Hafele To Expand Via Franchise Stores In India

Hafele, a provider of comprehensive hardware technology solutions, including furniture fittings and architectural hardware, has launched its concept studio in Delhi. The company has decided to take the franchise route in India (JB Gupta is its franchise partner in Delhi) and plans to open up to 20 stores every year. Hafele already runs 17 such stores.

Jurgen Wolf, MD, Hafele, says, “We plan to grow to a Rs.1,500-crore company in the next three years.”

The current fiscal (Hafele operates on a Jan-Dec year) should see the company closing at Rs.100 crore. “Even if we go slow and open only 20 stores a year, we are okay with it, because we are then confident of quality and service,” Wolf says.

For a big studio, the company looks for a space above 2,500 sq.ft, while the size of a small studio ranges from 500 to 1,500 sq ft.

Having made its foray into the Indian market around seven years ago through the multi-brand dealership route, Hafele has aggressive plans for the future. It is currently looking at partners who are traditionally from the hardware industry, as the company feels it will take lesser time and effort to train them.

What the company attempts to create is an ‘experience zone’, where the consumer, as well as the architect and the interior designer, can have a look and feel experience of what Hafele's hardware, and the technology behind it, can do to ease life, modernise homes and smarten up kitchen spaces.

The company plans to slowly introduce its entire portfolio of offerings, including the bathroom and appliances. Currently, lighting makes up about 65 per cent of Hafele's turnover.

Realising that DIY (do it yourself) is not a big market in India, Hafele is opening up training centres in various cities to train consumers, as well as carpenters and architects, on the correct use of products.

Hafele also has three levels of certification and even recommends people who have been trained in installation, though Wolf proudly declares that the company's devices are “so simple and well thought out that even a 10-year-old can read the manual and install the fixtures”.

Tags:Hafele,hardware store franchise, fittings franchise, Jurgen Wolf, furniture franchise, Kitchen Franchise, lighting franchise, JB Gupta, interior franchise, studio franchise

Source:India Retailing Bureau, 20 Aug 2010

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