@Home expands retail footprint
@Home expands retail footprint

In an interaction with Retailer, Manish Parekh, Executive Director, Nilkamal share the brands philosophy as well as growth plans. 

Gunjan Piplani (GP): Kindly brief us about Nilkamal and @ Home?

Manish Parekh (MP): The world's largest manufacturer of moulded furniture and India's leading manufacturer of Material Handling Systems, Nilkamal Ltd., features among the Rs 1000 crore listed companies. Nilkamal is also a pioneer in the home retailing segment making a foray in this field with the @home chain of complete home solution stores dotting the Indian map. @home, positioned as a Home Maker store, is a perfect one-stop solution store for home planning, with finest quality furniture, soft furnishing, home accessories and a plethora of a whole lot of services to enhance your indoor and outdoor spaces. The designs @home are contemporary yet practical, mirroring Indian taste and finesse. Every @home store is a visual treat; the Visual Merchandising at every store is done in minute detail to suit the Indian taste.

GP: What businesses come under the Nilkamal umbrella? Who is your ideal target audience?

MP: Nilkamal Limited has four key businesses: Moulded furniture business targets to the entire SEC from bottom to top, material Handling business targets business (B2B), Mattress manufacturing business targets to the entire SEC of consumer segments and Home decor retailing - @Home, the retail chain targets SEC A & SEC B in its markets.

GP: What is the approximate minimum area for an outlet/selling point for each home segment?

MP: The average store size for @Home outlets is 18000 sq. Ft.

GP: Elaborate on your store/distribution presence- number of cities and number of total stores?

MP: @Home has total of 21 stores across India. It has presence in 11 cities namely Ghaziabad, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore and Kochi.

GP: What have been your sales (segment-wise) for the year 2011-2012?

MP: All the divisions are a part of Nilkamal Limited. The company’s turnover for the year 2011 – 12 was Rs 1435 Crore.

GP: What are the company’s future expansion plans?

MP: We have plans to open two to three stores  in 2013.  We closely monitor the economic scenario and decide on the expansions.

Stay on top – Get the daily news from Indian Retailer in your inbox
Also Worth Reading