Dabur changes strategy for retail venture

NEW DELHI: Having curtailed expansion plans of its retail venture, Dabur India's wholly-owned retail subsidiary H&B Stores now plans to set up smaller format stores with revised targets. The company announced the opening of its latest store on Monday in New Delhi.

Though the positioning of the outlet is the same as before ��� focusing on beauty, health and wellness products ��� it is of smaller format of about 800 sq ft. The company said in a statement that this outlet marks the introduction of branded private labels, beginning with baby care products.

The company proposes to set up 12-15 additional stores to its Newu network by the end of the 2009-10 fiscal.

"The newu brand hopes to set new standards of customer focus and service," Newu head (North) Manish V Asthana said.

As of now, eight Newu outlets are operational across the country.

The company had initially planned to set up large format stores of 1,500-6,000 sq ft. But as part of the revised plan, most upcoming outlets will be in the range of 700-1,200 sq ft. Initial plans also included setting up 350 health and beauty stores on an investment of Rs 140 crore by 2010.

As first reported by ET last month, the CEO of H&B Stores Peter Baker has put in his papers. The company has not yet appointed a replacement to Mr Baker, and day-to-day operations of the retail venture are being overseen by the management committee of H&B Stores.

H&B Stores was set up in early '07.