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05 FASHIONSCOPE Junior’s Fashion Week: Top Global Brands to Showcase in Kolkata Edition
CONTENTS Fashion Scope
05
Fashion & Lifestyle
06
India Entry
08
Brand Watch
10
Brand Retail
16
Cover Story
22
IF Exclusive
24
Lead Story
31
E-tailing 34
T
he Junior’s Fashion Week, now makes its way to Kolkata. International brands including USPA Kids, Marks & Spencer, The Children’s Place, Flying Machine Boyzone are ready to showcase their Spring 2018 collection at a glitzy runway show in Kolkata. Junior’s Fashion Week will leave young fashion enthusiasts wanting for more in their next Runway showcase to be held on April 15, 2018, at The Grand Oberoi, Kolkata. The exclusive showcase of international brands brings matchless magic to the length and breadth of fashion and lifestyle industry. The JFW Runway is a restricted privilege for many as it caters to a niche audience; the showcase is witnessed by revered individuals like HNI parents and buyers, influential mothers, fashion influencers. Moreover, representatives of leading fashion houses, notable media channels amongst other influential people from kids fashion industry also mark their presence at JFW Runway Showcase.
Showcasing trendy kids’ fashion
Keeping in mind fashion-forward kids and their ever-changing clothing needs, US Polo Assn. Kids’ brings in a fresh burst of summer colors as it offers classic sports dresses in bold and vibrant colours, knitted summer dress, round neck tees, and trendy washed denim are amongst a mélange of other styles. The Children’s Place (TCP) weaves quirky imaginations into its S/S18 collection. From classic denim to trendy bomber jackets, rugged jeans and basic coloured T-shirts, TCP weaves mesmerising magic into modest basics. The brand name which is synonymous with comfortable styles, Marks & Spencer has crafted every apparel with its hallmarks quality and style that it’s incredibly proud of. Marks & Spencer’s ‘Holiday Shop’ will create fun fashion looks with vacation outfits – from frilly swimwear and breezy dresses for girls to nautical-inspired graphic tees and boardshorts for boys. Flying Machine Boys on the other hand is going all out to focus on its ‘cool’ quotient. The brand has generously sprinkled the collection with beachy prints and vibrant colours
IF Insight
37
Fashion post
42
Review
43, 48
Preview
46
Business News
50
Industry Bytes
55
Subscription Form
56
06 FASHION & LIFESTYLE Berluti Paris a luxe shoe brand forays in India
Weyco Group partners Samar Lifestyle to launch Florsheim brand in India
Berluti Paris, a luxury shoe brand from Paris, has opened its maiden boutique in India. It entered Indian market in partnership with Bequest Group. The new boutique in DLF Emporio displays the complete lifestyle range of shoes, leather goods and ready-to-wear pieces amongst which are the emblematic: Alessandro shoes, Un Jour or Deux Jour briefcases and Playtime sneakers. Gaganmeet Singh, CEO, Bequest Group says Berluti Paris’s
Weyco Group has collaborated with Samar Lifestyle, part of Sara Group, to produce and distribute Florsheim footwear in India and Pakistan, and also Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Kayum Dhanani, Managing Director of Samar Lifestyle says Florsheim is an iconic brand and has a great history in India and the company is looking forward to building on its legacy and heritage.
Denim brand Numero Uno expands to shoes, deodorants
exclusive partnership with Bequest ensures its global standards are maintained in India as well. The retail staff has also been given extensive training to provide a Paris-like experience to the discerning shoppers. Berluti was established in Paris in 1895 and has been built by four generations of shoemakers. In 2005 fine leather goods were introduced and a complete clothing collection followed in 2011.
the last few months, the home-grown denim company has been expanding its nonapparel portfolio by launching new categories like deodorants, perfumes, body splashes in grooming and leather and fabric shoes in footwear. The company is also expanding its range of accessories. Narinder Singh Dhingra, Chairman and Managing Director, Numero Uno Clothing says the brand must evolve over time at present, the non-apparel categories account for 10 per cent of the overall revenue of the company. In 2018, the company will be investing Rs 25 crore on expansion in new categories and will increase the investment by 20 per cent every year.
With a plan to make its non-apparel business one-fourth of the overall revenue by 2020, denim brand Numero Uno is reinventing itself by moving on to categories like grooming and leather shoes amid competition. Over
Numero Uno is retailed through 220 exclusive stores and 600 multi-brand outlets. The company also sells through largeformat stores and online marketplaces like Myntra and Flipkart. Recently, the company ventured into athleisure wear with the launch of a new sub-brand N1.
Weyco and Samar Lifestyle plan to open one Florsheim brick-and-mortar exclusive brand outlet (EBO) this year and four more in 2019. The first two stores will be opened in Mumbai and Delhi. The target is to take that count to 25 over the next 4-5 years, build up the brand’s multi-brand retail presence and possibly tie up with a couple of e-commerce companies. Prices of Florsheim shoes will start at Rs 5,000 and go up to Rs 14,000, with an average retail price of Rs 8,000. Roughly 20 per cent of the global sourcing for the brand comes from India’s Chennai-Ambur belt. Weyco Group designs and markets quality and innovative footwear for men, women and children under a portfolio of well-recognized brand names. The Company’s products can be found in leading footwear, department, and specialty stores worldwide. Weyco Group also operates Florsheim concept stores in the United States and Australia, as well as in a variety of international market.
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08 INDIA ENTRY Ted Baker opens first Indian store in New Delhi
Swedish watch brand Daniel Wellington venturing into India, with the launch of its first store in Fort, Mumbai. Established in 2011, the brand is known for creating classic timepieces, and its emphasis on minimalist designs makes them perfect for those who are in search of stylish watches and accessories. Spread over 1,000 sq. ft. the space will be the largest Daniel Wellington store in Asia. The interiors of the store have been designed keeping in mind the label’s appeal classic, yet contemporary. The store will focus on its offering of their signature watches. In addition, the store will also have an assortment of accessories including classic cuffs and interchangeable watch straps. Daniel Wellington was founded in 2011 with an aim to target customers’ across the world. The brand has grown its global market share exponentially and accelerated the store openings worldwide. It partnered with distributors in over 100 markets and represented in over 8000 point of sales worldwide.
Heidi Klum’s lingerie brand now in India
British clothing and accessories brand, Ted Baker, has launched its first flagship store in India at New Delhi’s Chanakya Mall. The brand was available in India through the multi brand boutique The Collective in Bengaluru and this is the brand’s first exclusive business outlet (EBO) in the country. Ted baker is currently looking at setting up more outlets. The new store is well lit and encapsulates a modern design that complements the brand’s smart casual clothing line. The store carries the brand’s entire handbag line along with a special section dedicated to accessories. It displays men’s and women’s wear. The brand’s latest collections include the ‘colour by numbers’ line of handbags and an all-cotton clothing collection for spring. Starting off as a shirts store in Glasgow, UK, in 1988 the brand is today known for its bags and accessories. The brand was launched by Ray Kelvin its CEO.
Daniel Wellington launches first store in Mumbai
German model Heidi Klum’s lingerie brand is now in India, being retailed through The Clothing Rental. Mumbai-based The Clothing Rental is a men’s and women’s fashion rental, and retail store which also has an e-commerce site. The site carries a range of Indian and international brands and specialized for various occasions. Besides the store the brand is also available on the multi-brand outlet’s e-commerce site and the products include the Heidi Klum Wing Bra, a bra with clear back straps designed to remain discreet under backless or plunge neck clothing. The bra, available in black and nude, retails at Rs 2,800. A ‘deep plunge bra’ is also available for the same price, along with dressing tape and a ‘lower back converter’ for converting bra straps. The Indian lingerie market is growing fast and the introduction of Klum’s brand is yet another example of that. With season two of India Intimate Fashion Week planned for summer this year in Mumbai after the success of season one, the lingerie sector looks set to grow. Heidi Klum intimates is part of the Bendon Group and is one of its lead lingerie brands with Heidi Klum as the brand face and creative director. The brand was launched globally in 2015 in over 1,800 retail outlets.
10 BRAND WATCH United Colors of Benetton celebrates 25th years in India
Biba products are available through 244 stores in 103 cities, apart from presence in all the major retail chains in the country like Shopper’s Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons and Central. The brand is guided by the vision of Siddharth Bindra, who as Managing Director is responsible for overall growth of the brand.
MTV collaborates with lingerie brand Candyskin
United Colors of Benetton celebrated an evening full of fashion, glamour and merriment to mark a quarter century of it’s heritage and values in India. The high-onfashion evening was held at Benetton’s Linking Road Store in Bandra, Mumbai and was graced by Sonam Kapoor. Several prominent names from the fashion fraternity were in attendance. On display was Benetton’s Spring Summer ’18 collection. Speaking on Benetton India’s completion of 25 years, Sundeep Chugh, CEO & MD, Benetton India said, “For the past 25 years creativity and social relevance has been central to our culture and we have consistently strived to do business in a way our associates, partners and customers can be proud of. On this occasion I’d like to thank every stakeholder who has contributed to Benetton India’s success journey. (The) colours of United Colors of Benetton are getting deeper in the country and we promise our customers to continue delivering consistently high quality, democratic fashion and strong brand values.” Sharing her excitement on Benetton’s 25 years in India, Sonam Kapoor said “I am elated to be a part of this milestone for Benetton in India. Benetton
Biba launches Spring/ Summer’18 collection
Biba the leading ethnic wear brand launched their latest Spring/Summer’18 collection bringing in the magic of flowers to our everyday wardrobe. Biba’s SS’18 collection finds its inspiration from flowers around the world. This fusion of exquisite floral designs inspired from rare blossoms
is a brand which has always been close to my heart. I remember my wardrobe spilling over with Benetton tees and dresses, from my shopping days with mum! It is a brand that a generation has grown up wearing and connects with, not only within the realm of fashion, but for its path-breaking socially relevant campaigns over the years. Their socially relevant campaigns have had a deep and lasting impact on me through my growing years.” The event was also marked by the launch of United Colors of Benetton’s Spring Summer’18 collection characterized by colour palettes of summer, shades of Bordeaux reds and oxide yellows. The women’s wear collection denotes the amalgamation of femininity and modernity with playful stripes ranging from classic nautical to variegated stripes, floral, flowy summer dresses and much more, inspired by nautical elements. The menswear collection embraces classic and contemporary prints in many ways. Some of the key inspiration apart from prints and checks include textured fabrics in tie and dye and denims with pocket detailing to add the right amount of fun to your wardrobe.
across exotic lands with Biba’s very own classic styles brings alive a trend true to Biba’s core strength - femininity, charm, grace and free spirit. Known for its classic and trendy silhouettes, Biba’s SS’18 range infuses the freshness of florals with some classic silhouettes, thus giving traditional attires a new dimension. The range includes Anarkalis, Peshwai Kurtas, Skirts, tunics and kurta dresses all with elements of flowers from across the World. Rich fabrics such as sheer cottons, modals, linens, silks and viscose are used to craft the desired outlook. Biba has played with fun filled design patterns, prints, eye catching colour palette to retain the vibrancy of the season in its collection. Wide spectrum of colours right from summer pastels to bright pops and earthy vibes are balanced perfectly to bind the novelty of the season while exemplifying the quirky contrast.
MTV India will release its bravest numbers yet, lending its brand name to intimate wear such as Candyskin, a premium lingerie brand for women, by women, which is launching its range of bras, through a licensing tie-up with MTV. The goal behind this collaboration is to optimise Candyskin’s future sales by reaching the masses. The collection is inspired by the wild jungles and forests. The idea of prints has been inspired from nature’s own garden, plant leaves, fruits, trees, animal impressions, and skin. The collection will showcase a variety of products such as a T-shirt bra style and the most popular strapless wired bra style. These will each come in multiple print options. This new collection will be launched for Resort 2018. These products will be available across India on major online platforms including large format stores and multi-brand outlets.Riya Vipan Kalra, CoFounder at Candyskin, says that MTV being a nationwide sensation through youth culture and pop lifestyles gives us ample reason to link the brand with them. The company is looking to launch a fabulous and stylish collection with this MTV partnership to showcase the latest concepts and designs after revamping the fits from season 1 that would experience and explore bold graphics, pop motifs and to have fun with the process of selecting products in varied options. The innerwear will be sporting a Candyskin x MTV logo. The logo will be a halfway point between Candyskin’s pop iconic colours and MTV’s bold motifs.
12 BRAND WATCH M&S India sees 40 per cent growth in women’s wear, lingerie segments
British multinational retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) women’s wear and lingerie segments in India have grown 40 per cent from financial year 2014-15 to 2016-17. These segments, as per the company are now the fastest growing categories in India. The company saw 16 per cent sales growth last year, driven by new store openings, as well as 9 per cent like for like (LFL) growth. This premium brand runs 63 total stores in India out of which it opened 8 stores last year. This year, M&S plans to add another eight stores. So far the brand has online presence in platforms including Amazon, Myntra, Ajio and now on Jabong. On an
Raymond to launch khadi brand next month
Raymond will introduce its khadi brand next month. The line will include trousers, short kurtas, long kurtas, bandhgalas, and shirts, among other garments. It will be available at Raymond exclusive business outlets, multibrand outlets and exclusive Raymond Khadi outlets. The first EBO of Raymond Khadi, which will be a boutique store spanning around 600 to 800 sq ft, will open in Mumbai. The company is planning to open exclusive brand outlets in Delhi and Bangalore. Raymond will use a variety of processes and techniques to make the khadi suitable for everyday wear. Raymond wants to make the brand aspirational or design-wise acceptable to today’s young consumer. So the company will buy from the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, apply its own techniques and processes to these fabrics
average, M&S has been opening eight stores a year for the last three years. This year it entered Raipur and strengthened its presence in existing markets such as Mumbai where it now runs 11 stores, besides Pune and Jaipur. The brand’s merchandise is available in 63 stores located in 27 cities across India, including 6 standalone lingerie and beauty stores in Mumbai, Jaipur, Bangalore, Lucknow and Kolkata besides the online channels. M&S was founded over 130 years ago and currently has 900 stores in UK and over 460 international stores across 59 territories in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. to make them wearable, shrink-free and to make them more attractive. Khadi is GSTexempt and a current favorite among brands looking to go sustainable. A textile and apparel manufacturer Raymond is looking to expand retail presence of Ethnix and Next Look this financial year. The two brands, along with Raymond Khadi, are expected to contribute Rs 150 crores to Raymond’s revenue next year. Ethnix and Next Look have presented high growth opportunities for Raymond in the past year.
Hrithik the new face of Donear and D’Cot
Mumbai-based Donear Industries, India’s largest manufacturer of branded menswear fabrics, has signed on style icon and Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as the face of the company’s brand of suiting and shirting.
Roshan will also promote the company’s retail vertical D’Cot for its ready-to-wear formal and semi-formal collection. As a part of the deal, he will be featured in new TVC, print shoots and digital media promotions of the brand. This was announced at an event where the company also showcased their new fabric, ‘New soft & Smooth and New International’ as well as their Designer, Emporio, Infinity, Atlantis, Success, Torsa, Italiano, Zovi, Silver Streak and Black and Blue collection. Ajay Agarwal, Executive Director, Donear Industries says “As an actor par excellence and an amazing dancer, Hrithik Roshan has been an inspiration to many young and mature Indians across generations. An association with Hrithik Roshan gives a new face to the Donear brand, which is already a leading name in the organised menswear market in India. We are confident this association will take the brand to the next level in terms of the geographical spread in India.” Roshan adds, “Given the strong brand image and the quality that the company is known for, I am sure that Donear will become the most preferred fashion brands for menswear in India.”
Duke Fashions bags ‘The Best Supplier’ award from Walmart India
Lifestyle brand Duke Fashions, has received the ‘The Best Supplier Award’ by Walmart India for excellence in sales, supply and coordination at the ‘Customer First Supplier Summit 2018’. Kuntal Raj Jain, Director Duke Fashions says, “Duke Brand is one of the strongest partners of Walmart and a large part of the credit for this growth in the business goes to those people who have been very proactive on the business of Duke. Having No. 1 casual wear brand, we planned for an even larger growth in the business in the months ahead. With the support of the Duke Team we are confident of achieving this. Duke is a value for money brand and our mission is to make available the international designs and styles at highly reasonable prices. We see it as our duty to provide our customers the inspiration they need to look and feel confident.” Duke Fashions, is a lifestyle brand, and is acknowledged as the undisputed leader in providing a wide range of product which includes, T-shirts, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, tracksuits, thermals, jogging suits, shirts, denims and trousers, lowers, bermudas’, shorts, value packs, lounge wear, accessories and more for men, women and kids. The brand also introduced Step Ahead,
14 BRAND WATCH a premium lifestyle footwear collection for men. It has won many awards over the years. The company has an unbeatable marketing network comprising over 4000 multi brand outlets and 360+ exclusive stores across major cities in India. Moreover the products are also exclusively placed at big chain stores and on online portals.
Monte Carlo Fashions’ Q3 sales up 23 per cent
Oxemberg releases human interest stories for social causes Oxemberg recently released a group of digital films about social causes. Previously the brand’s ads featured white models in international locations, sashaying in vibrant, stylist clothes (this ad is a staple at the movies). Cut to the apparel brand’s latest campaign muted speeches of people talking about social causes they’ve decided to support with no mention of the brand until the very end. These ads are online.
Mojostar is the brainchild of Anirban Das Blah, founder of entertainment agency KWAN and Jiggy George, founder, Dream Theatre, a leading licensing company. The company was founded with the vision of creating a house of retail brands co-created with celebrities. Mojostar has earmarked investments of up to $5 million for the launch of its first three co-created brands (all to be launched this calendar). Prowl targets young consumers (aged 18 to 25 years) who lead a high activity lifestyle, and are constantly on the move. They regularly transition from one activity to another and want to look good while doing it. Prowl aims to provide functional yet stylish clothing and accessories to fit the target consumers active lifestyles.
Ashish Soni collaborates with kids’ brand ‘Little Tags’
Ludhiana -based Monte Carlo Fashions has posted a robust Q3 FY18 performance. Sales grew 23 per cent, at Rs 356 crore, EBITDA at Rs 80 crore was up by 52 per cent on a low base. The company posted an EPS of 31.55 in 9MFY18, which shows the highest of 27.5 in FY15. Demonetisation in FY17 affected the third quarter, accounting for more than 50 per cent of their annual revenue. This had a considerable impact, and inventory liquidation led to low growth and margins. As the company has a high exposure to the cash-driven MBO channel, however, it expects a strong revival in the top and bottom line in FY18E. Harsh winter and low base were keys determiners for year 2017.
The latest digital campaign is titled ‘Make Your Move’. The films was created and executed by Kashyap Swaroop, CEO, and Harsh Desai, CCO, of Lowfundwala Communications, a production house. The stories narrated in the films are real (non-fiction) as are the narrators. It is majorly focusing on the youth of India - the ‘millennials’.
Mojostar launches first lifestyle brand Prowl with actor Tiger Shroff
‘Little Tags’ is set to hold the latest designer offerings from Ashish Soni in a customised way. One can choose from a wide array of contemporary, indo-western and ethnic wear for boys on the luxury platform. From designer kurta, churidars to suits and embroidered/ printed shirts.
Monte Carlo notably started out as an exclusive woollen brand in 1984. However, winter wear being a seasonal business, the company expanded and diversified into the cotton wear, home furnishing and kidswear segment. Of late, they have also launched new sports and athleisure wear brand |‘Rock It’. Company Director Dinesh Gogna says Monte Carlo is currently India’s biggest woollen wear brand, almost five times the size of its nearest organised competitor. Due to demonetisation and impact of GST standing behind, the company is now poised for strong growth, with focus on new markets and new product offerings. Monte Carlo’s pan-India retail presence comprised 234 EBOs in 2019 over 2500 MBOs and 270 NCS, including large format stores like Reliance Retail, Shopper Stop, Aditya Birla fashion, Central and Kapsons.
Celebrated designer Ashish Soni has joined hands with ‘Little Tags’, a luxury website for designer wear for kids. ‘Little Tags’ is a multi-label e-commerce website for children. Soni’s collection for ‘Little Tags’ is simple yet dramatic and boats of intricate hand embroidery in each piece. The collection comprises of traditional and western wear for boys.
Mojostar, the agency that specialises in cocreated brands announced the launch of its first co-created brand with actor Tiger Shroff – active lifestyle brand called Prowl. The brand is jointly created and owned by Shroff and Mojostar and will hit retail platforms in June this year. Shroff is not the first celebrity to turn to active wear for his brand. In 2016, Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor had also launched an athleisure wear brand Skult (claiming it to be the first brand to focus on athleisure), targeting young men.
Chandni Agarwal, Founder ‘Little Tags’ says they take kids’ fashion with the same seriousness as adult’s fashion. Collaborating with the best names like Ashish Soni has given us edge over other players in the market. His designs for ‘Little Tags’ are more of statement pieces with a touch of ethnicity and intricacy, an idealogy well aligned with the brand. The unique collection adds value to their child’s wardrobe. Ashish started his label in 1991 and became the first Indian designer to hold a solo showing in Delhi.He was also the first designer to be invited to hold a runway show atOlympus fashion week, New York.
16 BRAND RETAIL Ed Hardy gets new design concept in India
American tattoo artist and designer Don Ed Hardy’s new concept stores will soon be launched at Bangalore’s Phoenix Marketcity Mall. The new store design will claim a larger-than-life façade of a tiger’s head along with major in-store design changes. The façade is currently being protyped by Bangalore-based agency Creative Sourcz. The design concept, which is yet not been done globally, will be incorporated in upcoming Ed Hardy stores. It will also involve major changes
in terms of store layout, fixtures, walls, visuals, graphics and props. Ed Hardy, brought to India by Arvind Lifestyle Brands, has repositioned its branding during its comeback in India about a few years back. Last year, the brand shared their vision to become a 500-crore brand in India 2022, armed with robust expansion and branding plans. The brand currently is retailed through 20 exclusive brand outlets mostly in metros apart from 75 departmental.
H&M India sales increases by 58 per cent in 2017
opened 20 doors. The Stockholm-based brand stocks fast fashion items created inhouse and teams up with designers for onetime collections. It keeps a large inventory of basic, everyday items sourced from places including India and Bangladesh that carry a lower price tag than most of its rivals.
With dipping sales Aditya Birla Fashion downsizes Forever21 Sales of Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz’s (H&M) in India grew 58 per cent for the year ended November 2017 to Rs 956.24 crore. Growth was propelled by rapid expansion of stores from 10 to 27 during the year and strong volume growth. After its success with brick and mortar stores in India, H&M plans to enter the Indian online market in 2018. H&M, the world’s secondlargest apparel major, which follows the December 1 to November 30 financial year. The growth in Q4 2017 was sharply lower than the 50 per cent plus growth recorded in preceding quarters. Customer’s response to H&M’s global fashion, quality and prices as well as their expansion strategy of opening stores in metros and Tier II cities continues to drive strong growth. H&M, the world’s secondlargest clothing giant, had stated that it will open 50 stores in India with an investment of Rs 700 crore by 2020. So far, they have
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), the licensee of American fast fashion brand Forever21, is downsizing stores and cutting costs as sales from its fast fashion business decline. ABFRL reported a loss of Rs23 crore in fast fashion business during the quarter ended December 2017, even as sales from the business declined 14 per cent from a year earlier to Rs 114 crore (net sales value, or NSV). Losses widened because Forever21 took a one-time inventory hit, Ashish Dikshit, MD, ABFRL’s Madura Lifestyle Business. However, NSV
comparisons were also affected by changes in GST rates. ABFRL has reduced the size of its oldest stores and will now focus on opening new but smaller stores. Most of these are stores opened by the brand before ABFRL acquired the licence for Forever21 from previous partners DLF Brands and Diana Retail. ABFRL is expecting its fast fashion business to turn around by next quarter, driven by high double digit like to like sales growth. The firm has been focusing on cost cutting to help boost margins, primarily through renegotiating rents and reducing store sizes wherever possible including for Pantaloons, the firm’s departmental store chain. Fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M usually operate stores of 25,000-50,000 sq. ft around the world and in India. ABFRL did not specify how small the new stores will be. Meanwhile Zara closed FY16-17 with Rs 1,023 crore in sales and 20 stores, according to the latest data. Parent Inditex SA operates Zara stores in a joint venture with Tata’s Trent. Zara also launched its own e-commerce website in India in October last year.
Zara reduces prices of entry level products
Zara India has reduced its entry-level product price by more than 50 per cent to Rs 390 from Rs 799 in order to push sales in a highly competitive retail market. After the sale concluded, the retailer has held on to the price point and even added more merchandise at the price. There are a range of tops and Ts to be had at much lesser prices, and that seems to be drawing in more customers. The price point seems to have worked for Zara, and even shoppers in high-street locations have access to a wide range at this price. Inditex Trent, the joint venture between Zara brand-owner Inditex and the Tata Group’s retail arm Trent, which runs Zara stores in India, witnessed a 21.4 per cent increase in sales to Rs 1,023 crore in FY17, but the company’s net profit fell 40 per cent to Rs 48 crore. The pricing battle intensified after Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) entered a little over two and half years ago. Zara has dropped prices by about 70 per cent to Rs 390 to take on its most aggressive competitor, H&M, which is still continuing with its stock clearance sale at a starting price point of Rs 250. Sales of H&M almost doubled for the year ended November 2017 to Rs 956.24 crore. This growth was propelled by rapid
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18 BRAND RETAIL Armani Exchange launches boutique at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon
accessories. Spread over 1,211 sq. ft. in a single floor, the interiors of the store conveys a solid yet airy, modern feel. Black steel grids are highlighted by led strips; exquisite fabric wall panels and black profiles are compared with clear glass, while high-gloss and mirrored surfaces enhance the overall clean and classic mood. A unrealistic highlight is the “objet de lumière,” a contemporary interpretation of a grand chandelier, embodying form and function. This innovative lighting fixture is the centerpiece of all the flagship venues, creating a dynamic link between same-floor segments and different levels.
Canali launches new boutique in Chennai
Armani Exchange opened its new boutique at the upmarket Ambience Mall in Gurgaon. Located on the ground floor, the boutique showcases the latest Spring-Summer ’18 menswear and women’s wear collections. The design aesthetics of the 1,637 sq. ft. designer boutique is an inspiration from a contemporary industrial hangar, with strong material feel. The setting is urban, which has time worn looks following designer streaks on industrial wooden floors, mindboggling
textures on rough concrete walls and rust coloured metal surfaces. One has to enter through a beamed door. Metal profile, industrial planks and concrete walls create spaces that defines a strong material and sensory impact defined by two identifying elements designed like an A and X. A throng of windows appear to slide along the entire perimeter, permitting wing light to enter and shape its designer spaces.
expansion of stores from 10 to 27 during the year and strong volume growth. While other competing brands like Vero Moda and Forever 21 have entry-level price points of between Rs 500 and Rs 700, the battle for volumes and dominance clearly seems to be between Zara and H&M.
to launch the spring summer 2018 collection for M&S, and stated they “carefully edit” their lines to make them relevant and suit the needs of the Indian customers. Dresses are an important item for India market as it’s tailored to local customers’ tastes. Formal trousers too are popular with Indian customer with skinny and slim fit selling the most. Therefore, M&S has increased offerings in these styles to include over 55 different options. The new collection is inspired by ‘All Things Natural’. Earl says colour is also going to be huge, whether it’s bold primary colours such as crisp reds and blues through to softer pastel tones of yellows and violets.
Zara is presently the market leader in the segment, but H&M has aggressive expansion plans. H&M has set a target to open 30 new stores in the next 30 months. Zara operates more than 21 stores at present, while H&M has 29 stores operational across the country.
Sale of dresses in India increases 88 per cent for M&S
Belinda Earl, Global Style Director of British fashion brand Marks & Spencer points out there is a marked increase in the sale of dresses and trousers for women in India. The brand, the legacy of which dates back to 1884, reflects the smart, contemporary and neat British style. Earl is in the country
Hugo Boss launches flagship in Kolkata
Hugo Boss has opened its flagship boutique in the heart of Kolkata at the city’s luxury retail destination, Quest. The store echoes the Boss style and spirit, providing a perfect showcase for the full range of Boss menswear collection, including shoes and
Canali a leading Italian luxury menswear brand has opened a new boutique at Palladium Phoenix market city in Chennai. The new 93 sq. mt. store showcases the distinctive features of the brand and is the culmination of careful research combined with the architect’s sensitivity in defining contours and details that exactly replicate their standards worldwide. The aim of the brand is to create a modern, comfortable space characterized by a strong personality and meticulous care over detail has been beautifully executed and ideally satisfies the needs of the display structures, allowing customers to focus on one section at a time, but without losing sight of the others. The designs like striped stone, wood, glass and leather, and their juxtaposition into similar or opposites, combining warm and cold, opaque and transparent, light and heavy, expresses the pleasure elicited by constant research, where everything comes together to create a sophisticated and unusual space that raises the profile of the products on display and puts customers at their ease. The brand can also be found in over 1,000 retail stores in more than 100 countries across the globe. The Canali boutiques in India are located at New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and in Kolkata.
Adidas to open retail stores across India Sportswear brand Adidas plans to open more retail stores across India. The brand got the green signal for fully-owned retail stores and a cash-and-carry wholesale business under one entity.
20 BRAND RETAIL Jack & Jones target Tier II, III cities to boost growth in India
Jack & Jones, which is set to launch its spring/summer collection in India, has garnered new e-commerce markets and looking at continuing expanding online. Jack & Jones is targeting Tier II, III cities where fashion and trend awareness is rising exponentially and there is growing demand for international brands. Significant online performance appears to be a game changer as their strategy is starting to pay dividends. Vineet Gautam, Country Manager and CEO of Bestseller India, which is responsible for Jack & Jones in India says they are is present on all major e-commerce websites in India. The brand also has a dedicated website of its own. Online business has been extremely encouraging with significant growth in sales every quarter. With brands, present both online and offline, there has been a significant improvement in customer
accessibility. Consumers can easily view and compare branded products and prices thereby increasing awareness and demand. As the brand’s present on large scale multi brand e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart has generated new customers and permitted customers in more rural areas to have items delivered through the ever increasing delivery reach of the larger e-commerce platforms. The company’s future plans are to expand both their e-commerce presence and rural brand penetration.
Adidas India’s net profit rose by 131.7 per cent for the 2016-17 financial year. Net profit during 2015-16 was Rs 41 crores. Adidas
Biba’s revenue is growing annually at 30 to 35 per cent and is expecting to close this year at around Rs 600 crores. Rangriti, a value fashion brand from the same company, launched in 2015, is looking to triple its business from Rs 100 crores to Rs 300 crores. There are about 44 Rangriti stroes. The brand focuses on Tier II and III cities and is also sold through online platforms and multi-brand outlets.
Max Fashion opens flagship store in Malaysia
Jack & Jones was launched in 1990 in Oslo, Norway and entered India in 2008. The brand is currently present in 70 Indian cities through brick and mortar stores and is available on a variety of e-commerce platforms. Jack & Jones is currently present in a total of 38 countries worldwide. is the world’s second largest sports goods maker. The brand offers active wear, shoes, casual clothing and accessories. Around half of Adidas India’s total omni-channel sales are expected to come from Tier III and IV cities. The brand is undertaking several strategic and consumer-centric initiatives to attract Indian shoppers. Adidas wants to compete with Nike in the US market. Right now North America accounts for around 20 per cent of Adidas’ sales. While Adidas has a neck-and-neck race with Nike everywhere else, Nike still has a lead in the US.
Adidas has around 450 retail outlets across India and went omni-channel in India two years ago. Adidas allows customers to order sizes and styles on a tablet that are not available at that location and have clothing and shoes delivered there. Purchases made in this way currently account for five to ten per cent of in-store sales.
Currently, Biba earns 15 to 17 per cent of its sales from online channels and own site. However, from its own site, the sales percentage is between four to five per cent. India’s ethnic wear industry is worth around Rs 70,000 crores, although 70 per cent of the market is dominated by unorganized players. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of nine per cent till 2019.
Biba to add 200 stores in three years Women’s ethnic brand Biba will add around 200 EBOs across the country over the next three years. At the moment it has 246 stores. Biba typically opens about 30 to 40 stores a year. The brand also has five standalone children’s wear stores under Biba Kids. This will be increased to about 15 to 20 stores in the next three years. Later this year, Biba stores may also retail fashion jewelry.
Max, one of the largest value fashion brands across the Middle East and India, has announced the launch of its fourth and flagship store at the 1Utama Shopping Centre, in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The new store is over 10,000 sq. ft. and retails Max’s label for men, women’s and children’s fashion including sportswear, bags, footwear, lingerie and accessories. The store plans to offer the latest Spring Collection 2018 from Max. Ramanathan Hariharan, CEO of Max and Director of Landmark Group expounds, “We established our presence in Malaysia last year with the opening of our first store in IOI Mall – Putrajaya. Subsequently, we have opened two more stores, in Sunway Putra Mall and more recently, Avenue K Mall – all of which have been met with overwhelming success. Staying faithful to our commitment to serving customers in Malaysia, we have
BRAND RETAIL The Collective opens new store in Delhi’s Chanakya Mall
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail opened a new concept store The Collective Denims an exclusive denim lifestyle store in the national capital Delhi. The store located at the Chanakya Mall, is spread over 1,000 sq ft and will house iconic brands such as Seven for all Mankind, Versace Jeans, Replay, Dsquared2 along with numerous other international designer labels. The
store will also offer personal styling services to its customers and has hired style experts for the same. The Collective is a superpremium lifestyle retail chain by Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. It houses designers and brands such as Ted Baker, Fred Perry, Hackett London, Alexander McQueen and Simon Carter among many others.
opened our fourth and flagship store at the 1Utama Shopping Centre, Petaling Jaya. We are keen to continue serving Malaysia’s young customer base that understand and appreciate great fashion. Besides serving our customers, they also aim to support society by adding substantial employment opportunities. With the new flagship store, they now operate over 47,000 sq. ft. of retail space in Malaysia. By the end of 2018, Max intends to increase this to 120,000 sq.ft. with over 200 employees across 10 stores. Max is the leading and most trusted value fashion retailer in the Middle East and India.
Future Lifestyle Fashion (FLFL) recorded strong Q3 results with 24 per cent rise in net profit touching Rs 44 crore for the quarter ended December 2017. Cover Story also expanded its retail presence through 14 EBOs during the last quarter, with store openings in metro cities such as Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Surat. The brand, which is targeting fashion-conscious customers by integrating global fashion design with smart and efficient sourcing, has a presence in different shop-in-shop formats including Central, Kapsons, Iconic and Sohum as well as its EBOs. The Future Group firm also retails through its online portal and through online fashion portals like Myntra, Jabong and Koovs.
Cover Story opens store in Gurgaon
Ikea ready to open stores in Maharashtra
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across India. Ikea India is a subsidiary of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. The first store in Maharashtra is expected to open in the Turbhe area of Navi Mumbai in 2019 while the first store in India will be functional in mid-2018 in Hyderabad. These stores are being built on land acquired by Ikea India because it gives the company greater control over the business environment and is also a commitment for the longer term. The firm has so far bought a land parcel each in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi to build stores, with more land to be acquired in cities such as Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata. The company will also open more stores, albeit smaller in scale, in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. Each large store will typically require about Rs 1,000 crores of investment. An omni-channel strategy will be adopted with the launch of an e-commerce portal in 2019.
Manyavar launches new store in Odisha
Mohey, a swiftly growing Indian women’s ethnic wear brand, has opened its first store in the city of Bhubaneshwar. The store comprises lavish wedding wear for women besides its signature ethnic wear collection for all occasions and accessories for bride and groom. Mohey from the house of Manyavar is designed to define women’s ethnic wear. It is an extension to the patronage of Manyavar, a market leader in men’s ethnic wear in India with notable overseas presence. Each piece of Mohey’s collection is handpicked for its elegant touch and urbanish trend. The brand’s differentiation lies in the fabric, hues, cut, stitch, embellishments and attention to minute details. The traditional Manyavar credo is evident in Mohey’s robust quality.
Future Lifestyle Fashion-owned flagship fashion store Cover Story, has launched a store at Gurgaon. The store, is spread across 2000 sq. ft and is located on the ground floor at Ambience Mall. The new Cover Story store houses latest SpringSummer ‘18 collection for India, which is designed at the creative headquarters called the ‘Style Lab’ in London as well as women’s apparel, accessories and shoes.
Ikea will set up multi-format stores and experience centers in Maharashtra. This includes two large stores in Mumbai, a handful of experience centers and Ikea India’s first fully owned distribution center in Pune. The Pune center will be a large hub connected to smaller distribution centers
Offering the best of both the brands, the store also houses the exquisite Manyavar line comprising regal Sherwanis, elegant kurtas, stylish Indo-Westerns and accessories designed to appeal to every sensibility. The launch of this store is a milestone in Mohey’s retail journey towards a 100 plus stores worldwide by December 2018; from its current map of over 50 plus stores. In addition, Manyavar is already operating over 450+ stores across 160 cities and 5 countries.
22 COVER STORY
Max Fashion: Trendy styles that match every pocket With a loyal customer base of over 5.5 million, Max Fashion today is one of the most profitable value fashion formats in the country. Shoppers enjoy great prices on an excellent range of over 3,000 styles every season. Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director, Max Fashion, speaks to Inside Fashion on retail growth dynamics as well as the future expanse of brand Max. Tell us about Max Fashion’s journey in India. Launched in Dubai in 2004, Max Retail is a part of Landmark Group. With its first store in Indore in 2006, Max Fashion established itself in the Indian market. It’s been over 12 years in the country, with 200 stores in about 100 cities spread across India. We are a value fashion chain, with a product line comprising of apparels, footwear and accessories. We are the single largest mono brand present in the country, which means all products available in our stores are branded Max. We do not sell brands other than Max unlike other retail chains. As far as our growth chart is concerned, we have been growing at a CAGR of 25 per cent for the last 12 years and expecting the same growth rate in the years to come. Growth has really been encouraging. Today, we have four per cent share of the total market. Currently, the chain has a turnover of Rs 3,000 crore per annum.
Do you think the fast fashion approach can work in India? When it comes to collections, we see eight launches in a year. It is obviously not a fast
“Easybuy stores offer the same product line as Max but in different designs, colors and fabrics and are sourced completely from the domestic market unlike Max Fashion where 80 per cent is sourced domestically and 20 per cent from global markets. Easybuy are franchisee stores and products are 25 per cent cheaper in this format and aimed at aspirational consumers in small cities.”
• Max Retail, launched in Dubai in 2004, is part of Landmark Group • First India store launched in Indore in 2006 • Aims to democratize fashion for the Indian middle class. • Max Fashion has 200 stores in about 100 cities pan-India • In fiscal 2017-18, Max Fashion added 15 shop-in-shops, 32 standalone stores and 50 plus Max stores. • For Tier-II-III and IV cities the company launched ‘Easybuy’ in 2014
COVER STORY “When it comes to collections, we see eight launches in a year. It is obviously not a fast fashion approach but more in sync with global trends. We are a brand based on fashion available at an economical price range. Ladies wear contributes largely to our business, followed by kids’ and men’s wear segment.” fashion approach but more in sync with global trends. We are a brand based on fashion available at an economical price range. Ladies wear contributes largely to our business, followed by kids’ and men’s wear segment.
What makes Indian market attractive? India holds a great potential from business’ point of view. It has the largest chunk of middle class who primarily make up our target audience. In fact, Max Fashion came into existence on the premise of serving the middle income group. We are a value fashion chain and offer apparel, footwear and accessories for the entire family – women, men and children. Customers can expect world-class shopping environment stocking the latest international fashion from around the globe, as well as Max’s own label of inhouse designs in carefully chosen colour palettes. Shoppers enjoy great prices on an excellent range of over 3,000 styles every season, in brand new designs, silhouettes and fabrics. At Max Fashion 85 per cent share is that of apparels, and 15 per cent accessories and footwear.
What is your retail strategy and footprint? We have been continuously expanding our base in metros as well as small cities. Keeping Tier-II-III and IV cities in mind, we introduced another retail brand in 2014 -Easybuy. This is a smaller version of Max, with a store size of 500 sq. ft. whereas the store size of Max Fashion is 1,000 sq. ft. The launch was aimed at penetrating the smaller market where establishing Max stores was not possible. Easybuy stores offer the same product line as Max but in different designs, colors and fabrics and are sourced completely from the domestic market unlike Max Fashion where 80 per cent is sourced domestically and 20 per cent from global markets. Easybuy are franchisee stores and products are 25 per cent cheaper in this
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format and aimed at aspirational consumers in small cities.
What are the challenges encountered in today’s business scenario? In the present scenario, real estate and e-commerce are the two biggest challenges. When it comes to retail, quality of space for stores is difficult to acquire. As far as ecommerce is concerned, discounts spoil the market and are difficult to manage. We do not believe in discount sales but introduce offers time to time. We maintain price parity through our omni-channel retail, which are run effectively by us. We are available through www.maxfashion.com only. Currently, we get one and a half per cent business from this channel. We are planning to double this by next year and 10 per cent in coming years. We experimented with kiosks as well and are successful too to an extent. This channel helps consumer to find preferred colours and designs at their doorstep if it is not available in the store.
What’s in store for consumers? We have launched 15 shop-in-shops, 32 standalone stores and 50 plus Max stores in this financial year. We have been focussing more on eastern and northern regions. These areas offer good business owing to their season-based characteristics.
What is your brand philosophy? The idea behind Max Fashion is to democratize fashion for the Indian middle class.
Tell us all about the people behind Max. I was the first employee here. Besides, we have a team of 10 senior leaders since the beginning they are helping us grow across all functions, be it retail, production or marketing.
What is your take on the Indian apparel market? The market has been growing continuously.
Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director, Max Fashion “We are a value fashion chain and offer apparel, footwear and accessories for the entire family – women, men and children. Customers can expect world-class shopping environment stocking the latest international fashion from around the globe, as well as Max’s own label of in-house designs in carefully chosen colour palettes.” It is still largely unorganized. It stands at 30 per cent organized and 70 per cent unorganized, so there is ample space for growth. Indian apparel market is growing at 10 per cent year on year. Also, consumers are becoming mature day by day owing to social media channels. They are in tune with trends and this is certainly a good sign. Increasing exposure is making people buy more.
24 IF EXCLUSIVE Arrow revolutionizing men’s wear with innovative products I
n the 1820s, from her home in Troy, New York, Hannah Montague created the first detachable shirt collar. As the popularity of the detachable collar increased over the course of early 19th century, many companies in Troy began manufacturing and selling collars as well. In 1885, one such company adopted the Arrow trademark in connection with its products.Arrow commands extraordinary brand recognition for fashionable yet functional apparel. As the second-best-selling dress shirt in the US, the brand is known for quality, American style, and innovation. The Arrow brand is also featured in Ivy Style exhibition at The Museum at FIT — Fashion Institute of Technology — and the accompanying publication Ivy Style.The company has many firsts attached to it such as smart shirt, anti-UV shirt, 4-1 shirt and stitchlessshirt. Arrow’s offerings include a broad assortment of apparel, such as dress shirts, neckwear, sportswear, and accessories. Arrow sportswear is about classic styling that is desirable and understandable by today’s ‘Arrow Collar Man’. The Arrow line consists of feel-good fabrics and comfortable styling and is intended to be
wearable clothing for casual workdays that are transitional into weekendwear. Arrow is committed to providing quality apparel products throughout the world that embody the heritage of the company and deliver superior quality to consumers.
Retail plans
As per an Arrow spokesperson, metros have always been strong from business point of view as they are a major hub for corporates. But growth in Tier II &III cities in the last few years is commendable. With the opening of a large number of educational institutions in TierII cities, buying potential among local consumershave grown. “We are growing at a considerable pace compared to earlier
as our products are creating an impressive mark among women consumers and is becoming very popular among them. With the coming season, we are planning to add more doors to both our exclusive outlets and channel partners. By this yearend, we are hoping to grow 15-20 per cent in terms availability.” The brand is optimistic about the future of e-tailing. As the spokesperson says “Now retail stores merge their physical stores and online stores in different ways and are improving sales.Faster mobile penetration is boosting the Internet population. M-commerce is impacting at a very fast speed.”
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Raymond 2.0: From turnaround to transformation
aymond, which has been making losses for some time, surprised everyone with its recent quarter results. From a net loss of Rs 7 crore during nine months of the last fiscal, the company posted a profit of Rs82 crore this fiscal. This is perhaps one of the best results that the company has managed in the past three years. The consolidated net revenue for Q3 stood at Rs1,514 crore against Rs1,331 crore during the corresponding quarter last year, the nine-month cumulative numbers stood at Rs4,370 crore as against Rs4,004 crore last fiscal. Sanjay Behl, CEOlifestyle business, Raymond says theyare moving away from being a product-centric company to a customer-centric organisation. That’s Raymond 2.0.From accessories such as silver cufflinks, leather shoes and travel bags to men’s ethnic wear, from a range of khadi apparel to concierge tailoring services, Raymond is going deeper into male wardrobe.Behl points out, the fundamental shift is in making not what the company wants to sell but what the consumer wants to buy. If a consumer wants a tailored jacket in a particular format in 48 hours, then Raymond needs to deliver it.
Transformation Process
Gaurav Mahajan, President-apparelbusiness, Raymond, explains the apparel division made three key moves to assist the company’s transformation. Expansion of product categories for all occasions, creation of a cutting-edge, omni-channel retail net-
ture: learning agility, digital orientation, strategic thinking and integrated supply chain. The plan was to map the competency assessment of top guys for future. Adaptability quotient, or AQ, of leadershipis far more critical than intelligence quotient, Behl observes. A tie-up with Cornell University helped train leaders last year. Apart from leadership training, retail machinery was overhauled. Mini Raymond Shops were rolled out to penetrate deeper into Tier-III, IV and V towns.A majority of new stores were opened under the franchisee model, renovation of older stores was carried out, and multiple retail formats were done away with. Saurav Jindal, Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio, points out growing ecommerce is hurting brick-and-mortar companies. This might pose a challenge to the company. The key for Raymond is to be consistent in performance. work that blended physical with digital, and a nimble supply chain network were undertaken to sync with the overall churn. Gravitating towards consumers also meant a shift in work culture. Brand, marketing and product heads were asked to spend more time in the market. In order to get customers’ reactions, Behl added that a brand and marketing manager needs to spend at least 100 hours in markets in a quarter.The department heads are required to spend anywhere between 50 and 100 hours every quarter interacting with consumers. In 2016, Behl identified four critical pillars of leadership competency for fu-
Global Expansion
Global expansion was also identified as another key leg of Raymond’s makeover. US, Europe, Japan and Middle East have been identified as markets for expansion. Raymond’s largest suit manufacturing unit in Ethiopia was geared up to service the global markets. Marketing experts aver Raymond has been smartly shifting from a company about suits, shirts and trousers to brands. As the company moves from wants and needs to desires and aspirations of the man, its value proposition climbs and deepens as well.
Groversons continuing a strong hold over India’s lingerie market
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roversons is one of the largest and oldest manufacturers of lingerie and intimate apparels in India,established by CL Grover in 1953. With state of the art facilities, the group has a production capacity of about over 25 lakh pieces a month. “Groversons has not been a fashion focused brand but more of everyday comfort wear but we do have a fashion range as well. The fashion approach isincreasing in India with changing consumer needs,” says Siddharth Grover, Director, Groversons, and goes on to add, “We continuously add new innovations and styles to our portfolio, keeping in mind market demand.”
Everyday comfort-wear in focus
Groversons’core products are: lingerie, bras and panties and sets and thermal wear.The company first branded its products under the name Paris Beauty which became its flagship brand. An economy range, Paris Beauty targets the masses, and offers a
huge variety of products from 100 per cent cotton braziers to knitted and fashion bras, slips, camisoles, panties. Their other brands are:Sparsh, which caters to plus sizes with various cup sizes. Poems is an active wear brand and includes slips, camisoles, sports bras and panties. Super Girl Bras targets the young generation. Miss-T is a premium brand that offers braziers and panties. Winta, a premium brand, offers thermals
for men, women and children. Sunaina, a low price brand, focuses on providing fashion at affordable prices.”The latest addition to our products is loungewear, which has got agreat response and we are focusing on adding more variations in thissegment,” observers Grover. Grover says the company continuously adds new innovations and styles to their portfolio, keeping in mind demand. Groversons is not a fashion-focused brand but more of everyday comfort-wear. However,with fashion being in demand, now there is a fashion range also. Today,Groversons, under the guidance of the current managing director, Rakesh Grover, has achieved many milestones. Their sales graph is continuously rising. In fact, Groversons was the first lingerie company in India to get the ISO9001:2008 certification. It has a strong distribution network across India while also spreading out in countries like, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and a few more Gulf countries.
26 IF EXCLUSIVE Cool Colors: Revolutionising the way one approaches travel wear
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ool Colorshas been in the business for over 35 years and made great strides throughout its journey. From a steadily growing presence across India, Singapore and the UAE, to offering online shopping options, theshirts brand has gained significant recognition for delivering quality. And they are excited about their future business prospects. As Praveen Mutha, CMD, Cool Colorssaid in an exclusive interview to FashionatingWorld, “We are reinventing the persona of the traveller by presenting them with a whole new range. We are exploring everything from bold and unique to the subtle and calm. At the centre of it all, we are trying to revolutionise the way we approach travel wear.”
Cutting Edge style, priced right
Muthaexplains his brands unique selling proposition, “We offer a wide variety of cutting edge style at great cost effective prices. We have always offered something unique with every collection and our customers always know that they are getting uncompromised style.” The brand has a huge collection of versatile designs of shirts that been created keeping in mind latest trends and utilise a wide range of colour profiles. Discussing their brand’s innovations,Cool Colors CMD reveals, “Through our expertise in the use
of innovative programmed design, we have been able to create truly unique products. We continuously streamline our processes and enhance the efficiency of our delivery timeframes.” Mutha goes on to add, “We are excited about the new season. We have lots of surprises in store and know our customers
are going to love them. We have always managed to ensuresignificant demand for our products and this season would be different.” The brand has a steady demand from customers who have recognised the highly differentiated style from competition through a combination of marketing strategy and rising popularity. “We have always kept our customer’s best interest in mind when deciding our price structure and it still reflects value for quality,” he opines. Cool Colorsoperates across leading stores in India, Singapore and the UAE, with over 1,200 MBOs, five EBOs and two LFS. Mutha says, “Our expansion plans are on track through a calculated increase of our distributionnetwork, with a mix of EBOs and MBOs. We have also improved our market portfolio to cater better to consumers. With our expansion into Eastern India, we have focused our resources on understanding both the challenges as well as opportunities for creating a sustainable business in that part of the country.”And about product and category expansion plans, he informs “We are focused on our offerings and are satisfied with innovations and creative approaches that we employ to refresh every season, we may offer a limited range of accessories, however, our primary focus will remain on our core essentials.”
Deal Jeans: Evolving every season with new styles and fresh hues L
aunched in 2000, Deal Jeans initially began with formal wear for women and gradually shifted focus to designer denims. Those days not many brands were making women’s denim. With demand increasing, Deal Jeans introduced denim for girls (kids) and thenadded tops for both women and girls in 2008. Since then the brand has been gaining strength. Talking about their vision, Sameer Patel, Founder &Chairman, Deal Jeans says, “We believe in giving our target group a piece of what they truly desire. Fashion with style and comfort clubbed together is what we strive to offer our audiences.”Excellent fits and vivacious international style adds to the brand’s perfection. The company’s target group is women between 18to 35years of ageand girls 6 to 16 years who are fashion seekers.
pearls. Deal’s collection has many styles in these trends,” Patel says.The portfolio has evolved from designer denims to a wide range in western wear depending on the season’s demand while its core strength is in beautifying its range every season.
Product portfolio
Initially, Deal Jeans started with MBOs as its first distribution channel. With their products getting a good response, the brand incorporated modern retail through large format stores. With online shopping gaining ground, Deal Jeans expanded its unique selling point to online portals.Growth of online shopping helps to establish the brand faster and there is no geographical boundary. After
In A/W’17,Deal Jeanslaunched a blend of fresh hues and trendy patterns crafted in leather jackets, cardigans, tops, studded denims, comfy culottes and striking dresses for party wear. “Our styles are inspired by latest international trends. This season was about leather and denim jackets, rips and washes embellished in studs and
Deal Jeans creates around 2,500 styles every year. With time and growing reach of international brands in India, new generation of shoppers are now opting for fast fashion. Shoppers prefer brands that offer value for money and latest global fashions. “Our latest collection is a stylish gamut of winter wear from longline overcoats to cozy cardigans and chic dresses in top wear while bottom wear is about studs, appliques, embroideries and distress,” Patel explains.
Retail footprint
capturing the market through MBOs and LFS, the brand added standalone stores to increase market penetration. Today,it has 21 exclusive outlets across India, and one abroad and is available at 1,350 MBOs, 106 LFS and all leading online shopping portals. The brand is currently focusing onEBO expansion in India and abroad. Deal Jeans sees a lot of growth in Tier II, III cities with customers having the purchasing power and aspirations to buy what’s in trend. These cities have a lot of untapped potential which eventually will bring competition for denim players in future.
Growth Plans
Giving a sneak peek into their expansion plans, Patel says, “We consider ourselves as one of the leading fashion apparel brands with an exclusive positioning. We launched 21 EBOs in India andone internationally and another 40 are in the pipeline. These would be launched before the fiscal ends. Also, expansion is taking place in online space as this helps the brand establish much faster. We are exploring overseas markets and by the end of 2018, we foresee immense potential, which could be capitalised.”
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Cantabil focusing on simple yet affordable clothing for all
or S/S 18,Cantabil is working on collection that iswearable, affordable and feasible. Cantabil continues its originality in terms of textiles, designs, constructions and serves the best quality at affordable prices. “This season, our men’s wear consists of basic formal, casual and party wear. We are focusing on causal segments in all categories. Our women’s wear conveys a message to today’s urban women that they can afford and feel comfortable at their workplaces andat home by wearing our clothes,” states Deepak Bansal, Director, Cantabil.
Strength in simplicity
The style statement for Cantabil has always been ‘simple and sophisticated’. Simplicity is the best attitude one can wear and sophistication is the value addition to simplicity, making the attire compatible, believes Bansal. “Our experts have always been looking at new concept collections. This year, we are working on a particular theme. Remastering old fashion movements into modern age contemporary is the ultimate theme, which our collection portrays.Keeping fashion alive, we have incorporated historic inspirations in terms of prints, weaves, and fabrics. Modernising the silhouettes with latest cuts, we have enhancedthe new collection by making it completely wearable and affordable,” Bansal explains. The silhouettes and prints have been upgraded making the collection in tune with current fashion trends. In shirts,
Cantabilhasremastered shapes and cuts of collars as per occasions. Various fits have been included like, slim fit, regular fit, etc. They are also upgrading fits in trousers and denim. In women’s wear, latestsilhouettes have been adapted making them wearable. Formal shirt and kurti,A-line, straight fits are the key shapes Cantabilis focusing on. Boat necks, keyholes, mandarin and Peter pan collars, illusion necklines are the highlights of the collection. Contrast plackets, yoke lines,floral and checks breaks the monotony
of the prints and patterns. High low concepts have been used in shirts, dresses and tunics.In women’s collection, the palette is sophisticated versatilecolours with a sense of neutral ivory, charcoal brown,earthy tones and more.In men’s wear, classic denims and work wear colours combine with a sensitive range of tinted neutrals.
Fabricsfor the season
The fabrics are mostly blends in different categories. “In women’s wear, modal 16/16 and Rayon Viscose are in demand. Along with this, dobby weaves are used. With different geometric patterns, twills, printed corduroys, printed denims, printed crepes, mélange etc. Denim, twill stretch, satins, English khaki has been used in lowers. In men’s wear, there are linen, chambrays, dobby, Fila fil, cotton satinsetc in upper wear. In bottom wear, 90 per cent of the fabrics are stretch/ Lycra. Speaking on futuristic trends, Bansal says, ‘The future is always unpredictable but through our research team, we are planning more up gradations in our collections. More experiments will be done on prints and silhouettes, which are inspired by artist and painters.” Unfinished floral, raw prints, silent shapes, sculpted shapeswould be added. Deviating from geometric and floral, a new concept of prints showing knotting, weaving, macramé,youth tonic, dizzy, festive prints and basketry inspired prints are combined with bold geometrics and strong lines. The colour combination would also be according to the season’s colour schemes.
Libra to increase pan India presence, venture into rural markets
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nnerwear and lingerie brand Libra, was incepted in 1982. It manufactures and supplieswomen’s lingerie including bras, T-shirt bras, padded bras, wedding sets etc.Speaking about Libra, Dheeraj Mehta says the success of the brand lies in the art of crafting and perfect designs. “Libra innerwear is created with inimitable fits, finish and perfection. The reason why Libra is being seen as a preferred brand by Indians is because of its commitment to design lingerie that suits Indian women.” Libra’s products are engineered as per Indian bodylines. They are designed with a deep understanding of the psyche of Indian women.
Product Basket
The productsinclude regular sets, casual sets as well as bridal sets. The company has also introduced hosiery garments in Lycra fabrics.Another key factor in the success of
the brand, liesin the fact that, whilst giving international standard products, it’s modest with its pricing.Its also strong in product innovation. New styles such as strapless, deep cut, sports bra, cotton basics etc have been introduced keeping in mind the choice of today’s woman. Lace, cotton lace, embroidered lace, Lycra and hosiery are some of the variations in fabrics used with an interesting colour palette which is mostly pastel or bright.
Retail Footprint
With a good market share across Maharashtra, Gujarat, and cities likeKolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Guwahati, Libra is now looking to add more markets by entering the not-so- ventured territories of rural India.The company is increasing its pan India presence and visibility with aggressive promotions through advertising and presence in fairs and lingerie shows
28 IF EXCLUSIVE Callino plans increased pan India presence with retail expansion C
allino’s journey began in Delhi in 2014 as an aspiring yet steadfast enterprise that went on to become one of India’s fastest growing companies in the garments industry. From a company primarily into men’s fashion formal readymade, to a leading brand in menswear fashion, Callino has indeed travelled miles.As a responsible organisation, Callino aims to fulfill its social responsibility by effectively contributing towards the community through direct involvement in an NGO called ‘Aware India’.It has highly experienced team with the knowledge of right fabric sourcing, international quality standards with a stateof-the-art R&D facility.
Formal wear in focus
The company offers complete men’s formal fashion with a wide range of shirts, trousers, waist coats, suits, blazer and accessories. In shirts, they have active (smart casual) in 100 per cent cotton, life (fashion formal) in 100 per cent Giza cotton. In trousers, they have formals and Khakis. Suits have variants in TR/poly wool/pure wool/and linen for winter and summer. Blazers come in tweed/fancy natural blends/wool and linen for winter and summer. The brand comes up with two collections summer and winter.
Ashok Singhal, CEO, Callino says, “Our target audience is youth to a young mature. Callino’s premium clothing is in league with top selling menswear brands.Callino is working in B2B format with a presence in MBO, shop in shops andonline stores.
We have more than 100 SIS all over India with a strong presence in North India. Our mission is to be present at all leading stores at a pan-India level. Going ahead, we will be expanding in more than 200SIS, EBO and LFR format within two years.”
Hoffmen to continue focusing on small towns and rural areas as it spreads out
H
offmen, is known best for its denims and casuals, launched in 1991 the brand began by working with MBOs however, they opened their first EBO in 2002. Since then,Hoffmenhas been growing steadily and today operates through 450 MBOs and 70 EBOs.
to continue, if one takes into consideration that Indian consumers have a deep affinity towards fashion and innovative clothing. The brand creates two collections every year which is showcased to buyers and franchisees both for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter.
Brand USP and offerings
Retail Footprint
Hoffmen’sproduct range comprises men’s denims/shirts, trousers and T-shirts. The brand also creates women’s denims and shirts under their sub brand Ms.HFN. They have also launched blazers and suits for men lately. These are beingretailed through their EBOs and have seen a good response. AayushRungta, Director, Hoffmenspeaks about the brand’s unique selling proposition “From day onewe have been offering quality products at affordable prices.”The brand targets consumers over 21 but below 50 years who wish to spend their money smartly. Since Hoffmen looks at itselfas a mid-segment brand,their customers belong to the lower and middle income group.Rungta opines despite increasing competition, India’s apparel industry has a healthy growth and this trend is expected
Hoffmenretails through a combination of 70 EBOs and 450 MBOs focused mainly on Tier-II and III towns. Online, the brand is on platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm andJabong. Almost 90 per cent of Hoffmen’sEBOs are company owned franchisee operated (COFO). In future too, it plans to expand through the same route as they can have better control over retail although it leads to higher Capex per store. Rungta says they have been aggressive in Tier-II, III markets and this year they are looking at exploring rural areasof Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. “E-tailing should continue to co-exist, however, for a market like India where entertainment in majority of towns is still restricted to shopping malls, brick-and-mortar stores will continue to be the most preferred platform.”
61
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30 IF EXCLUSIVE Right product and pricing strategy gives Parx new growth goals
P
arxwas one of the fastest growing brands under the branded apparel division of Raymond. In 2017, Parx posted Rs173crore revenue and registered a high 35 per cent growth for the second quarter of FY18. So what led to this transformation when sales had plunged to a low of Rs117 crore in 2014. Pragati Srivastava, Brand Head-Parx says they embarked on a transformation in 2015, focussing on millennials. From a brand that used to cater to men from early 20s to mid30s, Parx sharpened its focus on those under 25. Earlier, the brand was loosely focussed, offering products in all categories. Defining the right product and pricing have was key to growth. On performance front, Gaurav Mahajan, President-apparel business, Raymond, pointed out over the last two years, the brand has delivered one of the highest growth rates in the industry. But this transformation had its own share of setbacks. The biggest challenge was to pursue a generation in constant flux, breaking old paradigms and regularly creating a new way of thinking and living. With changed focus from 35+ to early 20s, the product mix shifted from regular fit blocks in trousers and denim and replaced existing products with slimmer and tapered fits. Regular shirt styles were replaced with contemporary and casual styles, highlighted Srivastava.
Retail strategy
It was not just product focus but retail points were also strategised. New formats
overdrive across all product lines by rolling out new lines such as Parx Denim, Parx Play and Black stag. New properties such as, Parx Hunt in colleges across the country was created as the new high-decibel touch point to talk to millennials.In all of these, digital media came as a boon.Parx Hunt was in line with the needs and interests of tech-savvy millennials. The seasonal brand campaigns too were brought in line with the new target group.
What went well?
such as pop-up stores were introduced at hightraffic destinations, including malls, which helped circumvent high retail costs and unavailability of space. Along with this, a new fast–fashion supply model – Parx Express – was rolled out. Non-performing exclusive outlets were shut down and focus was on occupying space at retail formats and MBOs. Parx also undertook an innovation
Marketing experts say, Parx quickly got away with the philosophy of targeting everyone through its products and that’s what helped the company in steering growth. Ashita Aggarwal, Head of marketing at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, says people don’t remember them for anything and have no reason to pay premium. Sacrifice is the essence of good positioning and a great marketing strategy. Focus on millennials made it easier for Parx to optimise its portfolio, provide focussed offers to consumers and employ a marketing plan specifically catering to this generation. With millennials accounting for almost 35 per cent of population, the brand smartly found a place and aims to capture larger segment share.There is a word of caution here. Millennials seek variety and are quick to switch brands. Retention of such consumers might be a tricky, expensive proposition.Parx, for the time being, is in a very comfortable space.
Turtle looks to strengthening its presence in Eastern India
T
urtle’s journey began in Kolkata in 1993 as an aspiring yet steadfast enterprise that went on to become one of India’s fastest growing companies. From a being primarily into men’s readymade shirts, to becoming a leading brand in menswear fashion, Turtle has, come a long way. And what started with a production capacity of just 20 shirts a day, today has an exhaustive in-house retail unit that caters to more than 100 exclusive stores and 1,200 multi-brand outlets across the country. With trendsetting fashion and redefining styles, its two iconic brands: Turtle and London Bridge have become favourites among men who wish to make a statement. Turtle started its journey by manufacturing shirts and over the last 25 years, it has added everything that is required in a man’s wardrobe except innerwear. The company rolls out two collections every year: spring/ summer and festive/ winter wear. Speaking about the philosophy of the company,
ShitanshuJhunjhunwalla, Director, Turtle says, “The philosophy is simple: great fashion at best price. The brand positioning is Sec A/Bfor the age group 21 to 50 years. We are among the top brandsof East India in menswear. Our plan is to have a strong presence in East and be available at all leading stores across the region.”
Retail Network
Turtle has a simple strategy to reach out to all towns and districts of the East. “We have 110+ plus EBOs,approx 2,000+ MBOs and are working with Shoppers Stop, Central, Reliance Trendz, Pantaloons and Brand Factory amonb the LFS. The EBOs are both company owned and franchisees depending on store to store. We look forward to getting associated with franchisees as we want budding entrepreneurs to grow with our success story. We plan to grow in Tier II & III cities. We are also looking for associations beyond India,” Jhunjhunwalla adds.
LEAD STORY
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Omni-channel Retailing: Building a seamless network Favourable macroeconomic indices, such as increasing disposable income, spurt in demand from small cities and rural markets, growing penetration of organised retail and co-existence of offline and online channels is impacting growth of brands/retailers. Surely, the omni-channel wave will catapult retail landscape in India, writes Prerna Sharma While India has become a hotbed for e-commerce, it’s becoming tougher for players to establish themselves in a highly competitive space. This is pushing many established online retailers to open physical stores to attract customers. Omni-channel is ruling retail in India today. This explains why many online brands/retailers active in product categories like apparels, spectacles and jewellery etc, are also opening brick and mortar stores to attract customers and create brand awareness. And the reverse is also true, with brick and mortar retailers jumping the etail wagon. Brick-and-mortar retail gives customers a ‘touch & feel’ experience while e-commerce offers greater choice, convenience and value. And while each of them is delivering to its own strengths, both fall short of delivering the perfect customer experience. Physical retail doesn’t give the personal touch that a one-to- one customized page on your favourite portal can, while buying online still puts you through the hassle of returns and size mismatches. Imagine a world where the best of both mediums come together to offer a truly seamless brand experience to customers. That is the world of tomorrow, envisions Kulin Lalbhai, ED, Arvind. Online retail is growing at a fast pace but it’s still a small part of overall retail sector. Consumers still prefer buying offline, at least for high-value items like jewellery, furniture, etc. And as Atul Sinha, Senior-VP, marketing & retail sales, CaratLane says, they started online because there are many benefits of having a store online as people from anywhere in India can get access and they didn’t have to incur the cost of a retail set up. Therefore, they could keep costs low. However, they also realised many customers would add an item to the cart but they stop from making the payment. This made them take the offline route and that’s how they became omni-channel. In apparels too, try and buy works best. Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra-Jabong, points out, fashion is one of the largest and fastest growing categories in e-commerce.
• Indian apparel market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13 per cent and is predicted to reach approx $124 billion by 2020 • E-commerce currently accounts for only 5 per cent of the total fashion market • The figure is expected to reach 11 per to 12 per cent by 2020 • With India’s app store download predicted to reach 20.1 billion by 2020, mobile is potentially a greatest game changer in modern retail • Online retail is growing at a fast pace but it’s still a small part of overall retail sector • Omni channel retail is the way forward for most brands/ retailers today • Online retailers are taking baby steps with brick and mortar stores • Big store chains have opened online and mobile apps to boost their bottomlines
32 LEAD STORY Yet, it accounts for only 5 per cent of the total fashion market currently and is expected touch 11 to 12 per cent by 2020. The segment, therefore, has a huge potential and one of the strategies they are working on is having an omni-channel platform. Physical stores allow buyers who are comfortable shopping for fashion only after experiencing before making the transaction. And on experiencing the brands and their attributes, they can comfortably shop both online and offline. The company has created such experience zones for one of its leading in-house brand, Roadster, in Bengaluru. The store offers products and incorporates class leading multimedia technology, leaving a lasting impression on the visitor.
Opinions & Opportunities Delhi-based online retail startup Jaypore has opened its first offline store, a move which is
Ananth Narayanan CEO Myntra-Jabong| Physical stores allow buyers who are comfortable shopping for fashion only after experiencing before making the transaction. And on experiencing the brands and their attributes, they can comfortably shop both online and offline. The Myntra has created such experience zones for one of its leading in-house brand, Roadster, in Bengaluru. The store offers products and incorporates class leading multimedia technology, leaving a lasting impression on the visitor.
likely to improve its revenue, to reach out to new consumers. Jaypore co-founder Shilpa Sharma says having a physical store will help them reach more customers, especially those who may be wary of shopping online and want to touch and feel a product before buying. It’s also for customers who want instant gratification and would want to walk out of a store with the products in hand. Bobby Arora, Director, Status Quo observes, today’s youth is more tech savvy than ever and enjoy being busy with gadgets. E-commerce definitely has a great future. Arora says, “We are developing strategies for effectively promoting our brand digitally and will continue to work for our customers need in this changing digital world.” The brand is steadily growing at a CAGR of 25 per cent for the past five years. “In future, we plan to offer our customers complete wardrobe solution. We also plan to get stronger in our brand collaborations and taking the brand to next level,” he adds. And as Amit Jain, President, Shingora adds, “Online portals have taken the market by storm as people love to buy things online. We have been actively present with Myntra, Amazon, Jabong, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Limeroad, Tata Cliq, etc., and even have our own website. We feel online will be the future of retailing worldwide.” Sharad Venkta, MD & CEO, Toonz Retail India explains, “With the penetration of digital in India, e-tailing has seen a tremendous growth. Every user who owns a smartphone has installed at least two applications of retail shopping. I strongly believe e-tailing is here to stay and grow over the years.”
Big brands leading the way While online retailers are moving ahead with offline stores big brands are jumping into the online fray. Take Arrow for example, the brand’s e-tailing future looks promising. Their retail stores merge with physical and online stores in different ways to improve sales. Faster mobile penetration is helping boost the internet population with a big jump. M-commerce is impacting it at a fast speed. Arvind is a big believer in omni channel retail that is why they are enabling platforms, which allow online, offline journey. One can open up the inventory of a store on the app and shortlists products, which a customer can pick up from stores. This is the world of the future and Arvind is investing on the technology backbone to allow these seamless experiences to be delivered to customers. As Lalbhai says the world of tomorrow is going to become seamless between online and offline. You should not think of these two channels differently and as brand owners, they care equally about both because in an omni channel world, consumers will make purchase decisions
Sharad Venkta, MD & CEO, Toonz Retail India Pvt. Ltd. “For retailers, the key to keeping the consumer entertained is to integrate physical and digital experiences to provide an interactive and all-inclusive in-store experience that is combined with excellent service. Innovative retailers are responding and adapting store formats to provide the interactive element that many consumers now desire.” both online and offline. In many matured markets, 60 per cent of the decisions are made online even though 90 per cent of the sales are offline. It is critical to be on the palm of the millennials’ hands on their smart phones because that is where they will be making their decisions and as the channels hit equilibrium and balance, you will see that even on the pricing side things will settle down. Arvind is in a phase where new channels are emerging at a rapid pace and there are temporary imbalances. The idea is that over time, pricing across channels for a similar product would never be different. Obviously, older season stock would always be available on liquidation whether it is in factory outlets offline or online, but for fresh goods, the latest season and the latest fashion, both the online and offline experiences have to completely converge. The country’s most valuable retailer, D-Mart, has also set out on its omni-channel journey. It has set up small D-Mart Ready stores across Mumbai, from where customers can
LEAD STORY pick up products they have ordered online. The orders are also home delivered at an additional cost. At a recent interaction, Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate and MD, Shoppers Stop, said he doesn’t believe in the narrative of offline versus online. Rather the company believes in being an omni-channel retailer. Today, Shoppers Stop has 80 physical stores, an online shopping website as well as a mobile app. So far, it has invested Rs 60 crore in its omni-channel journey and aims to achieve 10 per cent sales from online by 2020. The significance of online sales cannot be ignored, feels Sundeep Chugh, CEO & MD, Benetton India, the brand strongly emphasises on online presence. The company has associated with leading e-tailers and the brand is available across all key ecommerce sites. Social media is extremely important for Benetton as it acts as a tool to reach out consumers directly, with the right story approach. Social media has brought brands and customers closer, in just a few clicks.
Growth ahoy The apparel segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13 per cent and touch around $124 billion by 2020. Aspirations and ground realities are what it takes to succeed. Global brands with deep pockets are making a beeline into the Indian market due to its stabilised economy. Arvind for example is very upbeat about the growing trend of global garmenting in India. And as Lalbhai says, domestic demand is settling down now. Post GST, there was a lull in the market for some time. Now, demand has started picking up. And one of the segments seeing a lot of traction is value retail priced less than Rs 1000. There is a big shift from unorganised to organised market. Arvind has seen strong growth in branded apparel business. He feels, as disposable incomes go up, more and more cities will be supporting retail stores, and online channels will also provide a huge new market for branded apparels. However, the focus on only the website and the store is simply a bi-channel strategy. With one-third of all online purchases now taking place on mobile devices and smaller screens consuming two-thirds of our digital time, mobile is the secret ingredient for true omni-channel success. Forward thinking brands, do not think mobile as an extension of their website into a smaller screen. Instead, it has the potential to enhance the whole online and in-store experience. With India’s app store download predicted to reach 20.1 billion by 2020, mobile is potentially a greatest game changer in modern retail. The popularity of virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri, Alexa, Cortana, etc., and inexplicably
high engagement drawn by social media has led the way for the introduction of AI on social messaging platform. Globally, luxury brands like Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, etc., are using chatbots to drive user engagement and improve customer engagement. Amazon’s ambition to open retail stores under Amazon Go brand provides an indication of mobile’s future as an in-store technology: by eliminating the store checkout completely. In a mobile-first world, there’s a big opportunity for retailers to stand out by removing the internal silos that create barriers between different channels and instead double down on creating a truly exceptional omni-channel shopping experience for their customers.
The way forward No one channel is overpowering or downplaying the other it’s more about syncing the two. Experts say the discovery process still resides in the online space whereas in the final transaction process, both online and offline complement each other depending on how comfortable the customer is in the online space. For high value items, the retail environment plays a big role. It is important that both online and offline players pull their weight and play their full strength and capabilities in emerging Indian retail landscape. For online players, it has to be reduced customer acquisition cost, wider assortments and right price points. For retailers, it is trust, instant gratification, service and environment. Bringing both together can create a solid customer proposition in place. As Devangshu Dutta, Chief Executive, Third Eyesight points out for an online company, market access in the brick & mortar space brings great opportunity in a country where the larger proportion of sales happen offline. At the same time, younger consumers are increasingly getting comfortable with online and an integrated retail channel will always help. Future Group has been quite aggressive and experimental in the retail space over the past few years and has upgraded itself with a fresher look to appeal to new-generation consumers. In the past six years, Kishore Biyani has acquired half a dozen supermarket store chains in India to put together a total retail space of 13.6 million sq. ft. with a presence in 255 cities through 930 stores. No other retailer can match Future Group’s national presence apart from Reliance Retail. In addition, the retailer also has data of 500 million consumers who have shopped in its stores in a country where more than 98 per cent of retail sales take place offline. Most retailers in India are opting for omnichannel route to meet the demands of consumers. In the apparel space, online players such as Limeroad, Lenskart,
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Bobby Arora, Director, Status Quo No one channel is overpowering or downplaying the other it’s more about syncing the two. Experts say the discovery process still resides in the online space whereas in the final transaction process, both online and offline complement each other depending on how comfortable the customer is in the online space. For high value items, the retail environment plays a big role. It is important that both online and offline players pull their weight and play their full strength and capabilities in emerging Indian retail landscape. ShopClues are just some examples of retailers/brands that have launched omnichannel initiatives, although the scale is not too big right now. Future Group too is trying technology integration, known internally as Retail 3.0, which is being piloted through several Easy-Day stores that function as a marketplace, giving consumers access to the company’s entire inventory through the digital medium. Big store chains like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop et al have taken the online route to boost sales. Surely, with all these and more initiatives, omni-channel is the safest bet for retailers today.
34 E-TAIL E-commerce firms gets six-month tax breather
shopping is a thriving market with people increasingly choosing this option to order products and services at their convenience. Global e-commerce transaction in the year 2016 was $1.9 trillion accounting for 8.7 per cent of the total retail spending worldwide. This is expected to grow to above $4 trillion by 2020, making up to nearly 15 per cent of the total retail spending. Abhijit Kamra, Head-Global Selling, Amazon India points out categories such as apparel & accessories, leather, beauty and health products, toys and household goods have a great demand internationally. Indian exporters have a comparative advantage and immense potential here. From few hundred sellers during our launch to over 32,000 sellers offering over 90 million products, Amazon Global Selling has grown and supported thousands of exporters till date and we look forward to enabling thousands more through the program.
E-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon in the goods and services tax (GST) regime is likely to be deferred by six months. The commendation by the law review committee may come as a breather for e-commerce players, which have been strongly opposing the additional levy. Along with the reverse charge mechanism and the e-way bill the TCS of 1 per cent to be charged collectively by the centre and states was kept in abeyance till April 1, 2018, by the GST Council in October. However, in light of revenue leakage concerns, the e-way bill to track movement of inter-state supply of goods will be implemented from February 1, while reverse charge mechanism on composition dealers may be implemented any time now. While making transaction payment to sellers on the marketplace website the TCS will fundamentally be collected by the e-commerce player. The model goods and services tax law approved by the GST
Amazon partners FicciCMSME to enable Indian e-commerce globally
Amazon has announced a partnership with Ficci-Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CMSME), the affiliated body under the umbrella of Ficci. As a part of this partnership, Amazon will conduct various training events and workshops across the country with FicciCMSME, focused on its Global Selling
Council provides up to 1 per cent TCS deduction by e-commerce operators. In the wake of stiff opposition by the e-commerce industry, the TCS provision in the GST law was earlier toned down to include ‘up to 1 per cent TCS’ as against a 1 per cent levy under both the Central GST and the State GST, taking the total incidence at 2 per cent. For the government, the TCS will help check tax evasion by enabling collection of tax and information at source. Flipkart had stated that Rs 4 billion working capital would be locked up every year at the current scale. The e-commerce player said this would deter small and medium enterprises and sellers from selling on e-commerce platforms or going digital in their business. The TCS also increases the compliance burden on e-commerce players. The vendors will be able to claim credit for the TCS deductions based on the tax statement filed by the e-commerce operator. Program. The aim is to educate exporters and manufacturers on B2C exports using the e-commerce road and enable them to sell across 10 international marketplaces through Amazon’s Global Selling Program. Experts from Amazon, Ficci-CMSME and various service providers will come together to help manufacturers and potential exporters in understanding procedures and requirements in the areas of logistics, taxation and cataloguing and will further guide them through the entire process of exports using e-commerce. Amazon offer tips and tricks of the digital business opportunity, brand building, documentation, listing methodology and Amazon services such as Fulfilment by Amazon and Sponsored Ads. Sanjay Bhatia, President, Ficci-CMSME says the number of digital buyers worldwide is expected to grow to 2.07 billion in 2019 from 1.3 billion in 2014. E-commerce
Demonitisation created an online shopping boom in India
India’s e-commerce space is becoming overcrowded and, the major flow of new shoppers are from the country’s smaller cities. Advisory firm RedSeer Management Consulting reported that in 2017, the number of monthly active shoppers on Indian e-commerce portals spiralled up 33 per cent year-on-year to 20 million. Vaibhav Arora, Associate GM, RedSeer, says this was largely due to the increase in internet use in smaller urban centres after the launch of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and demonetisation of two high-value notes in November 2016. Since its launch in 2016, Reliance Jio has been offering data at extremely low prices. Demonetisation encouraged several Indians to shop online and transact digitally due to a shortage of currency notes. RedSeer notes Tier-II towns were the primary contributors to growth of users in 2017, accounting for 41 per cent of the total shoppers. This trend is likely to continue and Tier-II cities alone will make up for nearly half the gross merchandising value of online retailing in India by 2020. With the number of shoppers from non-metros increasing, e-commerce companies are investing heavily in logistics and their supply chains. And rather than depending on third-party players for the last-mile delivery of products, e-commerce players are also looking at logistics to ensure quicker delivery.
E-TAIL Ecommerce will increase 19 per cent to $33b this fiscal
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to b2c market with the help of players like Amazon, who could solve the biggest challenge of providing logistics services.
MP to sell handicrafts online
Discounts, festival offers, speedy delivery and better telecom bandwidth appear to have helped the ecommerce sector register an impressive growth. The Economic Survey, estimates ecommerce will be worth $33 billion this fiscal year. This indicates a 19 per cent growth over 2016-17. The Centre and states have been supporting the sector as it is recognised as a growth sector with a great potential for job creation. The Centre is providing a push to the sector through initiatives such as Startup India. Growth in ecommerce sector is more than twice in comparison to the IT and business process management (IT-BPM) industry which has grown to $140 billion by clocking 8 per cent growth in the same period. The market size, however, excludes ecommerce and hardware. The exports of IT-BPM services, meanwhile, have grown 7.6 per cent to $116 billion from $108 billion
E-commerce companies to help Tirupur producers reach customers
Tirupur might be the knitwear capital of the country but only a few companies have succeeded in reaching customers directly in business to consumer-b2c market. This might change soon as the world’s largest e-commerce company Amazon would provide its platform for Tirupur knitwear manufacturers to promote their brands and
over the past year. The survey stated, the Centre has taken many initiatives to further promote this sector, such as establishment of BPO promotion and common services centres. “These centres are intended to help create digital inclusion and equitable growth and provide employment to 1.45 lakh persons, mostly in small towns. Other initiatives include a separate northeast BPO promotion scheme with 5,000 seats and job potential of 15,000 persons. The Centre has also signed up with ecommerce firms such as Amazon and Snapdeal to make available on their platforms products made by tribal communities. The government refers the complaints received at the National Consumer Helpline to the companies concerned for redressal, and in some cases, complainants are advised to approach the consumer forum concerned.
reach customers. Tirupur exporters’ association president Raja M Shanmugham says with the help of e-commerce companies, even small manufacturers could promote their goods. The partnership with Amazon, and Flipkart, another e-commerce player would provide equal ground to all manufacturers to grow in b2c market. Abhijit Kamra, Head-global selling, Amazon India says Amazon sees a huge interest across the world for apparel and other textile goods from Tirupur and there is huge potential for small and medium enterprises to gauge up their export through b2c e-commerce channel across categories like T-shirts, dresses other consumer textile products. Highlighting the significance of the opportunity, Prabhu Dhamodharan, Secretary of Indian Texpreneurs Federation, says with e-commerce projected to achieve overwhelming growth, apparel manufacturers should transform themselves
Madhya Pradesh is planning to sell handicrafts and handloom products on e-commerce portals like Amazon and Flipkart. Awareness is being created among artisans to take the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for their traditional handicraft and handloom products. Maheshwar saris, leather toys of Indore and chanderi fabrics are among the products of Madhya Pradesh which have got GI certification. Some popular crafts of MP include: textile weaving, hand printing, carpet weaving, colored lacquer ware, bead crafts, glass beads, wood, shell and white metal jewelry, terracotta figures and containers, rag dolls and toys. Tribal craftsmen produce bamboo articles used for daily purposes as well as decorative purposes. Dhurries are flat-woven carpets used for floor covering. These are available in variety of designs and are made of thick cotton woven fabric. These dhurries are mostly woven by women at home in various villages and towns of Madhya Pradesh. Metalwork includes oil lamps, tools and statues. Madhya Pradesh is a famous center of textile weaving. Chanderi is an extremely fine fabric with intricately woven borders. Tribals create intricate designs of artistic ornaments and jewelry with thread, metal beads, feathers, textured or patterned base of woven cotton and so on.
Amazon India plans to expand private label business
36 E-TAIL Character merchandise fuels the growth for kidswear on Amazon
and ShopClues are pushing their private labels as this provides them with better control over margins since discounting is a common theme for these players. An ABFRL spokesperson stated that ABFRL has acquired the rights of the brand ‘Abof ’ (private label) after discontinuing Abof. It plans to build this brand as a fast fashion omnichannel brand for the digitally native young consumers of today.
Jabong starts offering Marks & Spencer products for online push
Amazon announced it has had 80 per cent growth in sales in 2017 as against 2016 comparing the total units sold in the kid’s wear category. The growth engine being mainly character merchandise with wellknown characters such as Mickey & Friends, Avenger, Superman, Spiderman, Chhota Bheem are dearky loved across the kids wear category. Kids age group between 8 to 12 years is the most popular on Amazon. The e-commerce giant is managing 300 brands and 900 sellers, top selling brands Amazon India is looking to rapidly scale up and expand its private label business by launching brands in new categories this year, even as the online retailer looks to close the gap with arch-rival and e-commerce market leader Flipkart, which has also made an aggressive push into private labels over the past year. Amazon India vice president Manish Tiwary says the company would look to aggressively expand its private label this year, with potential new category launches. The company might follow Flipkart’s playbook and launch a separate private label brand for certain large appliances as well as smaller appliances. Amazon, which globally has an in-house brand called AmazonBasics, launched the brand in India last year. It has so far launched at least five private label brands Symbol and Myx in fashion and apparels, Solimo in hard-lines or categories such as small furniture and home appliances, and Tenor in smartphones. Amazon would also look to expand categories and launch new products under existing in-house brands such as Solimo and Myx. Experts say, Amazon India’s track record in the private label space has so far been mixed at best. While it has successfully launched several private label brands continues to lag competitors. Retailers such as Flipkart and Amazon India have largely followed an approach that caters to the masses and Myntra has largely focused on creating fashion brands with its private labels
for Amazon in India are Mothercare, Gap, United Colors of Benetton, US Polo, Gini & Jony and 612League. Kids’ ethnic wear is one of the most searched sub categories which grew at 80 per cent year-on-year in fiscal 2018. Arun Sirdeshmukh, head, Amazon Fashion disclosed, “Interestingly, baby shoes store which was launched with an aim to address footwear necessities of babies in the age group of 0 to 2 years has seen a tremendous growth of close to 90 per cent year-on-year in 2017.” and targeting so-called fashion seekers.
Aditya Birla set to resume Abof as a private label Aditya Birla Group, with a large interest in retail and textile, is not new to the e-commerce business compared to its peers Tata Group (Tata Cliq) and Reliance (Ajio), who entered this segment last year. The company now wants to position Abof as a fast fashion omni-channel brand and restart this business in the next financial year. The top management believes investments it made in Abof, before they decided to shut it, can be utilised to market Abof as an inhouse brand.
The attempt is to start the business at the earliest possible, but next financial year looks like a practical timeline. The development comes at a time when leading e-tailers such as Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon
Flipkart group owned online fashion store Jabong will now be offering products from British multinational retailer Marks & Spencer on its platform. Products from its latest Spring/Summer-18 collection will be on Jabong, with over 650 options from across categories including womenswear, menswear, lingerie, beauty and kids wear. Ritesh Mishra, Head of Buying & Merchandising, Marks & Spencer Reliance India, says the company is delighted to be launching the sale of Marks & Spencer products on Jabong, ensuring more customers choose to shop online they can easily purchase the unique style of the M&S range. Kalyan Kumar, Chief Merchandising OfficerJabong says as a premium fashion and lifestyle platform, Jabong has to its credit, a vast array of the choicest international fashion brands that shoppers can choose from. The addition of M&S further reinforces the core proposition and commitment to offer consumers in India, the very best in fashion, from across the world. Marks & Spencer entered the Indian market in 2001 and currently has a strong network of 63 offline stores across the country.
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CMAI’s Apparel Index: Q3 records growth recovery for all brand groups C
MAI’s Apparel Index for Q3 (Oct-Dec FY 2017-18) gives out positive signals about the market as there is a clear growth recovery at 2.71 points, which is much higher than the same quarter previous year Q3 (Oct-Dec FY 2016-17) with overall Index Value at 1.4 points, market had registered the lowest growth, in the quarter that faced the implementation of demonitisation.
Giant Brands remain resilient
One year post-demonization and a few months after GST’s implementation, despite the push and pulls, Giant Brands have remained resilient and buoyant. In Q3, they maintained their lead with an index value of 11.25 points, growing multiple times compared to other brand groups. Large Brands on the other grew at 5.56 points; Mid Brands clocked in 3.69 points growth; while Small Brands grew least at 1.3 points. Compared to previous quarters, Giant Brands are growing much faster than others, as their rate of growth in the previous quarter was 8.72 points. Large Brands growth rate was 6.65; and 1.25 points for Mid and 0.29 for Small Brands respectively. Indeed, all brand groups across the board have recorded higher growth this quarter. Except, Large Brands (growth dropped this quarter to 5.56 from 6.65 earlier). Surprisingly, Large Brands grew 7.23 points in the same quarter previous year. A closer look at Large Brands’ performance during Q3 and Q2 of FY 2017-18, reflects in both these quarters, Sales Turnover growth is same but Sell Through grew better in previous quarter compared to this quarter; Inventory Holding too increased this quarter compared to previous quarter impacting negatively. Giant Brand’s remarkable growth improvement is on account of better Sales Turnover growth compared to previous quarter and better Sell Through growth. Q3 Apparel Index once again indicates Giant Brands have outdone Large, Mid and Small Brands. Being more organized and networked with organized retail through MBOs, EBOs and Large Format Stores Giant and Large Brands managed their business and sales turnover better. Moreover, they increased sales turnovers significantly at 8.0 points and 4.4 points respectively.
Inside Story: Sales Turnover rise and so do fresh Investments
In Q3, Sales Turnover reflected an Index growth of 1.52. Nearly, 49 per cent brands or almost half reported an increase this quarter. However, it seems, the festive season didn’t bring much cheer to all brands, as many reported a dip in sales turnover. And a significant 30 per cent reported a loss this quarter. Incidentally, maximum number of respondents who reported a loss in sales turnover were in the Mid Brands bracket. In fact, no Giant Brands indicated a loss in turnover in Q3. Explaining the dip in sales turnover, Narendra Shah, Proprietor, Vogartino says “The dip in sales turnover is partly due to us changing location and majorly due to the pattern of business followed by corporate brands. End of season sale hit not only us as a brand but also MBO’s, small industries and manufacturers. Big corporate brands gave away goods at throwaway prices which has had a great impact on our business hence, the dip in sales turnover.” Nearly 45 per cent brands indicated an improvement in Sell Through. But for the other 44 per cent, Sell Through remained the same “The increase in sell through is connected, if sales turnover increases automatically sell through will increase as sales have been managed well,” explains Sameer Patel, Proprietor, Deal Jeans. Almost 46 per cent respondents across all brand groups said their Inventory Holding went up this quarter. Patel opines, “Inventory holding increased as fashion is fast changing and the inventory is managed and controlled well at our end.” The higher value in Inventory Holding indicates a negative impact. The increase in inventory could be a carryover of inventory from previous quarters and less than expected sales during the festive season. Rajesh Giani, Proprietor, Toffy House points out, “Last quarter was for winter wear, hence, demand was good and stocks were stored for winter. We had some
previous stocks and with late production of fresh stocks, we were able to meet demand. This is why inventory holding went up.” Fresh Investments went up by 1.30 points overall with nearly 59 per cent respondents reporting a rise in investments. As Seema Mehta, Proprietor, Exile explains, “The reason behind an increase in investment is a government scheme which helped us with a bank loan to enhance business. We opted for it and infused money to increase our investments.” Agrees Ketan, Owner, Goof who goes on to explain “We increased our investments by opting for a bank loan to widen our horizons.” As for outlook for the next quarter around 48 per cent brands say it is ‘Average’, while 38 per cent believe the outlook is ‘Good’. Generally, Q4 of the financial year, is seen as quarter that has EOSS in January and only a small period of fresh and growth in sales that is second half of March when exams are over and holidays start and summer season picks up. Looking for fresh goods, post first quarter of GST, consumers too are expected to return to stores. GST and new processes would be settled especially by last quarter of this financial year and this could augur well for growth in Q1 of FY 2018-19. WCMAl’s Apparel Index aims to set a benchmark for the entire domestic apparel industry and helps brands in taking informed business decisions. For investors, industry players, stakeholders and policymakers the index is a useful tool offering concrete and credible information, and is an excellent source for assessing the performance of the industry. The Index is analysed on assessing the performance on four parameters: Sales Turnover, Sell Through (percentage of fresh stocks sold), number of days of Inventory Holding and Investments (signifying future confidence) in brand development and brand building. The Apparel Index research is conducted by DFU Publications.
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The changing women’s ethnic wear landscape
omen’s wear today accounts for 38 per cent of the entire fashion retail segment, estimated at $17.5 billion, with an expected CAGR of 9.9 per cent, which will push up the market to $44 billion by 2026. Ethnic wear is the largest contributor in this segment with 66 per cent share and is expected to grow at 5 per cent. Women’s wardrobe has seen a paradigm shift over the years. From tailor stitched clothes to readymade garments the entire clothing dynamics has changed. The trend today is wearing a salwar kameez without a dupatta. Readymade blouses are preferred for saris, and scarves and stoles add glamour to an outfit. Nishit Gupta, Director, Kalki Fashion points out women are more experimental today, they are breaking stereotypes. Earlier for a bride, there was only one or two options like a red lehenga or a sari. But today, there is something for everybody with different liking.
Evolutionary stages
Talking about the evolutionary journey, Vandy Mehta, Director, Study By Janak, opines two decades is a long time, the changes are more short term, one can see things change in a year or two but the tremendous change has come in the last
decade where women’s wear market has seen a surge in terms of demand, women are looking at variety not only in colours but in detailing, silhouettes and are ready to experiment. Also supply has grown at least
10 folds, from mom and pop stores in every second household to large stores across the country. E-commerce has made a staggering impact on pricing as well as offerings.
Omni-channel is the way to customer sustenance feel brands/retailers
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hile India has become a hotbed for e-commerce players, it’s getting tougher by the day for players to establish themselves in this highly competitive space. Therefore, established online players are opening physical stores to get closer to customers. In short, it’s omni-channel retail
ruling today. Experts say companies are realizing the fact that for a lot of product segments like apparel, spectacles and jewellery, customer acquisition can increase with a physical store. Moreover, it also helps in creating more brand awareness. Indeed, online is growing at a fast pace but it’s still
a small part of the retail sector. Consumers still prefer buying offline, at least for highvalue items like jewellery, furniture, etc, they generally look for a physical store. In apparels, try & buy is what works the best. Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra-Jabong, says fashion is one of the largest and fastest growing categories in e-commerce. Yet, it accounts for only 5 per cent of the total fashion market currently and this is expected to reach 11 per cent to 12 per cent by 2020. The segment therefore has a huge potential ahead and one of the strategies they are working on is to have omni-channel platform. Physical stores allow buyers who are comfortable shopping for fashion only after experiencing it through touch and feel before making the transaction. Speaking huge customer acquisition cost, Puneet Chawla, Co- Founder and CEO, Jaypore.com, says that though Jaypore is only online right now, the brand is aggressively looking at expanding through offline stores. The primary reason for an offline expansion is that the cost of acquiring customers for a small online player has become prohibitive.
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India’s luxury couturiers need to learn from global counterparts
ndian craftsmanship has constantly been used by the likes of Dior, Chanel, Gucci, almost every major global luxury brand over the years. Recent collaboration between Indian luxury couturier Sabyasachi & Louboutin’s limited edition collection sandals, pumps, flats, wedges, boots, sneakers, is a testimony of India’s charm and craze among foreign nationals. But these luxury designers are still not able to command that luxury tag from foreign markets. They need foreign brands collaboration to support their growth. One can see leading designers’ ensemble abroad for example, Manish Arora in Paris,
Grassroot (by Anita Dongre) in New York, Varana in London. However, can India have a robust entourage of valuable luxury brands like Europe or the US do? For that Indian needs to succeed in the global luxury market because it has everything going in its favour. Take for example the collaboration and vision and talent of two exceptional designers, Sabyasachi and Louboutin. On one hand there is luxurious Indian craftsmanship—intricate hand embroidery, traditional motifs, ancient ethos—in fact, not just this boot, but the entire collection is made from antique saris and ribbons from Sabyasachi’s archives. And there is an easy
‘international’ feel to the shoes—despite the obvious Indian embroidery and fabrics, these shoes are unmistakably designed for the global consumer. And there is top-notch production quality. The shoes were made in Italy, they fit beautifully, and are faultless in every detail. And five, there is the sheer brand-marketing machinery of Louboutin, he showed up personally for the Dubai launch and the effortless global reach that put Sabyasachi shoes in top stores like Harrods London, Bergdorf Goodman New York, Lane Crawford Hong Kong, plus extensive online retail.
Shop-in-shops shifting strategies, wooing customers with new designs S
hop-in-shops seem to be a great marketing tool for retailers to build their private labels. For more established brands, it’s a great model to expand visibility. Huge density of merchandise doesn’t necessarily do justice to business. When it comes to leasing options, the scenario is different. For instance, at Central, where the average size of SiS ranges between 200-500 sq. ft.
brands are considered partners, where they can bring in their own design, fixtures etc. Central’s ‘high-definition’ outlets are further working on sizes based on the brands’ performance and identities. Indian Terrain is bringing its 1,000 sq. ft. SiS while Raymond will span across 3,000 sq. ft. Sourav Banerjee, Director, Aditac Solutions
observes many a times, sourcing right material is a challenge. It’s challenging to achieve fixture colours because of dearth of good quality raw materials. Another area of concern for brands in this space is that they don’t have much freedom in flooring and ceiling applications leaving them to create their identity with only Fixture and VM on perimeter walls and floor units. Keeping in line, they have to bring innovative design to compete with fellow brands. Menswear brand Peter England is currently working on a special branding signage for their SiSs. Mohit Saxena, Head-VM, Peter England, feels ‘Peter England’ the brand name is way too long to fit in the width available in an MBO. Signages are also making all the differences for Arvind’s casual wear brand US Polo Assn. The brand is using white letter cut on black background to stand out effectively in comparison with the previous signage that was weaker in colour contrast. Vidit Sachdeva, Manager-design & VM, US Polo Assn, says in EBOs, they have more surfaces to do branding including window, entrance, etc. However, at SiS, it’s a challenge when the branding space is as limited as 12 – 18 inch.
42 FASHION POST LFW launches incubation program
Lakme Fashion Week has launched a fashion incubation program with WeWork. The objective is to help young designers be part of a larger progressive movement that WeWork provides with access to cross industry learning, which is missing in the fashion industry. This initiative promises to accelerate growth with opportunities to network and learn from peers in diverse fields of creativity and business. The program will run parallel in Mumbai and Gurgaon with 80 designers who would be given the opportunity to use the WeWork space. The program will run for a year till February next year in four batches of 20 designers each.
Masaba Gupta launches new store in Ambience, Gurugram
Working out of the WeWork offices means designers get an opportunity to meet likeminded people such as photographers, social media experts and graphic designers whom they not have met in other circumstances. Designers have a nice place to hold business meetings and have a space where potential clients can view their designs.
will follow the footsteps of her colleagues by venturing out with a fashion line. Shew aims to make fashion affordable for all. The actress’ new venture is an initiative towards that direction. This provides an opportunity to young girls to explore their fashionable side at reasonable prices.
Huma’s forthcoming line is yet to be titled. Knowing that it will be for young girls, the designs will have a contemporary, feminine and youthful. Moreover, Huma will be completed involved wherein she will be overseeing everything right from the designs of the clothes to distribution of the brand.
Abraham, Thakore to expand retail footprint for A&T brand
WeWork builds workspaces of the future, by providing the best of design, technology and services to increase productivity, creativity and collaboration. Aside from their beautiful interiors, WeWork spaces are entirely serviced, allowing one to focus all their energies on delivering amazing work. Bold and customary, with original tones of elegance, celebrity designer Masaba Gupta is has launched an all-new store in Ambience Mall, Gurugram. The brand’s previous outlets received rave reviews and people are sporting her apparel in the capital and now it’s Gurugram’s turn to have its own Masaba Gupta store. The store has it all, from lehengas with quirky off shoulder blouses, cool prints in all kinds of Indian wear, saris that will make heads turn and lots more. Gupta has dressed several Bollywood stars including Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt to name a few. Earlier last year she also made India proud as she showcased her collection at London Fashion Week.
Huma Qureshi to start a new clothing line After Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Sidharth Malhotra, Huma Qureshi, is now set to enter the fashion world. The actress
Designer duo of David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore will be expanding the retail footprint of their label A&T to widen its customer base across the country. The duo completed 25 years in fashion industry and as a part of the celebrations is looking to expand its base by scaling up its physical and online presence for growth. Apart from expansion, the designers are also collaborating with different artisans and organisations for exclusive collections. In 2017, they had joined hands with Obeetee for the “Proud to be Indian” collection which got tremendous response and was also showcased in Germany and New York. This time they have decided to collaborate with Veer Singh of Vana India foundation to take A&T to a wider audience within the country. Through strategic investment, the brand is looking at strengthening their retail footprints both in terms of physical stores as well as in the e-commerce. The company plans to reach a much wider audience with a differentiated product line.
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CHIC Spring Edition Sees Positive Business With Good Order Bookings The spring edition of CHIC, held from March 14 to 16, 2018 ended on an optimistic note with yet another increase in visitor figures. Held at the National Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai the fair hosted 1,210 exhibitors from 21 countries. Around 112,666 visitors of all business channels were registered at the fair, among them were leading department stores, shopping malls, multibrand stores, agents, distributors. Chen Dapeng, President, CHIC & EVP, China National Garment Association observed, “Consumers in China develop rapidly, ‘consumer upgrade’ is the keyword, the Chinese market is consumer oriented, demand is an individual young style. The offer has to adapt to the needs of this target group, the industry has to become even more innovative and face the technological challenges.
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he spring edition of CHIC, held from March 14 to 16, 2018 ended on an optimistic note with yet another increase in visitor figures. Held at the National Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai the fair hosted 1,210 exhibitors from 21 countries. Around 112,666 visitors of all business channels were registered at the fair, among them were leading department stores, shopping malls, multibrand stores, agents, distributors. Chen Dapeng, President, CHIC & EVP, China National Garment Association observed, “Consumers in China develop rapidly, ‘consumer upgrade’ is the keyword, the Chinese market is consumer oriented, demand is an individual young style. The offer has to adapt to the needs of this target group, the industry has to become even more innovative and face the technological challenges.” CHIC Shanghai indicates to the Chinese market current trends, which is mirrored by fresh young design and a full visual concepts developed in cooperation with WGSN. It addresses the young trendsetting consumers, China’s driving force for strong growth in retail sales, which increased by 10.2 per cent in 2017 to about $5.7 trillion According to BCG study, this target group accounts for 65 per cent of consumption increase in China with a predicted growth of 11 per cent per year until 2021. The total domestic consumption contributed nearly 60 per cent to the economic expansion of the country last year.
Thorough networking
Exhibitors at the designer area Impulses, a core segment at CHIC occupying the entire North Hall included the likes of Hua Mu Shen, Shan Zi, Mood for Mode. They were satisfied with besides numerous concrete cooperation agreements, high value orders were also placed. International exhibitors in the Fashion Journey area were from Brazil, Denmark, Germany, France, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy etc. Numerous promising cooperation took place that need intensive
follow-up after the fair. Moreover, many companies even received orders at the fair. The Polish Investment and Trade Agency participated for the first time in CHIC with its national export programme ‘go-to-brand’. Heritage the International Fur Federation (IFF) presented for the first time with international producers such as auction houses NAFA and SAGA. Turkey was again represented under IDMIB /ITKIB by 10 companies. For national participants, grouped in pavilions of respective Chinese provinces, CHIC is an essential business platform, they regularly meet buyers and this time too they registered a good number of orders.
Exhibitors’ views
Jean Pierre Parmentier, Marketing Sales, Delphine Charlotte Parmentier, France, stated, “It was our first time in the French pavilion and CHIC in general. The fair was good for us. We got good visitors and made important contacts. The fair was wellorganised so that we had no problems, everything was very easy for us. We were looking for buyers and distributors for this big market and made a lot of contacts and signed some orders.” In similar vein, Maxime Zheng, Chief Representative in China, Maison Lener, France said, “Our company is a family business that is now lead by
the 3rd generation. We have participated in CHIC for 5-6 years. Orders are usually placed in Paris or our Beijing showroom that opened last year. But this time at CHIC, we received high number of orders. We met new customers and our new collection was well received.”
Service platform CHIC
Expanded visitor management, online and offline, was a central aspect of the fair. Online via WeChat and official CHIC APP more than 200,000 visitor request for specific product groups were made, exhibitors uploaded more than 700,000 pieces of product information. Active exchange was initiated by the Buyers’ Talk on the second day of the fair, dealing with the development of buying systems of department stores and shopping malls, trend information was given at CHIC Buyer’s Theme Salon on Day 2. The VIP Buyers’ Meeting brought international brands and interested agents and distributors together – a service that the organiser will expand in future. “For us CHIC is an important platform for trend information and to find European brands we can introduce to the Chinese market,” says Wen Liu, CEO, Jesery from Wuhan, representative of Canadian designer brand JAC. The next edition of CHIC will be held from September 27 to29, 2018 at the National Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai.
44 PREVIEW
India’s Biggest Gathering Of Apparel Supply Chain Professionals And Logistics Leaders Surecom Media is going to organize APPARELCONNECT 2018, dedicated to the logistics segment of the Apparel industry, at Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi on May 17, 2018. The day-long conference would witness four intriguing panel discussions in which several top industry leaders of leading Apparel ExportCompanies, Supply Chain Professionals, Logistics Service Providers, Airlines and Cargo terminal operators will participate and share their knowledge and valuable experience with each other. Supply chain professionals of India’s leading apparel manufacturers and export companies like Bombay Rayon Fashion Ltd, Eastman Exports Global Clothing, Pearl Global Industries, Richa Global Exports, Pratibha Syntex Ltd and other midscale companies will gather under one roof and share their knowledge and logistics experience with logistics industry leaders who are driving the industry.
Panel discussions will be conducted on the themes such as International logistics, On Time Delivery: The vital aspect, Making future ready the current supply chain structure of
garment companies and managing off shore sourcing and outsourcing, Customs and border regulations, Warehousing Decisions and Managing Returns of fashion retailing.
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46 PREVIEW
Meet Top Brands at Gartex 2018
New Delhi: March 2018India’s comprehensive trade show on garmenting and textile manufacturing solutions and technologies, Gartex is scheduled from 1820 August 2018. Spread across 4 halls of Pragati Maidan, the show will be held over 1, 00,000 sq. ft. of the exhibit area.
Morethan 150 companies will display around 300 brands.This is not to miss opportunities for those who are looking for innovations in garmenting and textile industry as top brands are coming up with the most advanced technologies in their respective kitties. Companies like Colorjet, Wenli International, Jaysynth, Epson, Aura Machinery, Baba Textile, Unix, Tajima, Coats India, Tukatech, Negi Jet, Tanya Enterprises, Green Printing Solutions, Pooja Enterprises, Jingle info solutions, Fabcare Garment & Textile Machinery, Intouch resources, Prime Overseas, DCC Print Vision, Fablook International, Vee Kay Enterprises, Green Tech, AS Enterprises, Vardhman Automation, Gian C hand Sushil Kumar, KMB Papers, True Colors groups, Usmanietc., are showcasing their latest innovations at Gartex 2018. Thesecompanies will showcase their innovations under three major categories:DIGITEX:An exclusive focus on Digital Textile Printing Technology, EMBROIDERY MACHINES:Highlighting innovations in Embroidery sector, and GARMENTING & APPAREL MACHINERY: Showcasing technological developments in the Garment & Apparel Manufacturing Sector. FABRIC & ACCESSORIES PAVILION:Specially crafted to facilitating
exhibitors dealing in fabric & accessories sectors with more focused business environment Further, being India’s fastest growing and one-of-its-kind exhibition on garmenting & textile machinery, fabrics, accessories & allied industries, Gartexguarantees expanded business contacts through corporate networking alongside locating & reaching out to the target customers.
Gartex 2018 edition will provide a lot of opportunities to the manufacturers as well as buyers to get updated on new trends and business opportunities on a bigger scale. Taking part in this event will offer many avenues to branch out B2B trading. Broad exhibit categories include Embroidery Machines, Cutting and Sewing Machines, Fabrics & Accessories, Needles &Threads, Laundry & washing equipment, Finishing Equipment, Laser cutting machines, Digital textile printing machines, Automation and Softwares. Be a part of India’s most comprehensive trade show and witness the innovations & upgradation-taking place in garment & textile manufacturing sphere. Targeted visitors include garment exporters, garment manufacturers, fashion designers, apparel industry professionals, home textile players, textile printing companies, sports & apparel manufacturers, buying houses etc.
About The Organiser:
MEX Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. is an international exhibition company with a strong presence of over four decades in the advertising industry, over 20 years in publishing & 15 years in exhibitions. The company has produced more than 100 market-leading trade exhibitions for various segments in addition to publishing various magazines & advertising trade directories of repute. Successful exhibitions are conducted all over India, Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, and now in Africa.
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48 REVIEW
Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics-Spring ’18: Was Another Successful Show The verdict is out once more, Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics has become the undisputed leader in providing business outcomes for the global textile industry. The global sourcing summit, held from March 14 to 16, 2018, wrapped up with a huge 15 per cent increase in buyer figure to 82,314 from 104 countries and regions.
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he verdict is out once more, Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics has become the undisputed leader in providing business outcomes for the global textile industry. The global sourcing summit, held from March 14to 16, 2018, wrapped up with a huge 15 per cent increase in buyer figure to 82,314 from 104 countries and regions. With close to 3,386 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions exhibited at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. Strong growth was registered in buyers from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and India, this edition’s top four countries and regions, while Italy and Bangladesh entered the top 10 list this year, in eight and tenth places respectively, alongside the US, Taiwan, Russia and the UK. “After the strong increase in buyer figure in October edition and the generally favourable outlook of global textile industry in recent months, we were expecting a strong result this year. But the increased number of exhibitors and buyers placing their trust in this fair as their main business platform has completely exceeded our expectations,” said Wendy Wen, senior general manager, Messe Frankfurt (HK. “We put this exceptional result down to the fact that there is no other industry event that matches Intertextile Shanghai’s scale but most importantly that year after year, the fair delivers new contacts from around the world and actual orders and business results for exhibitors. With the quality & quantity of buyers this edition and the tangible outcomes reported to us by exhibitors, the fair has reached a new level as the kick-off event for the spring / summer season.” Many exhibitors echoed a positive sentiment. Philippe Larrieu, Responsible Commercial Export said, “A lot of people have come to our booth, including from China, Australia, India, France, the US and more. On the first day, we had already received 60 sampling enquiries even our catalogue ran out! So, the result is beyond our expectation. At this fair, we not only meet new buyers, but also see our existing customers which we usually meet in fairs in Paris.” With the display area comprising of seven halls and 187,000 sq. mt. it had everything from fabrics for women’ wear to menswear, suiting, shirting, lingerie and swimwear to high-end wool fabrics, original pattern designs, functional &
performance fabrics, sustainability products & services, digital printing technologies, garment & fashion accessories and more on display. Growth areas this included the Premium Wool Zone, with exhibitor numbers doubling from last year, reflecting the evolving use of wool in Spring/Summer collections. The international ‘Beyond Denim’ zone also doubled in size this year, while overseas presence in Accessories Vision grew by 73 per cent.
Exhibitors on a high
Irina De Giorgi, Sales Manager, Ideas by Glarotex AG, Switzerland opined, “It is our first time and I am impressed with the quality visitors. Although we sell high-end products, buyers are still interested, and on the first day, we met over 30 buyers. Compared to other fairs, there are more serious buyers here, and people are actually interested in doing business rather than just learning what the market offers.” Steven Wu, Business Director, PALTEX Co, Taiwan, states, “Not only is this an important gateway for us to tap into the China market, we also received guests from all over the world. Many big names visited our booth including famous sports brand LiNing, while 30 per cent buyers were from countries in Europe, America to Southeast Asia, we have found a lot of opportunities for future cooperation.” While Raymond Tsai, Business Manager, TAIG CHEIN Textile, Taiwan said, “We choose Intertextile to announce our new products as it’s the most well-known trade fair in the textile industry. One of our fabrics was selected in the ‘Fabrics China Award’, which attracted many buyers to our booth. We make use of this fair to promote our brand and meet new customers. We regard it as an international platform and met many professional buyers
from garment factories and brands, 20 per cent of were from overseas.”
Buyers’ Take
Michelle Klein, Manager-fabric R&D, American Eagle Outfitters, USA observed the fair gave a good overview of what’s happening in the market. “We are looking for a wide range of products, so the fair is good as it houses everything. It’s good for researching new vendors, and you can always find new ones to work with. The scope is also useful. Our knit R&D team goes to Yarn Expo, while we find the Functional Lab and Beyond Denim segmented zones in Intertextile absolutely useful. The innovation in the Functional Lab is interesting as we are always looking for new innovation. It’s really helpful how the fair is sorted, and we could easily cover all our shirting needs in one morning.” For Nicola Grosso, Global R&D fabric & trimming manager, Brooks Brothers, USA, the fair is the ‘alpha’ to find new suppliers, and to forge new relationships with companies as everyone is here. “It’s good to be here to learn who the actual manufacturers are, and who the middle men that you might meet overseas are. We can meet people here that we can’t at other fairs, where it’s often just the agents present, so it’s easier to manage suppliers by coming here as you have more direct contact. Timing is the first thing in fashion, so it’s important to have this direct contact.” The Autumn Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will be held from September 27 to 29, 2018 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition 2018 is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK); the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre.
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Yarn Expo Spring Edition Sees Enhanced Participation By 15 Per Cent Yarn Expo continued its growth story as the industry’s most comprehensive and effective business platform with its Spring edition which concluded recently. It saw a large increase in buyers, as well as another year of growth in exhibitor numbers. Strong demand was evident in synthetic, fancy and specialty yarns as well as chemical fibres, while exhibitors in the more traditional cotton product group also fared well. In total, 435 exhibitors from 10 countries and regions took part, attracting 25,966 trade buyers from 88 countries & regions.
O
nce again, Yarn Expo proved itself as the ideal trade fair for the industry to benefit from changing demands and product trends, especially in the Chinese and wider Asian markets,” Wendy Wen, Senior GM, Messe Frankfurt (HK) explained. “The fair has evolved in recent editions to have a much bigger focus on synthetic, fancy & specialty yarns and chemical fibres, and based on the exhibitor feedback during the fair, there was an increase in buyers sourcing these products this year. What’s more, local buyers were showing strong interest in the offerings from Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, while Vietnamese cotton exhibitors reported increased orders from China due to the favourable trade policies between these countries.” As one of the industry’s leading players, Birla Jingwei Fibres plays a big role at Yarn Expo, with their Birla Planet pavilion proving to be highly successful. Sachin Malik, SrVP explained, “Yarn Expo is an important platform for Birla, to be visible to our value chain, to connect with our customers, and our own clients’ customers. We value Yarn Expo as a long-term partner for showcasing our products and connecting with the value chain. Each edition we connect with more and more buyers, and more customers in the industry recognise the importance of this fair. It has developed into a premium event in the global textile industry calendar. Usually this edition is quieter than the autumn fair, but the results this year saw the spring edition reach the same level. Our booth was always packed with buyers, and we also received more high-quality and international buyers. Our pavilion members are also very satisfied with the buyers and their results this time.”
Exhibitors upbeat about show
Satisfied with their participation, most exhibitors were happy with the show’s turnout. Anupam Agrawal, Director – spun yarn business, PT. Indo-Rama Synthetics Tbk said, “Yarn Expo is an ideal platform to meet not only Chinese but also global buyers. The fair attracts so many goodquality buyers, and compared to other fairs attracts more of our target buyers. The
results in this edition have been good. After four years of doing business in China, we have found many Chinese customers who are willing to pay for quality. The demand in the China market for high-quality products is growing, in particular because of the shortage of spinning capacity which is made up for by imports. We have seen more serious and meaningful buyers that have strong desire for further cooperation this time, and I think the potential of this market will continue to grow.” Joo Son, International Sales Team, HJLite, Korea observed, “Our booth was so crowded throughout the fair. We had more than 300 buyers visit us, and I guess approximately 30 per cent of them will turn into business after the fair. Our target buyers are fabric and garment manufacturers, and we found a lot of good quality ones here. A wide range of worldwide buyers from different market sectors sourced at our booth, especially big-brand sportswear manufacturers and sourcing offices. We have had visitors from China, Europe and many other countries. We are very satisfied with our first Yarn Expo experience, and we expect a very good outcome after the show.” N Sarawgi, Representative of Madhusudan Rayons, added, “Yarn Expo is really helpful in that it has a diverse buyer profile and attracts buyers from around the world. We managed
to talk to customers from Pakistan, India and Colombia, as well as potential Chinese buyers who are very interested in our products. The buyers have been genuine with specific sourcing needs, and some of them have already placed orders.” Buyers a satisfied lot Visitors too were happy with the products & services basket showcased. Wang Gaofeng, DGM, Jiaxing Jinqie Fashion, China, stated, “We can find all ranges of cotton yarn, fancy yarn and chemical fibres at Yarn Expo. Most of the famous brands are here, and they bring the latest technologies and products, including debut products. Yarn Expo always catches the latest trends in the industry and presents them at the fair. This year the quantity and quality of fancy yarn exhibitors has increased, so I’ve found some products to source already.” Linggar Jati Halim, director, PT. Kartika Sinar Mulia, Indonesia, averred, “We mainly came to source fancy yarn this time, and we found many new options. This international show greatly expands our sourcing options. Many of our existing suppliers, including from Indonesia, exhibit at this fair so that’s why we source here. We are satisfied with the exhibitor quality and intend to place orders afterwards. There have been a number of new technologies presented here that left a deep impression on us.”
50 BUSINESS NEWS Apparel retailers expect to bounce back this year
Post GST and declining sales and margin growth, apparel retailers are expecting a bright new year as consumer demand rises. However, omni-channel retailers could play spoilsport as they offers customers a combination of shopping online and at physical brick and mortar retail stores, sales growth could be under pressure. While these retailers benefited significantly in the April-June quarter from pre-GST, they took a drubbing in July post GST as consumers temporarily reduced spending. Kabir Lumba, MD Lifestyle International explains his growth story, “The whole brickand-mortar growth story is intact. This year at a company level, i.e. lifestyle, home centre and max fashions, we will close with revenue of almost Rs 8,000 crore. We are growing at a 20 to 23 per cent five-year CAGR. We expect that CAGR rate to be at least 18-20 per cent going ahead,”. Lifestyle has been posting double-digit, like-for-like
Reliance Brands beats FirstCry to acquire Mothercare India rights
sales growth for four consecutive years and there is no change in that broad trend, in-spite of supply chain disruptions in JulyAugust and a 10-15 per cent lower-thanexpected Diwali sale, he adds. Fast-fashion brand Splash is also positive that 2018 will be good, provided there are no other policy changes. Abhinav Zutshi, Splash India’s COO says, There are a lot more activities and interventions happening at malls, which is getting the customer to come back and experience brick-andmortar. Total revenue from the organised retail sector, across categories, is projected to spiral upward to $166 billion by FY25 as against $55 billion in FY16, Edelweiss Securities said in a research report on 8 January. Apparel, food and beverage and jewellery will benefit the most over the longterm from India’s growing shift to modern, organised retail, Edelweiss added.
Previously FirstCry was in talks to buy the India franchise rights for Mothercare from DLF Brands to mark its presence in the growing kids’ product market. The English brand specialises in products for expectant mothers and children up to 6 years of age. Mothercare is the latest brand after Mango, Forever 21 and Sephora, among other global labels, to change hands from DLF Brands. Online fashion retailer Myntra acquired the local franchisee rights of Mango last year, while Forever 21’s India business was acquired by the Aditya Birla Group in 2016.
The buzz is, Reliance Brands has beaten FirstCry to obtain the rights to operate stores of UK-based kids products company Mothercare in India. The deal will give Reliance control over all Mothercare outlets currently run by DLF Brands. Reliance Brands sells international labels such as Diesel, Hamleys, Kenneth Cole and Steve Madden in India.
DLF Brands had bought the franchise rights of Mothercare for 15 years in 2009. The UKbased retailer sells products for children and expectant mothers and currently operates through dozens of outlets and department store chain Shoppers Stop. However, DLF Brands and Mothercare have both refuted the media claims about the deal.
PremjiInvest, KKR join race to acquire Vishal Mega Mart
KKR and Wipro founder Azim Premji’s family office PremjiInvest have joined the race to buy fashion hypermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart. KKR and PremjiInvest submitted separate bids for the stake, the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity. US-based Carlyle Group, a consortium of Kedaara Capital and Partners Group, and online retailer Flipkart are among contenders for Vishal Mega Mart. If a deal materializes, it would be the first exit for a global private equity fund from an asset that has turned around after restructuring. Vishal Mega Mart has claimed that the company operates over 204 stores in over 110 cities and towns. The company had reported a loss of Rs 36.2 crore on revenue of Rs1, 346 crore, against a net loss of Rs 60.3 crore on a revenue of Rs 1, 108 crore for 2016.
Ikea opens distribution centre in Pune
Swedish home furnishing major Ikea has opened a Rs 100-crore distribution centre in Pune, and is also scouting for land in Maharashtra to build more facilities at an investment of Rs750 crore. Bimal Patel, Manager of distribution operations at Ikea says a 2.3 lakh sq ft distribution centre in Pune has been opened on leased land. Ikea has pumped in Rs 100 crore into this it will further get expanded to 3.7 lakh sq ft by 2019. Followed by the second store in Mumbai in 2019 the distribution centre has been set up to service its first store scheduled to be opened in Hyderabad by the middle of the year. The company also purchased land in Bengaluru and Gurgaon to open more outlets. Ikea India plans to set up 25 stores by 2025, investing Rs 10,500 crore. The company has so far hired 100 people for its distribution operations in Pune, and is looking to employ at least 200 more there. The company will employ 600-700 people per unit. Ikea will operate a non-bonded
52 BUSINESS NEWS Arvind expects nearly all brands to turn profitable next year
Textile maker Arvind expects nearly all brands in its branded apparel business segment to turn profitable next year. Over 35 per cent of the company’s quarterly revenue is derived from the sales of brands including Arrow, Flying Machine, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Aeropostale and Gap. The branded apparel segment gained Rs 957.64 crore in revenue in the quarter ending 31 December, a year-on-year jump of 23.6 per cent. J Suresh, MD and CEO of Arvind Lifestyle Brands says, “We’ve had a very good quarter in improving profitability because the focus is now on that. It is not just the power brands which have given improved profitability. We’ve improved profits on Unlimited — the company’s family fashion chain of stores — as well as specialty retail and some of the emerging brands.” Arvind earned Rs2,717.97 crore in total consolidated revenue in the Q3 fiscal that ended December, recording an increase of 15.8 per cent on a year-ago basis. Net profit rose 8.03 per cent to Rs79.09 crore during the period, the company reported on Wednesday. Third quarter revenue at Arvind’s textile business segment, its mainstay, grew 9.41 per cent to warehouse for domestic goods, and a custom warehouse which will stock imported goods, says Patel. Last year, Ikea India had committed to double its local sourcing from €318 million to €600 million by 2020. According to the retail policy, the overseas companies have to mandatorily source 30 per cent of their wares locally, preferably from small suppliers.
Rs1,534.43 crore. Jayesh Shah, CFO, Arvind is optimistic, “We will end the year with two to three brands being negative (two specialty and one emerging brand). But next year all brands will be positive in terms of profitability.” All emerging brands will turn close to break-even by Q4, Suresh disclosed, without revealing brand names. The company has also worked with USbased casual wear brand, Gap, to start production of the label in India. Forty per cent of the Gap products that Arvind sells in India will be produced within the country and the company aims to take that to 80 per cent by the end of this year, executives noted. Arvind has got approval from the US brand to tailor some part of its locally produced Gap merchandise to Indian requirements, which it expects will give a big boost to improving store productivity. As of 31 December, Arvind had 1,137 stores across brands, 93 Unlimited stores and 32 specialty retail stores. The company expects revenue in its branded apparel business to grow 15-17 per cent for 2017-18. It expects revenue in the textile business segment to grow 6-7 per cent and overall revenue growth of 11-12 per cent for the year. 19. Manyavar’s plans to go public come at a time when the Indian IPO market has seen its best year ever.
Vedant Fashions plans IPO in second half of FY19 Vedant Fashions owner of ethnic wear brand Manyavar, is assessing an initial public offering (IPO) and is expected to initiate a formal process for launching it. As per sources, Manyavar IPO is likely to in the second half of the financial year 2018-
Vedant Fashions reported a profit of Rs111.3 crore on a revenue of Rs610.2 crore in the financial year 2016-17, according to data from the company’s filings with the Registrar
of Companies. Vedant Fashions is backed by Kedaara Capital, which last year invested around Rs 400-450 crore in the company for a 10 per cent stake. It has been reported that private equity firms Kedaara Capital and L Catterton were in discussions to pick up a minority stake in the retailer. Manish Kejriwal and Sunish Sharma, Managing Partners, Kedaara Capital say the firm does not comment on market speculation. Vedant Fashion reported a revenue of Rs 610.24 crore in the financial year 2016-17, a growth of 21 per cent over the revenue of Rs 504.27 crore reported in the previous year. In 201617, the company’s profit grew 23.5 per cent to Rs111.3 crore, as against a profit of Rs 90.1 crore in the previous year. In recent times Vedant has bought other firms to grow its business. It was acquired Hyderabad-based rival Mebaz. TCNS Clothing the owner of women’s apparel brands W, Aurelia and Wishful, has hired investment banks Citibank and Kotak Mahindra Capital to manage its initial share sale they are also looking at the opportunity of tapping the buoyant Indian initial share sale market.
Anita Dongre Foundation sets up production unit in Jawhar
Nearly 70 tribal women have been employed in a new tailoring unit in Jawhar town, Palghar district, as a part of a livelihood project by the Anita Dongre Foundation. The centre was inaugurated by Vishnu Savara, Cabinet Minister of Tribal Development in the State and designer Anita Dongre. Jawhar, 140 km from Mumbai, is the last of Maharashtra’s tribal settlements. The area has been in the news for a steady rise in cases of malnutrition and infant deaths. The project provides employment to 70 women working on 50 machines. This number is set to double within the year to create livelihoods for 120 women on 100 machines. Anita Dongre Foundation was set up to empower women, especially in rural India by taking jobs back to them and making villages independent economic centres. In Jawhar this effort has involved training women in the art of sewing, ironing, pattern cutting and so on to ensure economic independence through an accessible and dependable source of income. Besides the training these women, the project also provides a travel stipend to these women to maintain a comfortable and stress free work environment.
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54 BUSINESS NEWS Shoppers Stop Q3 net profit down 14 per cent to Rs 16 crore
catapulted by the successful turnaround of our engineering business.” The company said consolidated EBIDTA for the quarter was up by 59 per cent year-on-year to Rs 131 crore and margin improved by 246 bps.
Aditya Birla Fashion swings to quarterly profit in Q3
Shoppers Stop reported a decline of 14 per cent in its standalone net profit to Rs 16.34 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. It has also finalised exiting TimeZone Entertainment the gaming business, which will thereby change the balance sheet for the year FY18-19. The company posted a net profit of Rs 19 crore in July-September quarter a year ago, Shoppers Stop said in a BSE filing. Its total income stood at Rs 966.58 crore during the quarter under review, down 5.23 per cent as against
Rs 1,019.93 crore in the year-ago period. Shoppers Stop total expenses stood at Rs 923.02 crore, down 6.49 per cent, as against Rs 987.11 crore in the previous fiscal. Its tie-up with Amazon will start showing traction from Q4 of FY17-18, says Shoppers Stop Customer Care Associate and MD Govind Shrikhande. Shares of Shoppers Stop today settled at Rs 516.45 on BSE, up 0.26 per cent from previous close.
Founded in 1995 by Anita Dongre, Meena Sehra and Mukesh Sawlani, House of Anita Dongre is one of India’s leading fashion houses. The women, who are being trained in sewing, ironing, pattern cutting and so on, are also given a travel stipend. Dongre’s Global Desi brand will showcase products made by the women with special tags. The Foundation already runs a similar centre in Charoti, Palghar.
the brand currently produces about 1.5 lakh pieces a month, which will be increased by about 50 per cent. She says in spite of the note-ban and GST challenges, they clocked double-digit growth last financial year, when revenue touched around Rs 160 crore.
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), which sells apparels under brands like Van Heusen and Pantaloons, swung to a profit in Q3 as revenue grew due to the wedding season, a strong winter and endof-season sales. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) recently reported a net profit of Rs 35 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2017. The company, formerly known as Pantaloons Fashion & Retail, had reported a net loss of Rs 12 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Its total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 1,862 crore. It was at Rs 1,715 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing. Shares.
Rupa posts profit of Rs 23 crores in Q3
Raymond reports Q3 net profit of Rs 31 cr
Baggit targets 25 per cent revenue growth in FY19
Baggit, which is a home-based accessories brand is striding up its volume and the product line to meet its target of clocking 25 per cent revenue growth in FY19. The privately held company had around Rs 160 crore revenue last fiscal year. Nina Lekhi, Managing Director say the company is stepping up production to play the volume game and are launching new products to cater to various customer groups. It is also looking a 25 per cent revenue growth in FY19, and a doubledigit bottom line growth. She further added
Textile major Raymond has reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 30.71 crore for the quarter ended December 2017. The company posted a net loss of Rs 14.69 crore during the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its net profit in the JulySeptember quarter stood at Rs 62.24 crore. Total income during the quarter under review grew 13.74 per cent at Rs 1,513.55 crore. It was Rs 1,330.71 crore in the year-ago period. Raymond chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania says, “A seasonally strong quarter is a reflection of buoyancy in the group led by strong revenue growth across all our business and further
Rupa has reported net sales of Rs 278.65 crores during the period ended December 31, 2017, as compared to Rs 206.99 crores during the period ended December 31, 2016. The company posted a net profit of Rs 23.83 crores for the period ended December 31, 2017, as against Rs 17.04 crores for the period ended December 31, 2016. EPS was Rs 3 for the period ended December 31, 2017, as compared to Rs 2.14 for the period ended December 31, 2016. Net sales was Rs 692.63 crores during the nine month period, as compared to Rs 693.84 crores during the nine month period ended December 31, 2016. While net profit was Rs 54.72 crores in Q3 2017, as against Rs 53.74 crores for the nine month period ended December 31, 2016.
INDUSTRY BYTES Raymond restructures top management
Sanjeev Rao has been appointed Director: Raymond Trade Sales and Relationship for Raymond Apparel and will continue working towards overseeing business development following a restructuring of its leadership. Rao, who joined Raymond in 2015 as Director: Business Development, will now focus on trade sales and relationships. He will be responsible for sales and distribution for Raymond’s subsidiary Park Avenue Women’s wear as well as international markets for the brand’s apparel line. The reason for the restructuring is Raymond is putting all trade sales and relationship activities in their apparel sector under one vertical to streamline operations. Rao was appreciated for his work as Director: Business Development as he delivered strong results in the two years he worked in that position. It is therefore expected that he will bring the same dynamism and motivation to his new role. He has been also praised for creating structure in business development processes and creating awareness about Raymond’s retail portfolio. The company expects that this restructuring will further drive growth.
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