Shoppers' Stop bullish on growth  ( March '6,2004, HBL)

SHOPPERS' Stop is predicting good retail growth at second-rung destinations such as Baroda, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Kochi, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad and Vizag. This hope stems from the growth of BPOs in these cities and the concurrent increase in incomes among middle-class. According to Mr B.S. Nagesh, Customer Care Associate, Managing Director and CEO, the retail giant's strategy would be to penetrate the top 10 cities in India and simultaneously develop stores in 10 medium-sized cities.

It has also dispensed with the standalone format and will focus on large format stores in malls, because of their high-footfall characteristics. He said that earlier Shoppers' Stop had to create a `destination' that would attract customers, which is now taken care of by the mall.

"Eight of 10 properties will be located in malls. We have identified 20 cities where we may set up stores in the next three years," Mr Nagesh said.

He said in the current year, every store had made a profit and the last four stores had shown a profit in the first year of operation. He added its research had shown that in Bangalore and Hyderabad, customers put a large premium over their time and the time spent with the family, and hence looked for convenience and less time spent shopping.