Bombay Store eyes 4% revenue from e-sales

The Bombay Store expects at least 4 per cent of its revenues

to come from online transactions this fiscal. Anaggh Desai, CEO, The Bombay Store underlines that in the last six months, the online business has picked up. The company posted revenues of Rs 29 crores in the fiscal 2011-12, which is expected to grow to Rs 40 crores in 2012-13.

The Mumbai-based lifestyle retail chain will also offer a wider range of home décor products in its store in the current fiscal. Desai says they will enhance their range of furniture, soft furnishings and accessories across all large stores.

The Bombay Store was started as the Bombay Swadeshi Co-operative Store in 1906 by patriots such as Lokmanya Tilak and Ratanji Jamshedji Tata. It was the first retail firm to be listed on the BSE. The 16-store chain plans to add eight outlets and the target are Tier II towns like Nagpur, Nasik, Baroda and Kochi. The retail chain opened its second store in Bangalore recently.

The store also organised an arts and crafts fair recently, showcasing a perfect blend of arts and crafts from the royal Indian state of Rajasthan. Spread over 12 days, it retailed the ethnic Indian product range such as footwear with sequins, beads and interesting gota work, stylized garments like lehanga skirts, stoles, scarves, bikinis, corsets and cholis coloured with hand block prints, tie and dye, lehriyas, bandini in pure cotton material along with a variety of silk and cotton stoles with intricate kantha embroidery.

After Rajasthan, The Bombay Store will organize similar events for different Indian regions over a year. Every few months, exclusive regional collections will adorn the store shelves along with the existing categories.