Tony Spring said the company would need to "focus on having the best stores, not the largest number of stores," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/business/macys-earnings-strategy.html">according to The New York Times</a>.In recent years, Macy's opened eight small-format stores called Market by Macy's, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/macys-retreats-from-mall-growth-plan-2020-2">the company's foray into off-mall boutique-sized locations</a>, along with a small-format Bloomingdale's concept called <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=191bfbb807c179dd3195efec9e24afceb7698a2bbe34d74232908b9e57b0f523&amp;postID=65e3896a4aaa4153d1fd7114&amp;postSlug=macys-best-buy-small-format-stores-retail-department-big-box-2024-3&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomingdales.com%2Fc%2Fbloomies%2F">Bloomie's</a>. Last October, the company announced it was <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/macys-smallformat-stores-retail-8e2c4fc2ea5a66e3ebd6ff4b83d93667">expanding its small-format stores</a>, aiming to add 30 locations by the end of 2025.And Macy's will lean further into its luxury offerings, announcing last week that it would add 15 Bloomingdale's locations and 30 new locations of its beauty chain, Bluemercury.Meanwhile, Best Buy is set to overhaul its in-store experience for customers as it also eyes a retail landscape where small-format stores are becoming more prevalent."We are planning to open a few additional outlet centers and new formats to continue to test two important concepts," Best Buy CEO Corie Barry <a target="_blank" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/q4-2024-best-buy-co-050558727.html">said during an earnings call</a> last week."First, we will open small locations in a couple outstate markets where we have no prior physical presence," she continued. "Second, we will test our ability to close a large-format store and open a small-format store nearby, thereby maximizing physical store retention through convenience."

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