admin
July 6, 2012
Sapna Agarwal, MINT
Mumbai, 6 July 2012
Indian women may take a bit of convincing, but there seems to be strong evidence to suggest that their urban male compatriots are getting fitter. Or, at the very least, they’re squeezing themselves into closer-fitting shirts, regardless of muscle tone or the lack thereof. While the picture this conveys may not be entirely wholesome, it does mean that companies have had to change the kind of fits they offer on shirt racks.
More seriously, the slim, super-slim and skinny fits that are gaining ground among the young urban male demographic are cut to accentuate narrow waistlines, broad shoulders and well-toned bodies.
Take Tejas Rane, a trim 28-year-old information technology professional, who hits the gym at least thrice a week and avoids fried food and carbonated drinks. He considers “looking sharp” and “dressing well” to be an integral part of his job. While shopping for shirts, Rane usually tries on a number of different sizes and fits and buys what suits him best. This is in contrast to his college days when he didn’t spend so much time trying and buying clothes. “I used to wear just about anything,” he says.
A young workforce, coupled with health and fitness becoming a way of life, has seen rising sales for slim and super-slim fits, according to experts and the trade.
Raymond, an 87-year-old menswear brand, introduced slim fits three years ago and super-slim fits last year.
About two inches narrower in width than the regular fit, they now account for “60-75% of the overall (Raymond) business”, says Shreyas Joshi, president (group apparel) at Raymond Ltd, which has brands such as Raymond, Park Avenue, Parx and Notting Hill.
Likewise, at Allen Solly, size 40 and 42 regulars used to be the most popular shirt sizes, accounting for 70-80% of overall sales until a few years ago. That has changed to size 39 and 40, which have become the “most popular sizes” for the retailer, says Sooraj Bhat, brand head (Allen Solly) and chief operating officer at Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, which also has brands such as Van Heusen and Peter England, besides selling Esprit in India.
According to Joshi, the “good response” to the new fits reflects the “changing Indian consumer, who is more health conscious and fit”.
This expansion is also a reflection of the increase in the number of brands and awareness on the part of consumers, besides the availability of a wider range of styles and sizes to suit people.
For instance, concomitant with one segment of the population becoming super-slim, at the other end of the spectrum, a plethora of brands are offering a wide range of plus-size clothing off the rack.
The number of international brands in India trebled to 150 in 2008 from 50 in 2004, and there are now more 200 present in the country, says Devangshu Dutta, chief executive at Third Eyesight, a retail consulting firm.
With the growing attention to grooming and getting the right size, most men are no longer speed-shopping.
A male customer at the Van Heusen store in Mumbai’s upscale Phoenix Mall tries on three-four sizes and fits before deciding which shirt to buy.
The brand introduced the skinny fit last year, an inch narrower than the slim fit. “Consumers are experimenting with their look and are now becoming more aware of their size,” says the store manager, who’s seen a change over the last five years he’s been at the job. He didn’t want to be named.
Moreover, “consumers are also eager to receive information about styling, fabrics and colours to create customized looks”, says Amit Singh, store manager at the Raymond Shop on Warden Road in south Mumbai.
The change in style also reflects, “the aspiration of a younger country and a younger workforce (that) values looking good”, says Bhat of Allen Solly.
“Retail has evolved along with our lifestyle,” says fashion designer Nachiket Barve, while pointing to the evolution of the Indian male style from baggy shirts, high-waist jeans and mostly tailored clothes to shopping for ready-made garments.
“Urban Indians are becoming increasingly conscious of the fact that diet and lifestyle changes are beginning to take a toll on their health,” says Perpetua Machado, principal of Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science, which offers courses in health and nutrition. “The impact of this is apparent in the increasing number of urban Indians, who are now enrolling in gyms, yoga classes and opting for healthier food options.”
This is being reflected in diets as well, with urban Indians cutting down on polished rice and replacing it with the hand-pounded variety.
Likewise, the consumption of maida (refined flour) products has decreased in favour of chapattis made of unrefined atta, says Hemalatha R., deputy director and scientist at Union health and family welfare ministry.
This is a trend that’s also being taken advantage of by brands such as Dabur India Ltd’s Real juice, revenue from which has risen 25-30% year-on-year and which is now a Rs. 500 crore brand. Similarly, Marico Ltd’s Saffola Oats is growing 40% annually.
“Health, wellness, food and fitness categories are all growing,” says Abneesh Roy, associate director, institutional equities, research, at brokerage Edelweiss Securities Ltd.
(This article was published in Mint on 7 July 2012. The photo is a product shot of the fashion brand ‘Sher Singh’.)
admin
July 6, 2012
Anjali
Mathai, Channel News Asia
New
Delhi, 6 July 2012
India’s
recent policy change to allow foreign companies to wholly own
their businesses has relieved some pressure off the government,
which is seen as being unable to boost growth.
Two major international brands, IKEA and Coca-Cola, have announced plans to invest billions of dollars in the country.
Swedish furniture and home décor giant IKEA is setting up shop in India. It will invest about US$1.9 billion, opening 25 stores in the country over the next 15 to 20 years.
Devangshu Dutta, Chief Executive of Third Eyesight, said: "If you look at the markets globally, there are very few large markets that are growing in any significant way. India happens to be one of those markets.
"One of the interesting things about India is that despite the development in the last 20 years, there’s probably another 25 to 50 years of further development in the market.
So any brand that enters the market at this point of time has possibly a generation or two for its life cycle to be lived out. I think that’s a very powerful driver for any brand, any retailer, looking at markets around the world."
In January, the Indian government removed barriers to foreign direct investment in single-brand retail, allowing foreign firms to own 100 per cent of their businesses in the country.
But, the policy came with the caveat that foreign companies must source 30 per cent of their inventory from India’s small and medium-sized enterprises.
IKEA already sources US$450 million worth of textiles, carpets and hard goods from Indian SMEs. However, it said continuing to do so in the long-run will be challenging.
Mr Dutta said: "That may be doable, let’s say in the initial period, when maybe the business volumes are slow, the number of stores are small. But as the business grows, and if you look at the whole range of merchandise, it’s going to become difficult to source from only small businesses.
"The very fact that the small suppliers would grow with the business would take them beyond the league of SMEs at some point in time."
Still, the policy change has attracted big international names.
Days after IKEA announced its investment, the Coca-Cola Company declared that it would invest US$3 billion in India over the next eight years. This is in addition to a US$2 billion five-year plan that the soft drink firm announced in November 2011.
Foreign direct investment is still not permitted in some key sectors of the Indian economy. But the IKEA and Coca Cola developments, which came after one small step was taken, have shown that there is still some international faith in the long-term India story, spurring hopes that further changes are on the way.
(This story appeared on Channel News Asia on 6 July 2012.}
admin
June 27, 2012
Fashionunited
Mumbai,
27 June 2012
Global brands are betting big on India, this despite no clarity
on FDI in multibrand retail. In fact, statistics from Department
of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) the nodal agency that
clears such foreign investments reveal that a number of top brands
have put forth their proposals of either increasing stake in JV
or expanding their presence in India.
American apparel-maker Tommy Hilfiger is one of them. The brand plans to open 500 stores in India over the next five years to capitalize on the brand’s increasing popularity in the country. It has informed the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) that it is looking at increasing the footprint in India.
In a separate DIPP application, French fashion brand Promod SAS has also filed for a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture with local Modex Trading. Modex is co-owned by Tushar Ved, the promoter of Major Brands, which currently owns Promod’s franchisee rights in India. It may be noted that a study by management consulting firm Booz & Co had revealed that around 100 multinational retail and consumer companies had entered India between 1990 and 2010. As many as 86 companies entered before 2009, and a little over a fifth of this (or 18 companies) changed their partnership model.
Retail analysts say it would be interesting to see whether there is scope for Tommy Hilfiger to open 500 stores in India and whether Promod with low recall value before it launched in India and a limited footprint would experience a game change post forming the joint venture since Major Brands’ portfolio also includes Mango, Charles & Keith, Aldo and now even Guess. The four-decade old brand, which claims to refresh its collection with 100 new products every two weeks, competes with women-centric, trendy brands such as Zara, s.Oliver and Esprit. Meanwhile, even Madura Fashion & Lifestyle (MF&L) is in the process of converting the distribution agreement it signed with Esprit in 2005 into a joint venture.
With MNC brands establishing themselves with the low-risk and low-return model through franchisees and distribution agreements, they are now looking at forming JVs by scouting for able partners. For instance, UK-based retailers Clarks, and Marks & Spencer, have extended their distribution or franchise agreements into joint ventures with Future Group and Reliance Retail respectively.
In the recent past, there have been major partnership reshuffles in India that included Giorgio Armani parting ways with DLF Brands and going for a franchisee deal with Genesis Luxury, Versace, Corneliani and Guess, who too are scouting for a new local partner to start afresh, and Guess planning a tie up with Major Brands, the marketer of Mango and Aldo in India.
As consumer goods and retail consultancy Third Eyesight explains, about one-third of the more than 150 international fashion brands launched in India over the past seven years have either changed partners or exited the market and around 26 brands have changed partners, while 23-26 exited the market with at least half of those later returning either as a wholly-owned subsidiary or with a new partner.
admin
June 26, 2012
Sapna
Agarwal & Byravee Iyer, MINT
Mumbai,
26 June 2012
Women
love their shoes. The attachment defines leading ladies as varied
as Imelda Marcos—widow of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand
Marcos and star of her own soap opera—and Carrie Bradshaw,
the narrative lead in Sex and the City, who famously has a thing
for her Manolo Blahniks. Countless devotees of Jimmy Choo and
Christian Louboutin are also testament to the passion.
As for men, time was when there were two choices for the middle-class Indian male of all ages—(usually) Bata or (occasionally) the Chinese guy who made shoes to order. Over the years, other brands also entered the market. The thing is, men, too, like their shoes. It may not reach the scale of an all-consuming obsession, but there’s a strong enough market now in India that several upscale overseas and local brands think it worth their while to vie for custom.
“Men’s love affair with their shoes is gathering a lot of steam,” said Darshan Mehta, chief executive officer of Reliance Brands Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd that retails brands such as Steve Madden, Diesel, Zegna and Timberland in India.
In November, Reliance Brands announced a joint venture with US-based apparel, footwear and accessories brand Kenneth Cole. The pre-launch market research for Kenneth Cole suggested that men were keen on the brand.
Mehta wasn’t too surprised. Men’s footwear may account for just 20% of the shoe stock at Steve Madden, but contributes over one-third of the overall revenue in the shoe category.
The trend has picked up in the last couple of years, with the palette extending beyond standard black or brown.
“Two years ago, we could not even think of selling red and blue loafers. Now they are the fastest selling,” said Dipak Agarwal, chief executive officer, DLF Brands Ltd, which retails Salvatore Ferragamo and Boggi in India.
He attributes the changes to increased global exposure, Indians travelling abroad, and the so-called metrosexual male trend, which translates into men spending more time and effort on personal grooming.
Over the years, the range has evolved “from men just wearing the basic black and brown formals to sporting varied colours and different occasion wear from formals to smart casuals”, according to Vikram Raizada, executive director, marketing, retail and business development, Tara Jewels Ltd. Raizada buys shoes every time he travels abroad—four times a year on average.
Shoes that may cost anywhere in excess of $100 have become an impulse buy for men. “If they see the right colour, pattern, size, they just pick it up,” said Mehta of Reliance Brands.
R. Burman, a Mumbai-based fashion photographer whose clients include Vogue and GQ, expounds on his shoe-buying philosophy.
“Buying shoes is like buying a piece of art. It is not necessarily about a need. It’s about appreciating the craftsmanship of the product. Sometimes it’s about comfort, sometimes it could be badly constructed but looks phenomenal,” he said.
Even a slowing economy has not deterred companies from seeking to enter the country.
Indian men are also more likely to look for technology in shoes than women. They would tend to be convinced, for instance, by features such as air-based cushioning and breathable shoes, said Ramprasad Sridharan, chief executive officer, Clarks Future Footwear Ltd, a joint venture between the 186-year-old British brand and the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group. The venture opened the first Clarks store in April 2011 and plans to raise the current 19 outlets to 100 as soon as possible, regardless of the uncertainty in the Indian economy.
For Puma Sports India Pvt. Ltd, the Motorsport lifestyle offering is the fastest growing category. Sales of the line’s shoes at Rs.4,500-7,000 a pair rose 10-15% last year, said Rajiv Mehta, Puma’s managing director for South Asia.
“Since 2006, the number of international shoes and accessories brands entering the market has increased fourfold,” said Tarang Gautam Saxena, a senior analyst at retail consultancy firm Third Eyesight. She noted that there are close to 200 international fashion brands in India, with more than one-quarter of these operating predominantly in the footwear and accessories category. More want to come in.
“Close to a dozen foreign brands are interested in entering the Indian footwear market,” said Kanchan Lall, associate vice-president, Tecnova India Pvt. Ltd, a consulting firm that helped luxury French luxury footwear designer Christian Louboutin launch his first store for women in New Dehi in February.
Last September, Louboutin launched his first men’s store in Paris. His shoes can easily cost more than $2,000 a pair. “Louboutin may consider retailing his men collection in India,” said Lall.
Indian retailers have also been seeking to establish themselves at various price points.
In April, Tata International Ltd announced a joint venture with Wolverine World Wide Inc., whose portfolio of footwear brands include Merrell and Caterpillar.
Meanwhile, apparel brands including Van Heusen, Louis Philippe and Allen Solly are also focusing on footwear.
“We found that there was an unmet need for style sought after by the discerning consumer,” said Jacob John, brand head, Louis Philippe, which diversified into men’s footwear in April 2010 and now sells about 60,000 pairs of shoes a year priced on average at Rs.4,500.
The market opportunity is seen as substantial. The country’s per-capita shoe consumption is the lowest in the so-called BRIC grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2011, it was $7.2 in India compared with $25.7 in China, $81.5 in Russia and $107.3 in Brazil, according to Euromonitor, a global market research agency.
With more men paying attention to their footwear, ancillary businesses such as shoe laundries are slowly picking up.
Not surprisingly, most of their customers are male, according to Shashank Bharadwaj, who started a shoe laundry business in Bangalore eight months ago along with friend Chitra Ambareesh. The business, which charges Rs.150 per pair, has broken even, he said. Customers are happy to pay this much for shoes that cost Rs.20,000 and more.
To explore further, watch the Livemint video by Paromita Banerjee.
admin
June 22, 2012
Nandita
Bose and Matthias Williams, Reuters
Mumbai/New
Delhi, 22 June 2012
Swedish
retailer IKEA , the world’s largest furniture maker, is opening
up in India, marking a crucial step for the Indian government
whose policy flip flops related to foreign investment have damaged
market confidence.
The company, known for huge stores selling flatpack furniture and accessories, said it would invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to open 25 stores in Asia’s third-largest economy after initially balking at India’s sourcing requirements.
IKEA’s plans, announced by the Indian government after a meeting between the company’s CEO and India’s trade minister in Russia, could give a boost to the embattled government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which was forced in December to backtrack on plans to allow in foreign supermarket operators.
While the government removed foreign investment caps in single-brand retail in January, it imposed a condition that foreign retailers source 30 percent from local small and mid-sized enterprises, dampening the enthusiasm of retailers for the plan.
"It’s a baby step but it has definitely sent the right signal out … The government is trying to convince international investors, India is still open for business," said Devangshu Dutta, consultant with Third Eyesight, a retail consultancy said.
The Indian economy which grew at its slowest pace in nine years has been badly hit by political roadblocks to economic policymaking battering corporate investor sentiment.
But the company, following similar moves in China and Russia, plans to cash in on India’s burgeoning urban middle class, which, having grown up on pop culture, generates a strong demand for owning international brands and lifestyle products such as furniture.
SOURCING
On Friday, India said the company had discussed its reservations over the sourcing policy with the government.
"IKEA had certain reservations about sourcing norms which were discussed with the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) officials; suitable answers of which were provided leading to the decision to invest," the Indian government said in a statement.
The company does not yet have any stores in India but sourced $450 million worth of goods from the country last year, a figure it aims to lift to $1 billion in coming years.
It sources goods such as textiles and carpets from 70 suppliers and 1,400 sub-suppliers in the country, the company said.
"The mandatory sourcing clause that requires goods to be sourced from small and medium enterprises will remain a challenge," IKEA spokeswoman Malin Pettersson Beckeman told Reuters by phone on Friday.
The Singh government is keen to bring global supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Carrefour SA into India, in hope of improving the efficiency of supply chains in a country where roughly one-third of fresh produce rots before it gets to market.
However, foreign direct investment in supermarkets has been opposed by owners of one-off shops, which account for roughly 90 percent of India’s $450 billion retail sector, as well as by members of the ruling coalition.
IKEA said its investment will be made over 15 to 20 years.
India’s Commerce Ministry said IKEA will initially invest 600 million euros and a further sum of up to 900 million.
"These investment estimates have been drawn up based on our experience in countries like China and Russia," Beckeman said.
Industry officials, however, said that the Swedish firm’s entry will not really shake things for the domestic market given the number of stores it plans and the period of investment.
"It’s not going to shake up the entire domestic market but it will set a benchmark model for others to follow in India’s nascent furniture and home products market," Dutta said.
