V-Mart Retail sees recovery in small ticket customer footfalls

Anand Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer of V-Mart Retail has observed a significant uptick in sales over the last 10-15 days following a post-festive lull. The improvement could be due to the onset of winter in North India, he noted in a chat with CNBC-TV18. Agarwal is confident that the worst is likely behind.

Addressing the turmoil in the retail sector over the past few years, Agarwal noted a positive trend with consumption slowly making a comeback. Footfalls of smaller ticket-size customers are increasing, indicating a revival in buying in the category, he said.

V-Mart Retail, a Gurugram-based chain of small-size hypermarkets, has strategically expanded its footprint through two acquisitions in the last two years. The acquisitions of Unlimited in South India and LimeRoad have allowed the company to consolidate and move forward. Agarwal highlighted the success of the Unlimited chain in South India, where they have opened 14-15 stores in the last two years. These stores, although branded as Unlimited, follow the V-Mart product and pricing strategy.

The company aims to replace underperforming older stores with smaller-sized V-Mart stores in tier two and tier three towns for higher chances of success.

Agarwal sees the tough competition in the retail space, especially from organised players in tier-one metros and tier-two towns, as an opportunity to expand the market size.

V-Mart Retail aims to differentiate itself by pricing products slightly lower than competitors and targeting a different customer segment—focusing on young families, rural youth, and the lower-middle-class, he noted.

As part of the growth strategy the company plans to close older Unlimited stores and set up newer, strategically positioned V-Mart stores that can improve footfalls.

In an interview in November, Agarwal talked about expanding the footprint by opening 50 to 60 stores within the current year..

V-Mart shares have lost over 26% year-to-date after nearly 19% gains in the last month. The market capitalisation of the company is ₹4,113 crore.