GNC India plans to sell products through 4K outlets by 2020

US-based nutraceuticals retailer GNC (General Nutrition Centre) is looking to strengthen its presence in India with plans to retail its products through 4,000 stores by 2020.
The company, which operates here as GNC India, also announced its plans to set up a manufacturing capacity in the country this year.
It has tied up with health and wellness products retailer Guardian Healthcare Services Pvt Ltd, which is the master franchise for GNC with exclusive distribution and marketing rights.
"Today our products are sold from 50 odd outlets through Guardian-owned outlets across all big cities in India and we are planning to expand this whole distribution to almost 4,000 outlets by 2020 through multi-brand outlets," GNC India CEO Shadab Khan told PTI.

"Starting with 2018, we are targeting to be present in about 1,000 outlets, mostly in metros and tier I towns," he added.
The products will also be sold through the company's website as also the other e-commerce players.

GNC's portfolio of products include health, wellness and performance products, including protein, performance supplements, weight management supplements, vitamins, herbs and greens and wellness supplements.
With regard to manufacturing in India, Khan said: "We are working closely with some of the Indian contract manufacturers and in 2018 we will have a significant part of our portfolio which will be manufactured in India."
When asked about the investment in India, he said, the company will be investing in retail expansion, quality ingredient, hiring right talent and on awareness campaigns, among others.

"It will be several hundreds of crores if I share the next five year plan but we don't have an exact number to share as yet," he added.