Retail major Subhiksha, constrained by ‘physical’ snags, has reworked its West Bengal plans, postponing the Kolkata launch to early next year.
Kolkata was scheduled to witness the Chennai-based retailer’s ‘carpet bombing’ or cluster strategy (launching multiple stores at the same time) in the first half of 2007. “But the physical process takes time,” said Mohit Khattar, president (marketing), Subhiksha Trading Services.
“Kolkata is a large city and offers a lot of opportunities. Our Kolkata plans will take shape closer to December this year,” he said. The market for food and groceries in Kolkata is more than Rs 300 crore.
The decade-old retail major has shrugged off the experience of the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail in West Bengal and is aware of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s proposal to keep retail chains out of Kolkata.
The blueprint of the phase I plan for West Bengal includes more than 100 neighbourhood convenience retail stores in Kolkata. The rest of West Bengal that covers smaller towns will come under phase II.
“We do not believe in one or two outlets here and there. Instead, we open multiple outlets in a city, as we did in New Delhi . The idea is to make us relevant to as many people as possible,” Khattar said.
In Kolkata, Subhiksha will have more than 100 supermarkets along with pharmacy and fruit & vegetables counters.
As in other cities, where Subhiksha offers an average discount of 9-10%, it will offer discounts in Kolkata. “We will not hurt customers, who are happy with a better price,” Khattar said.
A typical 1,500-2,000 sqft Subhiksha store, selling 90% of daily household needs, involves an investment of Rs 40-50 lakh. “We will be investing around Rs 50 crore for the first phase in Kolkata,” Khattar said.