Apparel Online India Magazine January 1st Issue 2019 | Page 58

DOMESTIC UPDATE
ROUNDUP
2018
RETAIL INDUSTRY SPEAKS
2 0 1 8 W A S A Y E A R O F R E T A I L U P G R A D A T I O N A N D E X PA N S I O N
Despite all the challenges the retail industry faced during 2018, the year witnessed a slew of expansion drives, retail upgradations, along
with a tremendous growth of India’s retail sector. While international brands are looking at India as a potential market and are entering this
huge field of opportunity, the home-grown brands have refrained from sitting back and are exploring every possible way in order to compete
and even overtake the international retail giants. Digitalisation, omni-channel retail, going experiential, have been the essence of the year,
which have given a way to move ahead in the coming year.
F or a new Indian brand like Being
Human to touch a turnover of
Rs. 250 crore in the first 5 years itself
is a commendable feat, but the ride
wasn’t always easy for this mid- to
premium brand. he combination of online and
offline retail has exerted significant
influence over the retail landscape and
the once pure play e-commerce firms
are now moving towards an omni-
channel approach.
“Metro cities account for more than
50 per cent of our expansion, though
it has been increasingly observed that
the growth in Tier-1 and Tier-2 markets
has been tremendous. Also, we’ve
seen other brands moving towards the
lower end of price point as well and it’s
become the need of the hour to match
competitive pricing.” “The thought of getting into a shop-
in-shop module was to increase our
reach. Also, now as we are growing
our business, EBOs are helping us to do
just that. From a revenue point of view,
offline business has a greater share of
the revenue and hence it makes sense for
our business to use both the channels.”
Kunal Mehta, VP Business Development & Marketing,
Being Human
August 1-15
Playing with
Performance:
Sportswear’s New
Landscape in Indian
Retail
June 1-15
A retail journey:
FabAlley – The shift
from online to offline
market is organic for
retailer
October 16-31
Being Human – A
line with a heart for
fashion and a knack
for retail
T
Shivani Poddar (L) with Tanvi Malik, Co-Founders, FabAlley
58 Apparel Online India | JANUARY 1-15, 2019 | www.apparelresources.com
T
he appetite for sportswear’s sub-
trends like athleisure, streetwear,
athluxury and now performance wear
has come to be seen as absolutely
insatiable.
“Athlos’ assortment consists of basics
for both men and women with a range
of T-shirts, training shorts and work-
out towels. The brand uses materials
made from bamboo or eucalyptus
fibres for benefits such as skin-tight
softness, 4-way stretch, quick drying
and odour prevention.”
Shruti Kamath, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Athlos