We are planning to grow our reach with ASICS in the central and southern parts of India says Aditya Bafna
We are planning to grow our reach with ASICS in the central and southern parts of India says Aditya Bafna

Tell us about the journey of Element Retail so far. Since you work in diversified space including electronics and fashion.  How do you see the growth of Indian retail in the last couple of years? Kindly state few numbers to quantify the same. -

Element Retail was conceptualized seeing the growing need for organised retail sector. The retail industry was fast evolving with the new mall shopping culture on the rise and we found it fit to enter the space of high customer engagement as compared to our traditional high value automobile business. The idea behind the selection of our brand associations had a much simpler vision behind it. All our market research led us to believe that the sports industry in India is seeing a huge paradigm shift towards organised retail; much like the retail industry itself. Having identified this our first association was with Page industries ltd. They are brand principles for Jockey and Speedo both. Fortunately around the time of the launch of our 3rd store with PIL and our first store in Mumbai - we found about the direct entrant of the best running shoe brand in the world - Asics.

It was then where we first envisioned to become associated with all 3 pillars of fitness - running, swimming and cycling. One by one after laying strong foundations with Asics and positioning it in the key markets in Maharashtra we approached apple and giant. We don't see much disparity between the customers of these brands since the brands all address to a niche market. Despite Apple being a leading technology company; its major features are focused to enable it's user to their active lifestyle effortlessly - which is precisely the market which we are trying to address with the other brands. We believe that it is most likely for any individual; having an active lifestyle; to take up at least any two out of the three fitness activities mentioned earlier. We anticipate more and more people every year to take up to an active lifestyle thereby growing our customer base exponentially. 

What kind of distribution you have for brands such as Speedo, ASICS, Apple, Jockey and Giant Bicycles in online as well as offline space. Also, due to FDI hurdle Apple is not able to open direct retail store in India yet. So, how you managing Apple's distribution in India? Also going forward what are the plans to expand your footprint for these brand?

We are distributors for only the cycling brand - GIANT. We are authorised franchise partners for other brands. However we are associated only for exclusive store partners for the aforementioned franchise associations. GIANT is our newest association. We are still under process to develop a sustainable model for Element Retail. We are working very hard to have Omni presence for the brand and should be able to deploy it soon. 

Currently we looking at expanding with exclusive retail stores with ASICS in the central and southern parts of India. 

How do you see athleisure as the category is evolving in India? Which are your best performing categories under ASICS and Speedo? How do you see future of athleisure segment in India? 

Athleisure category is definitely a fast evolving category in India. We see more and more brands everyday entering this segment. There is most certainly an increase in demand amongst the consumers for active wear as well.

Our foremost revenue generating category in Speedo is equipment / training gear / accessories. Most of the gear is not size specific and is generally an impulse purchase for the consumer - wherein the customer is most likely to purchase multiple colour options in a singular product. Having said that the other categories like swimwear and watershorts also contribute to a sizable business owing to fact that they can cater men, women and even kids (for both genders). The latest launch of product line Speedo has offered is called its H2O active category which solves the purpose of an athleisure range; primarily designed for swimming but having multi functionality.

For ASICS - I would say our most popular and fastest selling category is their running footwear. We have a wide variety of range to offer to our consumers depending on their need and condition of use. The brand also has a unique technology showcased in most of their prominent stores which provides a detailed gait analysis of the consumer. With the help of a patented static foot ID machine and paired with its unique software for gait analysis - we recommend the best shoe apt for the user within the Asics range. We have a whopping 90% conversion ratio for consumers opting for the gait analysis. The technology of the brand is even popular amongst orthopedics for that matter; and to the extent that we often get customers walking into our stores with doctor prescriptions suggesting the exact shoe the consumer or in this case the patient should buy. It was quite surprising for us at first; but we understand now how critical it must be for those suffering from physical ailments because of their shoe.

Also present your views on innerwear segment in India. What kind of response you are getting from Jockey?

The innerwear segment is the most sort out segment and is being pursued by almost every single apparel brand in the country. It works more like an FMCG brand where volumes are tremendous and sell through are a 100%. Of course the credit for this goes to page industries who have successfully made this mammoth industry much more organised. Every brand sees the innerwear business as add on business in their existing stores and this even works out considering every brand has its own loyalty with its consumer. 

We have gotten an excellent response from our jockey stores. We have two gender specific stores in Phoenix mall Pune. Both stores are doing fabulous and we see the business only growing further.

Who do you see as your biggest competition within same space?

Well that depends on the brand. Every brand that we are associated with has its own set of competitors. Not only do have brand competitors but we also have franchise competitors. Setting up shop in prime locations in line with brand expectations can be very challenging.

Are you looking to bring any new brand under your brand portfolio? If yes, kindly provide the details?

Yes, we are always on the constant lookout to add brands to our portfolio; but not competiting brands- complementing brands. We see an overlap in our consumers already across our brands. Like mentioned earlier a person with an active lifestyle is most likely to take two out of the three sports activity products that we cater to and the same consumer is most likely to track his fitness regime probably using one of the many products that has been created by Apple. We are looking to build a synergy amidst our portfolio and we hope to continue doing the same.

At last, kindly mention your growth plans? How much investments you are looking to pump in to ramp up your growth plans? 

We are planning to grow our reach with ASICS in the central and southern parts of India. Also, planning to launch a flagship store of Giant before the end of this year and to activate 200 dealers for Giant across India. To make this possible we are going to be double our current investment and securing our expansion strategy.

 

Stay on top – Get the daily news from Indian Retailer in your inbox
Also Worth Reading