BackWelspun Retail sees demand revival in FY10
Welspun Retail sees demand revival in FY10
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Mumbai: Welspun India’s retail unit expects revenue growth of 15% in 2009-10 on an up tick in consumer demand due to end-of-season sales and the upcoming festival season, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Welspun Retail closed the year-ended 31March with a turnover of Rs1.15 billion, its director Dipali Goenka said.
Retailers have been hit hard due to the economic slowdown in 2008-2009, which crippled consumer spending as customers cut down on discretionary spending, but Goenka said most retailers now are beginning to see increasing footfalls in stores.
“That (growth) is definitely bound to happen. Next two quarters is definitely going to be better for retail. The next quarter is going to be festival time as well," she said.
“We have been monitoring the last quarter vis-à-vis now, footfalls have already risen by 10% in the past 10 days itself," she said, adding that end-of-season sales were partly responsible for the rise.
The firm which currently has 200 stores under its ‘Welhome´ brand, targeted the budget customer. It is not expanding this year but plans to add at least 70-80 stores in FY11, she said.
Around 30% of the additional stores would focus on villages, in line with the firm’s strategy to target the evolving rural sector.
“The rural market is evolving. Today if I make inroads that is going to pay dividends tomorrow, not today. And then you can look at growth that is much higher than what you have in evolved markets like Tier-1 cities".
“Real growth will happen next year, this year we have given time mainly for consolidation," and hence the company has not set a capex target for FY10,Goenka added.
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