Wills Lifestyle, the premium lifestyle
retail arm of ITC Ltd, has said it is reworking
strategy to protect bottom line and check a drop
in sales, even as it has cut its growth forecast
for the fiscal year.
Wills has shut four stores in the past three
months and now plans to use ITC’s hotel
properties to set up boutique stores.
The
retailer recently opened a 1,500 sq ft boutique
in ITC Maurya in New Delhi.
“Going forward, we are looking at opening more
such boutique stores in some of our new hotel
properties in Chennai and Bangalore,” said Atul
Chand, divisional chief executive.
The
Kolkata-based retailer is revitalising its
growth strategy as sales at lifestyle retailers
have slumped, forcing it to cut growth forecast
for the fiscal year ending March to 20 per cent,
from 30 per cent earlier.
The
premium retailer has also shut down a store each
in Bangalore, Mumbai, Surat and Kanpur. “We are
redoing our business strategy in order to stay
profitable,” said Chand.
The
company is also tapping its loyal customer pool
to ramp up sales. A few retailers, including
Shopper’s Stop, have witnessed spurt in sales
because of loyalty schemes. About 70 per cent
Shopper’s Stop sales come from its First
Citizens programme.
Wills is also devising special schemes and
events for its 60,000 Club Wills (its loyalty
programme card) members, who account for 55 per
cent sales. It is also realigning its marketing
spends towards below-the-line activities,
bringing down spends on television and print
advertising.
“So,
if the ratio of TV and print advertising to
consumer-centric activities was 70:30, it will
be the reverse of this in the short term. We
spend around 12 per cent of our turnover on
advertising and marketing,” said Chand.
“We
are looking at new-age media to attract more
young customers. For instance, we are looking at
tying up with social networking sites like
YouTube and Facebook, or building a Hrithik
Roshan community for a more personalised
marketing,” said Chand.
Also, the company intends to offer more variety,
designs and range to consumers every two months,
which means it plans to redo its supply chain.
The
company has 55 stores in 30 cities and plans to
open another 10 in financial year 2009-10.
Earlier, it had announced plans to have 100
stores by 2010-11.
According to Chand, the company closed down a
store at Sarjapur in Bangalore because it not
yielding enough sales. “When we opened, store in
Sarjapur, we were paying Rs 100 per sq ft per
month as rent, which the mall reduced to Rs 30
per sq ft per month. Still, the business did not
pick up,” Chand said.
The
company shut down another store in a shopping
mall in Mumbai in December 2008 for which it was
paying Rs 10 lakh per month.
“Only two days ago, the mall-owner in Mumbai
said the rent could be reduced to Rs 2 lakh per
month if we were willing to open the store
again,” said Chand. Wills Lifestyle has also
closed down a store each in Surat and Kanpur.
