Piramyd Retail eyes 'global' JVs to take on rivals
Stunned by a fierce competition, the Piramyd Retail, owned by the
Ashok Piramal group, is revamping its business operations, and has
initiated joint venture talks with foreign retailers to set up new
formats like speciality stores or hypermarkets.
Unlike in the past, its core brands, Piramyd and Trumart will now be
handled as separate business units (SBUs). The company is also
ramping up the number of stores under both outlets and has set up a
team to identify new business opportunities.
"We have realised that there is a lot of catching up to do and are
in a hurry to do that. We have tied up additional space in the last
one year. There is a complete change across functions in the way we
look at business and a lot of dynamism is being brought in. Our team
is in place and the growth focus is clear," said Nandan Piramal,
executive vice-chairman. While Bipin Gurnani will head Piramyd, ex-
Lever hand, Upamanyu Bhattacharya will head Trumart. The expansion
may be funded either through internal accruals or private equity.
Trumart is being positioned as an upscale kirana outlet with a focus
on local catchment areas. "Instead of setting up single stores
across cities, we are planning to progressively exhaust each city by
ramping up Trumart outlets in residential areas and building up
scale in each market. Grocery, home and personal care products are
high-volume-low-margin-business and it makes better business sense
to focus on scales to be competitive," said Mr Bhattacharya.
Currently, there are 7 Piramyd outlets and around 14 Trumart outlets
across the country. "We are also identifying differentiators for the
malls, from a first-mover advantage to the service aspect. We are
looking at personalising loyalty benefits targeting individual
consumer needs based on their previous buying patterns," said Bipin
Gurnani.
Piramyd Retail, which was listed on the bourses in '05 was one of
the first few retail outlets to open shop in the country. A few
years back it was seen as a strong competitor to players like
Shopper's Stop and Pantaloon.
However, lack of strong management focus and an unclear growth
vision saw the brand slipping at a time as competition picked up
steam in the last two years. Analysts say the company may seek
foreign equity partnership at a later point to keep pace with fierce
competition. "It is not something we are looking at immediately. For
now, our focus is to tone up the current core businesses, identify
new growth formats and ensure that support systems are in place to
gear up for the change in approach," Mr Piramal said.
The Piramal Group sold Crossroads to the Pantaloon Group and put all
future retail expansions under Crossroads on hold. Following the
merger of Piramal Holdings with Morarjee Realties, Crossroads had
been left out of the group's retail plans. All future retail forays
were to be done only through Piramyd, the retail arm of the Piramal
Group.
Stunned by a fierce competition, the Piramyd Retail, owned by the
Ashok Piramal group, is revamping its business operations, and has
initiated joint venture talks with foreign retailers to set up new
formats like speciality stores or hypermarkets.
Unlike in the past, its core brands, Piramyd and Trumart will now be
handled as separate business units (SBUs). The company is also
ramping up the number of stores under both outlets and has set up a
team to identify new business opportunities.
"We have realised that there is a lot of catching up to do and are
in a hurry to do that. We have tied up additional space in the last
one year. There is a complete change across functions in the way we
look at business and a lot of dynamism is being brought in. Our team
is in place and the growth focus is clear," said Nandan Piramal,
executive vice-chairman. While Bipin Gurnani will head Piramyd, ex-
Lever hand, Upamanyu Bhattacharya will head Trumart. The expansion
may be funded either through internal accruals or private equity.
Trumart is being positioned as an upscale kirana outlet with a focus
on local catchment areas. "Instead of setting up single stores
across cities, we are planning to progressively exhaust each city by
ramping up Trumart outlets in residential areas and building up
scale in each market. Grocery, home and personal care products are
high-volume-low-margin-business and it makes better business sense
to focus on scales to be competitive," said Mr Bhattacharya.
Currently, there are 7 Piramyd outlets and around 14 Trumart outlets
across the country. "We are also identifying differentiators for the
malls, from a first-mover advantage to the service aspect. We are
looking at personalising loyalty benefits targeting individual
consumer needs based on their previous buying patterns," said Bipin
Gurnani.
Piramyd Retail, which was listed on the bourses in '05 was one of
the first few retail outlets to open shop in the country. A few
years back it was seen as a strong competitor to players like
Shopper's Stop and Pantaloon.
However, lack of strong management focus and an unclear growth
vision saw the brand slipping at a time as competition picked up
steam in the last two years. Analysts say the company may seek
foreign equity partnership at a later point to keep pace with fierce
competition. "It is not something we are looking at immediately. For
now, our focus is to tone up the current core businesses, identify
new growth formats and ensure that support systems are in place to
gear up for the change in approach," Mr Piramal said.
The Piramal Group sold Crossroads to the Pantaloon Group and put all
future retail expansions under Crossroads on hold. Following the
merger of Piramal Holdings with Morarjee Realties, Crossroads had
been left out of the group's retail plans. All future retail forays
were to be done only through Piramyd, the retail arm of the Piramal
Group.