The Hindu Business Line : Wadhawan Food Retail mulls integrating brands

“It is imperative to take cognizance of the similarities and differences in brand promise and service offerings of each of the brands, and brand perception in their respective locale.”

K. Giriprakash Anjali Prayag

Bangalore, May 28 Wadhawan Food Retail, which owns Spinach, Sabka Bazaar and Home Store retail formats, is likely to integrate all its brands and has planned an investment of over Rs 1,500 crore in its retail venture.

Wadhawan Food Retail Ltd (WFRL) Director, Mr Gaurav Modwel, told Business Line that the company is in the process of finalising its brand strategy.

“We are in the process of finalising our brand architecture and shall announce the strategy in the near future. It is imperative to take cognizance of the similarities and differences in brand promise and service offerings of each of the brands, and brand perception in their respective locale,” Mr Modwel said. However, sources close to the company said that one of the strategies the company is looking at is integrating all its brands, but have a common supply chain.

Mr Modwel also said WFRL will float an IPO sometime next year though the amount of funds it plans to raise through this route has not been finalised. He said WFRL plans to open 1,500 stores in the next four years in the ‘convenient stores’ format and will invest over Rs 1,500 crore in this venture.

It currently has 179 retail stores across various brands and plans to open over 500 stores by the end of the financial year.

Wadhawan has made a series of acquisitions over the last two years which includes Sangam Direct, an Internet-based direct to home retail venture from Hindustan Unilever, Sabka Bazaar in Delhi, Home Store and the Bangalore-based Smart Retail. It also has its own high-end food chain called Spinach and these will be extended to some of the cities in the East.

The company also plans to open more branches of its ‘Aurus’, a high-end fine-dine restaurant, in the UAE and Europe apart from taking its lifestyle global brands such as Ed Hardy and Christin Audigier to other metros during the current financial year. In the food and grocery segment, Wadhawan Retail plans to venture into larger formats, though Mr Modwel did not give more details.

Mr Arvind Singhal, Chairman of management consulting company Technopak Advisers, which advises clients on businesses such as retail, said retail players acquire smaller firms not for brand names, but to learn some part of the business, like testing a few things and experiment in areas such as supply chain. “In the process, they will also integrate the new businesses into their own.”

He said Reliance Retail which acquired Sahakari Bhandar, a chain of 20 stores in Maharashtra, was one such example.

“This experiment was primarily to test out a few things in the business and now they are integrating it into the business.”

More Stories on : Retailing | Brands | Foods & Food Processing

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Xenitis to launch mobile handset at Rs 499

SOTC focussing on activity-based tourism

United India, Honda Motor tie up

Raj TV to produce movies, start news channel

Ranbaxy gets mixed verdict on Pfizer’s Lipitor in Australia

EchoStar, AT&T exploring Indian DTH market

Wadhawan Food Retail mulls integrating brands

ICICI Bank to offer investment services for high networth clients

Price war seen as Jet begins Chennai-Singapore night flight