William Penn to expand retail network in India
William Penn, multi-brand retail store chain housing premium fine writing instruments, desktop and lifestyle accessories, has announced its plans to expand retail network in India to 15 stores by 2010 end. Launching its fourth store in Bangalore, the company considers India as a booming market for luxury goods. Luxury brands from across the world have got interested in India because of the rise in purchasing power and the expansion of William Penn retail chain will also be a new business opportunity for in-store media companies, sign suppliers, print providers, etc.
Bangalore-based Prestige Group is planning to develop six malls, scheduled to be operational by 2013. The real estate giant will construct four of these six malls in a JV with Singapore-based CapitaMalls Asia. The new malls would be set up in Hyderabad, Kochi, Mangalore, Bangalore, Mysore and Shantiniketan, a township developed by the group near Bangalore. Prestige Group has two malls in Bangalore— Forum at Koramangala and True Value Mall in Whitefield. The one in Whitefield is a discount mall with anchors such as Pantaloons, Tommy Hilfiger, Megamart, Esprit and Louis Vuitton having their factory outlets there. Prestige Group's unveiling of new malls in strategic locations would boost the parametre of the Indian retail segment, which in turn bring in new business opportunity for the signage industry as well.
Reliance Retail, which has a tie-up with UK-based toy retailer Hamleys, announces the of launch 20 toy stores across the country in the next seven years with an investment of Rs 150 crore. The organised toy market in the country, estimated at Rs 1,500 crore, is poised for a healthy growth. In a matter of some months, the second Hamleys store would come up in Chennai. Breaking news is that the signage industry is that these new toy stores will be poised as new business opportunity to in-store signage companies.
Tata Group's Infiniti Retail plans to open more than 100 Croma stores across India during the next two years. Currently the company has 47 Croma stores and the latest in the expansion is the three new stores of—20,000 sq ft at South Extension, 6,000 sq ft at Saket (New Delhi) and 12,000 sq ft at Gurgaon (Haryana). Infiniti Retail, a subsidiary of Tata Sons had launched Croma chain of mega stores of consumer electronics and durables in 2006. Croma’s magnification in the capital city and its NCR is a green signal to the region's in-store signage majors for a new business opportunity.
Adidas AG, the world’s second-largest sporting-goods maker, announces its improved sales and profitability resulting from the upcoming FIFA World Cup, SA. It is confirmed that it will help the company meet its increased forecast for full-year profit. Revenue in 2010 will rise at a ‘mid-single-digit’ pace, faster than the previous forecast of ‘low-to-mid single-digit’ growth. Now, what the company is expecting is that India will become its big growth market and retail sales to rise at pace faster than the previously expected as it steps up store opening across the country. The company's plan to magnify its retail preseence in India is a new business prospect for signage players like in-store media majors, sign makers/suppliers, print providers, etc.