The Hindu Business Line : Somany Tiles plans retail chain

As part of its new marketing strategy, the Delhi-based SPL Ltd (Somany Tiles) plans to set up a chain of stores called `Fine Line', to showcase the company's premium tile offerings.

Starting with a store each in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, the outlets would also sell sanitary ware, for which the company has tied up with Hindustan Sanitaryware and Industries Ltd.

While the store in Delhi has been set up, the other two would be ready in the next two to three months, said the Joint Managing Director of SPL, Mr Abhishek Somany.

Speaking on the need for such stores, Mr Somany said, "With the incomes of people rising fast, the market for high-value tiles is growing rapidly, may be at a rate as high as 3000-4000 per cent. These stores also display the usage of tiles at various places like the fireplace or portico."

Expansion plans

The company also plans to expand its existing chain of showrooms, called `Planet Somany'. "We plan to add five more such display points in the next six months to the existing 10," he said. These stores are mere display points and not sales points and act as facilitator between the dealer and the customer. The company plans to open the new showrooms in B category cities, as the existing ones are in the big metros.

The investment for the two chains would be part of the company's budget for branding, which would 2.5 per cent of the sales, or about Rs 6 crore for the current fiscal, said Mr Somany.

The company also plans to launch an offering of tiles in the premium-segment in April. Further, in the next fiscal it plans to expand "significantly" its existing manufacturing facilities at Kadi near Ahmedabad and Kassar in Haryana. The combined output of the two units stands at 34,000 sq. m. per day.

Though Mr Somany declined to divulge the investment earmarked for the expansion, he said it would be financed through a combination of debt and internal accruals.