Max Fashion to expand retail presence in 20 more cities; open 50 new stores

Max Fashion has recently opened its 200th store in Chennai, marking the occasion as one of the many milestones achieved in the past 11 years of the brand’s presence in India.
Currently, Max Fashion stores are present in 100 cities across India and the brand has plans to expand to 20 more cities in the next one year. The brand will cover 120 cities with its brick-and-mortar format. Apart from that, its e-commerce portal, Maxfashion.com serves to connect to consumers in more than 500 cities.
Talking about the same, Executive Director, Max Fashion India, Vasanth Kumar told Indiaretailing Bureau at IRF 2017, “The growth of Max continues to be as strong as ever. Today, we have crossed 200 stores and by the end of FY2017-18, we will be adding another 50 stores.”
READ MORE: Max Fashion aims to be Rs 5,000-crore brand in three years
The Omnichannel Journey So Far…
Omnichannel has opened a bag of opportunities for retailers, and Max Fashion is also leaving no stone unturned to provide a similar, unparalleled experience to its customers across all mediums.
Kumar said, “Apart from opening physical stores, we are also connecting the inventory of all online and offline stores through click-and-collect. Customers can shop online and then collect the item from any store. They can also get alterations done in-store if needed.”
“By going Omnichannel, the fulfilment and convenience for the customers goes up. It also helps brands give consumers a superior experience,” he added.
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Max, which is working on it Omnichannel strategy, gets just one per cent of its business from its online channel. However, over the next five years, the brand hopes to achieve a healthy contribution from the same.
“Over the past two years, we are working towards making Max Fashion a true Omnichannel brand. We have tied up with vendor partners who are providing us with solutions and we are using their platform towards better tracking, and anlytics, so that we can provide the consumer with a seamless experience. We are also using their third-party vendor platform for logistics,” said Kumar.
READ MORE: Max Fashion to expand Indian retail footprint; eyes 10 new cities
The Road Ahead
Max has witnessed rapid growth since its inception – from a growth rate of only 20-25 stores per annum till just four years ago, to 2018 that saw Max double its growth rate by opening 50 stores in this calendar year. Max is planning to leverage the nationwide brand acceptance and continue expanding all over India, with a focus on northern and eastern markets.
According to Kumar: “We are opening one store a week. So in a year, we plan on opening 50 stores. This is what we did in FY2017-18 and this is what we are planning for the next fiscal year too. Every store has around Rs 2.5 crore capex. That ways, it is a Rs 100 crore investment every year. We will be aiding the expansion plans though our own internal accruals.”
Max is in its 12th year, and growing at the CAGR of 32 per cent from past 10 years and expects a similar growth for next three years.
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“The growth format in the same store has been in the region of 13-15 per cent and the trend has stayed stable for past two to three years. We are continuing to have same traction. We are right now growing at 13 per cent like-to-like growth and we expect the like-to-like growth to continue in double digits between 11 and 13 per cent for over next three years as well,” revealed Kumar.
He concluded, “This year we have had a run-rate of Rs 3,000 crore. We expect Max to become a Rs 5,000 crore brand by 2020.”