Snap Fitness set its footprint in Mumbai

Snap Fitness, a US based fitness chain launches its first fitness centre in Malad, Mumbai through franchising. The company entered India with its first gym in 2008 in Bengaluru. Presently, the company supports 20 + franchised gyms in India.  

The gym that has opened in Malad is a 4, 000 sq. ft facility, will offer 24 hour fitness services. The company also has plans to open more fitness centres in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other major cities across India. The company is targeting at more than 30 gyms by the next fiscal year. All these gyms will be opened through franchise route.  

The company was established in 2004 in Minneapolis, USA. It is the fastest growing fitness chain across the globe with its presence in countries like Canada, Australia, India, and Mexico. The company also plans to set its trail in New Zealand and the UK.

 

Source: Franchise-India

Educomp to open 75 IIT Coaching Centres

The diversified education provider, Educomp Solutions Ltd plans to set up about 75 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) coaching centres pan India, by 2011. The company has announced the launch of India's first VSAT based Engineering Prep Programme. This programme will be delivered through an India-wide chain of centres called Leap. For students staying in remote towns and semi-urban centres, Educomp Leap will provide accessibility to the faculties spread over across India. These 75 centres will be both company owned and franchised outlets.

Last year, over four lakh students appeared in IIT-JEE and over 12 lakh appeared for AIEEE. While 80 per cent of these students take some form of coaching, a mere 20 per cent of them have access to the top 10 coaching institutes of the country. The rest have to be content with sub-standard coaching due to a variety of reasons, ranging from geographical constraints, cost implications and non-availability of high quality faculty.

Through effective use of VSAT technology, the LEAP centres will deliver standardised, high quality, and cost effective test prep. Keeping in mind the spend patterns in Tier II and III towns, Leap will offer test prep at a fraction of the cost to other centres.

Students at Leap centres will be taught by highly acclaimed and well known faculty. They will have access to high quality study material and a vast library of subject-related, digital teaching resources, and most importantly, video archives.

Shantanu Prakash, CEO, and MD, Educomp Solutions Ltd informed, "We are consolidating our presence in the supplemental education space, which is currently among the fastest growing segment, with an estimated market size of 8 billion USD in India alone. We have undertaken restructuring of our businesses recently and have created a new entity called 'Educomp Supplemental' for our supplemental education business which includes off-school services such as tutoring, counseling, and assessment. Post-restructuring, it will be India's largest supplemental education company".

He added, "Educomp Leap is yet another initiative which is in line with our mission of being a transformative learning enabler through innovative technology-led initiatives".

Educomp will open around 75 Leap centres in the current financial year, located across cities like Guwahati, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Varanasi, Allahabad, Meerut, Patna, Surat, Jammu, Patiala, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Agra, Gurgaon, Sonipat, and Ludhiana among others. By 2012 Leap centres will be present in around 200 cities across India. While this year the focus will be on the engineering test prep, plans to roll out other test prep products like Medicine and BBA from 2011-12 are also in the list.

 

Source: Franchise-India

Timex plans 20 stores in one year; seeks franchisees

Leading watch maker Timex Group India has announced plans to open 20 more stores across the country in the next one year. The group which has embraced the franchising model for expansion, currently has 70 stores in India, in both kiosks and exclusive outlets formats. 

The new stores will be opened through the franchise model. Besides metros and big cities, the group is now looking to increase its footprints in tier II and III cities like Guntur, Kakinada, Asansol, Hazaribagh, etc., with a population of more than one million. The other cities targeted by the group are the Delhi-NCR region, Pune, Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and the like. 

Speaking at the launch of their 10th exclusive outlet in Bangalore, Gopalratnam Kannan, managing director, Timex Group, said: "We have extensive expansion plans for the coming year and will be increasing our footprints across the country, especially in tier II and III cities. We are also strategically expanding our product portfolio targeting the discerning Indian consumer." 

The company operates two franchise models -- kiosks and exclusive outlet (The Time Factory) formats. The space required for a Timex kiosk is 120 sq. ft with an overall investment of Rs 10-15 lakhs. While The Time Factory is spread over an area of 450-650 sq ft and requires investment of about Rs 20 lakhs, depending on the location. The franchisee can breakeven in a year's time expecting an RoI of 15-20 per cent. 

Timex Group designs, manufactures and markets innovative timepieces and jewellery globally with 12 brands in its portfolio including Versace, Nautica, Marc, and Ecko. 

Currently, the overall watch industry is expected to be Rs 3,500 crore of which 55 per cent comprises the organised market. Timex Group has a market share of 10 per cent of organised market. 

Timex Group reported a turnover of about Rs 132 crore in 2008-2009 fiscal with a profit of over Rs 7.56 crore. The profit was almost 37 per cent more than the previous year. Despite the recession, revenues in 2009-2010 grew at 3 per cent. The brand is now expecting a growth of 10 per cent in 2010-2011. 

 

Source: Franchise-Plus

McDonalds earmarks Rs 60 crore investment for marketing

McDonalds has announced the launch of new campaign for its happy price menu which starts with Rs 20 onwards. Termed as 'Har Chotti Khushi Ka Celebration', the campaign is design to position McDonald's as the ideal venue and platform for individuals to celebrate their little joys of life. 

"For us, it's not just a campaign line but the way of making our consumer's life more enriching - and McDonald's provides consumers a chance to celebrate 'har choti khushi' by offering dual benefit of quick service and affordable pricing. In today's hectic pace of life, 'har choti khushi ka celebration' needs to be a mantra for a fulfilling life," said Arvind Singhal, director marketing, McDonald's India (west and south). 

"We also have plans to launch a campaign for our meals such as McVeggi and McChicken this year. We also plan to open 40 more McDonald outlets this year. To market our new products and initiatives for consumers we look forward to spend across Rs 50-60 crore in 2010," Singhal added. 

Source: Franchise-Plus

M&B Footwear seeks franchisees for expansion

M&B Footwear, footwear retail chain, will expand its retail presence via the franchise route in metros, mini metros as well as smaller cities and towns. 

Some of the outlets will be operational before the end of the first quarter of the approaching financial year 2010-11. Most of the franchised stores will be in North, notably Punjab and adjoining belt, and East in the first phase, according to a report published in IndiaRetailing. 

"The franchisee route is being perceived as futuristic as it would ensure expansion plan. Our distinctive footwear brand portfolio, consumer insights and preferences and importantly, revenue and profit imperatives for the franchisees will secure a win-win scenario for both," quoted Vikas Bagga, VP, marketing and corporate affairs, M&B Footwear Pvt Ltd in the report. 

"The endeavour is to set up moderate to mid-sized Walk-in M&B stores, spread over 500-1,000 sq ft of carpet area, in premium malls and high street locations. Importantly, the property lease for nine years would have to be directly secured by the franchisee else the franchisee could offer and operate out of their wholly-owned premises," Bagga added. 

Within the approaching new fiscal, M&B plans to set up 15-20 Walk-in M&B outlets. The franchisee will have to invest close to Rs 10-15 lakh on fixtures and fittings and Rs 20-25 lakh in stock inventory, the report added. 

Currently, it has 41 exclusive concept stores, located in premium malls and high streets, 97 shop-in-shop with large format stores such as Westside, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop and Central and 62 factory direct showrooms in India. 

 

Source: Franchise-Plus

Taco Bell ventures India

US-based fast food brands operator Yum! Restaurants launched its Mexican speciality chain Taco Bell in India with the first restaurant in Bangalore and said it plans to open up 100 outlets by 2015.

 Yum! Restaurants, which operates brands like Pizza Hut and KFC, said it is looking to tap the young consumer segment with Taco Bell's Mexican offerings as part of effort to increase footprints in the estimated USD one billion dollar Indian fast food market.

"We are confident that Taco Bell will redefine the eating-out market in India with its value proposition and variety of delicacies. We have already signed up a few more properties in Bangalore and our aim is to have 100 outlets in India by 2015," said Ashok Bajpai, General Manager, Taco Bell India.

 The company will first target the markets in metros and then venture into tier II and II cities and each restaurant will be around 3,000 sq ft in area.

 

Source: Franchise-India

Big Bazaar to expand in east, to open 18 new stores by October 2010Big Bazaar to expand in east, to open 18 new stores by October 2010

Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has decided to invest more than Rs 125 crore over the next six months to expand the Big Bazaar chain of hypermarts in the East. The group intends to nearly double the number of Big Bazaar outlets from 22, at present, to 40 by October in the region.

The latest thrust on expansion comes at a time when the group is betting on community retailing as the new business model for Big Bazaar. It has also created a sub-brand ‘Big Bazaar Family Centre’ that is completely focused on community retailing and is spread over 60,000-70,000 sq ft as compared to a Big Bazaar store spread over 35,000-40,000 sq ft.

In fact, the Future group also plans to reorient all the existing Big Bazaar stores in the region as per this new business model. It has plans to convert two existing Big Bazaar stores in Ranchi and Guwahati into Big Bazaar Family Centres.
“At present, Big Bazaar is spread over 10 lakh sq ft in the East. We will add another 6 lakh sq ft as part of the expansion process. While earlier the focus was to drive returns on a per sq ft, the model of this format has now changed completely. We now want to include products which may not lead to volume sales but will cater to the entire shopping basket of a family,” said Future Value Retail chief operations (East) Manish Agarwal.
Future Value Retail, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Future Group flagship Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, is a newlyformed company that owns the value formats – Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar.
As part of the expansion plan, Future Group will also enter into several newer markets in the East like Patna, Asansol, Agartala, Silchar, Deoghar, Bilaspur, Raniganj, Liluah and Gangtok. While the group already operates seven Big Bazaar stores in Kolkata, it plans to add another seven by October.
“We’ve already acquired real estate for the new stores and they are under various stages of development. Once the proposed Big Bazaar expansion is complete, we will look at new opportunities for standalone Food Bazaar stores in the East,” said Mr Agarwal.

Source: http://retail-guru.com/big-bazaar-to-expand-in-east-to-open-18-new-stores-by-october-2010/