Luggage and accessories major Samsonite has outlined its plans to set up at least 50 more outlets in the country, building on the franchisee model it has developed.
The Director (Retail Projects) of Samsonite, Mr R.P. Singh, told Business Line “the company has thus, far established 167 franchisee outlets in addition to 50 plus other company owned outlets. We are now in the process of tapping into new markets and scouting for business partners.”
These will be in addition to store-in-store in large format retail chains, he said.
“As a part of this move, apart from setting up more outlets in major cities, we are in talks with entrepreneurs for outlets in tier-II cities. In all, we plan to set up 50 more outlets, all of them through franchise option,” Mr Singh said. These include Vijayawada, Guntur, Madurai, Salem, Rajahmundry, Nellore, Kolhapur, Rourkela, Muzaffarpur to name a few centres chosen for expansion.
Even in large cities, nobody prefers to travel far to buy a product of his choice. Therefore, the focus is setting up stores in the nearest convenient location where host of brands are available under one roof.
Samsonite stores offer brands such as Tourister, Timberland products as a distribution partner, Lacoste bags, wallets and shirts. These span products such as backpacks, laptop bags, hard and soft luggage, wallets, belts and Samsonite shoes.
“The franchise event here has provided us an opportunity to demonstrate how successful franchisee stores are built. Typically, a franchise has to invest up to Rs 15-20 lakh in a store. This is backed by Samsonite support. In about three years, the store breaks even,” said Mr Singh, who handles the region for Samsonite.
Source: Business Line
