Lacoste aims to increase online sale revenues

The Indian unit of French clothing brand Lacoste is targeting 10 per cent of its sales from e-commerce channels, including its own recently launched portal, in the next 18 to 24 months. The company currently doesn't sell on any third-party online platforms in India but is in talks with various e-commerce firms, as a part of its strategy to tap the online retail opportunity.

Lacoste would start selling products on only those marketplaces that can offer it a premium, no discounting environment. The company expects three to five per cent sales coming from the Lacoste official website and five to seven per cent from the e-tailers with which it ties up.

Lacoste, which entered India in 1993, has 49 brick-and-mortar stores. About 10 of these are franchise outlets and the rest are company-owned. In the past financial year, Lacoste opened seven stores out of which four were set up in partnership. In this financial year, all the six stores it plans to open would be through the franchise route. It also wants to expand beyond metros as the brand sees good retail real estate development in Tier I cities.

Across the globe, Lacoste sells products in eight categories and, in India apparels is the largest selling category for the brand with about 89 per cent share.