Personalised gifts retailer Presto has recently opened three franchise outlets in Bangalore, Trivandrum, and Agartala. The retailer has launched a 120 sq.ft. kiosk in Total mall, Bangalore; a 350 sq.ft. outlet at Kuruvankonam Junction in Trivandrum; and a 120 sq.ft. store in City Centre Shopping Mall, Agartala.
Commenting on the franchise format, Debabrata Sarkar, Retail Head, Presto, said: “As a company we are bullish about our expansion plans and we think that franchising is a good way to expand our business. We do open COCO (company-owned and company-operated) stores but we prefer to open our own outlets only in Kolkata, whereas we prefer to open FOFO (franchisee-owned and franchisee-operated) stores outside Kolkata. We do provide relevant support to our franchisees so that they can run their business smoothly.”
Sarkar further revealed that in FY 12-13, they are planning to invest Rs 50 lakh for expansion. He added: “Presto sensed the tremendous market potential for personalised gifts in tier II and III cities which are quickly catching up with the consumer taste and purchasing power of metro and tier I cities. Apart from that the investors in small cities are in search for interesting and profitable business models with an investment below Rs 10 lakh. Presto fits the bill best for this category and that resulted fast expansion.”
-Shubhra Saini
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