Indo Rama Retail Holdings Pvt. Ltd., the retail arm of the promoter of Indo Rama Synthetics India, has entered the market of South India for the first time with the launching of a franchised store of Office1Superstore, a US brand for retailing stationery and furniture, in Chennai and Puducherry. Indo Rama Retail is the exclusive master franchisee of the US brand and has appointed Vintech Business Solution as the franchisee for Chennai and Retail Office Architect as its Regional Franchisee for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The company has already signed up franchisees for Chandigarh, Manesar and Bangalore. So far Office1Superstore has 10 retail outlets, three of them are company-owned and rest franchised. Office1Superstore, the one-stop shop for stationery requirement, stocks 25-30 per cent private label besides 70-75 per cent of well-known brands. Office1Superstore is planning aggressive pan-India expansion through franchise route. Ashok Srivastava, COO of Indo Rama Retail, informs Rs.15-35 lakh is required to set up a franchised store having an area of 500- 1000 sq. ft. The parameters for a prospective franchisee are experience in distribution, wholesaling, trading and product business; the commitment for long-term association; young pass outs with MBA, having a mindset for entrepreneurship; and IT oriented persons. Indo Rama Retail is also in talks with the developers of SEZ to set up retail outlets in these zones. These outlets will be franchisee operated, reveals Srivastava.
