IndiGo owner InterGlobe to foray into retailing at Metro stations
30 Jul 2012
InterGlobe, ownner of budget carrier IndiGo, is set to foray into retailing at Metro stations and on highways. Its subsidiary InterGlobe Retail has started opening shops at Delhi Metro stations with an investment of Rs20-22 crore, and toll higways were next on the list. Carrying the brand name 'Hudson News and Cafe', the stores would offer travel essentials like food items and magazines.
InterGlobe, which has a tie-up with Swiss firm Dufry (which owns the brand name Hudson) would bid for duty-free shops at Indian airports and while it had so far not opened any duty-free shop it would bid for the new Mumbai airport. The group has decided to use the franchise at Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) and highways. Additionally, airport duty-free area bidding being a long-term affair, the InterGlobe-Dufry combine did not want to wait for years to make a start in India.
InterGlobe Retail director Siddhanta Sharma said about 20 shops had already opened at Metro stations and the company would have 40 stores in the next two to three months. He added the company had a 15-year concessionaire period with Delhi Metro for these stores.
He said the company would also have these stores at toll highways and they would meet the requirement of travellers by providing reading material, confectioneries and other impulse buying stuff.
While the group would not have a store on the Anil Ambani-controlled Airport Express Line, which is not operational on safety fears, there would be a shop on Sector 21 Dwarka station's regular DMRC line. Like Metros abroad, the group estimated that 3-4 per cent of people using Metro stations would be using these stores, and as of now, the InterGlobe Group had no plans of bidding for stores at airports, railway stations or highways abroad. Dufry will tie up with local companies for that.
InterGlobe's IndiGo airline, the biggest budget carrier, had a domestic market share of 26 per cent last month, just snapping short of Jet-JetKonnect's combined share of 27.4 per cent. While the airline gave it visibility, the group controlled almost all aviation-related activities like running a bus travel agency and providing software for selling air tickets to airlines.
Going forward, the company also has plans for opening highway stores, stores at metro stations in other cities and airports. It would also bid for the duty-free space at the Navi Mumbai airport.
He said the company would offer a comprehensive selection of reading materials, and a wide range of snacks, bottled beverages, health and beauty aids and other travel convenience items - both global and local brands.
InterGlobe and Dufry had jointly commissioned an in-depth market research to create a product offering specially tailored to meet the needs of Delhi Metro customers and Sharma expressed confidence that if they managed to capture 3-4 per cent of the traffic at these stations, the ''purpose would be met''.
