MobileStore to add 700 outlets in six months
The Essar Group-owned telecom retailer, The MobileStore, is planning to add 700 outlets in the next six months. The company already has 1,200 outlets across 200 cities and 45 per cent market share in organised telecom retail. The company has started the process of adding 200 stores and has around 100 stores in the pipeline. To hasten its plans, it decided to adopt the franchise model in Tier-II and Tier-III cities and towns. The model will help the company add around 500-600 stores, leveraging the existing supply chain system which has already been set up by the company. Such mega expansion of MobileStore outlets is an added advantage to the signage companies dealing in in-store displays, POP, etc.
Reliance Retail is looking at opening about 3,000-4,000 stores over the next 3-4 years across all its 19 formats. The expansion is a part of our US$6-billion investment the company had announced in 2006. Currently, the country’s largest organised retail firm has 1,000 large and small outlets. These are spread across formats such as Reliance Fresh, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Time Out, Reliance Digital, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Autozone, Reliance Super, Reliance Mart, Reliance iStore, Reliance Home Kitchens and Reliance Jewel. The company's new stores would mainly be in Tier I and II cities and signage companies engaging in the retail sector will find a new business pace along with the Reliance Retail’s expansion move.
Dabur India Ltd will start adopting the franchise route for its retail stores 'Newu' and explore smaller format stores in order to expedite expansion. The company's subsidiary, H&B Stores Ltd that currently operates 22 'Newu' stores primarily in North India, is also looking to open up to 150 new stores in 2011-12 and enter in the western region. It is also trying express or smaller formats that have quick turnaround time, besides focusing on 'beauty' as a category, as it looks to break even in the next two years. The new venture of Dabur entering into new expansion move will be an added advantage for signage players dealing with in-store displays.
Identifying scale as an immediate priority, Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) intends to renew a rapid expansion drive to compete with mom-and-pop outlets and street markets, besides rival store chains. There is an opportunity for 2,000-5,000 stores. The retailer first plans to expand in large cities, classified as tier I and tier II, before entering tier III and tier IV cities and towns. The plan for rural India is to begin with sourcing the produce before entering the front-end in retail. Now the sunshine opprtunity is lying ahead for the in-store signage companies with the opening of RRL mom-and-pop stores.
Apparel manufacturer and retailer Cantabil announces its plans to enter the sportswear segment in the next two years. The company currently sells casual and formal wear for men, women and kids under 'Cantabil' and 'La Fanso' brands. The company, however, announces that their current focus is to expand its retail reach by opening more stores under the existing brands and also enhance production capacity. With such Cantabil’s expansion plan, signage players engaging in in-store segment or retail sector would find a new business opportunity.