We look forward to operate 100 stores across North and East India: Jay Prakash Shukla

How do you see the market of Value retail growing in India? Kindly mention few numbers to quantify the same?

The Indian retail industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast-paced industries with the entry of several new players. The retail sector is experiencing exponential growth, with retail development taking place not just in major cities and metros, but also in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. According to a recent report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India is expected to become the World’s third largest consumer economy reaching US $ 400 Billion in consumption by 2025. India’s retail market is set to increase by 60 per cent to reach US$ 1.1 trillion by 2020. With factors such as rising incomes, lifestyle changes and increased digital connectivity, the overall retail market is expected to grow at 12 per cent per annum. At Present, India leads in terms of per capita retail store availability making it a favourable market for retailers.

Kindly shed light on 1- India Family Mart’s journey to Indian market so far? Are you into franchising or plan to?

Our vision is to address the need of 75% of the population that resides in small towns and cities of India. We had an innate enthusiasm and belief about doing business in Tier 2 to Tier 4towns.On the basis of this belief, Nysaa Retail Private Limited was established in November 2012.

We began operations in 2013 and established our first store in UP and soon expanded our operations across Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and the North East.Early on, the impetus was laid upon the manual execution of tasks which helped to understand the operations and grass-root challenges involved in primary marketing and store operations. Being an idea-driven firm, with customer centricity at the core of our operations, we use big data to analyze buying habits and trends in the market in order to give our customers innovative lifestyle products and general merchandise at the most affordable prices.

From a handful of employees in 2013 to close to 2400 employees today, the company has one of the lowest attrition rates in the retail industry. 1-India Family Mart is committed towards incorporating global practices across the organization. The brand is dedicated towards corporate governance, employment generation and skill training and is working along with multiple nodal agencies.

As of today, we have 71 stores in operation and are looking forward to operate 100 stores across the country by end of 2019.

At present, wehave not adopted a franchising model and are not looking forward to embracing this model in the near future.

Also, shed light on your distribution. Going forward what would be the strategies to scale up the distribution in online and offline channels?

We always collaborate with leading manufacturers and suppliers to strengthen our range of products and offerings. This helps uscreate immense value for our customer which in turn fosters mutual growth.

We have 71 stores that are operational across states in North and East India and we look towards establishing 1-India Family Mart in Western India soon.  We are also contemplating on adopting online channels for distribution.

 Retailer such as V-Mart is the market leader in value segment. Do you see them as your competition?

V-Mart has been a long standing player in the Value retail segment. Yes, we do see them as our competitor but in a healthymanner. However, what makes us stand out is the Customer experience we offer.

Customer experience is our key differentiator along with the variety in fresh and affordable merchandise offered to our customers. We emphasise profoundly on the right training of our staff which has in-turn reflected on the excellent service quotient towards our customers.

According to you what are the major retail challenges as far as value fashion is concerned?

Indian apparel industry which is the second largest contributor in the retail industry after food and grocery is seeing some major shifts. Entry of international brands, changes in preferences from non-branded to branded have changed the course of value fashion. Despite growing at a promising rate, value fashion is facing its own challenges. 

 Have you raised any PE or capital fund so far? Or plan to?

We have been growing organically exponentially year on year. From one store in UP in 2013 to 71 stores today, 1-India Family Mart has become synonymous with fresh and affordable fashion and general merchandise in Tier 2 & 3 markets across North and East India. To fuel our growth,we raised a Private Equity Fund of $6.5 million expand our presence across North and East India.

Also shed light on your marketing strategies?

As a retail company which has physical stores, it becomes cumbersome to effectively collect and analyze customers’ data to predict their buying behaviour. 1 India Family Mart, has adopted Big Data Analytics to understand buying behaviour and sentiments of customers thus enabling us to focus on customer centric marketing in Retail.

Kindly highlight your growth plans?

On priority, our focus is to launch more stores in Eastern regions of India. By end of FY 2019, we look forward to operate 100 stores across North and East India. Our vision is to be the leading Value Retail chain offering affordable and fresh fashion apparels, lifestyle products and general merchandise to our customer across India.