Gold’s Gym India achieves 'Visionary of the Year' Award

With Gold’s Gym International completing 50 years in the fitness industry, its India leg has announced to have successfully signed 100 gyms across India. The brand wishes to reach greater heights and further incorporate the gym culture through its fast growing business idea of Gold’s Gym Express which focuses on tier-II and III cities along with select metros as well.

At this year’s Gold’s Gym International Convention held at Dallas, Texas – Team Gold’s Gym India was awarded the 'Visionary of the Year' award for setting exemplary standards for the best and fastest growing Gold’s Gym chain outside America. The brand has an experienced board of directors- Jagdish Valecha, Rajesh Advani, G Ramachandran and Karan Valecha- who are backed by a strong team looking after different departments.

World renowned celebrity body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger personally congratulated Chairman of Gold’s Gym India and even mentioned that Gold’s Gym India was one of the legacy builders for the brand. “Mr Arnold had marked his footprint in Gold’s Gym 50 years ago and has been one of the key influencers for the brand  ever since. It is an honour to be appreciated by him and his words will encourage us to push on even further. We have a team of very talented people who work tirelessly to turn our vision of providing health and fitness to everybody in India, into a reality and I would like to dedicate this award to our entire management team everyone associated with Gold’s Gym India for their hard work and dedication to the brand,” said an elated Jagdish Valecha.

Adidas to broaden footprint via omni-channel stores

German sportswear major adidas is looking to establish its footprint in India not just through increased offline and online presence, but also by firming up the omni-channel strategy.

The omni-channel or multiple channel retailing will let its shoppers order products online from adidas’ standalone stores.

According to Dave Thomas, adidas India, MD, these stores will be equipped with tablet PCs for placing orders.

A successful pilot (for multiple channel retailing) earlier this year, followed by introduction across 25-odd stores so far, has seen increased demand for offerings “by thousands”.

“This is of great benefit to us (the company), especially in the smaller franchise units, where the entire range of offerings cannot be displayed. We intend to increase the number of such stores,” he said. adidas has a product line of 5,000-odd items.

Omni-channel stores will be shored up to 200 by the year-end and, to 400, by mid-2016.

In terms of delivery of products, adidas will be relying on its e-commerce partners.

Revenues will be split between the e-commerce partner and the franchisee from where the order has been placed.

“There is a revenue sharing model that is there. It will help both as business will not be taken away from either of them,” Thomas said.

India, currently, accounts for 15 per cent of the company’s emerging market sales. Emerging markets include 78-80 countries across West Asia, South Asia, Indian sub-continent and Africa.

According to sources, the omni-channel presence will also reduce conflicts between online and offline stores.

Online strategy for adidas, include a separate product range dedicated for e-retailers.

The company is also looking to increase its offline presence (brick and mortar stores).

It currently has 760 stores across three brands – adidas (500-odd stores), adidas Originals (11) and the US-based Reebok that it acquired in 2006 (249-odd).

The plan is to increase the store count to 1,000 over the next three to five year period.

Meanwhile, adidas has also proposed 100 per cent foreign direct investment scheme (for single brand stores) to the Department Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), in addition to ‘only franchise’ format, it currently operates here.

CarZ Xpress plans 100 outlets

Multi-brand car repair and maintenance services company CarZ has unveiled its new franchisee programme under the ‘CarZ Xpress’ brand. The company said it will open 100 franchises in the next 36 months under CarZ Xpress.

 CarZ currently operates 12 company-owned car service centres under the ‘Grande” brand in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

These facilities offer a full range of repair services for all makes and models of cars,  routine and preventive maintenance, electrical and mechanical repair, accident repair – denting and painting, tyres and services, battery, variety of styling and performance accessories, interior and exterior detailing, extended warranty and nationwide 24x7 road-side assistance. These services are offered at convenient neighbourhood locations. The company will continue to expand the Grande formats as well.

According to Venu Donepudi, managing director, CarZ, the first CarZ Xpress outlet was launched recently in Hyderabad, Telangana. This model improves accessibility and service to the car owner as well as provides tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs seeking entry into the fast growing car service sector. 

The CarZ Xpress franchise network will offer a menu of cost-efficient quick repair and maintenance services with quick turnaround times and at convenient neighborhood locations. Each facility shall have advanced diagnostic and repair equipment along with highly trained manpower to provide best-in class service and experience to the customers.

Donepudi said, “Presently, only about 30 percent of the cars are repaired and serviced at authorised dealers/service centres. There is a huge opportunity for organised, independent and multi-brand car repair and service providers, considering that India has a current car parcel of over 20 million. And every year over 2.5 million cars are sold in India, making it the seventh largest auto market in the world. By 2017, it is estimated that this number will grow to 7 million cars sold each year.”

Vijay Gummadi, CEO of CarZ, said, “The CarZ Xpress franchise is programmed in such a way that the entrepreneur gets a quick return on investment while the end-customer is assured of top-end service. A CarZ Xpress franchisee gets start-up guidance, operational and marketing support. We believe that entrepreneurs who have fire in their bellies will join us and revolutionize car service.”

He said the CarZ franchise program will provide franchisees with comprehensive support at all stages from planning to operation. This includes site selection and facility set up; training and continuing education; operational support; spares sourcing support; marketing material and aids; proprietary shop management software; marketing and branding support;  and customer relationship management. 

Easiest way to become a petrol pump owner

Essar Oil is looking at touching a nationwide retail count of 5,000 outlets in the next two years. It presently has 1550 operational outlets and another 1600+ are in various stages of implementation.

The company operates through Franchisees-Owned Franchisee-Operated model (FOFO) across the country. “Essar pioneered the concept of setting up retail outlets using the Franchisee-Owned Franchisee-Operated model whereby the franchisee leases his land to Essar for a period of 30 years and invests in setting up the infrastructure of the outlet. Essar on the other hand focuses on enhancing the franchisee’s business by supplying high quality petrol and diesel and adding other profitable business lines including a lease rental on the land and sales commission, non-fuel retail options, and performance based returns on our dealer’s investment made to construct the fuel station to keep our franchisee’s business viable at all times,” Madhur Taneja, CEO Retail, Essar Oil, said.

Apart from providing its franchisees with high quality petrol and diesel, it partners with them across every step, right from commissioning to smooth operations of the retail outlet. Essar Oil is a fully integrated oil and gas company of international scale with a strong presence across the hydrocarbon value chain from exploration and production to refining and oil retail, has a huge franchise network. It owns India’s second largest single site refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat, having a capacity of 20 MMTPA, or 405,000 barrels per day.

Swiss Military to launch 171 stores in India by 2016-end

Premium lifestyle products brand Swiss Military plans to open 171 stores in India by the end of next year, of which 11 will be company owned and 160 under the franchise model.

"We plan to open 171 stores across the country by 2016 end. Out of which 11 will be company owned stores while 160 would be franchise stores," Swiss Military Worldwide Managing Director Anuj Sawhney said.

The company-owned stores will be in locations such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, he added.

"The franchise stores will be in tier I and tier II cities across the country. Apart from these, we will also be adding over 4,000 multi-brand outlets during the period," Sawhney said.

The investment on the expansion would be around Rs 200 crore, he added.

When asked how the company plans to fund the expansion, Sawhney said: "As a company we are debt free and the expansion will be done through internal accruals, from our global resources and some of it will also come from the franchisees."

The franchise stores will be self-financed and for multi brand outlets also there is no investment done by the company, he added.

Saying that the company is also looking to add to number of its products in the country, Sawhney said: "In India, we currently sell 300 products under 5 product lines -- baggage, leather, electronics, pens and accessories and will be launching 60 products every month."

The brand entered in the Indian market 5 years ago with corporate gifting space in the first phase. 

Then it moved into in-flight sales partnering with Jet Airways, Indigo and Air India. 

The company's products will also be available on online portals such as Flipkart and Amazon.

The company entered into retail market in the country in April 2014 and is now present in 57 towns in 23 states across the country. 

Swiss Military products are available in 550 multi-brand outlets.

Globally, the brand has around 1,800 models of products in segments such as sun glasses, footwear, household appliances, leather wallets, electronics, cosmetics and electronics, and outdoors such as tents and sleeping bags, Sawhney said.

The company currently has 600 stores worldwide, out of which 11 are company owned full stores with most of them being in Switzerland, France and Germany.

utime Fitness Studios to foray in Indian market

Hong Kong-based franchise fitness chain utime Fitness Studios is all set to make its entry in Indian market via Master Franchise route. The brand is on the lookout for around 9 to 10 regional Master Franchisees in India, each with their own exclusive territories. Presently, utime has plans to start with the three pilot cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore where each city would have its own regional Master Franchisee operator. Each operator would be setting up about 15 centres for utime Fitness over the first five years.

Cathal Kiely, CEO, utime Fitness Studios said, “Sales or customer acquisition would be a responsibility that would be handled by the respective Master Franchisees for their own exclusive territories. utime Fitness would be making their India franchise program a part of all their global marketing campaigns and would also be sharing with the India Master Franchisees the strategies that they have traditionally adopted in Hong Kong to boost sales. Design and implementation of these strategies would be the responsibility of the Indian Master Franchises.”

On franchisee requirement, Kiely further added, “Investment required to set up a franchise outlet is between $300 and $500k USD (based on HK market). Area required is 300 - 500 sq. mts., while RoI will be around 75%.

utime Fitness Studios is a franchise business that focuses on the customer first, providing members with the best equipment, guidance and value-added services to help them achieve results. Its studios remain open 24/7 with entry via personalised access fobs and they offer month-to-month membership with no contract.

Buffalo Wild Wings entering India with Mirchi Group

Buffalo Wild Wings®, Inc. will now reach the sports hungry fans in India with the successful signing of a 15-location exclusive development agreement with Mirchi Group for the entire South India region. The franchisee - Mirchi Group - has committed to open the first Indian Buffalo Wild Wings in Hyderabad and Bengaluru within the next 12 months. After the launch of the flagship location, the franchisee will open multiple BWW restaurants across South India within the next 7 years.  “We are very excited to be working with Mirchi Group and bringing the Buffalo Wild Wings experience to India. We look forward to becoming a part of this dynamic Indian community,” said Tim Murphy, Vice President of International for Buffalo Wild Wings.  Mr.Sam Reddy - CEO of Mirchi Group said that “we do strongly believe in the BWW mantra of Wings, Beer and Sports. The Buffalo Wild Wings franchise will be amazingly successful in India due to its spicy and bold flavor profile in comparison with other Western brands. Buffalo, New York – styled spicy chicken wings will perfectly match our Indian palate. 

Additionally, Indians are Cricket fanatics along with global awareness and rapidly increasing fan following of other international sports - Soccer, NBA, Tennis, Formula One, etc.  It was an elaborate and very stressful 10-11 month process to secure the exclusive Franchise Development Agreement with Buffalo Wild Wings. We are very excited and grateful for this opportunity to be their first franchisee partner in India.”  Mr.Kedar Selagamsetty - Partner of Mirchi Group says “we have done extensive research in India about the viability of Buffalo Wild Wings and are very confident of the brand success hence we have aggressively committed to opening 15 restaurant locations across South India. 

We are now looking to open 12,000+ SF locations of BWW in prime free-standing space of Hyderabad and Bengaluru.”  Buffalo Wild Wings is a very popular American restaurant chain known for its draft beer and exciting sports viewing atmosphere. Their namesake Buffalo, NY-style chicken wings are served with a choice of multiple signature sauces and seasonings, which pair nicely with their extensive array of draft and bottle beer options. Buffalo Wild Wings is the recipient of hundreds of "Best Wings" and "Best Sports Bar" awards from across the country. Founded in 1982 by two friends in Ohio, USA, Buffalo Wild Wings has grown into a global restaurant brand with over 1,100 locations in the United State, Canada, Mexico and the Philippines.  Aside from its winning combination of chicken wings hand-spun in signature sauces and seasonings, the restaurant also offers burgers, sandwiches, salads, wraps, and more. Its restaurant design provides the ultimate sports viewing experience, while bringing the look and feel of a stadium into the restaurant. Gaming will also be in an integral piece of the puzzle, as Buffalo Wild Wings aims to connect their guests in multiple ways while visiting the restaurant.