Tata Sons-promoted Infiniti Retail, owning the Croma stores, is foraying into e-commerce through its Web site cromaretail.com . Recording revenues to the tune of Rs 1,970 crore, the consumer durable chain is expecting to record similar revenues from its e-commerce operations within the next two years.
Speaking to Business Line , Mr Ajit Joshi, CEO and MD, Infiniti Retail said, “With e-commerce we expect to cover 319 cities and 24 states with nearly 6,000 pin codes across the country. We expect e-commerce to generate similar revenues to our brick and mortar business in the next two years.”
More stores
However in spite of its e-commerce foray, Croma will continue to add more stores across the country. It has 73 stores and expects to add 14 new stores this year.
Croma has also forged exclusive partnerships with brands such as intel mobile phones whereby the product will get sold only at the Croma stores.
Sources of funding
Having been funded by Tata Sons, Infinity Retail might look at other sources of funding in the future. “We have been funded by Tata Sons all these years with an investment of Rs 480 crore. The future expansions and entry into e-commerce will also get funded by Tata Sons. But the next phase of investments may not be done through Tata Sons. We have not looked at private equity as yet,” added Mr Joshi.
Croma is also ramping up its service centres in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore on behalf of the big brands such as Sony, Samsung and Apple. “We are ready to provide service for any brand as long as it is bought from our stores. There will also be temporary replacement for the products that are being serviced at our centres,” said Mr Joshi.
Besides, it also expects its private label under Croma to record higher revenues this year from the current Rs 130 crore to Rs 250 crore. The private label brand under Croma currently records the highest turnover from ACs (almost 50 per cent of Croma's total AC sales), followed by vacuum cleaners and microwave ovens.
Croma continues with its technical and sourcing agreement with Australian giant, Woolworths. “Most of our private labels are imported with the help of Woolworths and it continues to be our sourcing partner,” added Mr. Joshi. With a turnover of Rs 1,970 crore, the five year old Infinity retail grew at 29 per cent last year compared to the previous year.