Fresh flow

New Delhi, March 13: Amul is entering the second phase of its retail outlet expansion drive, this time with individual franchise retailers.

In the first phase, Amul had gone in for institutional tieups. ?In the first phase, which has been successfully completed, we have around 40 Amul outlets in various institutes. In the second phase, we plan around 500 outlets with individual franchisees,? said R. S. Khanna, officer on special duty, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).

Amul is the flagship brand of this home grown co-operative set up. The approximate timeframe for opening 500 exclusive Amul outlets is around four to five years, he said.

At a time when most of those who want to latch on to the retail boom are eyeing foreign money and the big-mall formats, Amul is taking the brand to the desi local franchisees, who will like to go for the small outlets, which will stock all merchandise under one roof.

Apart from Amul, the Rs 3500-crore GCMMF also sells milk powder for infants and a dairy whitener under the brand name of Amulya. Other prime products in the Amul bandwagon are ice-cream, chocolates, mozarella cheese, butter, ghee and sweets.

In the first phase, Amul had opened its retail outlets in collaboration with educational institutes like IITs and railways, police and several companies, including Infosys.

For this phase of expansion, Amul is targeting the average domestic retailer, who, instead of opening a small neighbourhood shop, would like to be associated with a brand presence like Amul. The response has been good. ?We have got numerous enquiries for the project, and shortlisting will be done on the basis of the more viable ones,? said Khanna.

Meanwhile, after launching its polypack milk successfully in north India and Calcutta in the east, the company is carrying out marketing surveys in other cities in Bengal and also in south India.