Anchor plans chain of outlets to sell AVE range

Our Corporate Bureau

Chennai, May 7: AVE Anchor Pvt Ltd, the 76:24 joint venture between Italian electrical accessory major AVE Spa and the Indian switch maker Anchor, would set up 51 ‘boutiques’ to sell the AVE range of products across the country. The company is also planning to manufacture a range of AVE products using Anchor’s capacity in India.

Talking to media persons on Monday, AVE’s sales director Pietro Ferrara, said that the first boutique would be opened in Mumbai in two months’ time. “We are in the process of finalising the design of the boutiques. We expect the first boutique to go onstream in Mumbai in two months’ time,” Mr Ferrara said. He added, “In six months’ time, all the 51 boutiques would be in place.”

He said that dealers who are setting up the chain of boutiques are selected from 8,000-odd Anchor distributors across India. The dealers would have to invest Rs 25 lakh to set up the boutique while the company would shell out another Rs 25 lakh towards product display etc, he added.

Anchor, which accounts for nearly 65 per cent of the organised electronic appliances market in India, has entered into a joint venture with AVE for selling the latter’s high-end electrical accessories including high quality switches and intelligent security systems in India an year ago. The company is the first to introduce the bus system of intelligent electrical accessory network in India.

According to the agreement, AVE would effect a technology transfer to to Anchor who would manufacture its products in India. Anchor would also have exclusive rights to sell AVE products in the Saarc region. AVE will also help modernise plant and machinery and upgrade Anchor’s designs.

The company would manufacture some of the products in Anchor’s manufacturing facility to sell in India and in the Saarc region. However, it is not at present planning to set up any separate manufacturing unit dedicated to AVE’s products as the market is not expected to support such move, Mr Ferrara said.

He said that though the company has estimated total sales of $1 million or Rs 5 crore only in the first full year of operation, the order book after it first launched its products in Mumbai late last month has crossed the Rs 25-crore mark. The company has already launched the products in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore and Chennai.