Canon on Friday announced its entry into the retail segment by opening its first ‘Canon Image Square' in neighbouring Noida and announced plans to open five more stores by this year-end.
“We plan to open 95 retail stores in 2011, 100 in 2012 and another 100 stores in 2013, taking the count to 300 stores in the next three years,” Canon India Senior Vice-President Alok Bharadwaj told the journalists here.
After Noida, Canon would open two more stores in the National Capital Region, including Delhi, while one store each would be opened in Nashik and Bangalore. And out of the 300 stores planned for the next three years, 100 would come up in six metro cities and 200 stores in Tier II and Tier III cities, Mr. Bharadwaj added. The company's Noida square was inaugurated by Canon's brand ambassador Sachin Tendulkar.
On the company's sales strategy, Canon India President and CEO Kensaku Konishi said: “The new retail store aims at providing our customers with a one-stop shop for their digital needs. The new format-stores also enforce Canon's increased focus on pene tration across the country.” “The new ‘Brand Retail Business Division' will contribute 20 per cent of our revenues. From the stores exclusively, the company is expecting revenues of Rs.100 crore in the first year, followed by revenues of Rs.300 crore in the second year and a revenue of Rs.600 crore in the third year,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.
Canon was planning to make an investment of about Rs.50 lakh a store and an investment of Rs.150 crore in the next three years towards the remaining stores, he said. “We will touch Rs.1,260 crore revenues in 2010, which will be a 50 per cent growth over 2009 when we had clocked Rs.840 crore,” Mr. Bharadwaj added.
