Over 30 decision-makers in or related to the women and children wear business, marked and discussed 10 issues that must be addressed for betterment of the industry.
The decision-makers got together at the Nokia Images CEOs Meet at the Pure and Play conference in Delhi. The participants included Tarun Puri, MD, Nike India; Marcelo Villagran, MD, Bata India; Thorsten Allenstein, country head, Triumph; Subhash Chhabra, president, Globus; Samir Sahni, director, Ritu Wears; Anchal Jain, founder, Nun; and Aloke Banerjee, CEO, Rosebys.
Anchored by Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, and Jayant Kochar, MD, GoFish Solutions, the participants agreed that creating an ethnic brand for women is not an easy task as the category is dominated by the unorganised sector. They opined that dedicated and trained workforces in the manufacturing sector is one of the critical needs of the hour.
The chiefs also agreed that the industry needs well-researched information on various business aspects, right from studying fits and sizes to creating better shopping destinations and retail environments, to pricing and branding strategies in sync with the Indian consumers’ mindset.
Following are the issues that were marked out and discussed at the meet:
– Not enough kids and womenwear brands are present in the organised retail market in the country
– Complexities of creating ethnic womenswear brands
– Lack of adequate information on fits and sizes
– Lack of suitable retail environment for women and kids
– Lack of initiative from the retailers to understand and cater to the niche category
– There is neglect on the part of retailers towards the kidswear market
– Inadequate support from mall developers for womenswear and kidswear brands in terms of differential pricing and focus on retail space
– Not enough brand-building initiatives from the retailers
– The niche category needs to be widened to include accessories, and health and beauty products
– Lack of vision to do something ‘big’ in this niche category
