Aditya Vision looks to expand retail network in eastern markets

Bihar-based electronics retailer Aditya Vision plans to expand its retail footprints to neighbouring markets of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Eastern UP and Assam in the next two years, a top company official said.

The company which as part of its core business strategy focuses only on smaller tier II & III cities is being closely watched by investors on stock exchanges, as its shares witnessed a multi-fold jump on BSE in the pandemic-hit FY21 and also during the second wave of the deadly infection in Q1 of FY22.

Shares of the company during July 8, 2020, to July 9, 2021, have jumped from Rs 20.60 to an all-time high of Rs 790.25 (on Friday). The company presently operates around 75 stores in Bihar.

''In this fiscal year, we are planning to open 12 to 15 stores in Jharkhand and year after that we plan to target Eastern UP, West Bengal and Assam,'' Aditya Vision MD Yashovardhan Sinha told PTI.

Aditya Vision's revenue from operation in FY2020-21 ending March was down 5.9 per cent at Rs 906.88 crore against Rs 963.71 crore in FY20.

''While expanding, we would focus on small places. As in West Bengal, the company would avoid metro city of Kolkata as per our business strategy. We would focus on places like Asansol, Chittaranjan, Siliguri, Gorakhpur etc,'' he added.

According to him, small-towns represent hosts of aspirations and customers here are aware of the latest range of appliances and durables.

Moreover, the operating cost of stores in these small towns is two-three times lesser, which help the company, to operate with better margins in electronic retail, which has become competitive now.

Now several electronic retailers such as Reliance Retail etc are venturing into smaller towns.

When asked about the growth prospects of the company in FY22 after-sales being hit in Q1 due to the second wave of the pandemic, Sinha said it has been impacting the top-line of the company as stores were closed.

''As we went into this financial year, our target for sales growth was 50 per cent in view of pent up demand for Covid-marred last year but as we entered this fiscal, the second wave of coronavirus infection hit the country and sales were affected badly due to closures/ restrictions.

''However, our team is working hard to regain the lost sales but growth will depend on covid restrictions and its behaviour in the rest of the year," he added.

Aditya Vision has adopted an omnichannel strategy during the pandemic and is encouraging its customers to purchase online, with doorstep delivery after restrictions were imposed when the second wave hit.

''This has worked. The month of May, when the sale of compressor-based cooling products is at its peak, we have done an average of Rs 1 crore daily business despite being our stores closed on account of Covid-related restrictions,'' he said, adding in FY22, it is targeting 10 per cent of sales from the online sales channel.

Aditya Vision is focusing on its online sales with fast delivery and provision of change/replacement of product from the nearby store.

The company, which has a presence in almost every district of Bihar retails nearly 10,000 products ranging from home appliances, LED TV, sound to the mobile phone, laptops etc. Aditya Vision was set up in 1999 and was listed on BSE in 2016, he added.

As per the strategy, the company suggests its customers contact it directly at stores, for any service request or performance-related issue of any product sold by it.

According to Sinha, he does not want his customer from smaller towns to get hassled by the nitty-gritty of customer care and long waiting IVR (Interactive voice response).

Besides, the company also rewards its customers over the purchase made by them through its loyalty programmes and special prizes.

''Last year, despite a pandemic, hit year, we did not go back from our promises and distributed more than 500 motorbikes and 75 cars through lucky draws,'' he said adding Aditya Vision is conducting such draws for the last 5-6 years.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)