The retail scene is hotting up with the Tata Group’s retail arm Croma taking on the players like Future Group in the private labels (own brand) segment.
The Tata Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, Infinity Retail’s Croma, has entered into a wide range of own branded electronic products and plans to capture a 10 per cent share with its private labels which are cheaper by 15 per cent than other branded products.
Mr R. K. Krishna Kumar, chairman of Infinity Retail and director of Tata Sons, on Wednesday, said: “This fiscal the number of Croma stores across India would be increased from 32 to 50 with capital infusion of Rs 150 crore that would be raised through debt.”
In the year 2010-11 another 50 Croma outlets would be opened, he added.
Mr Krishna Kumar said: “We have tied up with the world class manufacturers from China, Taiwan etc for sourcing quality products. By March 2010 we plan to sell 100 electronics products in the private label segment. In the last few months we have witnessed a growth rate of about 17 per cent and our own branded products would help us to grow by 20 per cent this fiscal.”
Due to the large scale sourcing we are able to bargain with the manufacturers and sell the products at affordable rates, he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Raghav Sehgal, an independent research analyst (retail) said: “The Indian retail market is about $30 billion and is one of the fastest growing segments in the country.”
He said, “Before the global meltdown the Indian organised retail sector was growing at a rate 50 per cent. This growth rate has declined as of now but it is still about 20-22 per cent on y-o-y basis.”
Source: The Asian Age
