Essar Hypermart?the retail arm of Essar steel?is eyeing a market share of 20% in the North region by the end of current fiscal, up from the present share of over 15%.
The northern region comprises Punjab, J&K and Himachal Pradesh for the company and it is planning to ramp up its retail presence in the region by over 25%.
As per estimates, North being one of the largest markets for steel, has a retail size of about 6,50,000 tonne per annum. Currently, Essar Hypermart has 8 hypermarts (self-managed outlets) and 25 expressmarts (frachisee outlets) in North. Girish Rao, CEO of Essar Hypermart told FE, ?We are planning to open another hypermart in Amritsar and about five more expressmarts at Patiala, Srinagar, Bathinda and Pathankot. With the launch of our latest hypermart in Mohali in Punjab, we now have a network of 109 hypermarts and 460 expressmarts countrywide. We are targeting 120 hypermarts and 650 expressmarts by March 2011.?
He added that the company aims to increase its sales from the present 1.1 million tonne (Rs 3,600 crore) to 1.6 million tonne (over Rs 4,000 crore) by the end of current fiscal. Essar Hypermart’s sales currently account for over 30% of Essar Steel?s annual revenues. ?We are looking for 45% growth in FY 2010-11 while creating stock points at every 200 km and a touch point at every 100 km,? said Rao.
Essar Hypermart plans to offer online sales facility to its customers in Punjab region from December. ?Right now we have launched it at Gujarat and Maharashtra on trial basis and by the end of December online sales module will be launched in other states as well. We expect about 10-15% of sales shifting to online mode,? said Rao.