JOIN USTurkish premium bath and sanitaryware brand VitrA — part of the Eczacibasi Group — is planning to take its number of points of sales in India to around 100 in the next six months, from the current 75.
VitrA’s expansion strategy also involves improving the display quality at its existing dealerships, and locating more markets for future growth.
“VitrA views India as a strategic market, along with France, Germany, the UK, Russia, and the Gulf. We have established our own liasoning office here for marketing and brand promotion,” VitrA Country Manager Serhan Ates Yagiz told Deccan Herald, implying that the office’s primary priority is to draw potential customers in the form of professionals and architects as part of a B2B push.
Where B2C is concerned, the company works under a strong distribution channel with 10 distributors, who import VitrA’s wares and pass them on to dealers. “Around four years ago, we began modestly, spending time to understand the market, its dynamics, what products may have demand here, and so on. We had only one distributor then. But with a larger, spread-out distribution channel, we are assured of better product availability, logistics, service and communication in the market,” Yagiz said.
Many dealer formats
As part of its dealership spread, VitrA is seeking favourable locations to set up outlets in shop-in-shop, shop corner, and display store format, among others. These are likely to come up in metros, and even tier-II cities. “Earlier, only in the metros were people willing to invest in expensive sanitaryware, but now demand has sprouted in even in small towns. But we need to find the right dealers who are capable of displaying our wares the right way,” Yagiz said.
The company imports its entire range of sanitaryware — water closets, bathroom fittings, vanities, conceal systems and faucets — from Turkey, from where it is also exported to another 74 countries. The overall sanitaryware market in India stands at around €350 million, of which 40 per cent is held by the unorganised sector.