Canon's retail revenue to touch Rs 1,500 crore in FY15

Canon India completed first anniversary of its brand shop Canon Image Square in the month of November, with this it has set a target to achieve Rs 1,500 crore revenue from retail business division by FY15 and to open 300 brand shops in the next 3 years. The company opened its first brand store in FY10 at Noida with its franchise partner Anil Radio House.

Speaking about the ambitious plan, Parveen Sahni, director, retail, Canon India said, "Till now, we have about 40 brand stores in 23 cities. Majority of them are located in B- and C-class cities. Moving ahead, we will open additional 10 stores next year, and take the count to 300 stores in 150 cities. Currently, the contributions made by these 40 brand stores are `80 crore. On an average per store located in metro cities is contributing Rs 35 lakh per month sales, and non metro stores contributing Rs 15 lakh per month. All these brand stores are based on franchise model, the company is taking cognizant approach while upgrading its channel partners to retailers. "We select these retailers against the formal invite based on partners' interest, which we do through review of partners' capabilities and upgrade them to the next level. Moreover, we are investing heavily on training of retail partners' staff, and we spend close to Rs 30 lakh on the creation of these stores."

All brand shops fall under separate retail vertical called retail business division. The team of this vertical is more specialized in store creations, and responsible for concept and marketing and launching of these stores. This division keeps aim to contribute 35-40% to the total revenue from this vertical.

In addition to investment, Canon supplies material to these retailers directly, and has installed its billing software in these stores, which help the company to monitor the stock movement. Normally brand shops cover an area of 800 to 1,300 sq ft. "Apart from brand shops, Canon was having 'Xperience Zones' which it later converted into image square. Now, we are also planning to convert our Gurgaon based 'Image Lounges' into image square," he added.