Future Group buys convenience store chain Big Apple for Rs 62 crore

Kolkata: Future Group has acquired Delhi's convenience store chain Big Apple which operates 65 stores in the National Capital Region (NCR) for around Rs 62 crore in an all-cash deal. The group is likely to re-brand the Big
Apple stores into its KB's Fair Price stores - the group's neighbourhood store format - to consolidate its operations in the NCR, one of its largest market in the country. The country's largest retailer closed the deal through Future Ventures India LtdBSE -0.88 %, the investment arm of the group which builds and operates innovative and emerging businesses.

"The acquisition will help Future Group to significantly grow presence in the convenience store format in NCR where it already operates 100 KB's Fair Price neighborhood stores and have a ready operational and administrative infrastructure," a person close to the deal said, requesting anonymity.

Big Apple is owned by Express Retail Services Ltd, which sells groceries and food products for over six years. The Big Apple stores generate annual revenue of around Rs 120 crore and is a debt-free company.

Incidentally, Future group has recently transferred its 180-plus KB's Fair Price stores from Pantaloon Retail India to Future Consumer Enterprises, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Future Ventures. While Express Retail Services will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Future Ventures, there are possibilities that it might be later merged into Future Consumer Enterprises to consolidate the convenience store operations under a single holding company.

Big Apple has direct tie-up with farmers in Haryana, Rajasthan, HP and Uttar Pradesh, which provides consumers with uninterrupted and qualitative product supply, according to the company website.

Retailers like Future Group, Lifestyle, Godrej, MegaMart, Fabindia offering 0% EMI to attract customers

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Retailers are countering the economic slowdown by offering interest-free equated monthly instalment (EMI) schemes, which they say are not only helping them pull customers into stores but also encouraging shoppers to buy higher value products. Such EMI-based sales promotions have staged a big comeback at a time near double-digit inflation has put a heavy strain on household budgets, making people defer non-urgent and big-ticket purchases even on credit because of hardening interest rates. But transactions carrying zero percent financing have grown more than 50% over the past year, say retailers and bankers. From apparel sellers such as Arvind Brand's MegaMart and Fabindia to multi-product retailers such as Future Group, Lifestyle and Godrej, firms reckon that zero-interest EMI options are the most effective discounts they can offer. While retailers end up bearing the interest for the duration of the credit extended, they see it as an acceptable cost of keeping the sales register ticking during the downturn. "EMI schemes are removing inhibitions and inducing consumers to splurge on big-ticket items," says Himanshu Chakrawarti, chief executive of Essar Group's Mobile Store, the country's largest mobile phone retailer. He says consumers going for six-month EMIs are buying handsets priced twice than they had initially planned and those going for nine-month to 12-month schemes are tripling their size of transaction. Almost a third of the high-end mobile phones, such as the iPhone and the latest models of Blackberry and Android-based phones, sold at the Mobile Store are paid for through instalments. The company, which rolled out EMI schemes at its 1,200 stores across the country over the past couple of months, recently became India's largest seller of BlackBerry smartphones. Instant approval of loans and minimal documentation help speed up EMI-based transactions, says Parag Rao, senior executive VP, HDFC Bank. He says the bank has seen a more than 100% spurt in this loan category over the past year with an average transaction of 30,000. "Since the amounts are much smaller compared to home or car loan, the EMIs don't pinch much," he says.