Why Superdry is Bullish on Indian Market

Iconic British fashion and lifestyle brand – Superdry, famed for combining American design with Japanese style graphics, is betting big on technology and has recently unveiled its RFID-enabled store at Jio World Drive at BKC, Mumbai.

Manu Sharma, Business Head, Superdry states, “The new store is 100-percent RFID enabled. That makes a lot of internal processes very fast and easy. Going ahead, all our products will have RFID tags in all the upcoming stores.”

“Apart from that, we are an omni-enabled company, so our customers can buy products buy online and return offline, buy offline and return from home, etc. Our teams are engaging with customers either through video calls or through Whatsapp chatbots in delivering goods home as a lot of customers are still reluctant to come to physical retailing spaces but newer channels have evolved and they are taking company sales back to the pre-Covid levels,” he adds. 

Being Bullish on the Indian Market

Superdry is very bullish on the Indian market as many indices show that India is on a strong recovery path and the company thought that this is the right time to start curating brand experiences and reaching out to customers in towns where it has not been present and in locations that demand the Superdry store.

“We are now looking at opening at least 8-10 new stores for the next 2-3 years,” he asserts.

“We are targeting both Tier I and Tier II locations. Currently, we are present in all metros so we are now looking at state capitals like Ahmedabad where we have opened the first flagship this year. Basically, we are looking at a mall or high-street where we can provide the right retail experience to our customers,” he adds.

Sustainability: The Buzzword

Since pandemic sustainability has become the buzzword across the industry. 

“Superdry is possibly the only brand which has sustainability to its absolute core. We had committed that by 2030, we will have 100 percent organic cotton-based products but now we have pulled that agenda due to the pandemic. In the next five years, we aim to be 100 percent organic cotton products brand,” he asserts.

Store Design

Generally, the Superdry stores have a grungy look but now the entire design has changed, the signages have changed, the logo has changed and all the other inside elements have also changed as compared to its regular stores.

“Selectively, we will be changing the design of most of our stores. However, a few original stores still look very beautiful, however, all the new stores and the previous stores that need a re-fit out will go under the new design,” he avers.

Future Plans

The brand is expecting a fantastic last quarter of this calendar year as the customer confidence is back on track. 

“T-shirts are expected to be the highest-selling category this festive season at Superdry. This year, we have also bet very big on winter wear. We are expecting 15-20 percent like-for-like growth over 2019 and presently e-commerce contributes almost 25 percent of our revenue,” he concludes.