3 November 2009
Central to the expansion strategy is the strengthening of its portfolio of international and homegrown fashion brands besides boosting retail presence across India and the GCC markets, said J. Suresh, Chief executive of Arvind Brands & Retail, a subsidiary of the Rs30 billion garments giant Arvind Mills Limited run by Lalbhai Group.
Arvind Brands, which declared a turnover of Rs 4.4 billion in 2008-09, is expecting a combined turnover of Rs6 billion for its retail and brands operations in the current fiscal year.
“By 2012, we expect to boost our retail revenues from Rs3.5 billion at present to Rs10 billion, and revenues from brands buisness to Rs5 billion from Rs2.5 billion at present,” Suresh told Khaleej Times.
The target is to account for more than 35 per cent of the Arvind Mills Group turnover within the next four years, he explained.Arvind Brands holds licences for international brands including Arrow, Lee, Wrangler, Gant and Tommy Hilfiger for retail and wholesale sales in India. In addition, it owns a portfolio of casual sportswear and denim brands marketed in India, including homegrown fashion labels like Flying Machine, Newport and Excalibur among others.
The company also owns and operates a 150-outlet value retail chain known as Megamart in India.
The company has committed an investment Rs4 billion on expansion between 2008 and 2012, and has already invested Rs1 billion on the expansion of its product portfolio.
In June this year, Arvind added a sportswear brand, US Polo, to it portfolio. It plans to introduce I-Zod range from the house of global apparel firm Van Heusen by early next year in India and in the GCC by September 2010. Also in the pipeline is the addition of Cherokee, another leading value brand, he said.
In the UAE, Dubai-based Top Brands LLC, the franchisee for Arvind Brands in the GCC, is set to open the fifth exclusive showroom for Arrow Shirts.
Suresh said Arvind Brands, which spun off into a separate division of Arvind Group in April this year, would retail its existing and new range of branded apparels through major departmental stores both in India and the GCC before venturing into exclusive outlets. In the GCC, Top Brands is close to finalising a regional retail agreement with a Dubai-based departmental chain. “We prefer to expand our presence in the GCC through departmental stores as it makes more business sense given the escalating cost of operating exclusive brand outlets,” Suresh added.
In India for instance, while an exclusive outlet on a week-day gives a footfall of 20-30 people a day, departmental stores have a footfall of 5,000 on a normal day and 7,000 in the weekend, he pointed out.
