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Tag: Pantaloons

  • Unveils brand anthem to commemorate celebrations

    Pantaloons celebrates 25th anniv

    By Our Staff

     

    Pantaloons, which is now owned by the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary at South City Mall, Kolkata. Actors Parambrata Chatterjee and Priyanka Sarkar graced the celebrations.

     

    Said Sangeeta Pendurkar, CEO – Pantaloons, Jaypore & Style Up, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd: “Pantaloons is one of the most loved fashion retail brands of India. As we turn 25 years young, we express our gratitude to all our customers and partners who have supported us and made us a part of not only their wardrobes, but also their lives. We would continue to make shopping a playful and engaging experience for our shoppers.”

     

  • The 360-degree campaign will be amplified across TV, print, outdoor, digital, radio

    Pantaloons unveils Doston Wali Diwali ad campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pantaloons has geared up to celebrate the festival of lights with the Doston Wali Diwali campaign.

     

    Talking about the new campaign, Ryan Fernandes, Head of Marketing & E-Commerce, Pantaloons, said: “Diwali is one of the most important festivals across the country and it is the perfect occasion for Pantaloons to engage with our consumers and become more relevant in their lives as we celebrate with them. Diwali is an occasion when a lot people buy new clothes and as a fashion retail brand, it is important for us to strengthen our connection with consumers at this time. Our campaign Doston Wali Diwali re-enforces the celebratory mood and festive fervour as we present our rich ethnic collection that showcases the vibrant colours of Diwali. We are grateful to our consumers for the phenomenal response that we have received so far and we will continue to work towards creating enriching experiences that bring us closer to our consumers.

     

    Added Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Mumbai: “This Diwali we decided to celebrate the lives of doston wali family. The story beautifully brings alive the brands promise of partnering and styling the moments of change in the lives of our consumers.”

  • The campaign captures the spirit of its consumers who wish to make every moment of their life stylish

    Pantaloons unveils latest summer campaign, ‘Holiday in Style’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pantaloons has unveiled its new campaign, ‘Holiday in Style’ for this summer.

     

    Talking about the new campaign created by Ogilvy, Ryan Fernandes, Vice President, Marketing and E-Commerce, Pantaloons – Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited said: “Planning a holiday is hugely exciting. This holiday season, Pantaloons launched a new campaign ‘Holiday in Style’ to enable its consumers to travel in style. The campaign resonates with the consumers’ need for stylish clothes which helps them always be social media ready. Our endeavour is to strengthen our connect with millennials, and be a part of their moment of style journey.”

     

    Added Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India: “Life is a series of big or small changes and every change opens up new possibilities. Pantaloons believes that a consumer should be able to own and celebrate these moments of change. This holiday season we wanted to encourage millennials to style their change. We chose to bring this alive on TV by showcasing an endearing story of a girl on a solo trip and how she is never really alone.”

     

     

  • Zahid Shaikh joins Motivator from United Breweries

    Zahid Shaikh joins Motivator to head its South Operations

    By A Correspondent

     

    Motivator has appointed Zahid Shaikh, Ex CMO Pantaloons as Head of its South Operations.In this role, he will focus on three key areas – building a comprehensive product portfolio, drive growth and enhance capability in Data, CRM, retail, marcom effectiveness and business performance.

     

    Commenting on the new appointment, V. Narayanan, Chief Growth Officer, Motivator said, “Over the last year, we have focused on bringing in the brightest and most diverse talent into Motivator, with a vision to deliver solutions that drive clients, business performance and growth. We have created a team of partners who work closely with clients on not only their core media and advertising opportunities, but also delve deeper to understand and contribute positively by addressing their business challenges. Zahid, who comes with a wider business and marcom experience, is the fifth key hire over the last six months.”

     

    Speaking on his new role, Zahid Shaikh said, “What excited me the most about this opportunity is Motivator’s client centricity and performance orientation. Enabled with a strong foundation from GroupM, and access to domain expertise in media and marketing, Motivator has a proven record of accomplishment to drive our clients’ business in a unique way. I look forward to working with our brilliant team and roster of clients in the South.”

     

    Zahid Shaikh joins Motivator from United Breweries, where he was responsible for Data Analytics to primarily optimize business results for the company. Prior to the aforementioned role, Zahid was CMO, Pantaloons, where he transformed the brand, which was initially perceived as a male brand to a unisex brand. He worked closely with Pantaloons stakeholders and Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, to build a fashion image for the brand. Under Zahid’s leadership, Pantaloons marched past a turnover of Rs 1000 crores (100 stores) from a turnover of Rs. 100 crores (11 stores).

     

  • Malls opt for global brands as Indian brands Lifestyle, Pantaloons, Westside have outlived utility

    Hindustani dukaan no-no for some malls!

     

    By Rasul Bailay

     

    India’s successful malls say multi-products and multi-brand chains (Westside, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle) have outlived their utility as anchor tenants at least in malls in metro cities and may find relevance in smaller cities.

     

    Such malls are either evicting these brands altogether or relocating from their showcase ground floors to less attractive upper or basement levels and offering space to the new global brands which will generate higher revenue per square feet, add to the mall’s appeal, bring in the young crowd who is also likely to spend at the food court.

     

    Barely months after Select Citywalk Mall in Delhi relocated once-anchor Pantaloons department store to a smaller space on the upper floor, Westside store has exited from the Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj. In Mumbai, In Orbit Mall in Malad is relocating Lifestyle department store to the lower ground floor from the ground level to make space for Swedish brand H&M while Oberoi Mall is shifting Future Group’s multi-product store Central from ground floor for Zara and H&M.

     

    “We would rather have a Zara or a Mothercare as our anchor tenant that brings their full range in a 4,000-5000 sq ft than these multi-brand chains,” says Arjun Sharma, chairman of Select Group that operates Select Citywalk that relocated Pantaloons from its 20,000 sq ft space to 8,000 sq ft on the first floor. “Brands like Westside are slowly going away (from large malls) and they will get replaced by a Forever 21, H&M probably or a Zara. It is part of normal churn,” Sharma said.

     

    In order to accommodate coveted global brands, a lot of other brands have to contend with lesser attractive space. Ambience mall is relocating Jumbo Electronics and another brand to lay the red carpet to H&M and Gap and signed a closure deal with Westside. A person at Ambience asking not to be named said Westside exited before the lease ran out because it was “working out either for the mall or for Westside.”

     

    “We need to understand that the visitors’ profile have been changing and aspirations are going up and the mall is basically a partnership between the customers coming to the mall and the retailer and if we do not change, they will start going to some other mall,” says Mukesh Kumar, vice-president at Infiniti Mall in Mumbai that is moving Reliance Trends to the lower ground floor from its 15,000 sq ft on ground and first floor to bring Gap.

     

    “The people coming to the mall want new brands so we have to keep evolving.” Prominent mall owners say India’s shopping centre landscapes have been drastically changing over the years with brands like Zara becoming anchor tenant and not traditional supermarket Big Bazaar or a Shoppers Stop department store. Market watchers say footfalls at malls have been drastically impacted due to the emergence of a host of e-commerce companies in India that is luring consumers with deep discounts and hassle-free shopping.

     

    Mall owners say brands like Zara, H&M, Gap, Sephora and Starbucks bring in the footfalls and keep the malls buzzing. They also bring the moolah for the malls as most of them currently operate on a revenue-sharing basis with brands. That’s is why all the successful malls in India are keen to have the above global brands in their shopping centres.

     

    Kumar of Infiniti Mall in Mumbai says generally malls share revenues with fashion brands in the range of 10% to 12% but one mall was so bent on getting H&M into its fold that the mall agreed for a revenue- sharing of just 6.5%. Most of the malls say that there is still some steam left in the homegrown department store chains.

     

    “Globally, this kind of department store concept has diminished in importance. I think in India you will see them around for at least half a decade or even more,” says Suresh Singaravelu, executive director at Bengaluru-based Prestige Group that operate malls is the city and building malls in other southern cities.

     

    He says change is already happening. For example, Tata-owned Westside has started selling gourmet food and increased footwear and sports items.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Arvind's wholly owned subsidiary Arvind Lifestyle Brands is holding advanced talks to buy a large portfolio of retail assets, including Nautica stores, from Planet Retail

    Arvind eyes Debenhams, Next’s businesses; to take over brand rights, stores from Planet Retail

    By Boby Kurian & Reeba Zachariah

     

    Arvind’s Sanjay Lalbhai may acquire the operating stores and rights of British fashion retailers Next and Debenhams from Planet Retail, triggering another retail industry consolidation , said two sources directly familiar with the developments.

     

    Arvind’s wholly owned subsidiary Arvind Lifestyle Brands is holding advanced talks to buy a large portfolio of retail assets, including Nautica stores, from Planet Retail. “Arvind is doing due diligence to takeover operations of Next, Debenhams and Nautica, and a deal could be clinched shortly,” said one of the sources mentioned earlier.

     

    Mr Lalbhai’s move follows Aditya Birla’s decision to buy department store chain Pantaloons and Reliance Retail’s continuing strategy of striking partnerships with a slew of international fashion brands. Arvind would gain control over high-street brands providing fresh impetus to its fashion and retailing business, which brought in more than Rs1,200-crore revenue in FY12.

     

    Arvind Lifestyle Brands owns value retail chain Megamart and a slew of international and local brands, such as Gant, Arrow , US Polo, Elle and Flying Machine. It also holds a 50 per cent stake in Tommy Hilfiger’s India unit.

     

    Arvind declined to comment on speculation, while Planet Retail chairman Ramesh Tainwala could not be reached for immediate comments.

     

    Mr Tainwala, who controls Samsonite’s Asia-Pacific and West Asia business, and NRI entrepreneur V P Sharma equally own 97 per cent in Planet Retail. Kishore Biyani’s Future Group holds the remaining 3 per cent. Planet Retail controlled several international retail brands through licensing deals, but the potential sale to Arvind would leave it with fewer brands like The Body Shop and Accessorize. The Mumbai-based lifestyle retailer had earlier sold the operations of another UK retailer Marks & Spencer to Reliance Retail.

     

    While Debenhams plays in the department store segment , Next, which retails home products and accessories globally, have been a pure-play clothing retailer in India. Both brands have underperformed with very few stores, even after five-six years in the country. Sources said Arvind would acquire stores with revenue topping Rs130 crore once the takeover of the three brands was finalized.

     

    The transaction will be multi-pronged with Arvind acquiring existing operations – stores and some staff – from Planet Retail. Arvind would simultaneously enter into fresh agreements with Next, Debenhams and Nautica (owned by US-based VF Corp) to strike a fresh licensing agreement and business development plan for India.

     

    Business valuations in fashion retailing are 1-1 .6 times topline revenue, according to industry experts.

     

    Wholly owned subsidiary Arvind Lifestyle Brands are already in talks to acquire some staff and retail assets, including Nautica stores, Arvind will also ink fresh deals with Debenhams, Next & Nautica for India business.

     

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Retailers say early signs are encouraging than the same season last year, although these are early days and total actual sales numbers cannot be predicted yet

    Good news! End-season sales lure shoppers back to malls & high streets

    By Rasul Bailay, Sarah Jacob & Sagar Malviya

     

    After a lull of more than two months, Indian shoppers are thronging malls and high streets once again, lured by the end-of-season discount sales, and bringing some relief to nervous retailers.

     

    Retailers say early signs are encouraging than the same season last year, although these are early days and total actual sales numbers cannot be predicted yet. “So far it has shaped better than last year,” said Kailash Bhatia, chief executive of Pantaloons department chain.

     

    Dipak Agarwal, chief executive of DLF Brands, that markets products of brands including Mothercare, Mango, DKNY, Alcott among others, said the average sales at the brands under the company’s portfolio doubled in the first week of July compared to the same period in June when the discount sales had not started.

     

    Retailers have been nervous about whether shoppers would open their wallets amid a slew of negative news on the economic front such as increasing fears of below-normal monsoon rains, slowest GDP growth rate in nine years, US President Barack Obama expressing concerns about India’s investment climate, increasing food prices and prevailing high interest rates.

     

    After lukewarm sales in May, many brands including Arrow, French Connection and Puma advanced the start of their end-of-season sales to the last week of June instead of the traditional July.

     

    Now, with a whole host of other retailers joining in with discounts, consumers are back in the street in large numbers, causing traffic jams in main shopping areas this weekend.

     

    At the Noida Sector 18 market near Delhi, for example, hundreds of shoppers were driving up and down this weekend looking for a parking space.

     

    “It seemed I was shopping in the US. The sale looked genuine. I bought two Lee and two Wrangler T-shirts, two pairs of Albatross leather shoes and five pairs of sandals for my six-year old from Lifestyle and I paid just Rs7,500,” beamed a shopper holding a clutch of shopping bags at The Great India Place, the largest mall in Noida.

     

    DLF Brands’ Mr Agarwal says many retailers were apprehensive of the slowdown and through early sales they were trying to avoid an inventory build-up. And he expects consumer spending to remain high in the coming months.

     

    Jitendranath Patri, head of marketing at Central, a department chain owned by Future Group, shared Mr Agarwal’s optimism. “There is a long festival season starting from August and consumers will have something to celebrate each month during Ramzan and Diwali,” he said.

     

    Others such as Arvind Lifestyle Brands CEO J Suresh and Indus League Clothing CEO Rachna Aggarwal, however, warn that the positive response to discount sales need not necessarily mean that the good run will continue post August when most of the sales are over. “End-of-season sales never gives the true picture,” said Mr Suresh. “It is more important to see if sales will stabilize after the discount sales period or if a slowdown will continue,” he added.

     

    Mr Bhatia of Pantaloons said more and more customers now wait to shop during the sales seasons. Almost 30 per cent of Pantaloons’ revenues are generated during the discount seasons for the last four-five years.

     

    While the footfall has grown this discount season, Mr Patri of Central said the average ticket size of a Central customer too has increased to 2,500 this from 2,300 last year, making it a double whammy.

     

    A spokesperson for German sportswear brand Adidas AG said the company was expecting double-digit growth at its like-to-like stores during the sales season and it has achieved that target.

     

    Lavina Rodrigues, marketing manager at Metro Shoes Ltd, which sells multi-brand footwear through 175 outlets across the country, said the company is yet to gauge the sales records for the two-day flat 50 per cent sale this year, but indications are it is same as July last year. She says Metro is generally able to sell almost 60 per cent of the old stocks during the sales periods. In some cities like Rajkot, where consumers are more receptive of the discount season, the company would get rid of almost 85 per cent of the old stuff.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved