Dimexon Group’s retail branch, Kirtilals, is planning to expand across 26 locations across India over the next three years, as part of its three-year strategy for the division, Rajiv Mehta, chief executive officer for the group’s diamonds segment told JCKIndia.com. “In fact, we are planning three location rollouts in the 2009 calendar year,” he added, without disclosing the cities the company is zeroing in on. “We want the outlets to make business sense and to fit in with our plans, especially keeping in mind the recent retail boom, which has led to skyrocketing property prices. We don’t want to set up one outlet at the cost of others.”
Kirtilals was first established as Kirtilal Kalidas Jewellers in 1939, with its first outlet at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. “In fact Coimbatore was its only outlet till 1999,” Mehta said.
Post-1999, six more Kirtilals stores were set up at Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, Vijaywada and Ludhiana, as part of the group’s focus to increase focus on the retail division.
“We decided to go into a tier-II city to test the waters for consumer dynamics, behaviour and taste preferences before entering a tier-I market in North India, and chose Ludhiana for that,” Mehta said.
The company is targetting a pan-India presence across tier I and II cities, especially in the South, catering only to high-end consumers. “Quality and customization will remain the key differentiators in the retail business.”
Each store will continue to have exactly the same look and feel as our existing outlets, with an average space of around 3,000-5,000 square feet, Mehta said.