German wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry has announced its decision to change the format its new outlets in India, a market in which it has operated for ten years and with a current total of 15 stores.
According to the Times of India, the €32bn (US$44m) company is launching mid-size multi-specialist stores in an effort to target specific consumer needs in established markets such as Bangalore, where Metro opened its first store.
'We have realized that the Indian market is very different from the global market,” a company spokesperson said. “So in the last 12 to 18 months we have indigenised our store model. The new formats would be smaller, focusing only on a few categories rather than being large generalist stores that stock all products.”
The first of these new outlets will be located in Bangalores IT hub Electronics City and cover an area of 50,000ft² (15,000m²), which is only half the size of its typical store formats.
Furthermore, these new outlets are set to focus only on three consumer categories; premium hotel guests, workers at small trader stores and IT corporate employees.
'The whole service basket and assortment of products has been focused to these set of people,” the company spokesperson explained. “For example, the large corporate offices would require stationery, cleaning solutions, gifting items, and catering requirements, while the small traders would have a high sachet product requirement.'
