Lenskart plans to expand operations through franchise model

Online eyewear retailer Lenskart, which claims to be the largest in the country in terms of daily items shipped, plans to expand by opening 1,000 brick-and mortar shops through the franchise model. These shops, which will also enable delivery, service and return of products ordered online, will enable the company to expand quickly while remaining asset light, CEO Peyush Bansal  said. 

According to Bansal, the eyewear category is highly fragmented and dominated by small neighbourhood stores. The online retailer ships close to 1,20,000 orders a month, which is "too high compared to the competitors", he said.

The Titan Company, which runs eyewear, watch and jewellery outlets, had 1,266 stores at the end of December. Reliance Retail operates India's largest chain, with more than 3,000 stores in 371 cities. Lenskart, based in Faridabad, already operates 150 stores. A majority of its business now comes from its mobile apps and stores, unlike last year when all orders were placed online through desktops, Bansal said. 

The company plans to open another 150 outlets in the coming months and hopes to "reach the 1,000 mark very quickly", said Bansal. Apart from catering to demand from offline customers, the partner network of franchise stores would offer supplementary services for online consumers. 

"The same partner network allows for many things. It services the online orders via home delivery, takes care of the logistics and payments, provides home service," said Bansal. He added that the company won't have to spend on setting up the stores and these shops in turn would help expand business.

Lenskart has about 170 employees on the ground in seven cities who conduct about 1,000 eye exams at home every day. "We hope to expand to 55 to 60 cities in the next six months," added Bansal. 

The firm received funding of about $22 million in a Series-C round led by private equity firm TPG Growth, Hong Kong-based TR Capital and existing investor IDG Ventures earlier this year. Lenskart is already clocking a revenue "run rate" of Rs 300 crore and hopes to reach the Rs 2,500 crore mark in the next four years. Although it is well funded, it could do with more funding to invest in its backend infrastructure and its manufacturing capacity. 

Tea Trails opens its outlet in Chennai

Tea Trails, a fast growing tea caf chain in the country, launched its first outlet in Chennai. Noted cine director KS Ravi Kumar inaugurated the outlet.

Zone8 Tea World Pvt Ltd that runs Tea Trails brand cafes in the country is expanding fast and aims to be present pan India in coming period. Chennai is the latest city where it has forayed.

The Company forayed last month in South India with its first caf in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills. It also marked the brands first outlet outside the Mumbai metro region.

"With the launch of Chennai caf, we are now present in the two cities in South India. We are expanding our franchisee network to be a pan India player. South India is a major market for us and we are confident that this Master Franchise Agreement in Tamil Nadu will give us the required presence across Tamil Nadu, said Tea Trails co-founder and CEO Sanjeev S Potti.

The company has partnered with Slimlines food and Beverages Pvt Ltd to be its master franchisee for Tamil Nadu.

Tea Trails offers a gourmet tea drinking experience to the discerning consumer and brings to India the fast emerging international trend with a desi twist. It offers carefully curated range of the finest teas from Indian and around the world.

Launched in late 2013 by a group of entrepreneurs with successful track records, Tea Trails Caf has embarked on an interesting journey of changing the rules of the game in the caf space.

Lite Bite inks agreement with Burger King for outlets in airports

Lite Bite Foods Ltd, promoted by Dabur scion and entrepreneur Rohit Aggarwal, has inked an agreement with Florida-based QSR chain Burger King Inc to set up the latter’s stores in airports and other travel retail platforms.

The company said it is also exploring to take the partnership to high street location.

Burger King entered India in 2013 through a joint venture with PE firm Everstone Capital. The PE firm had signed a long-term master franchise and development deal that includes sub-franchise rights in India.

Rohit Aggarwal, Director, Lite Bite Foods, said, “We have entered into an independent agreement with the Burger King Inc directly to set up outlets in airports. We plan to have three outlets to begin with”.

As part of the agreement, Lite Bite Foods will soon be launching the first franchise outlet of Burger King at the Mumbai airport. This will be Burger King's first outlet at an airport in the country.

Aggarwal said that the three outlets will entail an investment of ₹8-9 crore with stores ranging from 1,200-1,500 sq feet.

Asked if the company is also looking to set up stores in high streets, Aggarwal said the company is evaluating the possibility. “We may look at it but will have to do that in conjunction with Everstone who is the master franchise for Burger King in India,” he added.

Domino's Opens 1,000th Store in India

Domino's Pizza, the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, celebrated the grand opening of its 1,000th store in India, Domino's fastest-growing international market, last week. The store, located in Unity One Mall, Janakpuri, Delhi, opened on Feb. 5.  India has more Domino's stores than any other market outside the United States and Domino's is the largest pizza brand in India. 

"This is truly a remarkable accomplishment," said Patrick Doyle, Domino's president and CEO. "India just opened its 900th store this summer. The fact that they are now at 1,000 stores half a year later is a testament to the opportunity for growth in India and the commitment of our master franchisee, Jubilant FoodWorks, to serving customers in this important market."

Shyam and Hari Bhartia, the brothers who founded Jubilant FoodWorks, first brought Domino's to India in 1995. They had a commitment and a vision for what the brand could be for customers in India, including excellent food quality and customer service, along with tremendous opportunities for the people the brand employs. They created an organization with around 30,000 team members, where a delivery driver can move up the ranks and become a store manager within two years.

"For over 20 years Domino's has focused on bringing the best pizza to our customers in India.  The team's focus on menu variety, exciting flavors and quality ingredients has helped to make Domino's the leading pizza brand in India," said Richard Allison, president of Domino's International. "We're proud to celebrate their tremendous growth and outstanding success, which has been built by committed leadership and the hard work of thousands of team members across the country."

Domino's operates in more than 80 international markets and had global retail sales of more than $8.9 billion in 2014, comprised of more than $4.1 billion in the U.S. and nearly $4.8 billion internationally. Domino's has opened more than 3,000 net stores around the globe since the first quarter of 2010.

Anytime Fitness planning to double number of gyms in India

US-based health and fitness chain Anytime Fitness is planning to double the number of gyms in India to 40 by the year end.

"We have opened 20 units right now and we are projecting to have 20 more by the end of this year. So we would double our size," said Anytime Fitness director of International Operations Eric Keller.

"Apart from Delhi and Mumbai, we are looking at exploring markets in the country to provide world class workout centres in tier 2 cities," he added.

Majorly planning to capture the northern market, the company, which recently opened a new center at North Delhi, is planning to have five centres each in Gurgaon and Delhi. Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore regions would contribute 10, while it is looking to open 10 gyms in Punjab.

"We are coming up majorly in Punjab, where we are looking at centres like Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Chandigarh," Anytime Fitness India managing director Vikas Jain said. The new centres would be mainly franchises, although the company is looking at other models as well.

On being asked about expected network of Anytime Fitness in the coming years, Keller said: "India has potential to have at least 100 of them in next 3-4 years... as franchise is more accepted and demand for our business model is growing, I do not see any reason that we would not have 500 gyms or more in next 15 years."

However, he added that availability of suitable real estate in large cities is a challenge, although growth potential is good for the next 5-10 years.

Gionee seeks nod for single-brand stores in India

Chinese phone maker Gionee is planning to apply for a single-brand retail licence, following the easing of rules. "It is in process," said Arvind Vohra, Gionee India CEO, adding that the application will be filed with the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) in the coming weeks. Apple has applied for a similar.

In November, India scrapped a 30% local sourcing condition for overseas companies seeking to invest more than 51% equity in the single-brand retail segment. It also allowed single-brand licence holders to sell products through their own online platforms. 

The Chinese company's products are sold through multibrand stores and 30 Gionee-branded franchises. 

It plans to increase the number of franchisee outlets to 100 by March and 250 by December, Vohra said. The Shenzen-based mobile phone maker will also open 200 exclusive service centres in India. 

Even though the company plans to sell its products through its own ecommerce platform, Vohra said a brick-and mortar presence was needed for building the brand in India. "Fundamentally, I believe that first we have to create our brand by focusing on offline rather than online," Vohra said" .  "Online is purely on (discounted) prices with no marketing, branding and loyalty." 

Vohra said India was a key market along with the home Chinese market and Africa. Vohra said the company may open some flagship stores and is targeting the top 100 malls in India to open franchisee stores. 

Adidas eyes 20% revenue from own stores

In a major retail push, German sportswear maker Adidas is planning to earn 20% revenue from its own stores in India by 2020. At present, it operates a franchise-based model here, similar to ones followed by its competitors Nike and Puma.

To begin with, the company plans to open around six flagship stores in large cities, measuring 5,000-10,000 square feet. Envisaging larger volumes, it has also opened a 2.6 lakh square-feet centralized warehouse near the Capital to streamline its supply chain, akin to the ones operated by e-commerce companies.

"We want to double our turnover to around Rs 1,600 crore by 2020 from Rs 805 crore at present. These large format stores will help us achieve that," said Dave Thomas, MD of Adidas Group India. "Our franchise partners were earlier hesitant to invest in these big stores. That mindset is changing. However, most of these flagship stores will be owned by us."

Last year, Adidas became the first sportswear company in the country to get government approval to open its own stores.

This year, Adidas wants to turn its focus on its lifestyle brand Adidas Originals, which accounts for a third of its global business but only 5% in here. "We will launch new formats of Adidas Originals stores here. Earlier, Originals products wouldn't sell here. But now, with increased awareness, the products are flying off the shelves. There is a lot of potential in that line," said Thomas.

While around half of Adidas's business here comes from apparel, Thomas said the trend is changing. "People are buying more expensive footwear. Two years ago, the average buying price of a pair of sports shoes was around Rs 3,000. Now, it's around Rs 5,000," said Thomas.