Tanishq, the jewellery division of Titan Industries, is eyeing expansion, with the opening of 20 stores this financial year, taking its total retail presence to 140 outlets. More than R100 crore has been invested for expansion. Tanishq competes with the likes of Gitanjali Gems, Reliance Jewels and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) in the $3.4 billion (around R15,300 crore) branded jewellery segment in India.

The company intends to come up with a blend of small and large-format stores, spread across 15,000-20,000 square feet, one of which was inaugurated in Mumbai on Friday. This 20,000 sq ft flagship store is the biggest in the country and stocks 15,000 pieces of jewelery. CK Venkatraman, COO ? jewelery division, Titan said, ?The leadership perception about Tanishq and the need to showcase a full range of products targeted at different consumer segments, were the reasons for us to get into the concept of large-format stores.?

These big stores consist of a lounge, a kid?s zone and a cafeteria, besides the standard jewelery browsing areas. Venkatraman said, ?Today, no one wants to shop in a clustered environment of 2,000 sq ft. Large stores will provide more value-added services to customers.? He added that Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore will be the cities to get such stores in the next few months. The company will also launch its Nizam collection very soon, which will add to its well-performing Taj and Aaleya line of jewels.

Tanishq contributes to more than two-thirds to Titan?s top line and has crossed R5,000 crore in sales. Riding on high domestic demand, the brand has grown by 30-40% in the last five years, with a 10% like-to-like growth. It sees footfalls of 1.2 million annually, 80% of which translate into sales. Venkatraman said, ?We have 50% market share in the jewelery retail space in India, and are present in about 78 cities. We have a healthy conversion rate, greater than the industry average. Our penetration in smaller towns has increased with good volume growth coming from places like Patna, Aligarh, and Allahabad.?

However, Venkatraman is of the opinion that the biggest competition comes from local jewellers.