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July 11, 2016
Rashmi Pratap, The Hindu Businessline
Mumbai, 11 July 2016
Bharti
Retail’s hypermarket stores Easyday have now become Big Bazaar outlets
as the Future Group has completed their integration following the
merger agreement in May last year.
Future Group’s convenience
stores — KB’s Fair Price and KB’s Conveniently Yours — are being turned
into Easyday supermarket or neighbourhood stores in an attempt to
streamline formats and improve customer connect.
“We have done
this over the course of the last one year. We have an iconic brand that
customers are familiar with and the integration has added strength to
it,” Big Bazaar CEO Sadashiv Nayak told BusinessLine.
The retail
giant will also not open any new convenience stores under the KB’s Fair
Price and KB’s Conveniently Yours brands; future expansion of the
neighbourhood supermarket format will be done only as Easyday.
Rising numbers
Already,
the group has taken the Easyday supermarket store count from 188 at the
time of merger to around 300 now. The new stores have been added mostly
in Delhi-NCR, Haryana and Punjab.
“In cities where both brands
exist currently, KB’s will be converted to Easyday. However, wherever
Easyday does not exist, existing KB’s will continue,” a company
official said.
The merger of Bharti Retail and Future Retail
resulted in a ₹15,000-crore company, which has now been de-merged into
two companies.
The front-end company remains Future Retail while
the back-end infrastructure company is expected to be listed next
month. Big Bazaar, India’s largest hypermarket chain, is also becoming
successful in its attempt to cater to a wider customer segment, which
began last year with its Gen Nxt stores.
In the eight months
since launch, Gen Nxt stores are attracting youngsters, foreign
nationals as well as time-starved working professionals besides the
chain’s core shopper group, pointed out Nayak. “It is definitely
trending 15 to 20 per cent more than what a new store would do for us,”
he said, adding that the group is not looking at these stores from only
a numerical perspective.
Four more Gen Nxt stores are in the pipeline. Some are existing stores that will be modelled around Gen Nxt.
Nayak further said the group had accumulated a lot of learning from its retail formats.
“We
had gathered insights about retail in food from Foodhall, about
electronics from eZone and fashion and lifestyle from HomeTown.
“We have packed the learnings into one and added a layer of engagement for the shoppers in our Gen Nxt outlets,” he said.
In tune with times
Devangshu
Dutta, Chief Executive of retail consultancy Third Eyesight, observed
that the Future Group has accelerated the change in its retail formats
in tune with changing market dynamics.
“In
the last 10 years, the Indian market itself has undergone a change,
with customers wanting better experience and products. They (Future
group) have also learnt from their retail ventures and are accordingly
moving up to cater to the changing customer mix,” he sadi.
And
in this, Bharti Retail’s international practices — acquired from its
erstwhile partner Walmart — will come in handy for Big Bazaar.
(Published in The Hindu Businessline)
