Mumbai, February 16 Tata Group's retail firm, Trent, is looking to expand further into tier 3 and tier 4 cities, amid a macro market that is expected to be much more attractive in the coming years, a top company executive said on Monday.
He also said that urban demand seems to be gradually returning after the GST 2.0 reforms, but that smaller, discretionary purchases may not benefit in the long term due to the changes.
"We are opening a lot more stores in tier-3 and tier-4 cities now, as opposed to what we used to do in the past. What we are seeing is that young customers in those markets are very aware of current trends," Trent Managing Director P Venkatesalu told reporters on the sidelines of the Retail Leadership Summit 2026 here.
He said that customers in these smaller cities and towns currently don't have the same level of sophistication as customers in metro areas, but this may change over the next 2-3 years.
"We believe that customers will be more interested," he said.
The macro markets will be much more attractive in the years ahead, Venkatesalu said, adding, "but we are taking the same approach to metros. If you go back five years, in terms of density and opening more presence in individual micro-markets, we are doing the same thing in tier-3 and tier-4 markets now," he stated.
"A significant portion of our stores, perhaps about two-thirds, that we are increasingly opening, are in new towns, new cities, and new micro-markets around the periphery of cities. So, clearly, new micro-markets are a key focus for us," Venkatesalu said.
According to him, after the implementation of GST on September 21st, there was a period when customers prioritized large-ticket items such as electronics and travel.
"However, we believe that smaller, discretionary purchases will also benefit from the changes in the medium term," he said.
"As of today, we have seen a shift in focus from high-ticket categories such as electronics and automobiles, which experienced significant GST reductions. We believe that this shift in focus has taken away attention from smaller, discretionary purchases," he said.
Having said that, the direction of GST is completely in the interest of consumers, and I believe that these changes will gradually improve consumption in the months and quarters ahead," he added.