We plan to open five stores of Bath & Body Works by December: Tushar Ved
We plan to open five stores of Bath & Body Works by December: Tushar Ved

American bath products and skin care giant Bath & Body Works has been creating the scents for over 20 years now. The brand has just forayed Indian market.  Major Brands led by Tushar Ved has brought the brand to India by opening its first store in Select CITYWALK in New Delhi and the second one at the DLF Mall of India, Noida. While store launch at Select CITYWALK, Tushar Ved interacted with indianretailer.com

Interview excerpts..

How do you see Indian fashion and lifestyle market in India since Major brands is operational in this space for long time now?

I don’t think the Indian fashion and lifestyle market has matured yet, I see a lot of growth potential as the India’s consumer spending has gone up. Instant gratification has gone up mainly due to Instagram, Facebook. These days’ people are visiting malls more frequently. I do see huge potential in this market.

Let’s talk about your latest entrant of your portfolio i.e Bath & Body Works. What are the plans to further penetrate the brand in the Indian market?

The initial roll out is decided on ten stores, among these five store should be operational by December 2018. And remaining five is still under discussion. These are stores will be company owned company operated stores.

As the part of the expansion strategy we open stores in clusters, so first we would cover Delhi/ NCR market before foraying Mumbai. In Delhi, we are already open at Select CITYWALK and The Mall of India, Noida and very shortly we would be opening at Ambience Gurgaon and DLF Promenade.

Indian beauty and wellness market is highly competitive with brands such as Bobbi Brown, Sephora amongst others. In such scenario, how optimistic you are about brand’s sustainability in the Indian market?

Well, our product offerings are very different to these brands; for example, Bobbi Brown and MAC, these two brands completely operates in the cosmetic space, so they are not our competition at all. Although, Sephora has bath and lotion ranges but that is a very small part of their entire product portfolio. There is not a single brand which is completely dedicated to wellness (bath and body care products and fragrances) category.

 We have 1400 SKUs of the brand. However, we would be starting with 600-700 SKUs that we will keep on adding.  We also do ranges specific to occasion like Halloween, Christmas etc.  

What are the plans for online channel? Would the brand be also available on Flipkart and Amazon?

As of now, the focus is on the offline expansion. We want customers to touch and feel our product which is not possible in the case of online. Also, in store experience is also very important for us. We want people to come and visit our stores. Though I do see the potential in the online channel, but for now, the focus is on offline retail experience. Going online would be second stage for us.

What are the plans for Aldo and New Balance? Also, are you in touch with any new brand for India foray?

As of now we have 40 stores and 20 Shop-in-shops. We plan to have 200 stores over next four years including EBOs and SISs. Most of these stores will be company owned; however, few will be sub franchised as well. We have just started that model but in a very limited capacity. New Balance has 10 stores including EBO and sub franchised, and we would continue to expand the brand.

As of now, we are not in touch with any new brand; however, we will continue to explore new opportunities as and when it arrives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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