India to become biggest market for Italian fashion brand

In a conversation with fibre2fashion, managing director of Benetton India, Mr. Sanjeev Mohanty said, “India is an important market for us and we see it becoming majority contributor in next 10 years.”

“With presence in 120 cities and towns in the vibrant retail space of India, the apparel sales in the country have crossed US$ 200 million mark in 2012. We have been growing strongly after starting a wholly-owned subsidiary here in 2004.” he informs.

Elaborating on the brands expansion plans, he says, “We are now expanding our presence in tier III and IV towns like Dimapur, Bhavanagar and Kota to connect with the young consumers there. We consider our size and local partnerships as definite positives in a vast market where business dynamics varies with geographies.”

“Having 500 stores in the country, gives us a dialogue with the consumer, even the local consumer can give us some important feedback about the taste, style, type of garment that the consumer wants and where the trends are going. That is what makes a global company so intrinsically relevant in today’s changing times,” he continues.

When asked about the growth opportunities for garment manufacturers in India, he says, “We see it increasing further since small cities are recording better growth than even the metros and 'A' class cities. Contrary to popular perception, the consumers in these areas are not too conscious about prices.”

“In markets like India, the changing market dynamics and consumer preferences are always on our mind. We also tweak our global fashion sensibilities to suit the local sensibilities and that has helped capture the young Indian consumer mind space, like no other retail brand,” he opines.

According to him, every company has started in a given way and has built its fortune with key elements in the way the entrepreneur or the management thinks. “We shall never make the mistake of looking at our history, our roots and our basic value and abandon them,” he adds.

“We think we have done a lot in last 40 years and so we can provide more collections and faster re-assortment at the store level,” he concludes.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India