Godrej Nature's Basket to invest over ₹100 cr to expand in West, South India.

Godrej Nature’s Basket (GNB) plans to invest over ₹100 crore for transforming and doubling its stores in West and South India. The 12-year-old retail company, which acquired grocery start-up EkStop, hopes its omni-channel strategy will lead to profitability by 2020, by when it would target a turnover of ₹1,000 crore.

Speaking to Businessline, Avani Davda, Managing Director, Godrej Nature’s Basket, said, “We would easily be spending more than ₹100 crore for making investments in areas like supply chain, sourcing, people and technology since we have a strategic transformation strategy known as GNB Refresh 2020. There are plans to also double the number of stores by 2020 during which time we also should turn profitable in the retail business.’’

Godrej Nature’s Basket is a subsidiary of Godrej Industries and competes in gourmet retailing with formats like FoodHall (Future Group) and Gourmet West (Tata Group company, Trent).

Rather than entering new markets in the North and East, the retail chain is expanding existing markets in the South and West with 70 stores planned by 2020. Its presence across the five metro markets will be enhanced, from the current strength of 35 stores across cities like Mumbai and Bangalore.

In fact, in cities like Mumbai, despite the high cost of real estate, Nature’s Basket intends to expandto new localities in South Mumbai and even having a hub and spoke model with smaller stores in residential complexes.

Besides, it will emphasise on its private labels like Healthy Alternatives and Nature’s Best. “We have five private labels which contribute about 15 per cent of our turnover and intend taking it up to 25 per cent by 2020. There are plans to have new categories like fresh ground atta, grains and spices in our private labels going forward,’’ she added.

HBL