After making a foray into the consumer durable IT and telecom (CDIT) products with its Reliance Digital format, Reliance Retail is looking to increase product sourcing from countries like China and Taiwan. Currently, the company is operating six such speciality digital stores, Reliance Digital and two exclusive apple products store, iStores. “As of now, we are sourcing from indian suppliers for LG, Samsung products. Some of the accessories like USB thumb drives, headsets and hieg definition cables are being imported right now,” said Ajay Baijal, president and chief executive (CDIT), Reliance Retail. As the volumes of sales increases and the digital format are launched across the nation, the company will be in a position to enhance the sourcing of its products from other nations. “We will be increasing our sourcing from China and Taiwan once we have a nationwide footprint and volumes are build,” he added. The format currently has 7,000 SKUs across product categories like consumer electronics, home appliances, information technology and telecom. The company intends to introduce a gamut of telecom and integrated services like music downloads in its stores. The telecom services holds immense potential as it is estimated around Rs 70,000 crore, growing annually at the rate of 20 per cent. The company expects revenues of $ 5 billion from digital format alone by 2012, an average of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore per square feet. Denying that it will expand through franchising model, Baijal added that it may launch private labels in this segment, once they build scale. It will, however, launch a smaller format within the existing format, which could also come up at the airports across four metros, which are currently being remodelled. “We are evaluating this option, provided we get good space and right pricing,” added Baijal. For its expansion, company is aiming at 150 stores in next three years across 70 cities, excluding 15-16 iStores in a period of 18 months.
