After Germany’s Metro and US-based Wal-Mart, UK’s largest cash and carry player Booker Group Plc has set up its first shop in the country at Mumbai.
Booker India, a unit of Booker Group, spent nearly Rs 8 crore in setting up the 35,000-square-foot cash and carry store in Kandivali suburb of Mumbai and, based on the success of the store in the next couple of months, will roll out similar ones in other parts of the country, a top company executive said.
“There is a good business opportunity here. Our initial survey shows that metros and smaller towns can take different sized stores in the country. We will see how our Mumbai store operates and stabilises. Once it reaches our expectations, we will look at rolling out stores in other parts of the country,” said Zunaid Bangee, MD, Booker India.
“We will focus on better prices, better products and a better range to individual retailers and caterers. We have modified our stores according to Indian conditions,” he pointed out.
Booker will focus more on staples and food items in Indian stores unlike in the UK where such business revolves around alcohol and tobacco, he said.
“Consumer response has been very good and we have already been getting increasing footfalls and business,” Bangee said. The Booker store in Mumbai has 24,000 customers registered with it and it will sell 6,000 stock keeping units (SKUs).
