Franchise In India,Franchise News India,Italian fashion major United Colors of Benetton is weighing the option of opening fully-owned stores in India in the next two to three years. Before that, it is seeking clarity on the foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in India.

India is one of the top five markets for the company. Benetton claims that it has sold around 10.7 million units this year so far. At present, the company operates in the franchise format in India.

“We are trying to understand what will be the right model for us. We are looking for the evolution into owning fully owned stores in India. If we intend to open (own) stores, it will be by 2017 or 2018,” said Michel Lhoste, international business director, Benetton Group, who has been appointed interim chief executive officer for Benetton India.

The recent changes in India’s FDI policy state that an entity which gets permission to undertake single brand retail will be allowed to undertake e-commerce activities as well.

“Currently, we are studying all the options including opening our own website and selling online,” added Lhoste.

At present, Benetton has around 791 franchise-owned stores in India and plans to open 20 more by March 2016. It is slowing down the process to revamp its existing chain of stores by adding more technology to make them omni-channel.



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