Rakesh Biyani, Joint Managing Director, Future Retail Ltd, has set himself a goal – to get 1 crore customers to shop for ₹1 lakh each, per annum across all Future Group concept stores by 2021. The man is on a mission to reach out to a wider customer base by opening many more convenience stores and supermarkets over the next few years. In an interview with BusinessLine , Biyani said customer-centric execution is key to the company’s growth. Here are some edited excerpts.
What kind of growth in stores and sales are you looking to achieve in five years?
Over the last 10 years we concentrated on opening 30,000 sq ft and above, large format stores of which we have 200 today. Now, we will also focus on opening convenience and supermarket formats which will reach many more customers. We have 300 convenience stores (2,000 sq ft and below) and 30 supermarkets (2,000 – 5,000 sq ft) and with the merger with Bharti Retail, we have 180 more coming into the fold. We want to expand our store presence from 166 cities to 350 cities and achieve one lakh crore in sales in the next five years.
Loyalty programme is a way to identify our customers, otherwise how do I know who my loyal customers are. Since we started the programme in 2012, we have grown to 30 million loyal customers, which can grow to 100 million in five years. I am targeting 10 per cent of 100 million to spend ₹1 lakh per annum, each, from approximately ₹25,000 that they spend today. This is a modest target which we can achieve with the right investments like, Manthan analytics.
How much does online contribute to your sales; can you compete against e-commerce retailers?
Direct or online is a very small contribution to our total sales today. In the next 3-4 years and in the long run, no more than 10-15 per cent of my overall sales will come from alternate channels – be it people shopping on the app, on the web, or through home deliveries, etc. I don’t see that changing; 90 per cent of our business has to come through the stores. In the most mature markets in the world, 10-12 per cent of retail sales are from online. TESCO, which has been doing online sales for 20 years, gets 92 per cent of their business from its stores. In the last three years, the fastest growth in e-commerce business has been witnessed by omni-channel operators – retailers who have physical stores. It is outpacing the other e-commerce players by 3:1. I want to be relevant to customers. Today, if customers want home delivery, I will offer it, I would be a fool not to.