Hamleys plans to double its stores in India

Hamleys is already the largest toy retailer in India with 26 stores across 14 cities since its entry six years ago. It now intends doubling its number of stores within the next two years.

Reliance Brands, the master franchise for Hamleys India, is already on the job of launching six new stores this fiscal in tier 2 cities like Bhopal, Coimbatore and Guwahati under different formats including its smaller express stores.

The toy industry may lack buoyancy but India has emerged as the third largest market for Hamleys after UK and West Asia.

India is already the largest market in terms of number of stores and is growing much faster at 33 per cent for Hamleys than countries in Western Europe where growth is in single digits today. While we have 88 stores across 23 countries, India is our third largest market after the UK and GCC countries,’’ said Gudjon Reynisson, Chief Executive, Hamleys.

In India, Hamleys continues to import the bulk of its toys from China for its private label and sources the rest from distributors like Funskool, and has also included popular Indian characters like Chota Bheem at its stores.

Darshan Mehta, CEO, Reliance Brands, said, “ India is possibly the fastest growing market for toy retail. Now we have six new stores under construction mostly in the tier 2 cities and should reach a total count at 32 stores this fiscal. Consumers are going to malls where we are present and we want our stores to be there in even smaller markets like Ludhiana. ’’

Sbarro hopeful of expanding their India footprint to 50 outlets by mid-2016

Sbarro, chain of Pizza restaurants popular for New York style Pizza internationally, has plans to expand their footprint from the current 15 outlets to more than 50 by middle of next year. Sbarro has opened their 15th outlet last week in Bandra in Mumbai. The international chain based in Columbus, Ohio in the US has three regional franchisees in India for North & East, West and Southern region. 

The international restaurant chain which currently has 1,000 odd stores in 44 countries is keen to expand their network in Asia in general, South East Asia in particular, and the Pacific region. Naresh Vinod Worlikar, Vice President -International Franchise Operations-Asia, Sbarro said that the focus currently is in establishing presence in countries like Malaysia, Myanmar, China, Korea, Australia, etc. Terming India as a potential market for Sbarro, Worlikar said that they are hopeful of adding 15 to 20 new outlets in India by the end of this year. 

As part of their expansion and maintaining the standards, Sbarro will be soon launching Training Centres, one each in a Franchisee region, in India. Worlikar said that one of the operational outlet will be designated as a Training Centre and people will be imparted six to eight weeks training at these centres. Currently, Sbarro has training facilities in the US and Philippines. 

Disclosing the business model, Worlikar said that Sbarro works with Master Franchisees in international markets. These franchisees could be for a country or for multiple countries, or for regions within a country. “These franchisees have the right to develop stores under their corporation or appoint sub-franchisees ,” he said.

Talking about the freedom to localize the recipes, Philippe Jore, Vice President – International Training & Culinary, Sbarro said that while formulations remained the same internationally, localization is permitted in terms of Pepperoni and use of flavours. “In India, considering the market sentiments, Chicken is used in place of Pork or Beef,” he said. “The differentiator for Sbarro is the fresh dough, fresh sauces, and 100% real mozzarella cheese. We are the only international Pizza brand which offer Pizza by Slice. Customer can order a full pizza or in slices,” he said.

JW Marriott to open new hotels in India & Greater China

Marriott International’s world-class luxury hotel brand, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, plans to open three properties in Greater China and one hotel in India by summer 2015 bringing the brand’s Asia-Pacific portfolio to 28 hotels and resorts with 11 in China and seven in India. By 2020, the global brand portfolio is expected to encompass 105 properties worldwide, 45 of which will be located in the Asia-Pacific region.

The four latest additions will include:  JW Marriott Hotel Chongqing, China, JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Bao'an, China, JW Marriott Hotel Macau, China and JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar, India. 

“The addition of these four hotels only continues to strengthen JW Marriott’s already strong presence in Asia. We are embarking on an exciting time for the brand and region, and have plans to expand into new markets including Chengdu, Xian, Guangzhou and Dalian in China, Kolkata in India, Jakarta in Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand,” said Simon Cooper, President and MD, Marriott International Asia Pacific.

Mitzi Gaskins, VP and Global Brand Manager, JW Marriott Hotels and Resorts said: “Asia is one of the fastest growing and most important regions for JW Marriott.  Since opening the JW Marriott Hong Kong in 1989, we have been committed to build striking hotels that promise beautiful design and a memorable guest experience. Currently 60 percent of our portfolio is located outside the U.S. and we are proud to say that by 2020, 45 of our anticipated 105 properties will be in Asia.”

Simba Toys plans to expand in small cities in India

Simba Toys India, a part of German toy maker Simba Dickie Group, is expanding its sales network in large as well as small cities of the country. 

"Simba is committed to the India market and we are closely looking at expanding our presence in the country. We will be expanding our retail network through the franchisee store model across metros, Tier II and III cities," Simba Toys Business Head Narayan Sabharwal told . 

"With the development of the Bharat story, we are looking at around 60 per cent of our stores in non-metro locations," he added. 

The company is operating 20 stores at present and has plans to add 30-40 stores in the next one year. Simba Dickie Group is one of the top five players in the industry. 

Simba has a strategy to build a hub-and-spoke model with regular stores spread out amongst metros, tier II & III places and 5-8 flagship stores in the top cities forming the hub. 

Over setting up of any manufacturing unit for toys here, he said: "currently we have no plans of setting up a manufacturing facility in India though our product line is customised to meet the needs of the Indian consumer". 
Simba has manufacturing units in countries including China and Thailand. 

Over import of cheap and toxic toys from China, Sabharwal said that its products are manufactured in China with German quality assurance. 

Presently Simba's in-house brands as Majorette, Steffi, Squap etc are contributing around 70 per cent of its sales in India.