Spar Intl to open stores by year end

Currently in talks with regional retail chains

After ending its partnership with Dubai’s Landmark group in May last year, the 31 billion euro (Rs 2,22,890 crore) Dutch retailer Spar International said it plans to open its stores in the country by the end of this year.

Spar International is currently in talks with a number of regional retail chains with which it will sign licensing agreement and lend its brand and retail know how, said the company’s managing director Gordon Campbell in a emailed reply to Business Standard.

Though Spar has been looking to expand its network in India through tie ups with regional chains for the last five years but it did not made any announcements so far.

“It is our objective to establish a network of SPAR partners in India. We are currently in the process of evaluating options. We have held initial discussions with a number of regional retailers and these discussions are continuing,” Campbell said.

Campbell said India is crucial market for Spar and it will have multiple partners for different regions in the country.

 “India will be one of the top five global food retail markets in the future. Therefore, it is important for SPAR to have a presence in India,” said Campbell.

The SPAR group comprises 12,196 stores in 33 countries and expands through franchisee route in international markets. Recently SPAR announced plans to expand in the middle east with a co-operative venture with Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society.

The group operates four retail formats--Spar supermarkets, Interspar Hypermarkets (which the group has launched in India, China and Russia), Eurospar which are popular in European and African countries as Superspar and neighbourhood stores called Spar Express.

With Landmark group’s Max Hypermarkets, Spar operated 10 hypermarkets and did a business of Euro 65 million in 2011. The stores operated in India were one of the biggest among Spar’s global portfolio with an average size of 4710 square metres.

Retail consultants say the slowdown European countries are posing challenges for overseas retailers to expand in new markets such as India.

“Spar is highly focused on Europe and hit by slowdown there. They may not have additional resources to spare for India,” said Harminder Sahni, managing director of retail consultancy Wazir Advisors.

“International retailers like them take a lot of time before finalizing their partners as they involve a lot processes and reporting work,” Sahni said.

Campbell said the Spar can its stores effectively in India. “We have already shown that the SPAR Hypermarket and SPAR supermarket formats are well accept by the Indian consumer and can be profitably operated,” Campbell said.