Serious sales growth is on the horizon for Indian retailer Aditya Birla if its plans are to be believed. The owner of the More supermarket chain is aiming for annual sales of Rs220bn (US$4.5bn) by March 2014, up from Rs12bn (US$247m) so far this financial year.
The driving forces behind the planned profit rise are new stores and more private labels being sold in them.
Aditya Birla aims to enter the milk and dairy product market with private labels, adding to the 300 it already has.
From its current 670 stores, the retailer plans to grow to 2,100 by 2013, along with another 12 hypermarkets of about 4,600m2 (50,000ft2) to add to its current two, reported the Business Standard.
“It is a margin-building exercise and retailers are still experimenting with private labels in the FMCG segment. This model is yet to be established and a lot more learning has to be made,’’ Pinakiranjan Mishra of business consultancy Ernst & Young told the Standard.
“In many cases, we give the packaging materials to vendors. Where we think we need to control the quality of input, we control it,” said Thomas Varghese, chief executive of Aditya Birla Retail.
