Falling retail sales will be hing of the past. Here is an analysis after discussion with the management of Shoppers Stop, India’s leading Lifestyle Retailer.Shoppers Stop plans to open 16 stores over the next 40 months (about 4-5 stores with a capital outlay of Rs750mn per annum).While its specialty segment, Homestop (four stores of consumer durables and furniture) and Arcelia (two high-end cosmetic stores) are still in Red and the management is reviewing their operations closely.
The company plans to focus on the luxury segment and will likely continue to provide an assortment of branded products under one roof. Its standalone stores, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Mac cater to high-end beauty product requirements and its department stores offer more than 30 brands of watches. It has clearly been focusing more on non-apparels (beauty products, accessories and jewellery) where the through-put is higher.
The menswear segment has been languishing. To improve same-store-sales-growth in the menswear segment, the company is expanding its product offerings to include brands such as Tommy Hillfigure, Calvin Klien, French Connection, etc. This would help Shoppers Stop in tapping the premium layer of customer traffic.
For the first time, management admitted that Shoppers Stop plans to exercise its option to increase its stake in Hypercity to 51% from 19% currently ata premium of 10%.