Future Group Eyes Online Sales Of Rs 1,000-Crore This Fiscal

Future Group is expecting online sales of around Rs 1,000 crore this financial year, its founder and Chief Executive Officer Kishore Biyani said.

The company is expanding its presence in the e-commerce space and plans to take its fashion discount retail chain Brand Factory online by March this year.

“Online for us should be Rs 1,000 crore business for us this financial year,” Biyani said.

However, he declined to provide online sales figures for the previous fiscal.

Presently, the company has online presence in the fashion segment with brands like FBB and Future Lifestyle.

Future Group, which had closed its online furniture store business FabFurnish, is preparing for a major push in the e-commerce space with Brand Factory.

“Our biggest launch in the online section is going to happen in March which is brandfactory.in,” Biyani said.

Over the recent changes in norms for e-commerce companies, Biyani said, “For us, this policy was always existing and there is nothing new in this policy. This policy existed. It’s more about clarification.”

Asked whether the policy would help the physical stores, he said, “I don't think so.”

In December, the government tightened the FDI norms for the e-commerce sector, disallowing online marketplaces with foreign investments from selling products of the companies where they hold stakes as also exclusive marketing arrangements.

On the impact of the changes on Future Group's e-commerce plans, he said, “We have our own journey of digital, which would keep happening, irrespective of policy changes or not.”

Biyani declined to comment when asked about reports of the U.S.-based online major Amazon looking to pick up around 9.5 percent stake in Future Retail.