Star Bazaar revamps format

Trent, a Tata company in partnership with British partner Tesco is revamping its supermarket Star Bazaar to accommodate more fresh groceries and apparels. The changes won't make its outlets exact replicas of Tesco stores and the look will be more contemporary and relevant to Indian consumers. The intention is to make shopping experience at Star truly world class while retaining the elements that build its local relevance.

For Tesco, the world’s third-largest retailer with 6,900 stores, the Indian business is minuscule. However, the opportunity offered by the retail market is huge. Food and grocery account for almost 50 per cent of the overall retail basket in India, although general merchandise, personal and home products fill up the bulk of a retailer's profit pool. Yet Trent wants to focus more on fresh produce, bakery and meat.

Tesco’s supermarket business in India notched its first sales growth during the year ended March 2016, helped by expansion and strong same-store sales. It posted an eight per cent increase in sales. Unlike rivals, Tata has a conservative expansion strategy. The company runs three formats —dailies, market and hyper — under the Star banner and opened seven stores last year to take its total count to 24, its fastest annual expansion. Now it wants to double the number to 50 outlets during the current financial year.