Saddled with very low margins which are making the business not viable in many cases, mobile branded retail stores are now increasingly turning their focus on their non-mobile handset business.
Organised retail, which started off with a market share of less than 1 per cent two years ago, has now grown in stature with the big boys entering the fray, and currently has a 15 per cent share. Companies such as Spice's Hot Spot, RPG group's RPG Cellucom, Essar's Mobile Store, Subhiksha and Kishore Biyani's ConvergeM (which has three mobile branded stores) have all entered the business hoping to make big bucks.
And their share of the total business is expected to increase to 40 per cent in another two to three years. The retail market for mobile phones