Rajesh Exports revamps expansion plans

Bengaluru based Rajesh Exports is planning to revamp its retail brand strategy for gold and diamond jewellery brands to cater to different buyer segments. After converting its ‘Laabh’ branded stores into its more popular ‘Shubh’ brand of retail stores, the company is again planning to re-launch the Laabh brand in a few months under the franchise model. The company entered the domestic retail business in 2007 and started with two retail brands; Shubh for gold jewellery and Laabh for diamond jewellery. Laabh was launched to cater to diamond buyers but the stores also stocked gold and other mainline jewellery. With branded jewellery seeing a lot of growth in recent times, the re-launch of Laabh chain may find popularity among the customers. The company is also looking at tuning its retail expansion strategy for its upcoming stores. So far the company has set up its own stores in some places and took up the franchise model for others. But all the stores to be launched from now onwards would be run through the franchisee network. The company is planning to set up nearly 450 to 500 Shubh gold jewellery stores and 150-200 Laabh exclusive diamond boutiques in the next five years. Apart from the metro cities, the company will concentrate on the fast growing tier II cities for its next level of expansion.