H&R Johnson plans tiles for rural users

The Rs 441 crore tile manufacturing company H&R Johnson plans to expand sales in the price sensitive rural tiles market. It is targeting a 30 per cent growth in the segment by 2005.

Vijay Aggarwal, managing director, H&R Johnson (India) Ltd., said, "Since the last few years there has been an upsurge in demand for tiles in the rural markets. With 75 per cent of India's population residing in rural areas and stagnation in the urban market, the rural market is a vast untapped one for ceramic tiles."

To reach six lakh locations, the company was building a good distribution system.

"We aim to achieve a growth of 30 per cent through distribution spread in rural markets by 2005 so that even our rural customers are properly mapped and serviced," he said.

The rural market foray is part of H&R Johnson's overall strategy to notch up sales of Rs 1000 crore by March 2008.

It expects the rural operations to account for 25 per cent of sales by March 2008. It is planning a slew of new products to match the rural customer's buying preferences and spending potential.

The company will open new display centres in target markets to increase visibility and create product awareness for its brands Johnson, Marbonite, Porselano, Endura and Milano.

The company has a customer penetration level of 30 per cent and expects that its distribution network, through its efforts, will increase by 15 per cent by the end of 2005.

Key markets for rural sales growth are Madurai, Pondicherry, Vijaywada, Rajkot, Nagpur, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhopal, Guwahati and pockets in Kerala and Maharastra.