Lee Cooper takes EBO/MBO route to fastrack growth

Though Lee Cooper is present in India for the last two decades, nine years back Future Group became the license holder for the brand across India for brand’s apparel and leather accessories. Now the company aims to expand the brand through MBOs and franchisees and distributors.

Big boost growth through EBOs

“In three years we are looking at Rs 1,000 crores MRP sales. We are also looking at a thousand sales points. We will invest in branding and marketing. We want Lee Cooper to be a top denim brand in India,” says Gaurav Agarwal, Chief Business Head, Lee Cooper. Lee Cooper launched in 1908 in England began as a workwear brand. It later evolved into a fashion brand in Europe in the 40s or 50s.

The affordable fashion range, under all three brands consists of men’s and women’s wear line of woven shirts, knits, denims, shorts and woven bottoms for Spring/Summer and jackets, sweat shirts and sweaters for Autumn/Winter. “We work with three brands: Lee Cooper, Lee Cooper Originals and Lee Cooper Juniors. Lee Cooper is the main brand. It covers men’s and women’s wear. It’s for the lifestyle category. This is available at Central, Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons and at EBOs. Lee Cooper Originals is sold at Big Bazaar and Hypercity. It is a mass product. And Lee Coopers Juniors is for children,” explains Agarwal.

He finds women’s category easier to deal with because it is not specific to a season or a sale period. “Men’s sales are skewed toward a discount period. But even if we put fresh women’s merchandise during a sale, it will move. The result on women’s merchandise is immediate and women are more fashion sensitive than price sensitive,” avers Agarwal.

On the retail front, south is a big market for Lee Cooper. It enjoys strong presence in Cochin, Mangalore, Mysore, Vijayawada, Vishakapatnam, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. In the north, the brand is in UP, Haridwar, Lucknow, Indore, Gwalior, Bhopal, Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi and Jaipur and in the east, it is available in Kolkata, Guwahati, Patna, Ranchi, Imphal, Agartala, Jamshedpur, and Bhubaneswar. “We sell out of 500 shop in shops. These are 500 stores. This comprises Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Brand Factory, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Westside, Central, company EBOs, Lulu’s and other distribution channels. We are in ‘I Am In’, a Future Group concept,” informs Agarwal.

Currently their focus is more on large formats. EBOs, both company and franchisee and distribution is what the brand is looking at. “We are in 210 Big Bazaar stores and eight EBOs. Four are company-owned and four are franchisee. The company stores are in Pune, Bangalore, Mangalore and Mumbai. Franchisees are in Jaipur, Sikar, Bikaner and Kota -- all in Rajasthan. We are looking at 100 EBOs in three years pan India. These will be both franchisees and company-owned. By March 2016 we will have about 60 to 65 EBOs,” states Agarwal. And by March 2016, the company plans to add 200 MBOs pan India in places like Kolkata, Delhi-NCR and Kerala. We have permission to go to Nepal and Bangladesh. Talking about the prospects of ecommerce, Agarwal says, “We are also online on Jabong and Flipkart. But almost 93 percent of our business is coming from brick and mortar. I don’t think online discounts can continue for long. Already brands are staying away from discounts. Lee Cooper ensures markdowns offline are the same as markdowns online.”