Youth casual fashion brand Riot, the retail venture of the BSE-listed Suditi Industries which specialises in knitwear manufacturing, currently has 17 stores in the country out of which 4-5 stores are franchised.
The brand recently has bagged the official apparel licensing rights for FIFIA World Cup 2014 for the whole of India. Animesh Maheshwari, VP, Riot says that the need gap for quality fashion wear at affordable price encouraged him to launch the brand in 2010. Maheshwari shares details about the brand’s expansion plans this fiscal.
Future Plans
Talking about the future plans, Maheshwari says the brand plans to open 5-10 stores this fiscal, predominantly in Western India (Surat, Rajkot, Goa, Gujarat) and might foray into the Southern part of the country, particularly Karnataka, where it is currently operating through distributors, by opening its first store, 18th in the country, at Belgaum in a couple of months. ” We are targeting a turnover of Rs 18 crore to Rs 20 crore from retail, distribution, and online reach. Our online sales are expected to contribute 30 percent of our total sales this year.”
Though Riot is present online through e-retailers like myntra.com, flipkart.com, fashionara.com, jabong.com, and yebhi.com, it is going to launch its own website riot.co.in which will be functional in the next 10 days, says Maheshwari.
Footprint
Riot is available in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Raipur, Goa, Vadodara, Latur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bellary, Hospet, Gulbarga, Manglore, Bangalore, Panjim, Dharwad, Devangeri, Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur, and Kota. “North East is a big market for us. We are present in 10 tier 2 cities.”
Maheshwari states that Riot is also available across India through a distribution model with 10 distributors. It is present in 25-30 Reliance Trends stores and 17 Walmart stores. “We are currently in talks with Pantaloons. Other big chains we are present in include 12 stores of Kalyan Silk (Kerala), 23 stores of Partha’s (Kerala), 20 stores of Men Favourite Shop in Karnataka, 7 Pothy’s stores in Tamil Nadu and Naidu Hall at Kerala, RMVK Silks in Karnataka, and Lulu Hypermarket in Kerala,” he mentioned.
Merchandise
Riot offers t-shirts, denims, bottoms, jackets, and shirts for men and t-shirts, skirts, dresses, cardigans, and tunics for women. Round neck t-shirts are priced between Rs 499 and Rs 899 while polo t-shirts start from Rs 599 and go up to Rs 1,299. For women, the core range comprising bags, round neck t-shirts, shrugs, etc. is priced between Rs 299 and Rs 599. The fashion range for women starts with Rs 599 and goes up to Rs 899. Women’s clothing accounts for 55 percent of the total sales of Riot while men’s apparel contributes 45 percent. All the categories are manufactured at Suditi Industries except denims and shorts which are outsourced locally in Mumbai.
All of Riot’s outlets are present in malls because according to Maheshwari Riot is not yet a destination brand it has to be present in high footfall places to grab eyeballs.
The average store size of the brand varies from 450 sq.ft. to 600 sq.ft. and per store investment ranges between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh, excluding the stock, he adds. For a franchisee, an investment of Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh is needed. Riot’s average ticket size stands at Rs 1,100 Rs and on an average the store receives a daily footfall of around 8-10.
