Max Fashion eyes to have 300 stores in India by 2020

Value fashion brand Max, promoted by Dubai-based retail and hospitality conglomerate Landmark Group, plans to double its store count in India to around 300 in the next five years.
Landmark Group would be adding one Max store every two weeks in its retail network and introduce 25 to 30 stores every year by investing Rs 100-125 crore to consolidate its position in the domestic mid market consumers segment.
"By the end of this year, we would have 145 stores roughly. In the next five years, Max will add 25-30 stores every year. Max has the potential to have close to 300 stores possibly by 2019-20", Landmark Group Director and Board Member Ramanathan Hariharan told PTI.

Besides, its large format departmental store Lifestyle would be opening up to 7 to 8 stores every year.
The group would be investing about Rs 200 crore annually in the two brands.
"We would be pumping in Rs 100-125 crore every year for opening up to 25 Max stores for stocks and inventory and invest about Rs 100 crore in Lifestyle for expansion", Hariharan said.

It would be funded through internal accruals, he added.
Max has stores across 50 cities in India. Globally, Max has over 290 stores across 16 countries.
Highlighting the importance of the Indian market Hariharan said:"It is an important market for our growth and we are growing in India quite aggressively".

"We as a company are growing with at a compounded rate of over 25 per cent annually and Max is our fastest brand growing over compounded rate of over 30 per cent", he said.
As per its growth strategy, Max would focus on tier II & III cities and the new emerging satellite towns around major metros.
"We are very bullish about India and we are penetrating into many cities. We are trying to be closer to the customer", he said.
Moreover, Landmark Group is also foraying in the online segment by launching a portal.
"We are launching our own online platform in the country. By January, we would have landmarks shop.In, which would host all brands of the company. Our focus would be to create an offline and online integration", Hariharan added.

Besides, the company has also brought another concept, Easybuy, targeting tier III markets.
"We have opened 10 new Easybuy stores. It is on franchise model and the format is small with 5,000 sq feet as against 10,000 sq feet of Max", said Max Fashion India Executive Director Vasanth Kumar.