Saturday, November 04, 2006

Mothercare expansion may exceed targets

The Economic Times writes on how UK based Mothercare brand was founded in the 1960s and has come to be known as trusted and reputable. The company is now in 36 countries and is keen to push further into the Indian retail market with its tie up with Shoppers’ Stop. In the UK, growth has been barely 1.5-2%, while in international markets the company is growing at a rate of 28%.

In an interview with The Economic Times, Ben Gordon, Global CEO of Mothercare, said that the main drivers for the company are the Middle East, Russia and Greece. India and Indonesia feature as probable growth markets after the current ones. Products in Indian Mothercare stores were priced lower than in the UK but now they are priced at a similar value.

The company currently has 8 stores in the past five months that it has been in India and although it had origianally planned 40 stores in five years; Mothercare is keen on opening up to 100 stores. At present, there are 4 Mothercare stores in Mumbai and one store each in Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

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