RPG Cellucom eyes Coimbatore
Cellphone and laptop retail chain RPG Cellucom will now focus more on south to drive its growth. As part of its aggressive expansion activity, it has decided to locate 250 of its 500 outlets in the region. Launched in January last year, the company, part of the $3-billion RPG group, is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by March 2009. On Friday, RPG Cellucom opened its eighth store in Chennai and 45th in south. With this, the company has 135 stores across the country, RPG Cellucom chief executive Sunil Bhagat told reporters. The company plans to have over 20 stores in Chennai by March 2008 and 30-40 outlets by December 2008. It also proposes to set up an office in Coimbatore and cover areas like Madurai and Trichy, he said. Of the Rs 500 crore capex earmarked for expansion, it has already spent Rs 200 crore, he said, adding it would set up 50 stores each in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh besides 25 outlets in Kerala. Depending on the location, it takes Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore to set up an outlet, where the attempt is to woo techno-savvy customers through a personalised service across the spectrum of communications. The consumer profile is changing on the back of telecom, multimedia and IT convergence. The handset offtake is pegged to be six million every month and an average consumer changes the handset once in eight months, Bhagat said, citing research by mobile giant Nokia and RPG Cellucom. The replacement market is booming and 85% of the company’s market is from this segment, he said, adding the accessories market is also showing tremendous growth opportunities. Citing the Diwali experiment, he said against a target of 5,000 free bluetooth with cell purchase, RPG Cellucom was flooded with 17,000 customers. It has set apart an annual brand spend of Rs 40 crore for the capital-intensive business. It is aiming to touch Rs 150 crore by March 2008. Positioning itself as a one-point mobility retailer, the company, which has a master-franchisee pact with the Dubai-based Cellucom Group, will consider foraying into the repair service segment later in the year. About 50% of its sales comes from Nokia brand of products. Bhagat also said new product categories will emerge. Under a private label initiative, RPG Cellucom is offering ‘Purpl’ bluetooth stereoactive headphone for Rs 4,500. The company sources the product, which has a standby time of 150 hours and eight hour music/talktime, from manufacturer Star Wing Electronics of China. Performance-wise, south contributes 60% of the overall revenues. In mature markets, 45% of the customers route their purchases by equated monthly instalments, he said, in response to a query.
