Fobaz launches retail chain in India

NEW DELHI: FoBaz Foto Bazaar (India) Pvt. Ltd., India's leading photo portal, first-of-its-kind company in India to provide a comprehensive set of photo services that include online storage, sharing, photo print delivery, photo gift creation, etc., recently launched its first set of stores in Delhi.

With this, FoBaz kicked off the launch of its retail chain expansion plans in India. FoBaz products and services, which so far were available only online through its e-portal, will now be available at retail also.

As part of the business strategy, FoBaz will now have a mass reach to its customers and the customers will have greater access to FoBaz products and services. Customers will not only be able to access FoBaz's unique set of products and services at various retail stores across the country, they will also be able to order these online and take delivery of the products at any of the company's stores. With this the company is on track to deliver on its strategic goal "from anywhere.. to anywhere".

Virender Ahluwalia, MD and CEO, FoBaz Foto Bazaar (India) Pvt. Ltd. said: "The world of photography has witnessed a makeover with the advent of digital cameras and the world of traditional photography is rapidly shrinking. Not only is the retail landscape in India changing, the traditional photo retailer/studio is struggling to keep up with the new technologies. The vision of FoBaz is to transform the way pictures are looked at in India by making them more personalized."

At the FoBaz stores, we will deliver to our customers a new unique buying experience for photo and gift products and services. In doing so, we provide the ultimate choice and convenience to the Indian consumer as to how their memories and photos are maintained, viewed and delivered, he added.

Tarun Kapoor, MD, Kapoor Digital Labs and a FoBaz franchisee at Lodhi Colony, New Delhi, said: "We now stand on a platform where we can reap the benefits of digital photography market in India. In this era of analog mode of photography becoming extinct, we need to understand that customer is now demanding quality digital imaging solutions and we should be ready for it. With Fobaz, we can deliver to our customers more than just prints."

The company's photo e-portal, set up last year, delivers a host of services which have revolutionized the way India looks at pictures. With the launch of the first three stores in Delhi, Ahluwalia announced the launch of 50 more stores across India soon. He also mentioned a tie up with a Mumbai-based company to set up more than 100 FoBaz stores in Western India in the next couple of months. The company is on track to have 150 plus stores by the end of the year.

P C Dhawan of Dhawan Digital Lab, another FoBaz franchisee said, "Analog market is dying and will be dead soon. Digital photography will change proportions in India as has happened in Europe and U.S. FoBaz has made amazing personalized products possible through the use of new digital imaging technologies. Producing and ordering of FoBaz photo products online or at retail using FoBaz software, and technologies is very convenient and fast."

Besides online storage and sharing, FoBaz retail store will also be offering value added services like printing of "Photo Albums in book form" (i.e. Photo Book), delivering soft copy of images for storing, sharing and photo printing, etc.

Other unique services of FoBaz include customization of a photograph, option of adding personalized messages with the photograph and most importantly enabling photographs to be used on gifts like personalized greeting cards, calendars, coffee mugs, T-shirts etc.

Talking about the retail advantage, Ahluwalia said, "We have provided online software and trained our retail partners to provide the ultimate convenience to our customer. The customer can order customized products and have a look at it online right at the retail store. The production is done at the centralised production unit at Fobaz, so as to maintain a uniform quality nationwide."

The online technology that makes all this possible was developed and has been used by millions of customers in the USA for the past several years. With the vision to provide choice of "from anywhere - to anywhere", to the end customer, FoBaz is optimistic about introduction of retail concept and its future in Indian market.

CIOL Bureau