Bombay Dyeing revamping brand with more focus on retail

Since the last two years, Bombay Dyeing has been trying to reinvent itself by moving away from its manufacturing heritage and to becoming a retail brand. The retail unit of Bombay Dyeing has outsourced its manufacturing operations and is now rejigging its management, communication, go-to-market strategy and employee profile to reflect the transformation, it is understood.

Nagesh Rajanna, CEO, Retail, Bombay Dyeing says the company believes in not living on past laurels and reaching out to the youth of today. This means everything the company does is to change. Right now, Rajanna is in the midst of implementing his 2020 vision that involves tripling the retail unit’s topline to Rs 1,000 crores from Rs 300 crores in FY2016. In this regard, the company has unveiled a new look to be showcased across its consumer touch points starting with product packaging and extending to store signages as well as its website in keeping with its aim of appealing to the millennial crowd.

The company is also moving towards launching three to four new products every year. The go-to-market will see the company double its retail reach to 10,000 outlets across India by 2020. These are multi-brand outlets. Bombay Dyeing’s exclusive stores run by franchises will also increase to 500 from 200 in the same period. Its 30 company-owned outlets will turn into experience centres, Rajanna said.

During the last year, Bombay Dyeing took on board senior executives from companies such as Walmart’s Indian unit, Future Group and Samsung Electronics. The company has allocated more than Rs 100 crores to support revamp of the brand and communicate the changes to its consumers over the next four years. It is also figuring out the investment model for revamping its franchise stores.