Emami will invest Rs 50 crore in expanding Starmark, its books, music, toys and stationery item retail chain. It is also planning to foray into speciality retailing, selling only one category, like only Disney merchandise, per store.
Currently there are four Starmark stores in Kolkata.
Simultaneously, Emami will expand its pharmacy chain, Frank Ross, and also introduce consumer-centric activities inside the stores to ensure more footfalls.
Group company Frank Ross is looking to have some 100 outlets in the country over the next three years.
Total investment envisaged is about Rs 100 crore.
According to Gautam Jetia, CEO of Starmark, the Emami Starmark venture will focus on speciality retail and leisure products, selling a wide range of one category per store.
“We are currently experimenting with a Disney merchandise corner in our existing Starmark stores in Kolkata. We are contemplating setting up standalone Starmark stores selling the Disney licensed products as part of our plan to get into speciality retailing. We will also introduce Disney school bags with some of the most popular characters like Alaadin and Jungle Book characters. These bags will cost between Rs 250 and Rs 1,000.”
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Starmark speciality stores will also sport a new look that would differentiate them from the regular large format Starmark stores. For instance, the entrance of the Disney standalone store could resemble Mickey Mouse ears, while the stores' ceiling could be decorated with other Disney characters.
The company plans to set up 10 more Starmark, manning a total area of 80,000 sq ft, in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.
The new stores will be a mix of small and large formats.
While the company plans to take Starmark to neighbouring Guwahati, Jamshedpur and Bhubaneswar, the response to its Kolkata’s City Centre format would determine the retail plans in towns like Durgapur and Siliguri.
Inaugurated a year ago, the 2,800 sq ft City Centre Starmark is an experiment in the smaller module.
Its larger outlets could go upto 20,000-sq-ft.
Simultaneously, Emami's pharmacy chain, Frank Ross, will be expanded from the current 30 outlets to 50 by the end of the year, and about 100 in the next three years, informed Harsh Agarwal, director of Emami.
The company will also introduce consumer-centric activities inside the pharmacies to ensure more footfalls.
These activities could range from free wellness tips to beauty product trials inside stores. Also, the pharmacy chain could have experts sharing views on preventive treatments.
“The group is aggressively looking to expand its pharmacy business. We plan to do this by opening both standalone outlets as well as pharmacies within hospitals covering some 350 sq ft to 600 sq ft,” Agarwal added.
Of the total number of pharmacies being planned, the company intends to open some 8-10 pharmacies within hospital premises. Though still premature, it is also looking to set up its pharmacy outlets within large format shopping malls.
The company also plans to open pharmacy outlets in select cities outside Kolkata, in locations like Darjeeling and Ahmedabad. "We have recently finalised a property at Ahmedabad since we want to expand in a mass way and make the brand more popular with an all India presence," Agarwal informed.
All these initiatives along with a 75 per cent year-on-year growth are expected to help Frank Ross clock revenue earnings of Rs 100 crore by March 2010 compared to close to Rs 30 crore now.