Getting hyper

The coming new year will be special for Lucknow residents. That's because Abdullah Mohammad, managing director, Home Stores (India) Ltd (HSIL) is confident about, "getting into the food plate of the consumers".

HSIL first started offering complete lifestyle and home furnishing solutions to customers with The Home Store (THS) in 1997 and then forayed into super markets with its chain of Sabka Bazaar outlets in 2001.

It now has nine THS outlets in the country and 27 Sabka Bazaar outlets concentrated in north India. Buoyed by the success of its two earlier formats, HSIL has now rolled out its expansion plans with its first hypermarket in Lucknow's upcoming Fun Republic Mall.

As the company gets into an aggressive mode of expansion, HSIL is clear it is targetting the cash-rich, northern India region. After Lucknow, the company will shift its focus to Agra and Panipat where they plan to open hypermarkets in 2006 while targetting a turnover of Rs 200 crore.

The company also hopes to increase the turn-over to Rs 500 crore by the end of 2008.

The Home Store (THS) is a domestic arm of its parent company Zarkaria Shahid Industries that has been into export of home furnishings since 1952 and targets SEC A+, B consumers. Sabka Bazaar outlets, on the other hand, are aimed at breaking the hold of age-old neighbourhood grocery shops.

The two new formats will now aim at widening the consumer base even further what with Sabka Bazaar Express focussing more on home delivery and hypermarkets catering to all classes of consumers.

The company launched its first Sabka Bazaar Express in New Delhi's New Friends Colony last month. The small convenience store houses 300 top selling brands and focuses more on home delivery. Pleased by the initial success, the company plans to launch close to 40 such stores in the next 18 months in Delhi and NCR region.

While expansion plans will continue in some of the bigger cities, HSIL is stepping up the tempo in B and C class cities in northern India. "The northern region," Mohammad points out, "is within our geographic reach to manage the expansion."

Then why doesn't Delhi with its huge population and deep pockets feature on the company's plan for hypermarkets? Is it because the competition with other retail stores like Big Bazaar, Vishal Mega Mart and Twenty Four Seven will stifle HSIL? Mohammad retorts, "There's no way one can eat into each other's market share because there's so much for everyone."

"The market," he says firmly, "is so huge that even 10 Big Bazaars and 20 Sabka Bazaars will be able to sustain well here." He claims the escalation of real estate prices and shrinking of prime spaces has prevented HSIL from venturing into New Delhi with hypermarkets.

"Our aim," says Mohammad, "is to offer world-class ambience while maintaining price points that cater to all classes of consumers." Looking at their past track record, that should be easy.