New Delhi: It's a chain that goes all the way to the US and it is winding its way through India. The Dollar Store, with its single price-point and foreign brands, will expand into smaller Indian cities as well.
Pick what you like, it's only Rs 99. Bars of foreign chocolate, shampoo, soap, soup, drain cleaners, door-mats, bath towels. It's all there- My Dollar Store is set to blaze its way through several Indian towns.
By April next year, the 25 stores will expand into 100, in places like Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda and Goa. But for all those plans the store has yet to make profits.
CEO at Sankalp Retail Value Stores, Ajoy Krishnamurthi says, "Our margins are wafer thin. We see this as a concept which will succeed due to volumes, not in terms of the value per item. The idea is to excite the customer to pick up 8, 9 or even 10 items."
Sankalp Retail Value Stores, the master franchisee for My Dollar Store in India, won't say how much it has invested. But it claims each store in Mumbai notches up sales worth Rs 50 lakh a month.
Though the company hopes to break even by the end of this financial year, retail analysts say the store might need to consider a judicious mix of Indian and imported brands to boost sales. This is true especially for smaller towns where customers might not be familiar with many foreign brands.
Besides there is no discounting the fact that The Dollar Store faces serious competition. Not only are foreign brands easily available in large cities through the unorganised sector but stores like Trumart and Big Bazaar also use foreign brands to hook the consumer.
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