Van Heusen foresees steady growth momentum ahead

Having crossed Rs 1,600 crores in revenue last year, Van Heusen, a leading brand from the Madura Fashion & Lifestyle stable, is now looking forward to steady growth momentum ahead. “We have been growing ahead of industry average for the past five years and expect the growth to continue at the same trajectory,” says Vinay Bhopatkar, COO, Van Heusen, adding, “For Van Heusen customers, elegance and style are not just fads, but a philosophy.”

The core target audience of the brand is successful, sophisticated, multi-faceted professionals, both men and women, who are conscious of making their presence felt.

Innovating with its product range

Van Heusen product portfolio is wide ranging from work wear to special occasion wear. “We are focusing on innovation and cutting edge products like Alpha (multifunctional shirt) and Acura (superior non-iron with D2 technology), which are never seen before. Another key collection is linens in bright summer colours,” states Bhopatkar, elaborating on the new lines launched this summer.

He believes that a strong trend of formals is coming from last year, while casuals continue to do well. Van Heusen receives about 60 percent sales from formals and 40 percent from casuals and social/special occasion wear. Bhopatkar feels, customisation or made to measure is emerging as a big opportunity.

Building strong presence across India

In India, the brand is available in close to 300 exclusive outlets across 100 cities in 24 states. In all, the brand is present in over 1,800 doors across MBOs, EBOs and shop-in-shops in departmental stores. Talking about online initiatives, Bhopatkar says, “Trendin.com, an online initiative by Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, is the official web-store for Van Heusen. The brand is also available on most ecommerce sites like Myntra, Flipkart and Jabong.”

The brand is realising the power of online retail in reaching out to customers in geographies where they are not physically present. “For us ecommerce has given a platform to innovate and experiment like never before. The biggest example is MyFit. The success we are seeing with this initiative is encouraging. The other thing is ecommerce’s ability to reach out to newer audiences like women customers. We see a 20 percent contribution from women’s category on Trendin.com. We are bullish in terms of possibilities of leveraging the online capability with our core brand strength of creating beautiful products for our customers,” he adds.

After establishing presence across 100 cities in 24 states, the company is looking at making aggressive in-roads in Tier II, III cities. The biggest challenge, according to Bhopatkar, is the cost of retail, which has been increasing. “With increasing choices, it’s also become important to continuously invest on building stronger aspirational brand,” he sums up.