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Pummy Kaul
New Delhi, June 27: There will be something striking about the new United Colors of Benetton store which opens at Colaba in Mumbai on July 2. It will be the first Benetton store in India to sport the new ``complete Benetton look''.
The international apparel brand is currently sprucing up its image in its outlets to promote visual merchandising. This is part of the two-fold retail strategy adopted by DCM-Benetton India Ltd: one to get into large format retailing (read: big stores) and second, to create an interactive visual merchandising impact for consumers.
For large format retailing, it is stitching up an all together new strategy: the company plans to open two flagship stores in Delhi and Bombay by the end of Spring/Summer 2000. While these, the company hopes, will work as image builders for the brand, the regular retail outlets in smaller cities will get a rub-off from them.
A replica of its international stores, these flagship stores will be sprawled over an approximate area of 8,000 to 15,000 sqft -- globally, the area of a flagship store varies from 15,000 to 50,000 sq ft, but finding large retail space in the country is proving to be difficult.
``We are following a very careful, focussed expansion plan, we're focusing more on consolidating on the network we've created in terms of merchandising,'' says Sundeep Malhotra, general manager, marketing, DCM Benetton India Ltd. Benetton is currently present in 40 cities through 86 franchisee outlets across the country-the retail outlets are expected to go up to 100 by the end of this year.
Changing colours within:
From a regimented look to a more informal store ambience, all the Benetton franchisee stores in India are being redone, redesigned and refurnished to reflect an atmosphere that is more in sync with its international showrooms. The emphasis now is on simplicity, space, and a coordinated product display rather than individual product display.
The wooden racks, for instance, are being replaced with imported racks and shelves whichare flexible. For easier eye movement, clothes which where till recently kept folded and stacked one above another, will now be hung within easy reach of the customer. All this, says Malhotra, is being done to ensure two things: one, to make the display a concentrated display unit; and second, to sell a complete, coordinated `look' rather than just one T-shirt or a shirt. The in-store merchandising strategy thus is to push Benetton as a brand that offers a trendy, integrated look. With coordinated ensembles it also hopes to introduce more clarity to its range in terms of collections, rather than just separates.
The changes in percolating into the India operations are a part of a global initiative to promote the `complete Benetton look.' In global markets, Benetton is a leading name in fashionable casual clothing and accessories for the family, and projects itself as a lifestyle brand. In India, at present, besides the adult section, Benetton stocks a ZeroTondo collection for toddlers and a 012 collectionfor kids. In line with the look-philosophy, earlier this season, Benetton rolled out a new concept, an extension of Benetton's global initiative: monthly thematic approach to garments.
The initiative was extended to marketing, establishing a clear link between styles of the season and the marketing efforts. Besides the overall colour and styles, all media advertising, in-store displays and POP material were an extension of a particular theme, presenting and creating the `complete shopping experience.'
The aggressiveness, according to Malhotra, has come from learning. Says he, ``Every brand goes through a learning curve and so have we. But today we have, to an extent, overcome issues such as the brand being expensive, inadequate variety and sub-standard quality.'' According to Malhotra, the company has invested Rs 22 crore on advanced plant and machinery in the last 10 months.
After a fairly rocky start, Benetton claims to have grown by about 18-25 per cent during the last two years. In terms of volumes,it claims to have sold 1.2 million units. For the next year, Sandeep projects a growth rate of 25-30 per cent over the last year, during which it posted a turnover of Rs 50 crore. ``In the next two years we hope to get established,'' says he. The moot question is: for a brand that has been on the country for the past five years, will a facelift be enough to hoist sales?
Benetton moves from tube tops to ads on the tube
It's a strange paradox. While the much publicised Benetton sale (held twice a year) has led to a high brand recall, it has also created a negative perception about the brand: Benetton is perceived as being always on sale. ``The only time there's a recall of the brand is during a sale,'' says Sandeep Malhotra, general manager, marketing, DCM Benetton India Ltd.
This is because, reasons Malhotra, the company advertises heavily in the press during its two annual sales while during rest of the year, it doesn't advertise at all. ``We have to communicate the real meaning of a sale,''saysMalhotra.
The importance of clearance sales at the end of every season is primarily to creat shelf-space for the new stock, explains Malhotra. Held twice a year -- in July and February -- the sales announce the end of one product life cycle and the start of another, besides introducing its new seasonal collection.
Pertinently, the company is getting aggressive in its communication strategy. Starting with increasing its visibility during the non-sale time, for the first time in the brand's history-advertise on television in India. The TVC is still being planned and is likely to revolve around the brand's international ambience.
Also, for the first time, for more visibility, Benetton has started investing in joint promotions with successful brands such as Coca-Cola and Bausch & Lomb. ``If we have to reach out to volumes, we have to increase our visibility,'' says Malhotra.
To create pull in smaller cities, it has started interactive ground level activities at the shop level. For instance, in May '99,Benetton held a painting competition for kids at the Lucknow store, as a preview to the World Cup. At Jammu, it gave away trophies to school students who had done well. ``This also helps build a relationship between the actual franchisee and the real consumer. The more interactive the activity is, the more accessible the brand becomes,'' says Malhotra. More accessibility should lead to more sales, hopes Benetton.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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