Impact charts Rs 200cr India retail plan

To open 30 Xcite consumer electronic outlets in India by 2009.

Impact Retail Private Limited, a newly-incorporated company promoted by West Asian retailer Tony Jashanmal, has drawn up plans for the Indian consumer electronics retail market.

“We plan to open 30 exclusive Xcite consumer electronic showrooms in top 15 cities in the country by the end of 2009 with an investment of Rs 200 crore,” Srikant Gokhale, chief executive officer of Impact Retail, told mediapersons, after inaugurating the company’s first store in India at Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Impact retail has forged a franchise and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship with Alghanim Industries, a Kuwait-based conglomerate with interests in consumer electronics retail, auto retail and manufacturing, to run its stores under the Xcite brand.

Gokhale said each of the multi-branded large-format stores, with a carpet area of over 20,000 sft, will offer over 3,000 products across different categories – home entertainment, small appliances, white goods, computers and peripherals, communication, music, imaging and gaming – from 150 national and international brands.

Besides, it will sell its private label products (excluding laptops and mobiles) under the Wansa brand, sourced from the OEM.

“The company will soft launch eight Xcite stores in cities like Pune and Bangalore by the end of 2008 to fine tune our understanding of customers and the format. With this learning, we plan to expand aggressively for a pan-India footprint,” Gokhale said.

The Indian consumer electronics market is currently pegged at $13.3 billion and growing at 10 per cent a year. Of this, organised retail accounts for 7.3 per cent.