Shoppers Stop aims 10% sales from its omni channel in 3 years, expects income to double as channel matures

New Delhi: Shoppers Stop is aiming to corner 10 percent of its sales from online channel in the next three years as K Raheja group retail chain is betting big on its omni-channel system. Shoppers Stop, in which US-based online retail giant Amazon had picked up 5 percent stake last year, is expecting contribution from online will get doubled every year as channel matures. Besides, the company is expecting to be debt-free this fiscal and has plans to add more stores in its network by going to tier II cities such as Guwahati, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Calicut and Nashik. “This year, we would cross one percent of overall sales (online Omni) and then would continue to double every year for the next three years,” Shoppers Stop Customer Care Associate & Managing Director Govind Shrikhande told PTI.  He further added: “In next three years, we would hit 10 percent on our share would be online.“The company has witnessed around 5 million visitors to its site in last fiscal. [caption id=“attachment_4078913” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Govind Shrikhande, Managing Director, Shoppers Stop. Pic Courtesy: LinkedIn[/caption] Over its association with Amazon, Shrikhande said: “As far as Amazon is concerned, its invest arm has invested Rs 179 crore in January and our working towards building the catalogue has already started. The whole momentum should be bigger in quarter 2 and quarter 3 as we get more and more brands on Amazon”. On being asked whether there is any probablity of second round of investment by Amazon in Shopper Stop, he said: “Nothing has been planned or discussed on that horizon. There is no discussion about it right now”. Shoppers Stop, which had registered a consolidated total income of Rs 3,713.25 for financial year 2017-18, is expecting a growth of 7.5 per cent and above. “Next year, we are targeting 7.5 per cent and above growth. The first quarter would be slow but Q2 onwards the growth would start ramping up and we believe that all operational parameters should improve,” he said. Besides, the company is also trying to be debt-free by the end of next financial year. “If you look at our current debt, we are at Rs 87 crore but net debt is about Rs 67 crore,” Srikhande said. The company has exited from its non-core business by selling Hypercity, Timezone and duty-free airport retail joint venture NGIPL and is focusing on core department store business and omni-channel strategy.