Lovable bets big on lingerie segment’s prospects

Lovable is among the premium segment innerwear brands in India. For summer, the brand launched mass premium products, for department stores, and created high-end and fashionable lines. “We also do classic products that can be sold on a mass scale. Lovable has 70 percent classics and modern classics and 30 percent high fashion. We do major launches in summer and smaller lines in winter since the season is short. We also have a small wedding line. This year we expect to grow in value terms by 20 percent,” states Vinay Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director Microtex India.

The market, feels Reddy, has changed beyond recognition. “In the late 90s, it was a small nascent market, almost no malls, only a handful of department stores, and very few dealers. There were just one or two brands and some grey market products in the premium segment. Lovable was a pioneer in bringing classic styles, international, raw materials, fabrics, laces. Since then, there have been many new entrants. Our peers have also brought in good products,” opines Reddy.

A multi-channel retail approach

The bulk of Lovable’s sales come from large cities. Lovable is in 150 large formats like Shoppers Stop and Central. “We are in 3,000 MBOs and plan to open three EBOs. These will be in Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. We also export to the Middle Eastern countries like UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain,” informs Reddy.

As far as ecommerce is concerned, the brand has a presence on most leading portals apart from its own web-store. “Last year, online contributed six to seven percent of our sales, MBOs give us 70 percent and large formats 25 percent. Lingerie sales have grown in e-commerce despite lingerie being a fit-oriented product. Reasons for growth is convenient shopping experience, better accessibility and no-questions-asked returns and promotions and discounting,” explains Reddy,

The company has a manufacturing set-up in Bangalore. For production of brassieres, it has five factories of its own and five or six are subcontracted. It has the capacity of producing one crore and twenty five lakh brassieres a year. “We are more a bra major and a small player in panties. Two years back, we started Lovable Sports,” says Reddy.

Evolved consumer pushing growth

The Indian consumer is spoilt for choice with many brands and offerings. The market has become highly competitive. “Consumer’s aspirations have upgraded,” explains Reddy, adding, “Earlier, many consumers were in the middle segment and price conscious. Now they are not price conscious and indulge in discretionary spending. They want brands and products that fit well and are not willing to compromise. The size of the premium segment has grown.”

While competition in the lingerie market is intense, brands like Lovable are optimistic about growth prospects. Jockey is doing well in classics. The market for lingerie is much larger today than it was 10 years back. “We are confident of sales, so we can do bigger launches, bigger ad campaigns. Our brand has some 200 distributors, so we have a bigger avenue to reach retail. The premium segment is increasingly getting organised,” sums up Reddy.