"We have realized that the Indian market is very different from the global market, so we have indigenized our store model over the last 12 to 18 months. The new formats would be smaller, focusing only on a few categories rather than being large generalist stores that stock all products," said a company spokesperson.
He added, "We understand that everybody does not need everything." Lo cated in Bangalore's IT hub of Electronics City, the new store will have 50,000 sqft of sales area, half the size of its previous store formats, and stock only 8,000 to 10,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) instead of 18,000 SKUs. The store will only focus on three key consumer categories -- four and five star hotels, small traders with revenues between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh a month, and large IT corporate offices.
"The whole service basket and assortment of products has been focused to these set of people. For example, the large corporate offices would require stationery, cleaning solutions, gifting items, and catering requirements, while the small traders would have a high sachet product requirement," said the company spokesperson.
He added that unlike a generalist store, this multi-specialist store would have less focus on items such as textiles, shoes, luggage, and crockery among others. The company has identified around seven specific consumer profiles, which will be targeted through its future rollout of multi-specialist stores. While Metro Cash & Carry India has been experimenting with smaller sized store formats in the northern markets of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, and Chandigarh, the stores have primarily conformed to the generalist format, as the cities aren't considered to be mature markets.
