Reliance plans Rs 3k-cr home solutions chain-Retailing-Services-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Reliance plans Rs 3k-cr home solutions chain-Retailing-Services-News By Industry-News-The Economic TimesKOLKATA: Reliance Industries (RIL) is silently lining up a Rs 3,000-crore home solutions retail venture. Its retail arm, Reliance Retail, will roll out a chain of 100 stand-alone specialised home solution outlets, each spread over 40,000-60,000 sq ft, over the next three years. The company is yet to decide on the brand name for these specialised stores, but it will launch five-pilot stores by December. The home solutions format will also operate as shop-in-shops within the company’s proposed hypermarket chain. Which means, they will have dedicated space that will purely deal in home solutions inside Reliance Retail’s large hypermarts. The company is set to launch its first hypermarket at Ahmedabad in August while the second will come up in Jamnagar this October. When contacted by ET, a senior Reliance Retail official said, “The company will finalise the brand name for the home solutions format in the next 10 days. Apart from a merchandise mix of home improvement products, the stores will have a design studio that will be equipped with software that will design products as per consumer requirements.” A Reliance Retail spokesperson, however, declined to comment. Information trickling in suggests that company’s home solutions format will be a hybrid model that will blend the styles of leading international retailers like Ikea and ACE Hardware and even Germany’s noted modular kitchen retailer Hacker-Kuchen Gmbh. Not surprisingly, Reliance Retail has roped in Manu Kapur, who was earlier the merchandising head of Ikea India, to head its home solutions venture. “Mr Kapur is also assisted by Nalin Khanna who is heading the company’s home furniture section,” the official said. The company will also develop a portfolio of private labels for these outlets. “We will be heavily sourcing furniture and home accessories from Malaysia and China. The team is also busy signing up property deals across India for these outlets,” the official said. Incidentally, Kishore Biyani’s Future Group had recently ventured into the home solutions space with its first ‘Home Town’ outlet in Noida. “Our stores will fill existing gaps in the market. The biggest differentiator will be design consultancy and tailor-made products,” said the official