Sniffing change

MY BIG IDEA/HEMANT GUPTA

Hemant Gupta believes in changing with the times and grabbing an opportunity when it comes his way. In 1995 Gupta Stores, a small nondescript grocery store, was the only one of its kind left in Delhi's smart Greater Kailash M-Block market.

Every other store had changed its look as well as the products it sold. However, Gupta's father and grandfather insisted on carrying on as they always had.

Gupta set up a six foot table in the store and started selling hair accessories and fashion jewellery. Within a year, he was making as much as his father and he finally managed to convince his father and grandfather to let him re-do the store.

That's when Kunchals was born. Today, it's a three-storey store which has devoted one floor to cosmetics, one floor to lingerie and one to perfumes. In March this year, it posted a turnover of Rs 3 crore.

"In the mid-'90s Greater Kailash was fast becoming a very posh market. Most people either sold their traditional businesses or refurbished their shops and entered new lines of retail such as clothes, shoes and the like. A grocery store just didn't fit in any longer but it was very difficult to convince my father and grandfather.

"However, I knew the only way to grow was to change the line of business. I took up a small corner and started selling jewellery and hair accessories. I soon made a mark for myself and within a year, my income was the same as that of my father's and so he finally let me refurbish the shop.

"We started with only the ground floor which sold cosmetics and perfumes. Then in 1998, my wife and I developed the basement and opened a full-fledged lingerie store. We sell over 14 brands and have one of the largest collections in the country.

"Devoting a whole a floor to lingerie made it possible for us to give personalised service to our women customers. They had their privacy and were comfortable shopping with us.

"Though there are more lingerie stores in GK now, at that time there was a total vacuum. Even today there is no store which is exclusively for women and has such a large variety.

"Then last year, we converted the first floor into a perfumery. This is also the first of its kind in Delhi where the entire range of nearly 45 brands is available under one roof. No other place sells so many brands.

"The concept of a perfumery is very common abroad and even in Mumbai there are a few. But there wasn't one in Delhi.

"However, setting it up was a difficult job. It took us over 5 months to convince the different brands. Allocation of space was a problem. Every brand wanted prime display space. Then they had issues with not wanting to be placed next to some other brands.

"After a lot of discussion we sorted all that out and today all the brands are displayed next to each other. Also, they have all been given the same space. Though we use the advertising and promotional material being provided by them, we haven't used any of the furnishings that they provide. All the brands are displayed in similar shelves.

"All the big brands have adopted a six to 12 month wait-and-watch policy. However, we will complete one year next month and till date nobody has pulled out.

"The perfumes are priced at their global rates. Most of our customers are well travelled and they know how much different brands cost.

"Though the duty in India is 135 per cent on perfumes, most of the companies do a backward calculation and offer the brands to us at cheaper rates so that they can be sold at global rates.

"By 2006, we are looking at opening three to four more stores in Delhi itself. We are not too keen on taking up place in the malls for we don't know which one will remain. It is difficult to say if a particular mall will be successful or not. I'd rather look at established markets in North and West Delhi.

"Currently Kunchals caters mainly to women. This makes good business sense for us as typically women spend more. We haven't yet decided if in future we would like to cater more to men or not."