German Brand Lamy Partners With Former Cricketer Dilip Doshi

German pen brand Lamy has appointed former cricketer-turned-entrepreneur Dilip Doshi as its exclusive retail partner for India.

The pen producer also aims to open nearly 15-20 concept stores in the next three years with the intentions of foraying into the online market.

Ralf Krueger, international sales director at Lamy said, "India is definitely one of the top five markets in terms of potential for Lamy. Despite made in Germany, the brand will appeal to customers with an affinity for sophisticated design and high-quality products at an affordable price.”

Lamy, which entered the country nearly a decade ago had partnered William Penn as an official distributor for its products in India in 2014. Doshi, who founded Ambiar Group was earlier the retail partner of luxury pen brand Montblanc in the country but it turned sour five years ago with both seeking legal recourse.

Lamy products will be imported from Germany and will be sold at price-tag starting Rs900 onwards, something that will hurt their margins initially, said the company. However, it maintained that it will not dilute its brand equity by deep discounting at online channels. "As a brand, we don't sell at Amazon globally as we believe they don't justify our brand philosophy and our distribution strategy," added Krueger.

While India is a huge market for pen and stationery products, the demand is mostly restricted to mass-priced ones. Also, the number of pens per Indian is still not as high compared to other countries even as the price in India is lower than the global average. Yet, Lamy remains upbeat. "The challenge to us is not the market but retail infrastructure and to find right location with right size is what we are looking now," said Krueger.