MUMBAI: After fast moving consumer goods companies contracted the fast spreading health and wellness fever in the country, it is the turn of retailers to cash in.
Three months after the first wellness store by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail was launched in Hyderabad, Maharashtra gets its first in Mumbai.
Armed with 8,000 stock keeping units and spread over 3,100 square feet, this specialty store will provide customers products in the categories such as medicines, sports nutrition, personal care and beauty, cosmetics, opticals, OTC, health foods, self help medical and fitness equipment. Even books on yoga and health and massaging chairs.
Himalaya Drugs is also expanding its retail presence and has over 150 retail stores, aiming to double this number by 2009. Dabur is in the process of rolling out its health and beauty stores all over the country.
Mumbai’s is the sixth Wellness store from Reliance Retail, the first five being in Hyderabad and Bangalore. A total of 150 will open in the next 15 months, 20 of which will be by this March-end itself. Metros and tier-II cities will be the targets.
Ninu Khanna, president and chief executive officer- FMCG and wellness, Reliance Retail Ltd said, “It is the assortment and combination of products available here that is working with the customers. Sports nutrition and Ayurvedic products along with health foods are doing particularly well.”
From Reliance Retail, up next in Mumbai is Reliance Trends, due to open in March. Two Trends stores are already present in National Capital Regional region each with about with 11,000 stock keeping units and 200 labels including 17 private labels.
With an initial investment of Rs25000 crore, Reliance Retail, the 100% subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is all set to tap consumers across India with whatever format possible.
Rather than focusing only on large big box malls, the company is opening stores in about ten formats and news about more keeps coming in. Reliance Fresh, Digital, Mart, Trends, Footprint, Jewels, I store, Timeout, Super, Autozone and Wellness — each a specialty store chain catering to one particular category of retail.
From two hypermarkets right now, the number will reach 30 by the end of this fiscal and 300 by 2010.
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