Pyramid to launch in-house grocery brands

Going a step further from its competitors, Pyramid Retail Ltd. will be launching in-house brands for grocery items at its supermarket chain TruMart. The company will be launching these products by next month at its TruMart.

Talking about the stores, Upamanyu Bhattacharya, Chief Executive Officer "" TruMart said, "Pyramid Retail believes in providing only those quality goods which our customers prefer. For instance, we had been running three stores in Ahmedabad as pilot projects since April 2007 before we launched finally in June. The results of our research from these projects showed that customers preferred more stock of fresh-foods and also wanted us to localise many of the products, which we did. It is the result of such research that we have decided to introduce in-house branded grocery items which will be launched by next month."

The groceries items will be launched under the brand name TruMart Uttam, added Bhattacharya.

"Initially we will be featuring only grocery items under the 'TruMart Uttam' brand name and would later move into other product categories," said Bhattacharya.

Pyramid Retail recently launched its fourth TruMart store in Ahmedabad and plans to open 11 more by the end of the year. The company has set a target of 30 stores for Gujarat. With an investment of Rs 1,500 per sq ft, the stores would average a size of about 4,000-4,500 sq ft, said Bhattacharya.

At present, there are only 28 TruMart stores across the country which Pyramid Retail expects to take up to 90 stores.

Piramyd Retail Ltd., a part of the diversified Ashok Piramal Group, operates two formats under the brand name of Piramyd Megastore and TruMart.

Piramyd Lifestyle is a departmental store where as TruMart is a supermarket retail chain with a predominant presence in Western India.