Canon India in big retail push, eyes 300 stores by 2015

Electronics major Canon India plans to expand its retail stores to 300 by 2015 as it looks to double the revenues from the vertical to over Rs. 340 crore in the next three years.

The company, which currently has 100 'Canon Image Square' stores in around 50 towns across the country, plans to add more in order to display its entire camera product range.

"We are planning to create 300 stores in three year's time. We can go to 100 more towns during this period," Canon India Executive Vice President Alok Bharadwaj told PTI.

The company, which expects the vertical to clock Rs. 172 crore in 2013, aims to double the revenues in the next three years.

"We expect that in next three years revenues from this vertical would double and clock around Rs. 340 crore," Bharadwaj said.

Canon, which Tuesday launched 12 new camera models in the Indian market, is eyeing a turnover of Rs. 2,125 crore in the current year, from Rs. 1,850 crore in 2012.

"This year with new initiatives, we should be able to increase market share in both DSLR and compact camera categories by 5 per cent each," Bharadwaj added.

Currently, Canon has a market share of 40 percent in the DSLR category and 20 percent market share in digital compact camera vertical, he added.

In order to achieve the desired results, the company would be spending Rs. 100 crore on marketing initiatives in 2013, Bharadwaj said.

Meanwhile, the company Tuesday expanded its Wi-Fi enabled compact digital camera range with the launch of five more models, taking the total number of models to nine.

"With the launch of these models, almost 40 percent of our compact digital camera range has become wi-fi enabled.

We expect one-third of total compact digital camera business to now come from wi-fi models," Bharadwaj said.

The company also launched two new DSLR and two new camera models to shoot movies.

"We sold 24 cinema cameras last year. This year we are confident to sell 100 cameras," Bharadwaj said.