New Business Opportunity

Flagship textile brand of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, Vimal, plans to add at least 38 stores to its retail network […]

Gitanjali Gems’ premium diamond jewellery brand Gili plans to expand its retail network in smaller towns even as it eyes a 50 per cent top-line growth this fiscal. Gili, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Gitanjali Gems, is looking at opening 31 stores this fiscal at an investment of Rs 200 crore. As the company is looking at expanding its store network to 50 this fiscal, total number of stores the company has as of now counts 19 EBOs besides 400 shop-in-shops. The company’s main focus will be on Tier II and III cities as the growth is coming in from there segments. Of course, Gili’s new stores will be a golden opportunity for in-store signage players and others like PSPs, sign suppliers, fabricators engaging in the retail sector.

Dubai-based Landmark Group is gearing up to strengthen its retail presence in Kolkata following the launch of its maiden outlet

Improvement in operational performance, fresh equity investments and FDI proposals has augured well for the organised retail sector in India. IIFL believes India’s largest listed retailer, Pantaloon Retail, is likely to increase its retail space over the next two-three years from an annual rate of two million sq ft currently to three-four million sq ft. The review shows performance of other retail giants like Koutons Retail, Pantaloon Retail, Shoppers’ Stop and Trent. Visibility to such mega expansion plans is a likely to contribute new business opportunity to in-store signage companies and others associated with retail sector.

Nokia India, betting big on its bouquet of mobile services, has forayed into a retail distribution model. The Finnish giant

Eying 20 percent year-on-year growth for the next five years, VIP Industries Ltd (VIL), the major luggage manufacturer in India, plans to open 60-80 new outlets every year across the country. Moreover, the company is also planning to promote all its brands—Aristocrat, Alfa, Skybags, Footloose and its international brand—Carlton. In India, the company has 55 per cent market share in organized sector. Now that the luggage company is in the expansion mode, it is ascertained that signage companies engaging in the retail sector would bag a new business opportunity.

Reliance Footprint, the footwear specialty store from Reliance Retail recently launched the first ‘ASICS’ store in Kochi. Recently, Reliance Footprint

L’Occitane, the natural skincare and beauty brand, is on an expansion mode. After recently becoming the first French company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and being oversubscribed 160 times, it is now entering the Indian spa market in partnership with Devi Resorts. The company’s three stores in the country have been very successful. Its original plan was to open 20 stores in the next five years, but returns have been promising and planning to open four more by the end of this year. The new upmarket spa stores are indeed an opportunity where signage companies will able to unfold new business.

American lifestyle brand (BHPC) introduced by Spencer’s Retail last year, is making its brand visibility in Mumbai by opening a

Essar Steel announces its expansion plans in Madhya Pradesh for its exclusive steel showrooms, hypermart and retail outleta, Expressmart. The company launched Hypermart in Govindpura and the Pithampur industrial area. The company also plans to open more Hypermarts— exclusive one-stop shops for its steel products. Essar Hypermarts, established in Gandhidham (Gujarat), are known for their exclusive steel products like sheets and bars. The company operates its Hypermarts on a lease basis, while Expressmarts are retail franchisee stores. The new upmarket outlets will let in-store signage companies embark upon a new business opportunity.

Harley-Davidson, the US-based heavyweight bike maker, opens its dealership outlet in Chandigarh. Continuing with its plans of entering the Indian

Iken Store is India’s first-of-its-kind edutainment store shelving Iken range of products and services. Mexus Education, an education innovations enterprise, announces their strategic foray in education retail with the launch of Iken Store, India’s first edutainment store, in Mumbai. This will be the first store launch in Mumbai, in a chain of branded stores across India, which will feature innovative educational products under the brand name ‘Iken’. The concept of Iken Store is poised to introduce the realm of ‘edutainment’ to Indian audience. And the store will unfold a new business opportunity for in-store signage players, PSPs, and fabricators as well.

German furniture maker and exporter Hulsta is betting big on the growing branded furniture market and plans to open 14

Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is in talks with the Indian unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) to buy up to 30 fuel retailing outlets. The discussion between the two companies will result in Shell to sell 20-30 fuel outlets to Bharat Petroleum.  Shell recently announced that it was selling some of its fuel outlets and land sites in India and establishing new outlets as part of its strategy to reorganise the business. Indian Oil Corp Ltd and Essar Oil Ltd have also expressed their interest to buy the fuel outlets of Shell India. New face of the retail outlets in the oil sector will bring in a new business opportunity to the signage players as well as PSPs, fabricators, sign suppliers extensively engaging in the sector.

Tata Group is looking to find another niche in luxury retailing—interior designs. The group, through its subsidiary Tata Housing and

Buoyed by its licensing deal for the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in New Delhi in October, leading pen maker Luxor is expecting a 10-15 percent surge in sales during the month of August and October on the back of the merchandise sales for the upcoming games. It expects sales to jump by up to 15 per cent at the time of the sporting extravaganza. Besides, the firm will also ramp up its retail presence to 100 stores, in the Tier II and Tier III cities in the next three years from its existing 20 stores in India. For those signage players engaging in retail outlets will be delighted in Luxor’s growth trend.

With the government allowing petrol prices to be market driven, private retailers are now looking to tap urban markets, especially the smaller cities, where auto demand is on the rise. Essar Oil, which is now operating 1,340 outlets, is planning to increase to 1,700 by March 2010. The new retail outlets will be distributed across the country, including cities across the country. Now, these fuel outlets will pump up new business opportunities for those signage players engaging in this inbdustrial segment.

Reliance Retail Ltd plans to launch its Reliance Jewels outlet in Kolkata by October 2010. The firm has around 18

Tata group firm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will more than double its dealerships in India within this fiscal to increase

Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group announced that it is undertaking an internal consolidation, which may see some of the stand-alone stores moving into large format showrooms as shop-in-shops. The group may also bring its partners LeeCooper and Replay’s, with whom it has tied ups, to big format stores. The company’s consolidation programme is on and already started relocating some of its small format standalone stores inside the large format outlets as shop-in-shops. Such new set-ups in the Future Group retail outlets would encourage the in-store signage companies to unfold a new business.