Shoppers Stop is aiming to corner 10 percent of its sales from online channel in the next three years as K Raheja group retail chain is betting big on its Omnichannel system.
According to a PTI report: Shoppers Stop, in which US-based online retail giant Amazon had picked up 5 percent stake last year, is expecting contribution from online will get doubled every year as channel matures.
Besides, the company is expecting to be debt free this fiscal and has plans to add more stores in its network by going to tier II cities such as Guwahati, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Calicut and Nashik.
“This year, we would cross one per cent of overall sales (online Omni) and then would continue to double every year for the next three years,” Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate & Managing Director, Shoppers Stop told PTI.
He further told PTI, “In next three years, we would hit 10 percent on our share would be online.”
The company has witnessed around 5 million visitors to its site in last fiscal.
Over its association with Amazon, Shrikhande told PTI: “As far as Amazon is concerned, its invest arm has invested Rs 179 crore in January and our working towards building the catelogue has already started. The whole momentum should be bigger in quarter 2 and quarter 3 as we get more and more brands on Amazon”.
On being asked whether there is any probablity of second round of investment by Amazon in Shopper Stop, he told PTI: “Nothing has been planned or discussed on that horizon. There is no discussion about it right now”.
Shoppers Stop, which had registered a consolidated total income of Rs 3,713.25 for financial year 2017-18, is expecting a growth of 7.5 per cent and above.
“Next year, we are targeting 7.5 per cent and above growth. The first quarter would be slow but Q2 onwards the growth would start ramping up and we believe that all operational parameters should improve,” he was quoted by PTI as saying.
Besides, the company is also trying to be debt free by the end of next financial year.
“If you look at our current debt, we are at Rs 87 crore but net debt is about Rs 67 crore,” Srikhande was quoted by PTI as saying.
The company has exited from its non-core business by selling Hypercity, Timezone and duty-free airport retail joint venture NGIPL and is focusing on core department store business and Omnichannel strategy.
