After a string of international brand launches last year, calendar year 2024 will be no different with a flurry of big retail names making India their home. Conversations with multiple retail consultants and experts reveal that global apparel brands such as Pull & Bear and Bershka from Spain’s Inditex group, best known to Indians for its Zara chain of clothing stores; fashion brands Sandro and Maje from France’s luxury group SMCP, American footwear retailer Foot Locker, food & beverage chains such as Jamba from the US and France’s Galeries Lafayette will launch their stores in the country this year.
A booming retail market apart from growing affluence and consumer tastes are among the key reasons for the interest shown by foreign brands in India, analysts said. Also, large groups such as Reliance and Aditya Birla are open to partnerships with foreign brands, with Reliance Brands, part of Reliance Retail, in particular, being the most aggressive of the lot.
While Sandro and Maje have tie-ups with Reliance Brands, Galeries Lafayette has a strategic partnership with Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail and Foot Locker has a tie-up with Metro Brands. Sandro and Maje, say retail experts, will launch at the Jio World Plaza in BKC, Pull & Bear is expected to open its doors at the Pheonix Palladium in Lower Parel and Galaries Lafayette has taken up space at Fort in Mumbai for its proposed launch in India this year.
“The robust retail growth that India is seeing, especially at the premium and luxury ends, coupled with a younger demographic, aspirational lifestyles are all contributing to this surge in foreign brands wanting to set up base in India,” Susil Dungarwal, retail and shopping mall specialist, who runs a Mumbai-based firm Beyond Squarefeet, said.
Mukesh Kumar, MD & CEO, Quest Properties India and chairman of the Board at the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI), says that 2024 will also be a year of expansion for foreign brands that have forayed into the country earlier.
“India is a strategic market for many global retailers. It is a growing economy and has a large base of consumers. This is encouraging many international names to expand their presence here,” Kumar said.
For instance, Spanish luxury brand Balenciaga and Armani Caffe, the luxury cafe brand of Armani, which debuted in India last year in Mumbai, may enter the Delhi market this year, retail industry sources said. Some international names such as Italian luxury fashion brand Roberto Cavalli and British luxury brand Dunhill, which were in India earlier, but subsequently shut shop, may also relaunch this year in Mumbai and Delhi, retail experts said.
A report last week by consultancy Cushman and Wakefield notes that the supply of new retail space in the country’s top eight cities will continue to be high as developers strive to meet rising demand from retailers.
In calendar year 2023, as many as 11 shopping malls became operational, covering nearly 6 million sq ft of space across the top eight cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. In 2022, nine malls came into these eight markets, totaling 3.44 trillion sq ft of area, the report said. While 2019, which is the pre-Covid period, saw supply of new malls at around 5 million sq ft in terms of area in the top eight cities of of the country.
“The total mall supply across the top eight cities in 2023 surpassed 2019 levels by nearly a million sq ft. This reflects the strong interest from retailers in entering or expanding into the Indian market, fueled by evolving consumer preferences, shifting consumption patterns and a supportive business environment,” Saurabh Shatdal, managing director, capital markets and head of retail, India, Cushman and Wakefield, said.