Toonz Retail to launch new brand, targets expansion in India & abroad

Kids wear segment is growing in leaps and bounds with parents willing to spend in dressing up children. The scenario was completely different some years back. The growth of the segment can be judged from the fact that Toonz Retail started off with first store in 2010 and today it has more than 100 stores. Toonz Retail targets the premium segment. Efforts are on to bring some good value for money brands in its basket. At the moment it has 35 to 40 brands under its banner.

“We deal in casual fashion. Since there is demand for ethnic and party wear also, we are slowly entering into these segments as well by launching a new brand ‘Super Young Celebrations.’ It is a sub-brand of ‘Super Young.’ A small range has been introduced under this brand and since the response is good, we are planning to major push in this area,” explains Deepak Pareek, Head (Sales and Operation), Toonz Retail. Super Young, has T-shirts. Last year Toonz Retail launched ‘Glow in the Dark’. “We launched six options in that, it was accepted well. The bottom line is, we experiment a lot to make a better product.” Super Young targets kids 3 to 12 years of age. “This brand is also majorly into fashion products but recently, caps, bags and accessories have been added,” he informs.

Effects of Demonetisation

Pareek says demonetisation has posed some funding related issues in recent times. It may not cause any loss but has delayed their projects. Talking about our business, during demonetisation, he says they were expecting some fall in retail business but contrary to their expectations retail business did not see a dip. “Usually, we would have 60 per cent retail through cash and 40 per cent through cards in pre-demonetisation period. But during this phase, sale went up and the larger share was contributed by plastic money,” he avers.

Retail Footprint

Toonz Retail deals with everything related to kids. It offers about 2,000 products for kids. “We are present pan-India with 100 plus outlets. We have a presence in overseas markets as well, primarily Saudi Arabia. We have one outlet there and are launching another in a month’s time. Recently we signed as a deal to open 10 outlets in GCC,” says Pareek.

Toonz Retail is very strong in South. “We have maximum number of stores there which is 45. In Karnataka alone we have 21 stores, followed by North where we have 35 stores, our presence there is scattered. Then we have about 7 to 8 stores in the Northeast. In the west, we have about 15 stores. West is in focus now, recently we opened a outlet in Gandhi Dham. Rajkot and Vadodara are in pipeline. In Maharashtra, we are planning to expand in Satara, Kolhapur, Sholapur, etc. We plan about seven outlets in next two months. This financial year, we are planning to come up with 150 stores,” informs Pareek.

Going ahead, the company doesn’t want to come up with any other brand, the focus is on consolidation. “We want to have a maximum reach for these two brands. We are already in GCC, our next target is Egypt. We are currently exporting to five countries. We wish to expand and are looking for good partners abroad. We are eyeing the Australian market too,” sums up Pareek.