"Our international market is about 30 per cent of our overall business!"

Hidesign America, a recent extension of Pondicherry-based leather goods manufacturer Hidesign, was launched as part of strategy to diversify and build the brand outside India. Its CEO, Vikas Kapur expects to double growth as the brand expects to expand their footprint and bring in additional categories. In a conversation with Retailer Media, Vikas talks about the challenges and opportunities in the US and will their presence pan out in the coming years. Excerpts:

What’s the initial investment made to support your expansion plans and how is it coming along?
The initial investment was between a quarter and half million dollars. Further investments are expected.

What route has the company decided to take to sell its products in the US? What’s been the response to online selling?
We primarily sell online and to independent retailers. Online sales are a very significant portion of our business.

How is the Indian market different from the market in the US, has the foray influenced production and sales of your goods in any way?
Being on the ground in the US and directly exposed to the customer in the US helps Hidesign better understand our international markets. Other international markets do like to see what type of product we offer in the US, and often place orders based on what has been working in the US.

What’s going to be your strategy to further develop Hidesign’s identity there?
We want to educate people and tell our expansion and brand story. As part of the strategy we will be exhibiting at the Travel Goods Association trade show in Las Vegas where we will display our product range and use it as a platform to showcase our latest collections.

We want to target the Indian-American community many of who are aware of the brand but need to be informed that Hidesign is now also available in the US.

What are the things you have learnt from your father’s way of doing business?
I don’t know that I have acquired these traits, but he has probably shown me the importance of creativity and persistence.

Share with us any learning that International expansion helped you gain.
It has given me an appreciation for how each additional sale, even the small ones, really matter. When your business is small and you are just starting out, everything adds up and makes a difference. This has been a great experience, and I think I am able to take this back to my ongoing work with Hidesign in India.

The second important learning that comes to mind is the value of great marketing. Again, a new brand in a mature market (a brand from India, not exactly known globally for its fashion bags), really needs to find ways to get noticed. It’s a lot of work, and actually something I wish I spent more time on.

Having understood the market and customer in the US, would you have charted a different course for Hidesign in India?
It’s very easy to offer ideas for different directions; much harder to actually implement the right ideas. At Hidesign we regularly evaluate what we are doing and what we should be doing, and I am a part of these discussions, so I don’t feel like I have a very different view of the direction in which we are going.

That said, my experience in the US has brought new ideas to Hidesign, especially to Hidesign in our 20 other global markets.

What inspired you to take up the family business and become a retail entrepreneur?
I have already shared extensively the immediate triggers: the desire to be in India and my dissatisfaction with practicing corporate law. But I think I also connected with Hidesign at a deeper level. I was born in what was also Hidesign’s workshop, I remember my visits to our tanneries in Chennai and then sleeping on stacks of leather in the back of a van on the late night drive back, all these childhood memories have an effect.

Share examples of the market share the US market forms of the overall business.
It’s still small. Our international market is about 30 per cent of our overall business.

Talk us through your future plans in the US market.
There are a few priorities for this year. We are exhibiting at the Travel Goods Show in Las Vegas in March. I expect this to be a very important show for Hidesign. We need to continue to expand the women’s handbag range, and this year I am targeting large growth from our independent retailer customers. We are also likely to sign up with sales representatives in various regions in order to grow the business with the independent retailers.

Are there times when your father’s decisions are not on the same page as yours? Would you have liked to navigate the brand in India given a chance?
Yes, we disagree at times. The disagreements are almost always productive in the long run. As for running the brand in India, I was not ready to manage it. It’s a gradual process, and I believe the most likely outcome at this time is professional management with some amount of involvement from the family.

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