The US $ 88 billion Indian apparel retail market is today the toast of every fashion brand across the globe – and the pace at which the sector is growing in India, it wouldn’t be a surprise if every big and small fashion brand ventures into the country in next few years.
And why not! A country that boasts of a good percentage of youth is today also witnessing the emergence of a more sophisticated breed of luxury consumers as well. The Indian customer, who buys these internationally popular fashion brands today, understands the international brand landscape also quite well.
Over the last decade-and-a-half, aren’t we seeing Indians becoming more fashion conscious and spending a significant part of their income on branded clothes and footwear?
That’s enough to justify the growing fascination for this vibrant country amongst fashion brands. While several clothing biggies have already marked their presence in India in last decade, many new ones continue to rush to India.
Old and existing fashion brands still manage to catch the fancy of Indian shoppers!
While the first decade of the millennium saw fashion bigwigs like adidas and Nike come to India and conquer the retail world, the last decade witnessed fast fashion giants like Zara and H&M not only foray into India, but also establish their supremacy amongst Indian fashion lovers. And they have been doing well too!
After all we did see Zara India generate Rs. 1,815 crore revenue in FY ’22 at a stupendous growth of 61 per cent. Inditex Trent, which runs Zara in India, also has a separate association with the Inditex group to operate Massimo Dutti stores in India. In fact, the entity saw revenues rise to Rs. 59 crore during FY ’22.
It’s been no different for Marks and Spencer (M&S) as well, which saw a year-over-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 6 per cent in the said period in its Indian market. However, it all began back in 2008, when Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt. Ltd. (M&S India) first time joined hands with Reliance. Since then it has been modernising its supply chain to drive seamless integration between online and in-store business to improve the customer experience.
Today M&S is scaling its omnichannel capabilities in India with IBM Sterling supply chain solutions. The company is driving faster delivery of products to customers by streamlining the order fulfillment process using IBM Sterling’s order management with real-time inventory visibility.
The ability to see all available inventories and offer a precise promising date across fulfillment channels will help M&S India better satisfy growing customer demand – in addition to helping enhance inventory productivity and cost efficiencies.
Then there’s Forever New, the renowned fashion label from Australia, that has increased its number of stores in India to 41 with the launch of a new 1,000 sq. ft. highly advanced store in Ahmedabad in June 2022. The retailer, notably, has been growing in India at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 per cent.
So, it didn’t evoke an iota of surprise when one got to hear about five international fashion labels getting launched in an independent brand store on Myntra – NA-KD, Miss Poem, OXXO, I Saw It First and LC Waikiki are the brands that have garnered attention lately.
The design-oriented Miss Poem (from Turkey) boasts of a ‘young vision’ for fashion and includes products for the fashionable Gen Z audience, at an average selling price (ASP) of Rs. 1,000. With over 120 stores across the globe, the label operates across stylish dresses, printed tops and quirky T-shirts on Myntra.
OXXO, which is another renowned Turkish brand, creates unique and sustainable fashion for girls and women in the age groups of 16 to 45, at an ASP of Rs. 2,000. Much to the delight of shoppers seeking fresh and trendy clothes, OXXO on Myntra offers basic tops, casual bottoms and well-fitted denims.
The Manchester-based I Saw It First offers edgy high-fashion looks that include body con dresses, printed cropped tops and flowy skirts – for women of all sizes and ages.
If Swedish high fashion brand NA-KD’s romantic chic, boss lady, rock sharp and street smart collections offer contemporary dresses and tops for fashion enthusiasts, across a wide selection of styles, then Turkey’s LC Waikiki adds an assortment of styles for women across swanky dresses, flattering tops and breezy skirts in warm and sunny tones, amongst others.
This is not new for Myntra! It has been focusing a lot on engaging customers with its brands, for quite some time now, and 2022 has been no different.
Back in April 2022, one saw Myntra join hands with an Italian international fashion brand FREESOUL, which offers premium collections in denim, athleisure, sportswear and tailored garments, for refined yet relaxed looks on Myntra.
Similarly, earlier this year, one saw Myntra announce the unveiling of the global sportswear brand, New Balance on its platform – thereby offering best of apparels, footwear and sportswear accessories for men and women. The brand had then said to offer 50+ SKUs, which will be increased to 100+ SKUs in coming months.
Very recently, Myntra also bagged the rights to distribute the American fashion giant Bebe as the sole distributor in the country.
Earlier this year, one saw India’s leading lifestyle social commerce platform Trell launch India’s favourite European fashion brands Jack&Jones, Vero Moda and Only on its platform, which further boosted Trell’s offerings in the mass premium segment.
A first for the Bestseller India Group, the partnership with Trell marks the fashion company’s entry into the social commerce sector in India. Jack & Jones, Vero Moda and Only get access to Trell’s ecosystem of 18 million+ content creators and more than 100 million users to enhance brand awareness, customer accessibility and engagement in deep pockets of both metro and non-metro cities, across India.
The new launches add to Trell’s massive portfolio of 1,000+ brands in beauty and fashion. Trell, reportedly, generates US $ 85.6 million every year.
H&M India – which has opened around 50 stores in India since its foray into the country in 2015 – saw its sales touch Rs. 1,402 crore during 2020-2021. Though it was a Y-o-Y fall of 11 per cent, thanks to aggressive store expansion and lower pricing, despite this fall, H&M remains India’s largest fast fashion brand by revenues.
Also, during the said period, the Swedish retail giant became one of the largest apparel brands online with sales of Rs. 579 crore from the e-commerce business. In India, e-commerce contributes around 42 per cent of H&M’s overall sales.
So it wasn’t surprising to see the Swedish fast fashion giant launch H&M Home in India recently. The country now has a wide range of homeware to choose from to enliven interiors and spaces.
More on the same, Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg, Head of Design & Creative, H&M Home, said, “India is already a big inspiration for us in the design team. The bold colours and artistic prints associated with the country continue to amaze us. When it comes to production, we have a great and close collaboration with local Indian suppliers, and it is fascinating to witness their craftsmanship and creativity when working with textiles and patterns.”
In less than four months, the fashion retailer has managed to win the hearts of Indian home goods lovers through H&M Home.
With revenues of Rs. 2,044 crore during FY ’21 at a growth of 68.2 per cent, German retail bigwig PUMA surpassed Indian footwear company Bata for the first time in sales. In fact, it also outsold sports retailer Decathlon India and apparel brands H&M and Zara.
June 2022 also saw PUMA launch a mobile shopping app in India to further enhance digital offerings for consumers and provide quicker access to its products. This not only allows users to purchase their favourite sneakers, athleisure and accessories, but also has features, such as virtual try-on and 3D animations.
Notably, Decathlon India, known majorly for its apparels, sportswear and caps, too has done well in India and has operating revenue of over Rs. 500 crore, with EBITDA growth of over 87 per cent.
PUMA’s rival Nike too has been doing well in India. Nike India’s operating revenues range was more than Rs. 500 crore for the year ended 31 March 2021. It’s EBITDA rose by 2.26 per cent over the previous year.
New brands heading towards India
Amidst old brands consolidating their position amongst fashion lovers in India, many new fashion brands continue to rush towards India, with Gap being the latest!
Reliance Retail Limited, India’s largest retailer, recently entered into a long-term partnership with US fashion bigwig Gap Inc. to bring iconic clothing brand Gap to India. To put it simply, Reliance Retail is now the official retailer for Gap across all channels in India.
So, for all Gap lovers in India, Reliance Retail brings the former’s latest fashion offerings through a mix of exclusive brand stores, multi-brand store expressions and digital commerce platforms.
Only Reliance could have made this happen! The retail conglomerate had reported a consolidated turnover of Rs. 199,704 crore (US $ 26.3 billion) and net profit of Rs. 7,055 crore (US $ 931 million) for the year ended 31 March 2022. That says it all!
The Reliance-Gap alliance aims at leveraging Gap’s position as a leading casual lifestyle brand, and Reliance Retail’s established competencies in operating robust omnichannel retail networks and scaling local manufacturing and driving sourcing efficiencies.
Importantly, Reliance Retail brings Gap’s shopping experience to customers in India, offering the brand’s youthful, optimistic fashion for men, women and kids.
Continuing with its growth journey, Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) has also inked a long-term distribution agreement with Valentino to bring to India the most established Italian Maison de Couture. In a statement, RBL said that through this partnership, it will collaborate with Valentino to open its first boutique in Delhi, followed by a flagship store in Mumbai.
Another one such brand that’s relatively new in India is Japanese fast fashion bigwig Uniqlo, which entered India in 2019.
Uniqlo has always counted India as its best future market, which got a push following Indian PM Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with the CEO of Japanese clothing brand to discuss investment opportunities for the retailer in textile manufacturing in India.
Reportedly, while Tadashi Yanai, CEO, Uniqlo, applauded the entrepreneurial zeal of the people of India, PM Modi asked him to take part in the PM-MITRA scheme that aims at further bolstering the textile industry.
Finally, Uniqlo is now set to expand its presence outside the Delhi-NCR market with a store in Lucknow. Spread over a wide area of 9,265 sq. ft., the new store will be Uniqlo’s seventh store in India.
The retailer has distinctly stated that it will now focus on north India as a market for expansion in this fiscal as it draws positive response and strong demand for its winter portfolio – especially its signature fleece jackets and warm inners.
Corroborating further on the retailer’s plan to expand, Tomohiko Sei, CEO, Uniqlo India, said “We are always looking for the opportunity, including Mumbai.” A year ago, the retailer also commenced full-scale e-commerce operations in India and expects e-commerce to contribute about 15 per cent to its overall sales.
And now as this piece gets written, Danish womenswear brand B. Copenhagen has also got launched in India with a dedicated e-commerce store and social media platform for the country.
The Indian e-commerce store has launched with the brand’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection. The website has dedicated segments for tops, capris, denim and dresses amongst other smart casual separates from the line.
Notably, the brand aims to replicate the atmosphere of the Danish city of Copenhagen with relaxed, printed separates which aim to mix utilitarian dressing with femininity.
It’s not been more than 10 months since Victoria’s Secret entered India. The premium lingerie retail giant launched its beauty e-store in collaboration with Major Brands (India) late last year.
“While the brand enters the market with a digital focus on the beauty business, Victoria’s Secret and Major Brands have confirmed plans to launch full assortment lingerie bricks-and-mortar stores soon.
Premium designer labels leave their mark too
For designer premium brands, India remains a relatively new opportunity. For years, there has been frustration amongst these brands owing to regulatory barriers including high import duties. Louis Vuitton was the first premium luxury brand to enter the country back in 2002 followed by Tommy Hilfiger.
Over the last two decades, one has seen Gucci, Burberry and Bottega Veneta arrive in India, and if all goes well, Valentino and Balenciaga too should enter the country by the end of 2022.
There are also rumours that Galeries Lafayette from France may explore entry to the Indian market soon. When that finally happens remains to be seen! However, it is still too early days for premium designer labels to find a stronghold in India.
The fashion industry is all set to grow into a US $ 106 billion industry by 2026 and, importantly, India is right there amongst top fashion markets. From fashion formals for women to dresses for children, the growth is nothing short of extraordinary. So don’t be surprised to find the world’s fastest growing apparel market become one amongst the top apparel retail globally in next few years.
As someone rightly said, You didn’t come this far to come this far.
