Hyderabad: Kishore Biyani''s Future Group''s stalwart Pantaloon Retail has decided to enhance its basket of private label products marketed through its Big Bazaar hypermarket format.

Company sources indicate that Pantaloon already has a range of private label products on the shelves of its hypermarkets, across the apparel, food and electronics categories, which presently contributes around 12-14 per cent to its sales. The company is reportedly looking at expanding this to 25 per cent over a two-year period.

According to the source, the company crossed the critical mass of 45-50 a few months back, which has further opened up the opportunity for private labels, as the number is better capable of supporting a certain amount of manufacturing to ensure cost competitiveness.

Future Group''s Big Bazaar network presently has 70 stores across major cities, of which 22 are in the South. According to reports, the portfolio of products in the food, electronics, apparel and cosmetics segments would most likely be expanded, through the outsourcing model as opposed to in-sourcing manufacturing lines, which is where a large part of the private labels would feature.

Pantaloon Retail reportedly estimates enough room for 15-20 hypermarkets in each city. Chennai presently has a lone store, and would be joined by another within a few months.