The MobileStore enters consumer durable and IT retail business

Mumbai: In a major move aimed at penetrating the Rs 80,000 crore strong consumer durables and IT (CDIT) market, The MobileStore (TMS), part of the Essar Group, announced the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of Impact Retail's CDIT operations, currently run under the brand name X-Cite.
With the completion of this acquisition, TMS would offer end-to-end CDIT products and services to Indian consumers. TMS will take over all the seven stores of X-Cite, spanning 95,000sq ft of retail space, covering key cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.

TMS thereby completes its product offering to the consumer with presence in telecom, consumer durables and IT retail industry. TMS is looking at leveraging its existing scale of operations that spans 1300 stores across 200 cities to tap the CDIT market potential. TMS's strategy is to penetrate the CDIT market on four key legs: providing a superior in-store customer service, offering differentiated service products, better consumer offers and leveraging existing customer base.

Commenting on the initiative, Rajiv Agarwal, CEO and Director, The MobileStore said, "This acquisition represents a major milestone in our journey. Our intention is to quickly jump start and launch the retail venture into the consumer durable and IT business and provide a more comprehensive offering to our customers. Further we wanted a player who has a good understanding of the CDIT business and X-Cite has emerged as a serious player. Our plan is to continue the business from the current 7 stores and plug in gaps in key markets like Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai.”

These stores will be re-branded and will offer products across segments like TV & audio, cameras & camcorders, home & kitchen appliances, mobiles, personal care and computers. Besides these products the stores will also offer advice on buying, financing options, delivery, installation, demonstration, extended-warranty & after sales services.

Srikant Gokhale, CEO, Impact Retail, on the occasion said, “We are excited about now being a part of TMS, which is best poised to leverage and take our business to the next stage with its scale of operation and its strength of consumer marketing.”