Bonjour eyes big retail push in ready-to-wear market

Known for its wide range of socks, Bonjour from Zonac Clothing is now making a mark with its ready-to-wear brands Bonjeu and Vami brands. Zonac is now aiming for 25 to 30 percent growth over last year.

Talking about the company’s shift from socks to garments, R K Jain, Managing Director, Zonac Clothing, says, “Shifting from socks to garments was a challenge. It’s reversing the rules of the game. Generally people shift from apparels to accessories. It’s very easy. This is just a matter of outsourcing and selling under your brand name. But since we are setting up stores, we decided to enter the main apparel segment. We opened our first store five years ago in Greater Noida.”

The company has plans to aggressively expand retail across the country with all three brands. “For our retail stores, we have a lot of varieties. We have a range of jackets, track suits, outer wear, leggings and tights and a bit of sportswear. This is because socks alone are not a viable proposition to get into retail,” adds Jain.

Aggressive retail expansion

Bonjour is a 25 years old brand. The other two brands, Bonjeu, which is into garments and Vami a leggings brand are also making a mark. “We produce 3,500 leggings a day. Bonjeu range is only for our own stores. We have a network of 50 distributors in north India and plan to add another 50 in the next four months and spread pan India. Bonjour has 8,000 retail points across the country and 10 retail outlets. Ambala has one and the rest are located in Delhi NCR. All these are company owned and managed.” Bonjour is present on about 10 major portals online. “By March 2015, we will have 12 stores of our own. Later we will have franchisees,” explains Jain.

The company opened its first store five years ago in Greater Noida. And Bonjour has become the preferred brand there. The brand is not just identified with socks but with the whole range of comfort, lounge wear and accessories. “We are trying to replicate this story all over India. We have added a second store in Greater Noida. We raked in Rs 1.4 crore sales last year from the first store,” avers Jain.

Jain believes e-business will be integrated with the offline business shortly. “We want to have a network of offline stores all over India. By next year, we will have a store in every part of Delhi NCR. As soon as we get an order it will be delivered from that particular store to the consumer. This is the integration of online and offline that’s going to happen. And this is the only model that’s going to work. And when a salesman from our store goes to a customer with an item, he can carry some similar items, and give the customer an opportunity to choose and take further orders. Online alone can’t work.”

From accessories to garments

Bonjeu has lounge wear priced at Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000. The range consists of track suits for men and women priced from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000. Jackets are from Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,000 and track pants, basic tees are priced below Rs 1,000. “This range is polyester cotton. We have a dedicated garment facility for Bonjeu having 100 machines,” he adds.

In socks, Bonjour has added Ben 10 and Doremon characters last year. It has also launched a range of signature formal socks priced from Rs 350 to Rs 400. For the first time, brand has decided to advertise on radio and inflight.

“On an average, we are selling about 40 to 50 packets a day directly to consumers. For winter we have a target of selling 100 packets a day. We haven’t entered the discount game. We don’t offer discounts online. Many online retailers are discounting above the margins we give them. They are acquiring the customer base. We are discouraging them from doing this. That’s why there is revolt happening in the offline space. There’s a big offline network at stake,” concludes Jain, talking about the impact of online discounting on offline retail.