Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
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Vicki Parris
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With a view to penetrate further into the India market, Flight Shop, part of Flight Centre Travel Group, has aggressive plans to expand pan India by opening 30 to 40 stores by 2017. Phase I of their expansion plan will be in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. Phase II would include Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur. Presently, the company has 12 stores in three cities – Delhi NCR (six stores), Mumbai (four stores) and Pune (two stores). Speaking more on the expansion, Vicki Parris, national brand leader, Flight Shop stated, “We are looking to scale-up rapidly by increasing our geographical spread through 30-40 new stores in three years’ time. At the same time, we will aim to increase the density of Flight Shop stores in cities where we are already present. We’ve earmarked an investment of Rs 70 crore for growth, of which we have already spent Rs 50 crore.” She revealed that the company is bringing a new retail concept to its stores. “The new model will have a customer driven strategy focused on an interactive consumer experience as opposed to a conventional travel agency. We have opened two flagship Flight Shop stores in Delhi and Mumbai based on the new concept,” she opined. Moreover, the company is also exploring various initiatives in the segment of lifestyle holidays like yachting, luxury camping, sand dune and secluded hideaway holidays.
As for their growth in the India market, Parris revealed, “We are currently about a Rs 100 crore business. We are planning to triple our store strength in the next three years. In tandem with that, we are aiming to triple our net worth as well. We are in the early stages in India. We’re already number two in India in the corporate space with Fcm. Travel retail is a young business and our market share is reflective of the youth of the industry. We believe India is an evolving market and the traveller is getting younger. The consumption patterns are also changing. The impetus is changing from what you want to see when you travel, to how you feel about it. The customer is looking to craft memories now rather than just tick off a list of places to see and therefore it changes the basket of what we offer.”
