Mafatlal to rejig business

Mafatlal Industries, the flagship company of  the Rs 2,000-crore Arvind Mafatlal group, is planning

to take a hard look at nearly 65 of its exclusive ‘Mafatlal’ branded family retail stores in cities where they are facing low demand. The company plans to either relocate them or revive them through new product mix and better customer experience. These stores form nearly a fifth of the 362, mostly
franchisee-operated Mafatlal retail stores across the country and are located in Tier-II and III cities.
Of the 65 stores being revived, some of them will be relocated to different cities where demand is more for branded family retail stores. And others will be rationalized with the right product mix and well-trained staff. The retailer is also in an expansion mode.  It plans to increase its exclusive stores to 500 in Tier-II and III cities in the next two years. Plans are on to expand the dealership network to 900 from 600 at present and open 362 outlets across India. The company is aiming to achieve its revenue target of Rs 800 crore for fiscal 2011 from the domestic market. At the moment, in Tier-II and III cities, Mafatlal, competes with Grasim, Vimal and Siyaram’s, among others. Last year, they also forayed into the school uniform market with ‘Wonder Years’. The company is now planning to encash on the Rs 10,000-crore school-uniform market by reworking their distribution channel and dealer network.