The burgeoning kids wear market in India is slowly evolving into an organic one owing to the non-allergic, eco-friendly, safe for the skin, and durable properties of organic cotton. Though slow, the concept is fast picking up with the brands and the consumers alike. Deepak Agarwal, CEO, Gron Stockholm discloses the trends in organic kids wear market and the brand’s future plans in a chat with Tripti Bisht.
What is your assessment of the organic kidswear market in India?
There has been a significant growth and awareness level among people in the last decade around the world regarding organic products, the situation has changed and is still changing. Now, more and more people are thinking about buying organic clothing for their babies and the Indian market is rising. Many international brands have entered India because of the growing market opportunity in this segment. Even the existing Indian brand have introduced organic clothing line.
As per Assocham survey, retail market has seen an increase in production of organic clothes. By 2015, the kidswear market in India is set to increase to Rs 30,000 crore, with organic apparel having a significant contribution.
What are the latest trends in organic kidswear market in India?
Earlier organic clothing meant very high priced products and they were available mainly in earthy colours which were very dull for kids. As most parents want their kids to flaunt latest fashion in bright colours, so now the trend has changed even for organic clothing. Parents can now find trendy fashion wear in hot colours.
According to you, what is the sales ratio between foreigners and Indians buying organic kidswear?
The organic concept is still at a nascent stage among Indian consumers. Foreigners are well aware about this concept and are keen to buy organic wear irrespective of the colours or prices. The approx. ratio of 70:30 can be considered.
I would like to add that consumers are so well versed with this concept, especially in Europe, that they want nothing but organic wear for their kids.
What is your brand positioning?
We are positioned among high end brands and basically target high profile customers, be it direct customer or the consumer who shop online. We cater to age group of 0-12 years so definitely the moms are our target customer.
Tell us about your retail footprint.
We currently have three stores in Delhi/NCR. They are at DLF Place Saket, DLF Promenade Vasant Kunj, and DT Mega mall Gurgaon. Our footfalls increase during the End of Season Sale. All our stores are company-owned outlets. We currently run the EBO-cum-MBO format. We have Gron Stockholm exclusive outlets but we include European brands also as we have tie ups with Geggamoja from Sweden, Mijn From Holland, and Jumina from Norway.
Since we offer both garments and accessories so our prices have different brackets. For garments our minimum price is approx. Rs 700 and maximum being around Rs 2,800. Our accessories range starts from as low as Rs 49 and goes up till Rs 1,500. The average bill size is approx Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000.
Our headoffice, warehouse and manufacturing units are all situated in Agra.
How many Indian designers and Scandinavian designers do you have?
Under our Umbrella Brand “GRON” we have sub brands like Geggamoja from Sweden, Mijn from Holland, Jumina from Norway & Gron Stockholm ,the domestic inhouse brand. All the brands have their separate designers. Gron Stockholm has Indian Designer rest all brands have their designers in their respective areas of origin.
How much does ecommerce contribute towards your total sales in India?
We have recently launched our products online. Currently we are available on Snapdeal.com, Firstcry.com, Ecomartindia.com. At this point of time around 8-10 percent of our total sale is from online portals. We are expecting a rise in this figure as we are in talking terms with Jabong for selling Gron kidswear on their portals.
What are your future plans?
We plan to open around 8-10 stores at one go majorly in Delhi /NCR in this fiscal. For this fiscal, we are expecting around 25-30 percent growth as compared to last year. We want to target malls like Ambience mall, Gurgaon; GIP-2 at Noida; Mall of India, Noida. We would also be shelling out funds for new locations, interiors, branding, advertising, winning new customers and building customer loyalty, etc.
