Companies which were quietly offloading factory surplus stock at discreet stores located on highways and city outskirts now agree that surplus also sells, though at a discount.
Thus, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road and Mahipalpur in Delhi, Trimulgiri in Hyderabad, Marathahalli in Bangalore and Parel in Mumbai have become weekend shopping destinations.
"While the Indian upper-middle-class cross-shopper has the profile of a department store customer, he is seeking more value through cross shopping at factory outlets," Says Krishna Kaushik, Senior Consultant, Technopak Advisors.
"All the country's leading and some global brands are present here, making it a popular shopping destination," said Vishnu Prasad, President, South and CEO, Brand Factory and Central.
"Though sales depends on location and also varies from city to city, a factory outlet usually does anywhere between Rs25 and Rs30 per sq ft per day," said Venkatchalapathy, Senior Vice-President, Arvind Brands.
With such attractive footfall numbers and sales statistics, even top-notch names can't afford to ignore factory outlets.
At Brand Factory, Adidas, Nike, Levi's, Pepe, Woodland, Wrangler, Esprit and Arrow merchandise are all stacked with value brands such as Peter England, Numero Uno and Ruff n Tuf.
Parallel sales channels
"The way we expand our exclusive store distribution, we like to consider the expansion of factory outlets as well," said K K Pant, CEO and MD, Indus League.
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