We participated in the Conference Call of Shoppers Stop and here is an excerpt from the discussion with the management.
- During the quarter company closed one crossword store at Vizag and 7 F&B Stores were closed. Operations of 16 F & B stores handed over to Cafe Coffee day.
- First Citizen loyalty members base increased to over 1,277,000 [1.3 mn]
- Total retail area as on quarter ended March’09 is 1.82 million sq ft
- Footfall conversion ration increased to 30% as compared to 25% in the corresponding previous quarter. Average Transaction size for the year increased to Rs 1866 compared to Rs 1713.
- Non apparels, particularly cosmetics, jewelry and leather etc have improved to 42% of net sales
- Divergent from the Food and Grocery retail trends, Private Label sales declined @ Shoppers Stop from 19.8% to 18% due to heavy discounts in the quarter
- Shrinkage as % of gross retail sales decreased from 0.70% to 0.34%
- The management expects a turnaround in FY-10 [most likely second half, which also coincides with the festive shopping in India]