Beyouty to focus on making lingerie mainstream wear
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Different strategy for retail presence
Since most retailers relegate lingerie sales and display to the ‘accessories’ section, the products neither received nor garner rightful attention from customers, believes Nischal Puri, CEO, Brandis Manufacturing and Marketing. “With Beyouty, the company plans to change the entire attitude of retailers to treat lingerie more as a mainstream garment, rather than just an accessory,” says Puri. He goes on to add that in the coming year, the brand would be retailed at many more large format stores with a stronger focus on its placement, emphasizing its importance to the consumer. With this initiative, the company is looking to increase its turnover from Rs 34 crores last year to Rs 110 crores in the coming year.
Puri feels retailers also lacked staff with requisite knowledge about products. This resulted in most stores randomly picking up lingerie makers, without focus on quality, fit or style. Hence, customers get fewer choices. Puri points out that the new strategy of placing Beyouty as mainstream wear arose from changed consumer buying trends. “Women today are not shy about buying lingerie, a point that had seen the continuance of bad products in the name of cheap prices. With media coverage, they are more demanding and asking for quality products, with comfortable fit, good fabrics and design. Given these, women were willing to pay a higher price for them,” Puri explains.
Speaking about the recent trend of online sales, Puri says that it is yet too early to judge it. He added that currently online sales were functioning under a hyped situation and the truth would emerge only after the initial habit of offering heavy discounts is discontinued. “It is impossible for online stores to continue giving such large price cuts in the long run and nothing can replace ‘touch feel’ aspect offered by brick and mortar outlets,” he opines.
Lingerie, a flourishing market
As per Purin the lingerie market in India is growing at more than 24 percent. Out of the current Rs 55 billion, Beyouty has a share of about Rs 8.5 billion. In the coming years, the company is seeking to reach a target of Rs 110 crores, with its enhanced marketing strategy. At the moment the brand is present in 90 cities and was looking at adding more large format stores. After witnessing a shortfall in supply two years ago, the company is well prepared to match increased demand with a modern manufacturing unit at Peenya, Bangalore. The unit is geared to make 75,000 pieces of bras and 1,25,000 pieces of panties each month. Besides domestic demand, the company has acquired RAP certification for facilitating easy export to the US.