Future Group Plans 1,000 stores

Future Group, the retail venture by Kishore Biyani, aims to strengthen its reach in the rural India. In order to achieve the same, the group is planning to increase the number of franchisee-based convenient stores to over 1,000 in the next two years. Currently, the company has 100 franchisee-based convenient stores in Delhi and 200 stores throughout Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, while it is running about 15 franchisee outlets in Karnal region.Now the focus is creating franchisee-based stores in rural India as the company thinks more than 90 per cent of rural retail market is left to be tapped. The group has done a few experiments in Kalol, Gujarat and Karnal, and has received good response. These cities are proving to be effective to set up a single big wholesale unit in remote places and encourage residents of village to take up franchisee and source products through wholesale unit.The group ensures to offer technical and training support for the franchisees to ensure uniformity in the look and feel of these stores.