Italian Fashion Franchise Brand Alcott Plans JV with DLF Brands To Open 20 Retail Outlets and Sourcing From India.

NEW DELHI: Italian fashion brand Alcott that had inked a franchise agreement with DLF Brands to enter India in 2008, is mulling to convert their partnership into a joint venture.

"We are happy with the brand's (Alcott) performance in India and wish to grow here. Currently, we are talking to DLF to set up a joint venture in the country," Alcott Founder Salvatore Colella told PTI.

He said the plan is to convert their franchise agreement into a JV , wherein DLF will have the majority shareholding and Alcott will be the minority partner. Indian law allows only 51 per cent FDI in single brand retail.

He said India would be the first country where Alcott is looking at a joint venture and plans to open more big stores, which are larger than its existing ones.

"In Italy, all operations are company managed and in rest of the countries we have franchise run operations. Given the potential for growth in the Indian market, we wish to have a joint venture here," Colella said.

Alcott brand was born in Italy in 1990 and has presence in over 12 countries. It focuses on casual fashion targetting youth.

The brand entered India with DLF Brands in December 2008 and currently has 12 standalone stores and three shop-in- shops here.

"We intend to open 10 stores every year here. By the end of this year, we will have 20 stores in India," Colella said.

The firm currently imports merchandise from Dubai. However, it plans to start local sourcing not only for the Indian market but also to export to other countries.

"By next year we have plans to start sourcing products locally from India not only for the stores here, but also for those located outside India, especially cotton products," he added.

Alcott's global annual turnover is currently estimated at 200 million Euro, with Italy alone contributing 50 per cent.

"In the next 5-6 years, we expect to have a turnover of 50-60 million Euro in India," he said.

DLF Brands, a part of real estate giant DLF Ltd has several brands in its portfolio, including Mothercare, Sunglass Hut, Boggi Milano and DKNY.

Source:ET,20 FEB, 2011, 11.15AM IST,PTI

Tags:alcott, alcott franchise, DLF Brands, salvatore colella, casual fashion franchise, mothercare franchise, sunglass hut franchise, boggi milano franchise, dkny franchise,


This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.We help retail brands franchise and retail businesses expand to various geographies across the globe through our franchise development and franchise recruitment modules.If you are an entrepreneur seeking a international retail franchise we can help you evaluate and start a new franchise.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details on how you can either expand your existing business through franchising or start a new business.

Alfred Dunhill Franchise In India See's Growth & Better Acceptance.

BRITISH luxury goods major Alfred Dunhill, which unashamedly dedicates itself to the pursuit of male indulgence, is witnessing a 30-35 per cent growth, not only in sales but also in terms of walk-ins, proving that Indians have indeed started accepting and integrating luxury as a part of their lives.

The main attraction for this brand is that it offers a complete wardrobe solution for the modern Indian male travellers, said Anjani Kasliwal, director of S Kumars Nationwide (SKNL). The company — one of the leading textile and apparel companies of India and has brands like S Kumars, Reid &Taylor, Belmonte and Carmichael house — owns the exclusive franchisee rights for Alfred Dunhill in India.

“Apart from its clothing lines, the brand also offers accessories and fantastic leather goods that will attract any male travellers.

We are seeing a huge demand of this brand in the three years of operations in India and going forward we expect this growth story to pick up pace even further,”

she added.

Dunhill specialises in premium men's luxury leather goods, writing implements, lighters, timepieces, fragrances and clothing.

According to Kasliwal, the market for luxury brands in India is still in its nascent stage, but it is growing rapidly. "Five years down the line, luxury will become the lifestyle of most the people in the country.

This is clearly evident from the way middle class in India is increasingly having more disposable income at hand and becoming conscious of fashion and brands,” she added.

As of now, Alfred Dunhill has two standalone stores in India – Delhi and Bangalore. The company will set up two additional stores in Mumbai and Hyderabad next year.

The company is also in talks to bring in other international brands in 2011.

Kasliwal did not divulge the details.

Separately, the Rs 3,840crore textile and apparel major S Kumar's National (SKNL), which also retails Brandhouse Oviesse, a joint venture between SKNL's fashion retail business Brandhouse Retail and Italian apparel retailer Oviesse, intends to expand its presence in tier-II cities.

Source: My Digital FM,Sreerupa Mitra, Jan 03 2011, Bangalore

Tags: Alfred Dunhill, Dunhill Franchise, S Kumars, Reid and Taylor, Belmonte, Carmichael House, Brandhouse Oviesse, Oviesse Franchise, SKNL, Brandhouse Retail, Anjani Kasliwal


This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.We help retail brands franchise and retail businesses expand to various geographies across the globe through our franchise development and franchise recruitment modules.If you are an entrepreneur seeking a international retail franchise we can help you evaluate and start a new franchise.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details on how you can either expand your existing business through franchising or start a new business.

Esprit Considering The Franchise Route For Further Expansion

Esprit Looking At Franchise Expansion

NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla group company, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle today said it will open exclusive outlets for fashion accessories range of the international lifestyle brand, Esprit.

Madura Fashion and Lifestyle (MFL) that distributes the brand in India plans to have ten points of sale for Esprit accessories by next year and is eyeing a total turnover of Rs 100 crore this fiscal from the entire Espirit range of products, including ap parel.

“We are planning to roll out a new format, exclusively for Esprit accessories. In the beginning of next fiscal the company will set up small mono brand stores, counters and shop-in-shops only to sell accessories,” Madura Fashion and Lifestyle Chief Opera ting Officer (Esprit), Ms Manjula Tiwari said.

To begin with about ten points of sale will be opened next year, she added.

The company’s focus on accessories as a segment has gone up as it offers huge opportunity. The segment includes products such as bags, eye wear, jewellery and watches that contribute about 10 per cent to the total turnover currently.

At present, Esprit products are sold at 53 retail points in India, including 23 company owned exclusive stores in 11 cities.

Commenting on the sales outlook for this fiscal, Ms Tiwari said: “We hope to cross a turnover (at retail value) of Rs 100 crore.”

The company is also looking to expand its reach by opening new stores for the entire range of Esprit products in the existing markets as well as entering smaller cities.

“As we go ahead we would spread presence in smaller cities as well. In the next three years the plan to make the brand available in thirty cities,” she said.

By the end of current fiscal, at least 4—5 new stores will come up around India, Ms Tiwari added.

The company that currently owns and operates all the existing retail points, is also considering franchise route to spread the business, she said.

Esprit is an international youthful lifestyle brand that offers 12 product lines encompassing women’s wear, men’s wear and kid’s wear globally.

Tags:Aditya Birla Group, Espirit, Espirit Franchise, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, Madura Franchise, Manjula Tiwari, MFL Franchise, retail franchise, lifestyle Apparel Franchise, garment franchise

Source: PTI,The Hindu Business Line,Nov 14 2010.

Willls Lifestyle Plans Franchise Expansion To Penetrate Smaller Cities

Wills Lifestyle, India’s premium apparel brand and the name behind India’s most celebrated annual fashion event, is all set to spread its fashion and lifestyle footprint across India. It plans to add 30 Wills Lifestyle outlets by June 2011. Currently, it operates 70 retail outlets in India, most of them being in the metros and larger cities. The company plans to focus on small cities such as Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bhopal, Aurangabad, Guwahati and Indore, among others in this phase of its expansion. They are also opening Wills Lifestyle boutique stores in ITC-operated five-star hotels to cater to the super-premium customers. With a distinctive presence across segments at the premium end, ITC has also established John Players as a brand that offers a complete fashion wardrobe to today’s young men. With its brands, ITC is committed to build a dominant presence in the apparel market through a robust portfolio of offerings.

Atul Chand, divisional chief executive, Lifestyle Retailing Division of ITC says they had to slow down their expansion plans as many retail properties, especially malls, were delayed during 2008-09, due to the economic slowdown. Now that these properties are nearing completion they have resumed their store expansion plans. Chand feels with rising aspirations, there has been a robust demand for quality apparel products in smaller cities and the company is keen on capitalizing on it. On an average a Wills Lifestyle store is spread over 2,000 to 3,000 sq. ft, creating a sense of premium shopping experience. Apart from company-owned stores, ITC is also looking at the franchisee model for new stores as the franchisees are expected to lower the gestation period for new stores. They expect around 20 per cent sales growth during the next year.

Indian Terrain Apparel Franchise Company To Add 35 Franchisee Stores By March 2011.

Indian Terrain, the premium men’s clothing brand has come up with a new fit in cotton khaki trousers -- a slim straight fit named Kansas. “We feel this will be liked by a lot of people. Our slim fit shirts are very popular. We have a range of products in the Kansas fit ranging from Rs 1,299 to Rs 1,599 price band,” says the CEO, Charath Narsimhan. As a brand Indian Terrain stands for self expression of each individual with its encouraging tag line 'Just Be'. This belief is personified in the brand’s range of clothing. ‘Just Be’ promotes uniqueness and originality which is reflected in its chic and lively lifestyle products and apparels. Having started out with just shirts and trousers, today the brand has a comprehensive product line. Positioned as a lifestyle brand with a bit of American casual wear inspiration, Narsimhan says, Indian Terrain is all about being an affordable, accessible casual lifestyle brand.

Collectively, the brand’s outreach is in about 93 towns and cities across India and its chalking out expansion plans. “In the next two to three years, we will expand into Tier II-III cities, where there is a lot of opportunity. We are looking to expand in those markets both through distribution as well as through our own stores. We have been opening a lot of stores in smaller towns in the last six months and that’s going to be our focus in the next two years,” Narsimhan says. At the moment, the brand has 45 EBOs. Only five are company owned and managed and the rest are all franchisees. The five company-owned shops are flagship stores in metros with an area of 2,500 sq. ft. each. “We will open more flagship stores in the next two to three years,” Narsimhan informs.

By March 2011, they will have another 35-odd franchisee stores. The aim is to have a total of 90 stores by the end of March 2011. Right now they have 70. As of now, 40 per cent of their sales come from MBOs, 30 per cent from own stores and 30 per cent from large formats. Over the next year, when all 90 stores are fully operational, 45 per cent would come from own stores, another 35 per cent from the MBOs and 20 per cent from the large formats.

Interestingly, Indian Terrain entered the men’s denim wear market about 18 months ago. Denim has a five to seven per cent share in the brand and by 2012, it is expected that denim’s share will grow two to three fold, reaching about 18 per cent. “As our retail footprint expands, we see an opportunity for denim to expand because many of our casual shirts, T-shirts are ideally worn with denim. So today a lot of consumers come and buy our upper wear and end up buying denims from others for reasons of fit, accessibility, brands and so on. We see a chance to convert part of that into our in-house clientele,” he avers. Indian Terrain will close 2010 with a turnover of Rs 100 crores. The management is confident they can target a 45 per cent growth by March 2011.

Tags:Apparel Franchise, Charath Nasimhan, clothes franchise, denim franchise, franchisee stores, garment franchise, Indian Terrain, Indian Terrain Franchise, retail franchise, textile franchise

Source:Fashion United,Friday, 12 November 2010

India Retail Forum Discusses The Road Ahead For Indian Retailing.

In the session on IT in Retail service providers talked about the role of IT in growing the retail market along with tool such as barcoding and RFID technology

It was a hectic day of debates, discussions and deliberations at the day 2 of the biggest retail event in India - India Retail Forum (IRF 2010) being held at Renaissance, Mumbai. The Regional Retail Conclave attended by Dinesh Talera, MD, Mysore Saree Udyog, Manohar Chatlani, MD, Favourite Shop,  Sushanto Dey, MD, Sreeleathers, Darpan Kapoor, Director, Kapsons, Samir Sahni, Joint MD, Ritu Wears, Shambhav Chauhan, Director, Supreemo Fashion, Bhagirath Jalan and Director, Jalans threw up a few pertinent points.

“Retail is no more about selling, it’s about managing people. Building a showroom is not a big deal in today’s world. When a regional retailer touches the double digit mark, he should start expanding pan-country. After managing at least 10 stores he must have learnt the art of retailing, so he should start looking for bigger markets, outside his zone,” believes Darpan Kapoor, Director, Kapsons.

Justifying his reasons for franchising Sushanto Dey, MD, Sreeleathers said, “A regional retailer understands the taste of the consumer of that region very well. That is why we prefer franchising in new markets. If I have to go to north or south I have to understand the market mechanism of that area very well.”

Driving home the point of regional retail Manohar Chatlani, MD, favourite Shop, Bangalore, emphasized, “Even within South India, there are a lot of differences. For example green is very popular in Hyderabad, but it doesn’t do well in Bangalore. Even within Bangalore, if a product is doing well in Forum Mall, it may not do well in Mantri Square mall. Retailers need to keep in mind their TG, to grow big.”

Bijou Kurien, President and Chief Executive, Reliance Retail - Lifestyle felt that regional retailers laid a lot of stress on the in flow of cash, whereas national retailers emphasized more on store management. The reason for this he explained was the fact that the owner of a regional retail store can visit his store everyday, but a national retailer can’t do so. “A regional retailer should pay more attention to customer experience and store management,” he reiterated.

Another interesting dimension was added by Dinesh Talera, MD, Mysore Saree Udyog when he commented that discounts are no parameter for attracting footfalls. Many regional retailers do so but it’s not a correct way to grow. Customers should be given value for money and that is the only way to build a very good rapport with the customers he observed.

In the session on IT in Retail service providers talked about the role of IT in growing the retail market along with tool such as barcoding and RFID technology. Data synchronization system which connects the front-end with the backend formed the crux of the debate. “Usually retailers depend on forecast for buying or replenishing their stocks.

These forecasts are not always correct. IT can aid the retailers in checking consumer buying patterns and align his merchandise accordingly,” said Kumar Vembu, Founder and CEO, Go Frugal Technologies. He added that the use of technology can even help reduce attrition “With the help of technology you are doing everything hypothetically. You don’t have to listen to your boss,” he exclaimed.

Presenting an interesting take on technology Rajkiran Kangala Head BD, TCI Supply Chain Solutions said, “Technology can fight counterfeit. There are technologies which can help in figuring out the authentication of a product. People in India are scared of technology as they feel it will snatch away a great number of jobs. But technology is not here to take away your job. It is here to aid you. Queue busting is a problem in retail and one needs to understand that it can’t be tackled without proper RFID system and bar coding system.”

Tags:Bhagirath Jalan, Darpan Kapoor, Dinesh Talera, Favourite Shop, Kapsons, Manohar Chatlani, Mysore Saree Udyog, Ritu Wears, Sambhav Chauhan, Samir Sahni, Sreeleathers, Supreemo Fashion, Sushanto Dey

Source:ndia Infoline News Service / 16:18 , Sep 28, 2010

International Fashion Brands In India Increase Local Sourcing To Reduce Costs Get Competitive.

NEW DELHI: Several international fashion brands such as Cadini, DKNY, Gant and Boggi Milano, which have been importing their entire merchandise for India, have started sourcing apparels locally to become more competitive and profitable in a booming market.

By shedding inhibitions towards sourcing from within the country, these brands can significantly cut down tax outgo and reduce production costs by about 20%, helping them to reduce prices and reach the market faster, say analysts.

Local sourcing will help companies do away with import duties, which are as high as 40% on apparels, and save on longer supply cycles, says Harminder Sahni, managing director of consultancy firm Wazir Advisors. “Besides, they can either bring down prices or make extra margins equal to the amount of customs duty,” he adds.

Donna Karan New York, or DKNY, already source about 6% of its merchandise from the country, says Ashesh Amin, president – apparel and retail at S Kumar’s Nationwide, which has the global franchise for DKNY menswear in all geographies except Japan.

The US-based clothier Hartmarx Corp, which S Kumar’s acquired in 2009, sources merchandise worth about Rs 40 crore from India. The company, which shot into fame for designing a suit for US president Barack Obama, plans to increase its sourcing base in India further in next two years.

“Local sourcing is beneficial to us; it offers higher margin and better time-to-market,” says Mr Amin. “We are expecting additional business of over Rs 800 crore this fiscal on the back of local sourcing.”

Arvind Brands, a subsidiary of textile firm Arvind Mills, is in talks with the UK-based premium lifestyle brand Gant to start sourcing its merchandise in India. Gant currently imports the entire collection for sale here.
The firm is also set to launch Italian menswear label Energie in India, which will have 75% of its merchandise sourced locally, says J Suresh, CEO of the Rs 230-crore Arvind Brands.

The company already has a local sourcing model in place for its other international brands such as Arrow, Izod, USPA and Cherokee that are buying merchandise from suppliers in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Ludhiana.

However, the international brands are playing safe while choosing suppliers in India after UK retailer Marks & Spencer severed ties with one of its local suppliers following allegations of unfair practices.

Anand Nair, brand head of Boggi Milano, says, “We are carrying out intense screening procedures to ensure that our Indian suppliers match our quality standards and working conditions.”

DLF Brands, the retail arm of top real estate firm DLF, retails the Italian premium menswear brand in India.
Marks & Spencer Reliance India, the joint venture between Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries and the UK retailer, had recently announced plans to increase sourcing from India to more than 70% from about 40% now.

One of the earlier entrants to the domestic market, United Colors of Benetton sources its entire range locally.

Other than the tax savings, another factor driving fashion brands to India is the rising labour costs in China, say analysts. Recent labour unrest in places like Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam too may work in favour of India.

Most these brands have no immediate plans to source merchandise for their global operations from India, but will integrate their India supply chain with their global distribution network in the long term.

Blues Clothing, which has licence to retail Italian fashion labels Versace, Corneliani and Cadini in India, plans to leverage its source base is India for global operations soon. The company is currently sampling few export-oriented factories to source merchandise for premium menswear brand Cadini, according to its MD Abhay Gupta.

Brands such as Boggi Milano and Cadini, which import 100% of their merchandise, feel that local sourcing will help them expand faster.

“Local sourcing will certainly improve our logistic and supply chain, and the pace of expansion will improve,” says Mr Nair of Boggi Milano.

International brands are estimated to account for nearly 20% of the Rs 32,000-crore Indian organised branded apparel market, which is growing at 15-20% a year.

Source:29 SEP, 2010, 12.00AM IST, DURBA GHOSH & PRAMUGDHA MAMGAIN,ET BUREAU 


Tags:Abhay Gupta, Anand Nair, Asesh Amin, Blues Clothing, Boggi Milano, Cadini, DKNY, DLF Brands, energie, Gant, Hartmarx Corp, J Suresh, UCB