The Hindu Business Line : Essar chain’s Mobile Store on expansion mode

Hyderabad, Feb. 21 The Essar Group-promoted retail chain ‘The Mobile Store’ is on a rapid expansion mode adding about three stores a day on an average, and plans to touch 1,450 stores by the year-end.

Currently, the company has about 450 stores, and believes that the cellular phone market, growing at about 6-7 million a month on an average, has lot more potential for retail network chains such as The Mobile Store.

The Chief Executive Officer of The Mobile Store, Mr Rajiv Agarwal, said that the mobile retail is still a largely unorganised business, and retail chains such as The Mobile Store provide people with the advantage to experience multiple brands at one place, feel the product features and then buy them.

“There is potential for some more chains in the country with just about two major retailers. Rest of them are either regional or city-centric. In a couple of years, this could also lead to some consolidation within chains,” he said.

Speaking to Business Line after launching their 21st store in Hyderabad, Mr Agarwal said, “as per perspective plan, the company plans to open 2,500 stores across 600 cities within two years.

“The company now has revenues of about Rs 100 crore per month and with the addition of about 1,000 more fully owned stores by the end of this year, by next year, we expect to log revenues of Rs 4,000 crore.”

Earlier, Bollywood actor Mahima Chaudhry inaugurated their store in Secuderabad. The company expects to reach out to 115 locations in the State within six months.

“With new licensees set to roll out operations, we may witness more bundled offers of handset and services. Already operators such as Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and R-Com offer bundled services, which is part of operators’ efforts to lock-in subscribers for longer time. Yet, the retail market is large and growing at rapid pace, offering scope for expansion,” he explained.

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