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Raghavendra \n Kamath, Business Standard<\/i><\/p>\n Raghavendra \n Kamath, Business Standard<\/i><\/p>\n
Mumbai, \n October 17, 2012<\/i><\/p>\n
After \n opening 100 stores in the last four years under \u2018Mom & \n Me\u2019 brand, Mahindra Retail, the low profile retailing arm \n of of $15.5 billion Mahindra Group, wants to go full steam.<\/p>\n
The company, which retails maternity and baby products under \n \u2018Mom & Me\u2019, wants to open 50 stores under that brand, \n another 15 stores of its toy store Beanstalk in the next five \n and half months besides integrating e-commerce venture with physical \n stores and expanding its kidswear category by signing agreements \n with global brands.<\/p>\n
The company has also set up \u2018Destination Maternity\u2019 \n store as a master franchisee of the latter which is based in US. \n <\/p>\n
Besides, the company will also consider setting up franchisee \n stores in Middle East and Africa for which it has got requests, \n said its managing director K Venkataraman today.<\/p>\n
The idea to integrate online and physical formats will be part \n of its \u2018hub and spoke model\u2019 where it has larger stores \n of 3,000 to 4,000 sq ft in cities and smaller on the peripheries, \n and aimed at increasing customer comfort besides saving on real \n estate costs. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can either click at home and collect products at the \n store after seeing it yourself or click at the store and get the \n products delivered at home.” Venkataram said.<\/p>\n
The e-commerce sites will also help stores which are smaller \n in size, around 2,500 sq ft, which do not have the full range, \n he added.<\/p>\n
When asked about the potential of e-commerce venture, he said: \n \u201cThere is a certain potential of e-commerce venture. We are \n developing the market first,” he said. <\/p>\n
Consultants such as Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of Third \n Eyesight, a retail consultancy, believe that integrating both \n channels augurs well for the business.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cAn offline retailer who has built that relationship \n with customer has better chance in online venture. You can encourage \n customers to cross shop across channels,” Dutta said. <\/b><\/p>\n
Besides, the company is also looking to expand its stores via \n franchisee way. Currently, the chain has two franchisees out of \n 100 stores is also looking to have 10-15 stores out of the planned \n 50 stores, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cCities such as Mumbai and Delhi can take 40 to 50 stores \n each but due to expensive real estate costs, we need to go slowly,” \n he said. Mahindra Retail has 25 stores in Bangalore.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of 700 cities, top 100 are important for us but we \n have not decided how many stores we will open in the next three \n years,” he added.<\/p>\n
The company which has got Rs 300 crore from the parent till now, \n looking at revenue of Rs 200 crore this financial year.<\/p>\n
Mahindra Retail is looking at concluding licensing pacts with \n UK apparel brands in kidswear in the next couple of months.<\/p>\n
The company is also looking other brands such as Benetton and \n Jiny & Jony to expand its kidswear segment, Venkataraman said. \n Mahindra already has exclusive agreement with US-based Disney \n and Fisher Price of Mattel. <\/p>\n
\u201cTill July last year, we had only private lables but we \n realized that older kids need more products and brands. We would \n like to add more brands,” he said. <\/p>\n
Third Eyesight\u2019s Dutta believes there is enough headroom \n in the segment given that there are not many brands in the segment \n and consumers want more choice.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Raghavendra Kamath, Business Standard Mumbai, October 17, 2012 After opening 100 stores in the last four years under \u2018Mom & Me\u2019 brand, Mahindra Retail, the low profile retailing arm of of $15.5 billion Mahindra Group, wants to go full steam. The company, which retails maternity and baby products under \u2018Mom & Me\u2019, wants to open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\n