Figure: Composition of average household expenditure in Brazil

Indian Apparel Retail Market

India has positioned itself strongly as the third most attractive apparel retail market after Brazil and China. Apparel is the second largest contributor to the overall retail revenues in India. Apparel retail represents 10% of India's total retail market. The market size is expected to reach to a massive $37 billion in 2008. Whilst the overall retail industry is expected to grow at 10 per cent, the apparel industry is expected to experience a growth rate of 12-15 per cent per annum. The footprint of the organised retail the apparel retail sector versus the overall retail market represents an interesting scenario. While organized retail forms only 5 per cent of the total retail industry, it contributes close to 20 per cent in the apparel market. This reflects that the apparel market is by far one of the most mature and dynamic sectors of the Indian retails story.

India's apparel retail scenario is upbeat because of various reasons. Some of them being:

1. The consumer spending is rapidly increasing at a rate of 8% which is much faster than the traditional retail giants viz. USA, United Kingdom and Japan and emerging countries like China. This can be attributed to a steady growth rate of 6 per cent in the middle class income, thus giving a boost to the purchasing power of bulk of the consumer segment.
2. There has been a unprecedented      rise in the number of apparel focussed shopping malls in India
3. Changing consumer behaviour, penetration of credit cards and popularity of fashion wear clothing in tier-2 and tier-3 Indian cities is driving the growth in the sector
4. Market is still immature and fragmented. This makes the sector attractive for new entrants.
5. There is a huge market potential for both private labels as well as branded apparel
6. Diversity in the socio-economic clusters opens the market at all price points and brands with diverse positioning
7. Indias laws and FDI regulations are slowly and steadily opening up for global retailers and there is a huge opportunity for apparel brands to join the Indian apparel retail bandwagon.