Despite a challenging economic environment, Shoppers Stop is looking at ways to enrich future stores by expanding its presence and investing in technology.
According to Rajiv Suri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Shoppers Stop, the company is on track to achieve its target of opening 50 stores in the current financial year.
"This year, we have opened 28 stores (eight department and 20 beauty) and plan to open 22 stores (four department, 11 beauty and seven airport stores) by March," said Suri.
The company added 15 stores in the third quarter of FY20, taking the total footprint to 89 department stores and 135 Beauty doors across 42 cities in the country as of December, 31st 2019.
Shoppers Stop is part of the K Raheja Group. It operates over 300 departmental stores, spanning 4.4 million square feet, in 50 cities across India.
It is present across more than 400 fashion brands and 32 fashion categories.
Approximately, 60 percent of the yearly sales are derived from the company’s own brands. Suri said the company is betting big on the beauty space and hence they are expanding aggressively in that vertical.
In the last quarter, beauty segment of Shoppers Stop grew 9.6 percent and we are confident that this growth will sustain in the forthcoming quarters on the back of new beauty stores, upgrading the beauty experience in existing stores, the launch of new brands and strong omnichannel support.
The company has launched four new brands in the beauty segment. Within the beauty retail business, Shoppers Stop has brought together beauty brands like MAC, Clinique, KIKO Milano, Bvlgari and Armani, among others. During the current fiscal, the company has also made investments worth Rs 30 crore in Digital and Information Technology Transformation.
When asked about the competition in the clothing space, Suri said that 35 percent of their revenues are derived from non-apparel business so he believes Shoppers Stop is well poised to grow despite rising competitive intensity.
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