2. Panelists (from Left to Right)
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Vasanth Kumar, ED, Max Retail
Rahul Mehta - President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India
Darpan Kapoor, Vice President, Kapsons Fashions
Vineet Gautam, Country Head, Bestseller India
Vinay Nadkarni, MD & CEO, Globus Stores Pvt Ltd
Moderated by Rahul Mehta : President CMAI
3. What is the one trend that has been driving Indian lifestyle
retail in recent years?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
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Vasanth Kumar,
ED, Max Retail
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Having established 100 stores across 40 cities, the
strategy that has worked is “Affordable Fresh
Fashion”.
Retailers have a choice - 75% margin, with 2
inventory turns a year or 35% margin on 8 turns
We operate at a 40-42% margin and turnaround
stock 6 times a year.
Store profiling is the key to this business
We price our products sharply to allow us to
turnaround stock within 60 days.
We have been following this strategy since 8
years i.e. the beginning of Max Retail.
Our high level of inventory turns makes us immune to market discounting.
4. What is the one trend that has been driving Indian lifestyle
retail in recent years?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
In the world of brands, style is the key.
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Kapsons aggregates key international brands.
There is huge awareness about international
brands as India follows the West in terms of
fashion.
Earlier, we used to turnaround stock almost 6
times a year.
However, due to growth in our brand value, now
we turnaround 4 times a year.
Darpan Kapoor, Vice
President, Kapsons
Fashions
Customers are willing to pay (full price) for international brands.
5. What is the one trend that has been driving Indian lifestyle
retail in recent years?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
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Vineet Gautam, Country
Head, Bestseller India
Consumers are looking for value from
lifestyle spends.
We are witnessing surging demand
from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
60% demand is from women’s
fashion. The trend these days is for
mothers & daughters to shop
together.
6. What is the one trend that has been driving Indian lifestyle
retail in recent years?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
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Vinay Nadkarni, MD & CEO,
Globus Stores Pvt Ltd
Demand for women’s wear is at its peak.
Trust is an important factor whereby customers
are looking towards lifestyle stores to validate
the information they already have from Internet
and other sources.
Lifestyle stores need to appreciate the time
spend by customers in the store and make their
experience worthwhile.
Online retailing is certainly challenging our
business but we do need brick & mortar stores
as a mode of distribution.
7. Is e-commerce is threat or an opportunity?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
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E-commerce is very exciting for all retailers. However,
brick & mortar retailers like us should enter the online
space for product validation and not to make profits.
Darpan Kapoor, Vice
President, Kapsons
Fashions
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Retailers today need a good mix of brick & mortar
stores as well as a good online presence.
We have seen a 6% growth in six months owing to our
strong e-commerce website.
Vineet Gautam, Country
Head, Bestseller India
8. Why are value stores venturing into fashion formats?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
• Convergence of technology and services is a growing trend.
• Value formats in fashion are a way to tap unmet aspirations
among budget shoppers.
Vasanth Kumar,
ED, Max Retail
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Customers don’t want to be seen as buying value
products.
However, all purchase decisions are driven more by
value proposition than brand consciousness.
Value retailers are entering fashion to try and
straddle this balance.
Vinay Nadkarni, MD & CEO,
Globus Stores Pvt Ltd
9. Why are end-of-season-sales (EOSS) growing in popularity
among lifestyle shoppers?
Moderator: Rahul Mehta,
President CMAI
“EOSS demonstrates lack of
strategy during non-sale periods”
Vinay Nadkarni, MD & CEO,
Globus Stores Pvt Ltd months.”
“EOSS is a opportunity to correct
mistakes of the whole year and
the objective should be to reduce
sale time.”
Vasanth Kumar, ED, Max Retail
“Retailers must use EOSS period to
introduce new stock and make it
profitable at an overall level.”
Darpan Kapoor, Vice President,
Kapsons Fashions
“Apart from clearing stock, EOSS
is a way to draw footfalls and the
trend is here is stay.”
Vineet Gautam, Country Head,
Bestseller India
