Nitori looks to New Delhi following Mumbai launch, plans omni-channel expansion

Japanese homeware, home textile, and furniture retailer Nitori Holdings Co plans to continue to expand in India and launch 300 stores in the country in the coming decade. The business has its sights set on New Delhi for its next store launch. 

“Within 10 years we are planning to open 300 stores in India,” said Nitori Holdings Co’s executive vice president in charge of overseas businesses Masanori Takeda, India Retailing reported. “We will first cover the Mumbai region. The strategy is to have a big store in the centre and several small stores dedicated to home fashion spread across. The small stores will be about 60% the size of this store. So, if the customer wants to buy furniture they can visit the large store and if they just want to buy home fashion products, they can visit the nearest small store.”

The business plans to begin its e-commerce operations in India by shipping from its distribution centre in Navi Mumbai. As it expands its online operations in the country, Nitori will open more distribution centres to bolster its network and the business is also in discussions to sell its products on a number of multi-brand e-commerce platforms. 

“We plan to follow the same pattern in other cities which we go to including Delhi, which is where we plan to open next because Delhi weather is similar to that of Japan,” said Takeda. “It’s challenging but we are thinking about it.”