Retail chain Tablez aims Rs 500-cr turnover, 250 outlets in 5 years

Multi-brand retail chain Tablez is looking at a turnover of around Rs 500 crore and expanding its network to around 250 stores in India over the next five years, a top company official has said.

Tablez India, a subsidiary of the UAE-based conglomerate Lulu Group, currently operates 67 stores. The retailer has plans to invest around Rs 75 crore every year on expansion of its retail footprint in the country.

With its omnichannel expansion strategy, Tablez will be investing to boost its presence in digital and e-commerce space as well as physical stores.

"By FY 2025-26, we will probably be looking to cross Rs 500 crore turnover. We will have 250 outlets and have some more other revenue channels by then," Tablez Retail Chief Operating Officer Vasudevan Balakrishnan told PTI.

 

The company is still optimistic about its growth target for the Indian market despite the pandemic-related disruptions, he added.

On investment plans, Balakrishnan said: "We will be investing somewhere between Rs 70 to Rs 75 crore a year. It could be even more as these are broad numbers."

He, however, said the investment in brands will be re-calibrated post-2021 as per strategy.

"We are looking at if any new brands could come to our fold, we also have to do cost corrections for any brand running with us or the store network," he said adding that the company is very cautious and wants to have "profitable expansions" with a logical growth.

The company would fund its expansion through equities as it's a family-owned enterprise, Balakrishnan added.

Tablez, whose operations are mostly south India-centric, is also open to expand in other parts of the country.

"These are initial years and we are a very young company. Our expansions and build-up have happened in the last three years. So it is very early days. We are also taking our learnings from the market. We are also trying to understand how different markets respond to the different brands that we have in the kitty," he said.

Terming the year 2020 as a "watershed" for the industry, Balakrishnan said the company is expecting a turnover of Rs 100 to 120 crore.

"This year we were targeting to be around Rs 250 crore but it did not happen. Now this goal has been shifted to next year," he said.

Balakrishnan further said: "The market would take some time to heal and we will also re-calibrate the entire business plan accordingly and go slow across all our brands."

Its portfolio consists of brands such as -- Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us, Build-A-Bear, GO Sport, and YOYOSO. In the F&B vertical, Tablez holds India franchise rights for Cold Stone Creamery and Galito's, in addition to its home-grown brand, Bloomsbury's.

Tablez India, which launched its operations five years ago in India, operates in retail and food and beverages segments.

"Our primary business is that we become the franchise of global brands and we build and operate those brands in India," he said.

The company has rights across all the channels for these brands, which include distribution, e-commerce, shop-in-shop and other revenue streams.