brick and mortar retailer shoppers stop is betting big on an omnichannel retail strategy a combination of physical stores and online site to grow its business and aims to be completely debtfree by the end of this fiscal the company which exited noncore businesses last year by selling its stakes in hypercity retail timezone entertainment pvt ltd and nuance group india pvt ltd its dutyfree airport retailing joint venture said it will make focused and substantial investments to embrace new technologies and infrastructure for the omnichannel we believe that these exits divestment will serve in giving us the eagle eye focus required to significantly scaleup our corebusinesses while also dramatically change our balance sheet and thereby increase shareholder value we aim to be completely debtfree by financial year 201819 shopper stop said in annual report for 201718 advt it further said this year the company shall focus on strengthening its ecommerce presence to build on the investments made over the last three years to drive more than 100 per cent sales growth and to create seamless experiences across online and offline in order to drive digitally influenced store sales as well as adoption of digital channels by store customers and on leveraging its partnership with amazon the company said it believes that more consumers across the country will discover shoppers stop through its digital shopping channels last year shoppers stop raised rs 17925 crore from global ecommerce giant amazon by issuing equity shares amounting to 5 per cent stake on preferential basis shoppers stop now has an exclusive flagship store on the amazon marketplace listing the companys portfolio of 400plus brands this alliance with amazonin will give a significant fillip to the growth of our omnichannel business helping us to achieve our target of 10 per cent of overall sales from digital touchpoints much quicker than we had anticipated elaborating on its offline expansion plans shoppers stop said we plan to open 46 department stores and 810 beauty stores each year for the next 3 years to reach a wider and broader footprint where our physical stores are not present our online shopping site will give customers the joy of shopping at a single click our robust investment in omnichannel will continue steadfastly advt shoppers stop reduced its debt by rs 508 crore during the year at the beginning of the year 201718 the company had a debt of rs 57590 crore at standalone level and rs 88510 crore at consolidated level which has been reduced to rs 8737 crore and rs 12534 crore respectively at present shopper stop has 84 stores across the country including six airport stores and 13 homestop stores for the financial year 201718 shoppers stops standalone net profit was rs 1160 crore it posted a net loss of rs 1993 crore in 201617 its total income was down 190 per cent to rs 360750 crore in 201718 as against rs 367761 crore in the previous fiscal pti published on jul 16