Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group will set up 1,500 new-format fair-price shops over the next two years. The neighbourhood stores, to be branded as KB’s Fair Price shops, plans to sell leading brands of around 300 essentials almost 10 per cent cheaper than the market price, while the local brands will be up to 20 per cent less.
“Our target is to provide essential items cheaper than the market price and we are looking at a 20 per cent market share of the neighbourhood retail market,” said Narendra Baheti, MD, Pantaloons Foods.
About 1,500 new format stores are coming up in two years in the top eight markets of the country, aiming at about 20 per cent share of the retail market in the catchments around which these shops will be opened.
The company’s initiative is to give competitors such as Subhiksha a run for their money. Positioned as no-frills fair-price shops with the tagline “Sare jahan se sasta”, Baheti said they would alter a few rules of the retail scene in India.
Baheti said initially the stores will be owned by the company and in future other business models will also be identified based on market research and success of the project. Although he declined to give a cumulative figure, he admitted the cost of setting up a 2,000 square feet store was around Rs 280/square foot as against Rs 2,000/square foot for a modern supermarket store.
The company is planning cluster stores in Mumbai and New Delhi as part of a pilot project, followed by Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.
– Bangalore Bureau
