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UniverCell to open 100 franchise stores in AP
Highlights
UniverCell To Open 100 Franchise Stores In AP. UniverCell, the Chennai-based mobile handset retail chain, is looking to tap demand for smartphones in small cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh by opening over 100 retail stores over the next one year.
To focus on Tier III and IV cities which are expected
to drive sales of smartphones in coming years
Hyderabad: UniverCell, the Chennai-based mobile handset retail chain, is looking to tap demand for smartphones in small cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh by opening over 100 retail stores over the next one year. At present, the retail chain has 105 company-owned outlets across the State.
“We will continue to roll out company-owned outlets in major cities in AP. But to penetrate into smaller cities and towns, we have decided to take the franchise route as there will be operational problems if we open our own stores in such locations,” B Satish Babu, founder and Managing Director, Indus Mobile Distribution Private Limited, which owns UniverCell brand, told media here on Thursday.
According to him, the company has already established 15 franchise stores in Tamil Nadu on pilot basis. “We have fine-tuned the business model for the franchise route after receiving feedback at the pilot stores. We will now use this route for faster expansion of our network across the country,” he said.
UniverCell which has presence in Southern and Western parts of India has 450 own outlets till date. “We will open 50 more own outlets by March 31, 2013. Our objective is to increase the network to 1,000 stores by FY-15,” he said.
The company is logging over 30 per cent growth year-on-year on a consistent basis. “Our total revenues which stood at Rs 1,100 crore last fiscal will grow to Rs 1,350 crore this year and to about Rs 1,800 crore by FY-15,” Babu said. By the year 2020, our turnover is expected to cross Rs 10,000 crore, he added. Nearly, 2 lakh people buy mobile handsets from UniverCell every month with smart phones accounting for 60 per cent.
The mobile handset retailer also has online presence. Currently, it garnered revenues of Rs 5 crore a month, both from its website as well as through tie-ups with ecommerce sites such as Amazon and Snapdeal.
“Online shopping has opened up recently and we expect it to present a huge opportunity for us. UniverCell is on the verge of forging an alliance with e-commerce company Flipkart for inventory and delivery management of smartphones on the latter's website next week,” he added.
Recently, the company introduced UniverCell SYNC, a new format store that features exclusive zones like music, imaging, social and productivity. The stores allow customers to experience gadgets that are yet-to-be launched in the Indian market.
“Already, we opened four SYNC stores in Mumbai and one each in Bangalore and Pune. We are very close to open such store at Ameerpet in Hyderabad,” Babu said, adding that the company would have a total of 25 such stores in near future.
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