Riding high on the optimism after the formation of new government at the Centre, Titan Company Ltd’s jewellery retailing arm, Tanishq is set to invest on retail expansions in the current fiscal. The company aims to add 30 new retail outlets during 2014-15 which is about 18 per cent of its current retail store network across the country.
Currently, Tanishq has 167 retail stores, of which nine are large format stores (each over 15,000 square feet of retail area). The top company official did not disclose the financial requirement for the retail expansions.
“We want to expand our presence by opening about 30 new stores in new towns where we are not present. The jewellery business had witnessed sluggish time last year with about 6-7 per cent growth, however, this year we expect better growth this year,” said C K Venkatraman, CEO – Tanishq ahead of the launch of its ninth large format store in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Tanishq currently holds about 4 per cent of the total jewellery retailing market worth around Rs 250,000 crore. With major part of the jewellery retailing business is held by single-store retailers, the organised retail brands have about 30 per cent of the share in total market.
The company official believed that overall market had witnessed sluggishness in the past year with import restrictions leading to supply issues, but the situation may improve in the coming months.
“There is a change in preference for the jewellery. Three segments of jewellery are more in demand at present. These include diamond jewellery, modern designer jewellery and light-weight jewellery. They fetch better margins too,” said Venkatraman.
Commenting on the performance of the jewellery arm, K S Ghai, associate vice president & business head – west, Titan Company Ltd said, “Last year was challenging for the overall jewellery sector. Our Eye-ware segment was launched recently, so there is higher growth due to low base, but Watches division and Jewellery are much old verticals. They are the strong verticals for us.”