One of India’s leading textile and apparel company SKNL has extended its presence in multiple product categories from Fabrics to Apparels and Home Textiles.Today, the group has come a long way in achieving a turnover of Rs. 17 billion. Belmonte – one of the finest brand offered by SKNL has become very popular in the mid premium segment that offers fabrics as well as garments under one roof. Mr. Naveen Arora, General manager Business Development Retail of Belmonte shared his thoughts and views with Franchise Mart on Belmonte’s aspirations and expansion plans.

FM: Share with us the origin, growth and success of Your Company. When, where and how did it originate?

NA: Belmonte is a national menswear brand from the stable of S.kumars Nationwide limited. Belmonte offers ready to wear garments and fabrics for the Mid-premium segment. Belmonte was officially launched in November 2006 and is growing at the rate of 100 percent per annum.

FM: How many store formats do you have?

NA: The mono brand Belmonte stores are in the size of 300, 500sqft, 800sqft and 1000 sqft. with options of garments only and garments plus fabrics also.

FM: What is the eligibility criteria for taking a franchise of your company?

NA: The franchisee needs to meet following pre-requisites:- Location and area – Retail space of 500 to 1000sq.ft. in existing or emerging markets.- Frontage area should be between 14ft and 18ft.- Store preferred to be located on ground floor or ground floor plus Mezzanine in malls Ground floor in Hi-Streets. – Investment : Rs 9lacs to Rs16lacs.- Attitude – Personal involvement in the retail business- The ambition to grow be a part of Belmonte retail success story.- willingness to work on creating walk ins , local awareness activities , interest in customer service – Willingness to look for long term benefits rather than short term gains.

FM: How many units do you have across India of which how many are franchised?

NA: Presently there are 74 Belmonte Exclusive Brand stores, out of which 33 are company managed and 42 are franchised.

FM: What’s the Franchisee Support system you offer?

NA: – Architectural support for standardized store design and visual merchandising.- Periodic training modules to better equip the staff.- Strong backup for advertising and promotion – press, TV, Hoardings, carry bags and store opening advt. in leading newspaper.- IT support and subsidiary activities.- Support by Integrated supply chain management comprising of Regional distribution centers to fine-tune the flow of stock.- Stock correction – 10% bi-annually. – Experienced and dedicated Retail team support functions like retail planning, Visual Merchandising, Store projects and Retail activity co-ordination.

FM: How many stores have you launched in the last 3 months?

NA: We have launched 15 Belmonte Franchise EBOs in last three months.

FM: What are the company’s future plans for franchise expansion?

NA: Belmonte has the target of opening 56 More EBOs by the end of FY 2009-2010 to take the tally to125.

FM: What challenges are faced by a franchisee in this business?

NA: The challenges generally faced by franchisees are understanding the Trends/fashion part of the business, visual merchandising, Stock merchandising, customer service and levels of personal involvement.

FM: Lastly what is the USP of your Franchise offer?

NA: The potential of the business proposition is lucrative and so notwithstanding the low investments.