Venugopal Dhoot-promoted Videocon Industries is prepared to face the tough competition in the cash-and-carry business. With an initial investment of about Rs 400 crore, in April, the company announced its entry in the country’s Rs 1,200 crore cash-and-carry segment. It announced that 16 stores, under the brand name Bolld Cash & Carry, will be operational by September this year.
Speaking to Indiaretailing about the competition in this field, Sunil Mehta, chief executive officer, Bolld Cash & Carry, said, “There will be tough competition as overseas giants have already planned to establish a presence in the sector. However, there is tremendous potential in the country’s cash-and-carry segment as the sector is highly regulated by unorganised players.”
The company is expected to see steep competition from some established players who are already in the process of strengthening their position. Companies like Metro, Bharti-Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Reliance, Pantaloon and Wadhawan Retail, with their considerable retailing experience, will be Videocon’s direct opponents.
Videocon operates Next Retail, the electronics retail format, and Planet M, the leisure retail format that the company acquired last year.
Bolld Cash & Carry will deal in a wide range of products including food and grocery, consumer durables, IT and apparel. “The company will invest around Rs 2,000 crore in the next three years, and we expect a turnover of Rs 10,000-Rs 11,000 crore by the fourth year. We intend to open five stores of 1-1.5 lakh square feet in this financial year. The first store is scheduled to be launched in September,” informed Mehta.
Videocon has already finalised space in cities such as Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Pune for its first stage of expansion.
In the second phase, the company will introduce private labels across categories including consumer durables. “Our understanding of the local market will enable us to create a pull for the private labels,” Mehta said.
On the other hand, the Bharti and Wal-Mart joint venture is expected to open an 80,000 square feet distribution centre in Punjab, which will support around 200 to 300 stores across verticals.
Earlier, in a telecon with Indiaretailing, Vinod Sawhney, CEO and president, Bharti Retail, had said that the company is in the process of acquiring and finalising retail space across India, and that Punjab is one of the vital markets. In an email to Indiaretailing, Charu Nangia, GM at Splendor Landbase Limited, had confirmed that Bharti-Wal-Mart has leased about 40,000 square feet outlet at their upcoming mall in Jalandhar. The outlet will be ready for fittings by August.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Metro is also firming up its expansion plans for the cash-and-carry format. The company has planned to open stores in Mumbai, Kolkata, NCR and Punjab, among other locations, in the coming months.
– Satrajit Sen
