Mightier than the store

Linc Pens & Plastics wants to join India's retail revolution with a fresh bunch of ideas.

Hard at work, and no time to pay your mobile bill? Or to buy a gift and courier it to a friend? There is help at hand. Or rather, near your office door, with Office Linc, the latest niche retail format from Linc Pens & Plastics.

The first one opens its doors at the Millennium Building in Sector V, Kolkata, today, and Deepak Jalan, its managing director, has ambitious plans of rolling out more such all over the country sooner than you think.

Office Linc is a hybrid superstore spread out over 4,000 square feet which will sell stationery and other office supplies, besides offering a number of products and services through 12 channel partners, as shop-in-shops.

There's Airtel (telecom), Talk (handsets), Book Cellar, Music World, Presto (personalised gifts and stamps), Aqua Java (cafe), DHL (courier), SKP (financial services) and Microsoft (hardware and software), among others.

The addition of two more services "" travel and security "" is also on the cards. It's a concept developed inhouse, says Jalan, with a lot of thought going into the right mix of services to "give people more reasons to come to our store".

Office-supplies retail has attracted one other player "" Indo-Rama Retail Holdings (IRRHL), which has tied up with US-based Office One Superstore International to open two Office One Superstores in Delhi, with a third opening in Noida on October 18.

Unlike Office Linc, Office One Superstore concentrates on office requirements "" not just stationery but a whole host of electronic items like cameras, scanners, faxes, even iPods, besides office furniture. IRRHL plans to open 8-10 stores this year in and around the NCR.

The retail trade in stationery goods and writing instruments in India is still largely driven by old-fashioned stationery shops, where you stand behind a counter and tell the shopkeeper what you want.

Of course, a few pen makers like Luxor and GM Pens have opened retail outlets, primarily as a space to display their products. Linc's first venture into retail through Just Linc "" a store that sells the entire range of Linc pens, as well as Uniball and Lamy (Linc's partners) "" also falls in this category.

Office Linc, however, marks the company's first foray into pure retail, under Linc Retail, a company floated especially for the purpose.

While globally there are a number of organised-retail players in the office supplies and stationery segment "" Staples, Office 1 Superstore, Office World, to name the foremost "" India is seeing activity in this space only now. One reason for this is, perhaps, that this is a trade where margins are low, and profits come from high volumes.

Targeting corporate houses is thus an integral part of the business models of both Office 1 Superstore and Office Linc. "We are looking at a mix of B2C and B2B," says Jalan.

No wonder, Office Linc is located in Sector V, the hub of West Bengal's IT industry, while the Office 1 Superstore in Gurgaon is inside a business park. Of course, the first Office 1 store was on Connaught Place and the soon-to-open one in Noida will be on a highstreet where the walk-ins will be high.

IRRHL is also looking at private labels to squeeze out better margins, reports Vishal Lohia, executive director.

It's one mighty effort.