It was 1971 when the Primarc group ventured into retail. Today, with around 47 lifestyle stores, the company has expanded into e-retail, distribution and angel investing. Nand Kishore Pansari, the man who is at the helm of affairs, diversified the Group’s vision and entered into the real estate industry by early ’90s. Junction Mall in Durgapur, which is one of the most ambitious retail projects of Primarc, is spread across 4.35 lakh sq. ft. and boasts of 12,000 (plus) footfalls a day. The Group also focussed on their in-house apparel brands Essence and Esquire and opened two stores of each in east India.
Retailer media talks to Siddharth Pansari, Director at Primarc Pecan, company’s online vertical that deals in retailing across varied categories such as books, toys, health and personal care, pet supplies and gourmet products of brands such as Reckitt Benckiser, Dabur Pvt. Ltd., Herbal Hills, Vissco, Procter & Gamble, Funskool, Mattel, Disney, Amar Chitra Katha, Chicco, Pedigree etc.
Talk to us about your textile retail division; the franchised brands, total number of stores, and areas you have expanded into so far.
Our journey started in 1971 by investing in lifestyle retail, apparel and textiles. Under the leadership of our Chairman Nand Kishore Pansari, we have achieved a dominant position in the retail and distribution sector in eastern India.
Our flagship outlet in Poddar Court has consistently been the highest selling outlet in the country since 18 consecutive years. We have a franchisee of 36 stores of Raymond across West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar.
Our other retail formats include STORY, which is spread over 15,000 sq. ft. STORY is our lifestyle destination, having four stores across Kolkata and West Bengal. Essence and Esquire, which are our in-house brands exclusively for men and two Raymond Made-to-Measure stores in Kolkata, are the brands that we operate under Primarc Retail. We have 47 stores in various retail formats.
With Primarc Retail comes Primarc Realty. Explain to us the core belief behind starting a business in the real estate segment.
With the same core values and promise of better living and product delivery, we forayed into the realty sector in 1996. Ever since that time, through our deep understanding of consumer needs and changing lifestyle preferences, we have successfully built over 10 lakh square feet of residential and commercial spaces.
Since Essence and Esquire are Primarc’s in-house brands, what are their USPs?
Both are Primarc’s in-house brands. We have two brick and mortar stores of Esquire and Essence each. Esquire and Essence specialise in premium ethnic and western wear for the urban Indian men. They offer affordable and wearable fashion.
How did eCommerce happen? When is the site coming up and how are you looking to leverage both the online and offline channels?
Primarc has formed a SPV, Primarc Pecan Retail Pvt. Ltd., whose focus is the online business. It has started retailing books, toys, health and personal care, pet supplies and gourmet products of leading National and International brands such as Reckitt Benckiser, Dabur Pvt. Ltd., Herbal Hills, Vissco, Procter & Gamble, Funskool, Mattel, Disney, Amar Chitra Katha, Chicco, Pedigree, Drools, Choostix, Royal Canin and a lot more. The Group has recently commenced selling apparels of leading brands in the online space. There are plans to introduce many more categories and products going forward.
We are investing into the online space apart from the traditional brick and mortar retail trade and are partnering with various eCommerce platforms to offer a wide array of products. This move will help us to tap the rapidly growing online customer base and grow our retail business overall. Very soon, we will start selling through other online platforms as well.
What will be your Omni-channel strategy?
We are also on the verge of executing exclusive contracts for online retailing-cum-distribution of several national and international brands wanting to market their products through the online route in India. Primarc Pecan has, in a short time, created a robust infrastructure. We wish to provide the best value products, combined with excellent customer service. As a Group, we have outlined large investments for this business for the next five years.
Are you not planning to expand outside of East India, say in Delhi, or in any one of the metros?
We wish to focus on eastern India for our brick and mortar stores as of now.
Tell us more on Primarc Pecan Retail Private Limited and STORY, Primarc’s storehouse of books.
Primarc Pecan Retail Pvt. Ltd.’s core competency lies in its extensive network across India. The corporate office is situated in Kolkata and Mumbai, with its logistics centres spread across four metropolitan cities namely Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi.
‘STORY’ is more than just a storehouse of books. It has a delightful collection of never-seen-before odds and ends, plus a café with, waiting to greet you with every visit. STORY has a dedicated section on books on Bengal called “KOLKATA CHRONICLES”; “ART STREET”, a full range of exquisite art material for artists and their ilk; “PEN & INK”, a dedicated section for writing instruments and huge varieties of ink, Kolkata’s first graphic novels and comics themed cafe, “CAFÉ STORY”, where people meet for short or long conversations. One can spend time typing, reading, writing, painting and drawing or simply brewing conversations over coffee.
There are a total of four STORY outlets in West Bengal – at Elgin Road; Diamond Plaza Mall, Nager Bazar; Avani River Side Mall, Howrah; and Junction Mall, Durgapur.
The flagship outlet is spread over 15,000 sq. ft. It has an entire floor dedicated to children. The collection includes books for toddlers to teenagers (activity and colouring books, toddler’s reading book, sketching, work book, young fiction, Indian fiction, classics, science fiction and comics). It stocks over 11 thousand exciting toys and 20,000 popular titles for the young ones. It also has a wide range of tea, chocolates and stationery.
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