We plan to have 50 stores in the next five years: Vivek Bali
We plan to have 50 stores in the next five years: Vivek Bali

What new changes have been brought to the brand since it has become the part of Arvind from its earlier India partner?

I think everything is changed; primarily, we have changed the entire assortment being retailed by the earlier partner. The changes have been deployed to across the categories be it makeup, skincare, fragrances, bath and body, men’s grooming, etc.  With new changes we have tried to make the brand more adaptive now to Indian market. Similarly, the most important category being make-up all the shades we sell are suitable to Indian complexion which was missing earlier.

Sephora is positioned as premium brand. Since, you said the company plans to put focus on Indian customers. Any plans to include brands with lower price points within Sephora?

We will continue to focus as premium beauty retailer. We have no plans to introduce brands with lower price points. Despite being a premium retailer, we play on competitive pricing within the store which is very exciting for customer as well. 

There are many new brands that we have launched including Cover FX, Becca, Foreo, Smashbox . And, we would be launching Glamglow very shortly. In fact, we would be launching about 14 brands with sephora which nobody has in India so far.

So, how many more stores of Sephora the company would be launching this year? Also shed light on your current footprint?

Currently, we have 12 stores including four in NCR region, three in Mumbai, one in Pune, three in Bangaluru and one in Chennai. This year we would be opening another five new stores and the plan is to go till 50 stores by next five years.  Among the new stores one will be coming up in Chandigarh, two in Mumbai and one each in Kolkata and Hyderabad.

All upcoming will be large format stores (LFRS) or other formats may be introduced? Also, what are the plans to bring the brand to tier 2 market?

Our size store remains anywhere between 3100 to 3200 sq.ft. There would be no change in same. The plan is to go all the markets though first we want to expand in metro cities. Then, we would gradually move to non metro and tier 2 cities.

Any plans to introduce any new category? Also shed light on your largest category?

No, not as of now! We plan is to build all the categories first before introducing any new category. Our largest category is make-up followed by skin care and fragrances. And, we are in process of building other categories even bigger.

Which brand from your portfolio is best seller?

Undoubtedly, Sephora is our best performing brand. Other best performing brands include Benefit Makeup Forever and Dior.

Any plans to explore sub franchise model for further brand expansion?

No such plans as of now. We will continue to open company owned stores.

Was there any MRP revision post GST? Overall, how GST has impacted the business?

Market is growing exceptionally well especially the premium side of the business. We are registering strong double digit growth. Post GST implementation, there has been no changes in the pricing. Our prices remains the same.

What are the plans for online business? Would the company come –up with its exclusive online stores?

We have launched our webstore already called as sephorannnow.com . Though it was a soft launch but it is doing pretty well. We are getting good traction from our webstore and it is operational pan India. We have tried to replicate the same experience of physical store. Through our web store customers have given to choice to block the product on web and pick it up from our store as the part of our omni channel journey.

 

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