Titan Eye+: Last April we had covered about Titan’s plan to enter the branded spectacles segment through Titan Eye + retail chain. The company had opened stores on pilot basis for finalizing merchandise and services before a nationwide launch. It now plans to launch 200 stores within the next 3 years [150 stores was earlier target].
Titan Eye + will offer frames, error free eye testing and style consultancy according to their lifestyle. Trained optometrists would be deployed at all the stores who would be trained at Shankar Netralaya.
After tasting the success of franchisee based retailing with Trent, the Tata group seems to be adopting the same approach for other group companies in retailing. About 15% of Titan Eye+ stores would be company owned and managed while the remaining would be managed by franchisees.
Reliance Digital + i-Store:
Reliance plans to open 50 i-Stores across India within the next 18 months and 150 Reliance Digital stores by 2012. i-Store is the small retail format of Reliance and mostly retails Apple products along with other frequently used computers and electronics accessories [headphones, Mouse, USB products, etc]. Each i-store is spread on a carpet area of ~1,500 to 2,00 sft. The company opened its 5th i-store in Ludhiana, Punjab.
Reliance Digital is the large format Electronics and consumer Durables store offering Home appliances, IT & Telecom Products etc.