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The Children’s Place sets out to woo Indian metros and smaller cities

By Meenakshi Kumar

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Retail

New Jersey-based specialty retailer of children’s clothes and accessories, The Children’ Place (TCP) has already made its presence felt in India since August 2015. After being present in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, TCP will be launching in Delhi soon. The kids’ wear market in India is still an unexplored space for the global retailer, who has partnered with Arvind Lifestyle Brands, however, TCP is confident of making its mark here.

Happy children, happy clothes

TCP has clothes for occasions as well as everyday casual fashion. One of the strengths of TCP globally has been girls’ clothing. In India, too, this continues to be its USP. The brand caters to children up to 14 years. They even have products for new-borns and toddlers, and for each of the segments the designs are different. So, for older boys, the clothes and accessories would have sports or motor cars as theme while for toddlers it will be cartoons or small dinosaurs. TCP has the licence for Marvel characters and they hope to bring more comic characters to India as there is a demand for these. Girls have a plethora of choices. From short, skimmer shorts, capri shorts to ballet flats, there is a huge variety available. TCP India doesn’t manufacture any of the clothes as they are all imported.

Organised versus unorganised

Kids’ wear is one of the most under-penetrated categories. It doesn’t have much competition. Compared to menswear or womenswear, the percentage for organised retail in kids’ wear is low. So, it is a huge opportunity to grow. The market is big and not saturated. The unorganised sector exists because retailers have not been able to meet the supply challenges. Kids’ wear requires sophisticated manufacturing and a supply chain base. It has multiple sizes, more detailing. Especially girls’ clothing uses a variety of fabrics, designs, embellishments and silhouettes, which is not possible in clothing from the unorganised sector. Unfortunately, Indian players have not been able to meet that demand properly. That’s why the market has remained unorganised. Mridumesh Kumar Rai, India Business Head, The Children’s Place, says, “Indian consumers are more brand conscious than consumers elsewhere. But if they believe in a brand there should be a price value equation. You can’t sell purely on the strength of a brand. A large share of the decision making is done by the mother. And women look for styles than brands. That’s true when they shop for children too. We are focusing on fashion. We find that Indian consumers who come to organised retail look mainly for fashion while unorganised caters to basics.”

TCP has 1,200 stores in the US. In the world it has close to 100 stores in 12 countries. In India, TCP has already opened stores in 15 locations. It is also present at Shoppers Stop and is now looking at expanding in other metros and Tier II cities. It also has an e-commerce presence which is consistent with their brick-and-mortar stores.

The Children's Place