Croma plans to add 10 stores every year in the next 4 years

New Delhi: Tata group-owned Infiniti Retail, which operates consumer electronics store chain under the Croma brand, would open 50 more stores in five years taking its total count to 140.

The company will focus on its existing markets to open stores and would consider to foray into tier II & III places once the GST is rolled out, a top company official said.

"We are planning to add ten stores every year for next 3-4 years... By FY 2020-21 we would have a network of around 140 stores. Once GST comes in, it would change our value chain significantly," Infiniti Retail Ltd CMO Ritesh Ghosal told PTI.

"We are expanding in the cities in which we are operating. In Delhi, we have added three stores from April this year. Currently, we would concentrate on the existing markets because we are enjoying a very healthy growth".

Croma, at present, has around 100 operational stores in top seven cities excluding Kolkata and few smaller cities in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The company on an average invests around Rs 2 crore (excluding rentals) to open a new store.

"The company would invest around Rs 80 crore," he added.

Croma, which is in its tenth year of business, follows omni channel system and has integrated its offline brick and mortar stores with its online e-commerce portal.

"Now one of the two customers is digitally influenced. One of the two sales at Croma starts at digital forum," he said.

However, he also added that the share of online transactions in Croma's total sales is less than 5 per cent. The company is expecting a good festival sales this year on the back of positive sentiments in the market.

"We are enjoying a good year so far. We are continuously growing from April and this festive season we expect a growth rate in double digits," said Ghosal.

The company expects good sales from new phone launches from Apple, Google and Samsung this season.

"There is a lot of excitement in the smart phone category. We also expect good sales from smart TV and home appliances as refrigerator, AC and washing machine," he added.

Over expansion in tier II & III cities, Ghosal said: "We are waiting GST to come in... That will help us to expand".