Guilt-free shopping?: Chen One to boast 200 more stores

50 franchises to open in Karachi, 30 in Lahore and 20 in Faisalabad.

FAISALABAD:

Following the success of its brand “Chen One” at the local and international level, the Chenab Group of Faisalabad has decided to open 200 franchises of the retail store across the country with an investment of Rs1 billion — aiming to tap the growing middle class of Pakistan.

The franchises will be named “Chenab Express”, according to the group’s Chairman Mian Latif who spoke to The Express Tribune.

The Chenab Group is eying to increase the spending propensity of the growing middle class of the country. Latif said that the group also wants to open these franchises as an alternate business strategy after most of their exports were affected by shipment delays  — a bottleneck that has irritated international buyers. He said the current energy crisis besetting the country was the major reason behind delay in shipments.

According to the Chenab Group chairman, industries were paying interest on loans for 365 days but factories were operating on an average of 150 days a year. “The alternative sources of energy are too expensive,” said Latif, adding that that made the industry uncompetitive in the international market. He said as China’s middle class is growing, labour in the neighbouring country is also becoming expensive. “This provides an opportunity to Pakistani exporters to capture the international market but due to energy crisis they are unable to tap it.”



Chen One is international fashion-oriented brand and products of the Chenab Express will include food items, home apparel products, pharmaceuticals, bakery items and a full departmental store that sells garments, the chairman revealed.

He said that in Pakistan the rise of a middle class is emerging rapidly and his group intends to capture this class of customers by opening franchises in every district of the country. He said that in Karachi 50 franchises will be opened while in Lahore and Faisalabad 30 and 20 franchises will be opened, respectively.

The group will face considerable challenges with their new hefty investment given that the government has suspended gas supplies to the industries of Faisalabad for the last two months and international shipments have been delayed causing heavy loss to exporters.

Latif said that Chen One’s annual sales amount to Rs2 billion and the group is estimating that Chenab Express will fetch around Rs3 to 4 billion — given the current growth rate of sales at 25% per cent annually.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2013.