Imtiaz Super Store System Report

MIS REPORT ON IMTIAZ SUPER STORE Back in the early 1960s, Hakim Khan Abbasi opened up a general store in Karachi’s Bahadurabad neighbourhood. He named the shop after his son, Imtiaz and always focused on establishing strong relationships with customers. Since that time, the neighbourhood store has been expanding into a retail chain that operates multiple outlets throughout the port city. Imtiaz Abbasi, the son after whom the store has been named and who took the reins of the Company from his father after completing his higher education, met with BR Research.

The following transcript is based on key takeaways from that exchange. Given its persevering business success and rapid expansion, Imtiaz Super Stores have been the focus of many a case study by students of business administration. Successive reports on the Company have attempted to identify the unique selling proposition that has led to the success of this retail chain. But, Imtiaz Abbasi, the owner of the Company, contends that the strategy is simple: “Since the first day that I started working with my father, we have always laid the most stress on inculcating and developing strong relationships with our customers.

If you respect your patrons, consider their needs and priorities as sacrosanct and always persevere to surpass their expectations; your business will grow leaps and bounds,” he explained. Abbasi said that it is this consideration that led the neighbourhood store to introduce its first innovation back in 1971. At that time, the Imtiaz Store became the first retail outlet to process and package rice, wheat flour, pulses, spices and grains for its customers. “All others were selling straight out of gunny bags by the kilogram and customers had to take the products home and clean each of these themselves.

So, we brought convenience to grocery shopping by cleaning the products for them and also by packaging them in manageable quantities. A few years later, the store innovated again, this time offering home delivery to customers. “At first there was one employee who went around to the houses of customers in the neighbouring area. They would send over a shopping list and he would load the stuff on a trike and deliver it to their homes and offices,” explained Abbasi. By now that trike has been replaced by a number of delivery vans that collectively deliver to locations all over Karachi. Ensuring low prices

As the customer base for the retail store expanded, the senior management realised that backward integration would be vital to maintain the Company’s competitive edge in terms of prices and quality of products. Over the years, a rice mill and a flour mill have been added to the Company. “We also purchase the wheat, rice and all other fresh produce that is sold in our stores directly from farmers,” explained Abbasi. He added that this allows the Company to cut out as many as seven different middle men and hence ensure that the commissions to these brokers are skipped and retail prices remain low.

Imtiaz Super Stores also operates its own grindstones for turmeric, spices, corn flour and other edibles. Besides, all international products sold at the Company’s outlets are also imported directly instead of being routed through buying agents. Abbasi contended that besides ensuring low cost, this approach allows the Company to slice delivery times as well. Developing systems and structures Mushrooming demand for a convenient, well-stocked retail outlet which offers a wide variety of quality products at affordable prices has provided Imtiaz Super Stores with the opportunity to expand its portfolio to four stores all over Karachi.

However, this rapid growth could only be possible because the Company has put in place, the scalable structures, procedures and systems. Abbasi contended that his Company has the most sophisticated IT infrastructure among all retail chains in the country. He also highlighted that key functions such as finance and supply chain employ qualified professionals that use automated procedures for demand forecasting, cash flow management and other operational purposes. Abbasi highlighted that the Company employs about 1,500 individuals, many of whom are qualified youths.

He said that providing opportunities for people has always been a key consideration for this Company. The retail chain owner also stated that dozens of small businesses have been given a platform for growth by this retail chain. Growth and diversification Imtiaz Abbasi revealed that plans are afoot for the Company to acquire a second rice mill. He explained that the Company has been exporting rice over recent years to markets in the Far East, Middle East, Central Asia and Europe, in addition to domestic sales. He stated that demand for Pakistani rice is significant and climbing.

At the same time, as the Company drives ahead with its expansion plans within the country, the local appetite for rice that is catered by Imtiaz Store is also growing. For this reason, it has now become necessary for this firm to boost its internal capacity to process and package rice. Abbasi highlighted that providing superior quality rice and unmatched prices to customers has been among the most important selling propositions for this retail chain since its inception, so it is very important to maintain this edge in future.

In 2014, the Company will apply the lessons from its backward integration in rice and flour, to another key food item. Imtiaz Abbasi told BR Research that his Company will be launching its own edible oil mill next year. That mill will be operated in a similar manner as the rice and flour mills. Procurement of edible oil for that venture will also be managed by the firm itself. The Company launched its fourth outlet in Karachi just a few weeks back. Now the senior management is already hustling to launch yet another outlet; this time in Clifton.

Besides, the Company is considering various possible locations for establishing its inaugural stores in Lahore, Faisalabad and other cities of the country. Imtiaz Abbasi also revealed that the Company intends to tap the country’s stock markets to allow it to grow to the next level. “Imtiaz Super Stores will be listed within a couple of years,” said Abbasi. He urged that the countrymen should give preference to national companies both in terms of their purchases and their decisions to invest.