Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, the flagship enterprise of The Future Group, is planning to bring six new products under private label brand ?Star and Sitara? to include colour cosmetics, hair colours, perfumes, deodorants for both men and women. Big Bazaar currently sells only nail paints under the ?Star and Sitara? brand.
Besides, plans are also on the anvil to set up 100 stand-alone ?Star and Sitara? beauty saloons across the country apart from over 40 within Big Bazaar hypermarkets. Currently, Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd has a total of 56 Big Bazaar and 85 Food Bazaar stores across the country.
Kishore Biyani, CMD, The Future Group told FE, ?Big Bazaar currently sells nail paints under ?Star and Sitara? brand. In one week, we have sold over one lakh units of ?Star and Sitara? nail paints with prices ranging from Rs 15 onwards at the Big Bazaar hypermarket. Since this private label has taken off well, we are extending the product portfolio in ?Star and Sitara? . For 100 beauty saloons, we are going to recruit over 2 lakh employees within a year.?
Damodar Mall, CEO?innovation, The Future Group said, ?Pantaloon Retail (India) is also planning to launch various new private label brands in the personal care category. For the purpose, we are talking to various vendors for manufacturing personal care products for us. One amongst them is VLCC. Other private label brands would be in the super market category.? Recently, FE had reported that competitor Radhakrishna Foodland is planning to foray into the private label segment by October 2007.
According to industry experts, private labels business is less than 5% of the overall retail business and has still have a long way to go. But Indian retail is booming as it offers a proposition that can?t be seen anywhere else in the world. In the next 20 years, private labels will have a huge role to play.
Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, with a turnover of Rs 2,019 crore for the financial year 2005-06, has targeted a sales turnover of Rs 10,000 crore by 2010, Mall added.