Targetting 15 per cent growth, Officer eyes online retail

Men’s brand Officer, which offers a wide range of shirts and trousers has been successful in making a name for itself. The brand is now looking at growing at 15 per cent in the coming year in addition to expanding its presence, both through MBOs and e-commerce.

Linen is cool and comfortable

Officer offers a wide range of shirts for summer mostly in linen. The colour is usually pastel and lighter shades. Almost 50-55 per cent of their clothes are in linen. It also has cotton linen and dobbies. Of course, cotton and linen have more variety. The brand has also experimented on lightweight denims. But as Asif Memon, Director, Officer, says, “It’s only recently that linen has been accepted as a 365 day fabric and its demand has grown.” The company offers slim fits, formal shirts, semi-casuals and casuals.

In the shirt category, they have different names for each section. It is a a unique concept, says Memon, and adds these are branches of the shirts segment. Also, this strategy works for the brand in distinguishing it from other lines. “Even the customers know what exactly they desire. Ultimately, it helps to create a different identity. Last season, they introduced a range of casual shirts. So, for the time being, the brand will only expand the casual range. Officer is mainly known for formal trousers and shirts. All the linen shirts are in formal and semi formals.

Coping with increasing prices

Officer has a way of dealing with price rise. It tries to maintain the same price by shrinking its own margins. As Memon says, “There is a price rise always in the market. Whenever there is inflation, a 20-25 per cent of price rise does take place. So, to overcome this, Officer, shrinks its margins. After all it cannot let prices affect the collection. The aim of the brand is to provide value for money for its products.”

Meanwhile, Officer is looking at e-commerce seriously to spread its presence and retail. The brand plans to be present on five to six major fashion e-portals. Already, it is there in more than 2,000 MBOs. Officer is even present in areas like Kashmir and Northeastern regions such as Manipur etc. It doesn’t have its own EBOs or presence in the LFS. And as Memon says, “We would rather go for ecommerce retailing, perhaps by the month of April.”