The Hindu Business Line : Future Group enters services segment

Mumbai, Oct. 1 Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has entered the area of services with a new vertical – Future Services. With the increasing number of malls and retailers coming up in the country, the group expects to tap consumers in their homes with a range of services to beat competition.

Ms Madhumati Lele, CEO, Future Services, told Business Line, “We are setting up the services business from scratch. The purpose would be to touch all the ‘pain points’ of consumers with a range of everyday and maintenance services, which could also be extended into areas such as hospitality, marriage related services and healthcare.”

Appointing franchises to run the business initially, Future Services would be monitoring the standards offered by its partners. From taking care of laundry services to settling electricity bills, Future Services is expected to cater to the mass market with an “affordable” pricing strategy.

Drawing synergies from its existing retail business, Future Group would also be selling some of its retail products as value added offerings as part of its new services.

Discounts

“There can be discounts given for buying products from our stores when we offer our services. The purpose is to increase the ticket size of our existing products,” says Ms Lele.

For instance, if the services entailed renovation of the interiors of a home, Future Services would offer products from its ‘Home Town’ section at discounted rates.

Hospitality, health

Future Services would also offer medical health and hospitality services. “We are looking at enrolling doctors, as medical health services is also on our radar. Besides, there could be travel packages in the future,” adds Ms Lele.

Future Services would be available through helplines (call centres), Web sites, kiosks along with a direct sales force appointed by the company.

Loyalty programme

Building its services on the basis of trust and reliability, the Future Group would tap into the base of its loyalty card and credit card members to generate demand for its services.

As Ms Lele says, “The whole focus of our services would be to cater to those who have been our loyal customers. In fact, we are also planning a loyalty care programme for the group.”

Having re-positioned itself as a ‘consumption group’, the purpose behind its new initiatives is to get an additional share of the consumer’s wallet.

In fact, Future Services will be the third new vertical, after the group spun of Future Money and Future Capital as independent businesses in the recent past.