CRM is our USP
The company plans to open 30 exclusive showroom by the end of 2009 and is looking at investment of around Rs 200 crore. Srikant Gokhale, CEO of Impact Retail talks about the company’s expansion plans.
By Mansi Tiwari, ET Bureau |
| Srikant Gokhale, CEO, Impact Retail |
The retail chain brand X-cite, a franchisee agreement between newly incorporated company, Impact Retail and Kuwait-based, Alghanim Industries, has entered the Indian market and is all set to take on rivals like Croma, Next and Reliance Digital. The company plans to open 30 exclusive showroom by the end of 2009 and is looking at investment of around Rs 200 crore. Srikant Gokhale, CEO of Impact Retail talks about the company���s expansion plans. Excerpts.
What are your plans for the Indian market? What kind of investment are you looking at in the next two years?
Our plan is to run our stores under the X-cite brand. We are looking at an investment of around Rs 200 crore. We plant to set up around 30 stores in the top 10 cities across the country. So far, we have five stores ��� Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and the sixth one will be opening shortly in Delhi. The average store size is 20,000 sq ft and will require an investment of between Rs 5 crore and Rs 6 crore per store.
We will house approximately 3000 products from 150 national and international brands. We will also sell our private label products under brand Wansa.
Which market segment are you targeting?
We are looking at the mid to high income group, particularly, the youth. Even our locations are dictated by this strategy. We are looking at cities that supports our customer group. Now we are growing on a pan India basis. We have stores in North, South and West. Once we are present in the 10 key cities across country, we will look at strengthening our presence in those cities.
We are into large format retailing, with a difference. We want to set up a relationship with our customers. We want to create a brand in retail, establish an identity like Apple, Starbuck���s and McDonald���s. We have done a lot of research in the designing of the stores. We believe in creating lifestyle stores instead of stores that look like warehouses. We have done the interior in vibrant colours, there are lot of graphics involved and have used interactive approach to the whole store. We encourage customers to touch and feel the product before they make up their mind. One of our taglines is ���come and play with electronics���.
We believe in building long term relationships with our customers. We are providing a few value-added services including reward programs, extended warranty offers, referral programs, delivery and installation within twenty four hours of purchasing the product, consumer financing, among others.
The global meltdown has slowed the expansion plans of many retailers. Was it not difficult to open stores at a time like this?
What kind of challenges have you faced while setting up business in India?
What are your plans for the Indian market? What kind of investment are you looking at in the next two years?
Our plan is to run our stores under the X-cite brand. We are looking at an investment of around Rs 200 crore. We plant to set up around 30 stores in the top 10 cities across the country. So far, we have five stores ��� Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and the sixth one will be opening shortly in Delhi. The average store size is 20,000 sq ft and will require an investment of between Rs 5 crore and Rs 6 crore per store.
We will house approximately 3000 products from 150 national and international brands. We will also sell our private label products under brand Wansa.
Which market segment are you targeting?
We are looking at the mid to high income group, particularly, the youth. Even our locations are dictated by this strategy. We are looking at cities that supports our customer group. Now we are growing on a pan India basis. We have stores in North, South and West. Once we are present in the 10 key cities across country, we will look at strengthening our presence in those cities.
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There already are so many companies in electronics retail. What will be your USP? We are into large format retailing, with a difference. We want to set up a relationship with our customers. We want to create a brand in retail, establish an identity like Apple, Starbuck���s and McDonald���s. We have done a lot of research in the designing of the stores. We believe in creating lifestyle stores instead of stores that look like warehouses. We have done the interior in vibrant colours, there are lot of graphics involved and have used interactive approach to the whole store. We encourage customers to touch and feel the product before they make up their mind. One of our taglines is ���come and play with electronics���.
We believe in building long term relationships with our customers. We are providing a few value-added services including reward programs, extended warranty offers, referral programs, delivery and installation within twenty four hours of purchasing the product, consumer financing, among others.
The global meltdown has slowed the expansion plans of many retailers. Was it not difficult to open stores at a time like this?
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I prefer to notice that the glass is half full. We think that it is a great time to invest and expand. Generally there are lot of noises but with the slowdown other brands have also quietened. This has given us an opportunity to create awareness about our brand. For a retailer that has a short term business, this might not be a good time. But for company like ours, with a long term business plan, these are some of the best times. The real estate prices have gone down making it easier to establish our stores. What kind of challenges have you faced while setting up business in India?
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Creating awareness amongst people was the main problem. Supply chain is another area that possesses a lot of problems for retailers. At times the developers delay the projects that impacts our expansion plans. Hiring manpower was another area. In fact, after research we realised that we need to hire some trained people to welcome our customers. We have hired special staff from airhostess training academies to especially meet and greet our customers. Download
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