Arvind Retail to speed up expansion of global brands

Arvind Retail is speeding up its expansion plans for the global brands that it has introduced in the Indian market in the last two years. The reason for doing this is that sales growth has topped its own expectations. Earlier they expected to achieve a revenue of Rs 2,000 crores from four foreign labels -Gap, Aeropostale, Sephora and The Children’s Place (TCP) – in five years. But now it is confident of achieving its target in four years.

The other international brands that Arvind Retail sells are: Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica and Ed Hardy. Initially, the plan was to open 12 Gap stores in two years. The company has already opened 10 and will now have 14 Gap stores in the first two years of operations. It has already opened seven TCP stores and will beat its target of 12 stores with a total of 15 outlets by the end of fiscal 2017 and an additional 15 shop-in-shops as well. Even for Aeropostale, the plan was to open 40 stores in four-five years, now this will be achieved in two-three years.

As per The 2016 Global Retail Development Index report by consultancy AT Kearney, India is the second most attractive market for global retailers to expand after China. In the past few years India has improved the ease of doing business. Also, greater clarity on FDI regulations have helped. However, challenges do remain. The country continues to be a complex market for foreign retailers where understanding dynamics at the state level is important as the country’s 29 states have the power to opt in or opt out of FDI investment reforms.