Goa-based Magsons Supercentre, which has 12 stores at present, targets to open 20 store by 2020.
In an exclusive interview with Indiaretailing Bureau on the sidelines of India Food Forum 2018, Kirit J Maganlal, Founder and CEO, Magsons Supercentre said, “We have a very clear target to be a Rs 100 crore company by 2022. And to reach our target, we are also planning to take our store count from 12 to 20.”
All Magsons stores are of different formats and cater specifically to the surrounding catchments.
“The locals have a natural understanding of fine meats, fine wines and premium food products. This prompted us to venture into niche categories of exhaustive varieties of locally sourced and international quality food products such as Spanish and Italian meats, French cheese, Swiss chocolates, and Australian, South African, Chilean and French wines, to name a few. Moreover, unlike many other grocery stores, all Magsons outlets are equipped with state-of-the-art refrigeration and display equipment, shelving and merchandising tools and more,” said Maganlal.
The store size of Magsons, which has now been in Goa for almost 30 years, has stores spanning across 1,000 sq.ft to 6,000 sq.ft.
READ MORE: Magsons Supercentre to open 20 stores by 2019
“For the first time, Magsons is opening a store out of Goa in Sawantwadi. It will be opening in May this year and instead of going national, we plan to expand around the tertiary markets of Goa,” revealed Maganlal.
He further added, “The underlying and motivating factor in the growth story of Magsons is the passion for providing innovation in services and offerings. We cater to a wide consumer base, especially to those that have a passion and understanding of good food.”
Magsons Supercentre, which has current ticket size of Rs 400–Rs 500 at the stores and Rs 1,400–Rs 1,500 online, is also looking forward to expand its retail presence at the petrol pumps given the petrol pumps have the space capacity.
Outlining the advantage of setting up shop at petrol pump, Maganlal said, “The biggest advantage of setting up shop at the petrol pump is that your CAPEX is very low, the petroleum companies put in the investment and that helps us a lot in running the whole show. Right now, we have got the fourth petrol pump tie up with Bharat Petroleum which will be coming up next year. So we are building up the structure and that will be designed specifically to our interest.”
He further added, “Currently, we are a regional player, we operate only within the state of Goa. We have our stores at all the petrol pumps already. Petrol pumps today are not geared to put in retail outlet or grocery outlet because basically in Goa the petrol pumps look at the sale of their own merchandise than to give it to the retail outlets. If you typically have to put a petrol pump store, you need to put somewhere around 600 sq.ft area which many petrol pumps may not be having. We have been highly successful with the three outlets that we are running right now. We have plans to grow but unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity yet.”
Omnichannel – The Buzz Word
Apart from this, the brand is also investing big in e-commerce.
According to Maganlal, “I think as far as grocery is concerned, Omnichannel is the best strategy. We introduced our e-store 1.5 years ago. However, we believe that unless you have a brick-and-mortar back up, your e-commerce is not going to show much profits.”
He further added, “We are positioned and spread in a such a way that we have 12 stores across Goa and out of these 5 stores are acting as support. Goa has around 170 pin-codes and we are almost servicing 120 pin codes in Goa through this model of ours.
The chain was awarded the Coca Cola Golden Spoon Award for the Most Admired Foreign Food Retailer of the Year: West India by FIFI (Forum of Indian Food Importers) in 2012.
