VIP to open 12 more stores in the north

VIP Industries Ltd, the luggage manufacturer, will add about 12 exclusive stores in the northern region by the end of 2006-07. The stores will comprise both company-owned stores and franchisees. Currently, it has over 29 stores in the north, of which six are franchisees.

To support its sales in the region, the company has recently commissioned a plant in Uttaranchal with an investment of about Rs 18 crore.

The company is looking to expand through entire gamut of retail formats including its own stores, departmental stores, speciality outlets and hyper markets to provide a new retail experience.

The company has acquired a UK-based luggage manufacturer - Carlton. The products will be in the super premium range and sold through the new exclusive outlets that the company would be opening in all the major cities in India like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, and Chandigarh in a couple of months.

The soft luggage would be imported from UK, whereas, the hard luggage would be manufactured in its Nasik plant.

Talking to Business Standard, Rajeev Malhotra, Zonal Manager (north), Blow Plast Limited, which is the marketing arm of the company, said, "We see a huge potential in the northern region. So far we have a very good presence in the region and our share in the organised market stands at 65 per cent across the country, whereas in the region, we have a higher share. We would also be expanding further in the region by opening more stores here. Very shortly, we would also be opening new stores in Jammu, Jalandhar, Mohali and Panchkula et al." Malhotra was present in the city to inaugurate its new store in Chandigarh.

"However, all the stores would not be company owned as before opening a store, we figure out whether to start a company owned store of a franchisee. Across India, we have about 126 stores comprising 47 franchisee stores. Our aim is to open about 60 new outlets every year for a period of next three years. Therefore, by the end of this fiscal, we would be having around 180 stores in the country. Each store requires an investment of about Rs 25-30 lakh. Besides that, we have multibrand stores that sell our product. In the northern region, there are 2500 such multibrand stores," he said

"As new malls are coming up in the region, we have also bought space for our stores. We would set up a store in all the major malls in the major cities of northern region. So far we have bought space in malls that are coming up in Ludhiana, Panchkula and Chandigarh," says Deepak Tiku, Branch Manager, Blow Plast Limited, Chandigarh Office.

To cater to the growing demand, the company has recently set up manufacturing unit in Haridwar in Uttaranchal with an investment of about Rs 18 crore. This would increase the total capacity to five million pieces per annum. Currently, it has a unit in Nasik that has a capacity of about 30 lakh units, inform company sources.

"The new unit will help the company to penetrate further into the market in the region. We are launching new products. As the marriage season is approaching, we would be devising new strategies to sell our product like tying up with dotcom companies for virtual marketing of our products," says Malhotra.