United Spirits eyes shelf slot with Future Group
Mix ‘n’ match will soon have a different connotation. It won’t be just about pairing a shirt with trousers or a cami with capris; it may well be vodka with trousers or whisky with capris.
By Raja Awasthi & Mayur Shekhar Jha, TNN |
NEW DELHI/GURGAON: Mix ‘n’ match will soon have a different connotation. It won’t be just about pairing a shirt with trousers or a cami with capris; it may well be vodka with trousers or whisky with capris. Or simply a bottle of wine for the big date along with a new shirt.
Anything’s possible as Vijay Mallya’s United Spirits is in talks with the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group (Pantaloon Retail) to retail liquor across India.
When contacted by ET, Kishore Biyani, managing director, Pantaloon Retail, and Vijay Rekhi, president, United Spirits, confirmed that the companies are in talks about a tie-up. United Spirits is also in advanced talks with other major upcoming retail ventures like Reliance India and RPG Retail.
Mr Rekhi said, “We are rolling out an aggressive growth strategy with modern retail formats. We are in talks with well-known retail players to use their modern outlets for our entire brand portfolio. Our research around India indicates that consumers are now looking for a change even when going out to buy liquor. So as market leader, we will be first to provide him with this change.”
The group will enter into an agreement with these retail chains for its entire brand portfolio, wherever the retail outlets open and get liquor licences. Mr Rekhi added, “We plan to look at over 1,000 outlets initially at these premium on-premise outlets in select markets nationwide.”
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The next step after United Spirits starts operations in retail outlets will be to provide them with private labels, like most retail majors do in the West. The trade marketing division of the company, however, will focus on driving the premium spirits brands of the UB portfolio in scotch, super premium and premium whisky segments and white spirits. It will also push wines and vodkas both domestic and international, including the French wine label from Saumur called Bouvet-Ladubay.
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