TruMart to open bigger stores

TruMart, the supermarket chain from Piramyd Retail is changing its strategy from a hub and spoke model to standard store sizes.

Upamanyu Bhattacharya, chief executive officer, TruMart said that the company had realised from its initial experience that people still do not shop at different format stores for their monthly and top-up needs, prompting a change in strategy.

"Henceforth, all the new stores would be between 3000 and 5000 square feet which would stock the entire product offerings," said Bhattacharya.

The hub and spoke model comprises one large store in a given area with smaller stores aimed at top-up purchases in the catchment areas. At present, there are 14 TruMart stores, mainly in Pune and Nagpur. The company would have 40 stores by the end of this financial year.

"Apart from these two cities, we are also looking at two new cities this year, either in the North or East," he said.

Bhattacharya added the company would be introducing its private label by early 2007 and was in the process of finalising a brand name which would operate as a TruMart sub-brand.

"Apart from personal care products and categories where the brand loyalty is extremely high, we would look at having a private label in most such categories," he said, adding that they would be looking at having 25 per cent contribution from private labels in whichever categories it would be present.

He, however, said the company would tie up with suppliers for the private labels and was not considering entering the manufacturing space.

The store is also looking for partners to introduce new categories like a fresh meats, sweets and a bakery section. It has already tied up with Medicine Shoppe which has a corner in the larger TruMart stores.

TruMart, which is positioning itself as an alternative to a kirana store is also using its loyalty programme to try and personalise its product offerings and promotions as per the consumer preferences.

"We are looking at localising upto 20 per cent of our offerings to suit regional preferences," explained Bhattacharya.