The Hindu Business Line : A.V. Birla group set to unveil new retail brand

Chennai May 15 The A.V. Birla group is all set to unveil a new retail brand soon, according to sources in the group. The group's retail venture, spearheaded by the Trinethra chain of stores, which it acquired in January this year, will see stores being launched next month in Pune under the new brand. The expansion of the chain in the West, North and East will be under the new brand and eventually Trinethra's 225 stores, which are predominantly in the South, will be rebranded, say these sources.

The group has set itself an aggressive growth plan with 20-25 stores planned in each city that it enters. The group's hypermarket venture will be on course by next year; it already has one in Mysore, set up by Trinethra before the acquisition. .

Hiring spree

A.V. Birla Retail is also on a hiring spree as it scales up. According to sources, several retail merchandisers from Reliance Retail have moved on to the Birla group with substantial raises. Retail merchandisers have become key to organised retail as they are responsible for product placement, pricing and promotion and responsible for a store environment.

The group has also recruited expatriates for its top management. While Mr Andrew Denby, who was formerly with retailer A.S. Watson in the Philippines, heads the supermarket chain, the planned hypermarket chain is headed by Mr Russell Berman, who was earlier with Carrefour in China.

The A.V. Birla group plans to invest Rs 4,000 crore in its retail venture and began its retail play early this year by taking over Trinethra Super Retail for Rs 150 crore.