Shoppers Stop has an aggressive plan to expand the company’s growth with four pillars, private label, omni-channel, focus on beauty business and expansion of stores, says Venu Nair – MD & CEO – Shoppers Stop in “Reinventing Retail Through Innovation and Technology” organised by Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at Taj Bengal, Kolkata.
Retail major Shoppers Stop is planning to open the country’s largest beauty-related store in Kolkata during the upcoming festive season. The store will be more of a concept than a traditional outlet, though he did not share the detailed contours of the proposed concept store.
“…in the next few months, we would be opening the biggest beauty store in the country in Kolkata. This will be during October-November,” Venu Nair said.
Beauty is an important segment for Shoppers Stop, contributing around 17 per cent to the company’s revenue. The company has already launched 11 standalone beauty stores last year and is planning to open 15-20 more such stores every year for the next three years. He thinks the opportunity is to do much more than that, but they are being conservative at this point.
Arcelia is their private beauty label. They have started with Bath and body and then gradually they have also launched their fragrances, nail polishes, followed by lips and then eyes and skin to complete the entire makeup portfolio. So that’s the plan that they have for their own private brand Arcelia which is something that they will continue to grow anywhere between 200 to 250 options they would have on this as they go forward. Their own private brand apparel is well established, and Beauty is something they have growing at the moment.
He said, “The beauty segment is in its infancy in terms of growth. If we look at the per capita consumption of beauty, we are still at a fraction of what even the semi-developed markets in the world are. So, the headroom for growth is very, very strong.”
Shoppers Stop has been one of the first players of beauty through their department stores and also through the standalone beauty stores that they have established more recently. They are augmenting that and keeping pace with the changing customer needs.
The markets are now settling down post covid, demand continues to be strong and in the medium to long term, the fundamentals are very strong. Shoppers Stop is a house of brands and within the house of brands, specifically focusing on the beauty category, focusing on their own private brands, and on transforming ourselves to being an omni-channel retailer. He even declared that Shoppers Stop sales is rapidly ascending its rank in eastern India.
In addition, the company plans to open 12-15 departmental stores every year for the same frame.
Shoppers Stop is also partnering with Shiseido Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., a Japanese firm, to expand the Nars cosmetics brand’s footprint in India.
Nair stated that the Nars cosmetics standalone store is expected to open in August-September. Shoppers Stop registered the highest-ever revenue of Rs 5,066 crore in FY23.
