Proline ramping up retail presence

Proline ramping up retail presence. Proline is targeting 25 percent CAGR in the next three years, which will make the brand worth Rs 175 crores at retail prices. And to achieve its target, Proline has put in place an aggressive retail and

product expansion strategy. “We reach out to about 700 MBOs through 20 distributors across the country and would expand this to about 2,000 MBOs in the next three years. We are present in the Middle East-market and now would expand to Sri Lanka as well. The Proline Active brand has a potential to go to more mature markets once we stabilize production,” explains Sandeep Mukim, Director Marketing Proline India.

“Our product architecture is dovetailed with the operating brands. We do only mercerised products in Proline Originals, washed and rugged products in Proline Varsity, technology led products in Proline Active and core products in Proline Colors. All of them would get extended into accessories in next two years,” adds Mukim.

The various brands under Proline’s umbrella are being retailed through 150 counters spread across Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Central and Reliance Trends. It also has 25 EBOs mostly in the south and west India. The company now intends to improve its pan-India reach by opening about 30 EBOs in the next three years. The brand has also seen tremendous response in all its e-taling market places and is among the top brands in menswear category for many sites.

Mukim says, the market segmentation in our country is evolving, while in mature markets, there are clear brands for casual office and specific outdoor activities. And the markets are more defined even in age group and young boys and girls dress very differently than middle aged customers.
Proline is the brainchild of brothers Rajesh and Rajiv Batra, avid tennis players and sports enthusiasts, they identified a gap in the Indian market for good quality sportswear. Launched in 1983, , Proline from the beginning has been intrinsically linked to sports with brand ambassadors like cricket players Vinod Kambli, Ravi Shastri and Sandip Patil. “Our links with sports personalities, the fact that our garments were of a fantastic quality and are extremely good value for money meant that we quickly established ourselves as the number one T-shirt brand of the time. Our market share is 10 percent in the segments that we operate in. We would also extend into new product categories like socks, bags and footwear in two to five years time,” explains Mukim.

He believes the long term trend for domestic market is bullish, given the expected GDP growth, but brands need to find the right opportunities with respect to products and markets to grow. “We are building brand salience and thus brand communication would be key for us. Simultaneously, we track our secondary sales and do promotions on need basis. We are going direct to the consumers to promote Proline Active brand through participations in events,” he states.