French beauty house to set up outlet in Ahmedabad

Jean-Claude Biguine, a French salon and spa chain that partnered with the Aditya Birla Group last year to expand its business in India, has plans to open around 70 stores across the country, including outlets in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, in the next five years.

"We have a very aggressive expansion plan for India. We already have a strategic partnership with the Aditya Birla Group. Under this tie-up, we would be developing around 50 stores in the next five years in the store-in-store format," Jean-Claude Biguine Manager (Marketing) Geet Nazir said.

"We would also be exploring opportunities at developing around 15-20 standalone stores in various locations, like high street malls and hotels. So in the next five years, we would be able to have over 70 stores in the country," she said.

While the Indian partner would provide the infrastructure support and locations, Nazir said the stores would be managed by Jean-Claude Biguine (JCB). "Our partnership with Aditya Birla is a revenue-sharing model. They would be providing us with the infrastructural support and and help us find the locations," Nazir said. Quoting industry chamber CII, she said India has an estimated $1.5-billion beauty services market and the group is also looking at developing standalone stores in the next five years to tap the booming sector.

Besides Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the company is aiming to develop the outlets in metros such as Bangalore, New Delhi, and Kolkata and cities like Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh.

"We will invest around $7-10 million in the next three years for opening stores, personnel training and in setting up of training academies," she said. When asked about the funding, she said it would be raised through private equity and has already approached Ernst & Young, one of the world's leading professional services organisations, for studying the market.

At present, JCB has two stores — one each in Mumbai and Bangalore. It plans to open two stores in New Delhi and Mumbai this year.