BK Modi’s convergence to Spice up Hot Spot

THE Rs 2,000-crore BK Modi Group is on the threshold of a major brand convergence exercise for its new mobile retail venture, Hot Spot Retail Pvt Ltd and its cellular arm, Spice Telecom. Moves are afoot to bring the mobile retail venture under the group’s mother brand Spice. The BK Modi Group, which has been in the mobile telephony business for over a decade, markets its cellular services under the Spice brand. And now, it proposes to leverage on the strengths of the mother brand and market its ICE (information, communications & entertainment) products retail chain under the Spice Hot Spot banner. To spice up the brand convergence exercise, the group has roped in noted Delhi-based design consultancy firm Incubis. Confirming the developments, M-Corp Global’s (BK Modi Group’s flagship company) vice-chairman Dilip Modi told ET: “We’ve just roped in design consultancy firm Incubis to assist in transitioning our Hot Spot mobile chain to the Spice umbrella brand. The objective is to gently bring the personality of our Hot Spot mobile stores within the ambit of our existing Spice mother brand and evolve a definite congruence in their values. There’s already an obvious synergy with our Spice mobile brand, in that, our new ICE retail venture, Hot Spot Retail, is into telecom retailing.” The M-Corp Global vice-chairman, however, declined to share details of the Incubis contract. Be that as it may, it’s no secret that Hot Spot Retail happens to be one of Dilip Modi’s pet projects, given that it is promoted by his own investment firm, India TeleVentures. The decision to rope in Incubis, which Mr Modi terms as “one of the smartest design consultants in the scene” is noteworthy. After all, it’s well known that Incubis hit big time when it designed the trendy Barista Coffee outlets, the Kaya Skin Clinics for Marico Industries, and more recently, the Ginger brand of budget hotels for the Tatas. It also designed the swanky `Mobile Store’ for Essar-Virgin recently but, had an early taste of telecom retail through client Bharti-Siemens, nearly a decade ago. Incubis’ director (retail design) Amit Gulati told ET: “Our role is to express the convergence of IT and mobile telephony through the physicality of the stores. The idea is to re-invent the brand and streamline implementation through the rollout of the stores. We will be ready with the concept of the retail identity within the next 6-8 weeks and crystallise the DNA of the brand.” Elaborating, he said “the stores will have a duality in that the entity will amalgamate the service aspect of telecom with handset components”. Commenting on the emerging telecoms retail trend, brand consultant Harish Bijoor told ET: “With 6 to 7 million additional mobile phone connections per month, the market is at an amorphous growth phase. But our first-gen telecom movement has few examples in common with other global markets. Telecom retail players need to realise the need for amoebic branding, combine the penetration of modern retail and yet retain grassroots’ contact through daily customer interaction.” The latest brand convergence comes at a time when Hot Spot Retail decided to pump in a cool $100 million (Rs 450 crore) to set up nearly 500-odd Spice Hot Spot retail outlets in the first flush.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes