Reliance Webstore resumes expansion after two years

22 Sep 2009 Evaluate

Reliance Webstore, the fully owned retailing arm of Reliance Communications, has restarted its expansion after a nearly two-year break. Starting with rolling out 10 stores by the end of the month, the company aims to double the number of outlets to nearly 500 from the current 230 in the next five years, according to its CEO, Sarup Chowdhary.

The company has revamped its roll-out strategy. Besides selling CDMA handsets bundled with Reliance Mobile connections, it will also start selling unbundled GSM branded phones. It is already selling GSM handsets of Samsung and is in talks with Nokia. Webstore is also learnt to be in negotiations with other vendors, including a 'strategic tie-up' with the Chinese dual-technology (GSM-CDMA) handset maker Yulong.

Despite the increasing focus towards handset retail, the share of handset sales to remain more or less constant at around 20% of total revenues. The company gets a large chunk of its revenues from gaming, video conferencing and sale of recharge coupons. The company has already opened 3 out of the 10 pilot stores. The stores, designed by the international design consultant Fitch, will continue to showcase the entire gamut of ADAG products. For example, they will also have shop-in-shop outlets of Bigflix and Reliance Money.

The company, which was spun out as a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Communications two years ago, has also converted nearly half of its stores into franchisees for incentivising employees. This model is targeted at incentivising employees rather than saving on capital costs. The company will continue to own or lease land and make substantial investments into the stores. crackcrack

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