The Hindu Business Line : Next Retail eyes regional buys to expand retail breadth

Mumbai, Nov. 16 Next Retail India Pvt Ltd, owned by the Dhoot family of Videocon, is planning to acquire regional players to grow in the retail space.

After bagging national retail chains such as the Raymond-promoted Plugin stores and the more recent Planet M, the music and entertainment retail arm of Bennett, Coleman & Co, Next is now eyeing smaller regional chains which are keen to be a part of its retail company.

Mr K.S. Raman, Director, Next Retail India, told Business Line: “We are ready to take in regional players who want to join us.

These could be players who have products related to our category such as mobile stores and IT-related chains.”

With consumer electronics and home appliances comprising the biggest categories at its 300-odd Next stores, the retailer expects to have added muscle in other related categories such as IT and mobile telephones to grow its retail business further.

Meanwhile, the retailer has decided to retain the identity of its acquired retail brands such as Plugin and Planet M. As Mr Raman says: “We will maintain the identity of our acquired retail brands. In fact, in places where we have large formats, we will add their brands and dedicate separate floors to retail their products.”

Besides, beefing up their portfolio of products will be an added task for the retailer.

For instance, the newly-acquired outlets under Planet M would have added products in music hardware.

“We would add on more consumer durables which are available at Next at our new Planet M stores. There would be expertise provided by us in the area of music hardware,” says Mr Raman. Planet M has been floated as a subsidiary of Next Retail and has added 145 stores under it.

Meanwhile, the 10 Plugin stores have retained their identity in places such as Pune, where the brand had a relatively strong presence.

Having been present for the past two years, the Rs 1,000-crore Next Retail claims to be the leader in its category. “It is the speed with which we have grown in the past two years that has made us the largest retailer today,” says Mr Raman.

Private label

With its 300 stores and 28 branches spread across 17 States, Next has been trying to build its private label under this brand.

“Sourcing is the key in this business as it is not easy to have private labels. Just about 4 per cent of our sales come from private labels under the Next brand,” says Mr Raman.