S Kumars Nationwide Ltd (SKNL) has signed an exclusive marketing agreement with British luxury menswear brand Dunhill. Brandhouse Retail Ltd, the retailing arm of SKNL, will be the India franchisee for Dunhill. The agreement envisages opening four stores in the next two years. The first Indian store opened in New Delhi’s Shangri-La Hotel.
“We would be opening four Dunhill stores at an investment of about Rs 16 crore in the next two years. We hope to have about 8-10 stores in the next five years in major cities like Mumbai and Bangalore,” SKNL vice chairman and managing director Nitin Kasliwal disclosed.
The locations will be in five-star hotels as well as luxury malls across the country. SKNL has signed on film director Karan Johar to be Dunhill’s brand persona.
Dunhill specialises in men’s luxury leather goods, writing implements, lighters, timepieces, fragrances and clothing.
“Once all our planned stores are in place, we expect India to contribute about 10-20 per cent to Dunhill’s global revenues,” Mark Newman, Dunhill’s regional managing director for Asia Pacific, said.
SKNL has brands like S Kumars, Reid &Taylor, Belmonte and Carmichael House. For the year 2006-2007, the company’s turnover increased 38.19 per cent to Rs 1,229.54 crore.
