Koutons Retail India Limited (KRIL) has opened its biggest exclusive brand outlet in Bengaluru. Spread across more than 9,000 square feet, the new format is termed as the large-format family store and will retail the entire range of products manufactured by Koutons.
Besides opening more such outlets, the company also plans to expand the network of its smaller stores in the country, and will pay special emphasis on the southern and western regions.
The company is planning to add another 600 stores to its existing network of 1,214, in the current fiscal. Of this, around 100 stores will be opened in the southern states. Besides, for its womenswear and kidswear brands Koutons Les Femme and Koutons Junior, the company has planned to open around 100 exclusive stores for each in 2008-09.
Announcing plans, DPS Kohli, chairman, KRIL, said: “All these years, we have been opening stores in northern and central India. But this year, we will focus on expanding our network in southern and western India.”
As part of its expansion plans, the company is in talks with a large retail network based in West Asia to open Koutons’ shop-in-shops. “We are in final talks with them and are looking at taking 1,000-1,500 square feet area in their existing shops,” informed Kohli.
Besides, the company has also planned to enter the men’s innerwear segment and will retail it under the brand name ‘Koutons Innerwear’. The brand will be launched in July this year.
