Well be having four stores shortly, none of the luxury brands in India been able to open four stores in less than twelve months time: Neerav Dalal, Longchamp
Well be having four stores shortly, none of the luxury brands in India been able to open four stores in less than twelve months time: Neerav Dalal, Longchamp

The brand Longchamp is operational here since almost a year now. So, how is the journey so far?

The brand is hardly nine months old, and so far the journey has been phenomenal. The brand has started to garner decent footfall with ample awareness of the brand. In fact, we are going to launch our second store very shortly in Mumbai at Palladium mall. We are also keen to explore travel retailing via Delhi T3 Terminal at later part of the year, and will slowly move to Mumbai airport as well. Delhi airport outlet would be operational by August and Mumbai by September this year.

Being operation almost a year why the brand could not increase distribution, had demonetization hampered the growth?

During November we did better than September and October. We are growing month-on-month basis. Demonetization does not affect us at all; in fact, we are the fastest growing brand, we’ll having four stores shortly, none of the luxury brand in India been able to open four stores in less than twelve months time.

So, the quality retail space is the constraint? What be ideal location for expansion, the country has hardly four luxury malls? What about foraying tier II cities?

As of now, the focus is on luxury malls only; however, we would be open to premium malls as well which of them have the status of ‘bridge to luxury’ at least. We are having close watch on malls which are evolving for luxury segment.

In India, the luxury is not limited to metro cities; the small towns are growing exponentially in terms of luxury consumption and I am sure in next couple of years many new markets will be opening up. If the right kind of mall is coming up in the tier II city, we would be open to scale up there for sure. For example cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Pune, etc. have enough potential of luxury consumption, so if a luxury mall opens up there with our kind catchment then we would definitely foray there.

Will the brand explore newer formats while moving to different parts of the city?

Our formats will be on similar lines of DLF Emporio; though, the Mumbai store will be slightly bigger than the Delhi one. However, the categories will be similar but the collection will be much bigger.

What are plans to expand the product range?

In India we have introduced leather products, luggage and accessories. We will be launching the footwear and eyewear categories very soon. The brand will also introduced ready to wear line over the due course of time.

How the brand is aiming to explore e-commerce channel?

We have not explored the online channel yet; however, we are keeping a close watch on how the online space will evolved for luxury. We’ll be open to online medium only if it evolved in right manner.

What are plans to expand the portfolio of DoIT Retail brands?

We are definitely looking to bring in more brands to India. We will continue to focus on marquee brands for further portfolio expansion. We are already in touch with many international brands which I cannot name yet.

Who do you see as your competition?

There is no major competition except us; we are here to offer world class experience to our patrons while shopping in our boutiques and would continue to focus on same. For us, the craftsmanship and quality should match much more than value of the product.

Kindly mention the starting and exiting price point of the brand?

Our leather range starts from Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 and current exit point is about Rs. 1.17 lakh. Our signature collection Le Pliage continues to be the best seller in Indian market as well. Moreover, we are seeing a lot of demand for LongChamp leather bags as well.

Are you looking to explore franchise model for brand expansion?

No not at all, we would be opening company owned company operated stores only.

 

 

 

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