Shoppers Stop plans price hike to offset excise duty increase

Retail chain Shoppers Stop on Wednesday said it may increase prices of its products by 6-7 per cent from April this year in order to offset the 10 per cent excise duty imposed on branded apparel in the Budget 2011-12.

"We have been holding talks with the Centre to rollback the excise duty but so far nothing has happened. If it persists, we may increase the price (of products) by 6-7 per cent," Customer Care Associate and Managing Director Govind Shrikhande told reporters in Chennai.

Moreover, prices of the raw materials have also gone up, adding additional burden to the companies, he added.

Shrikhande, however, said players in the sector are hopeful that the government would respond positively to their demands. "We are confident they (government) would reduce the (excise) hike."

Commenting on the company's future plans, he said Shoppers Stop would invest Rs 450 crore over the next four years to add more stores. The company has eight Hypercity stores and 36 Shopper's Stop stores across the country, at present.

"We would take the number of Hypercity stores to 26 and Shopper's Stop stores to 60 in the next four years," he said.

Elaborating, he said the company would invest about Rs 200 crore for the Hypercity stores and Rs 250 crore for Shoppers Stop chain.

While the former are large format departmental stores, Shoppers Stop outlets are mainly into apparel and fashion.

He said in Chennai, the chain will open one store each of Hypercity and Shoppers Stop, the investments for which would be met through "internal accruals".