FBB ropes in Shikhar Dhawan, will focus on smaller stores

With the aim of boosting its fashion business,

Fashion Big Bazaar (FBB) has signed cricketing sensation Shikhar Dhawan for a new campaign. The campaign under Kishore Biyani's flagship clothing brand will replace the earlier, ‘Desh badla, bhesh badlo’ (new attire for a new nation) campaign featuring cricketer M S Dhoni and actor Asin. The new campaign is aimed at boosting FBB. Biyani expects to clock in Rs 3,000 crores next year from FBB alone.

The company has plans to invest around Rs 200 crores for the soon to be launched campaign. After hiving off majority stake in its fashion retail chain Pantaloon to the Aditya Birla Group to reduce debt pressure, Biyani now aims to focus on ramping up promotion of FBB merchandise. FBB sources from suppliers in Tirupur, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Delhi etc, and has 29 designers on board. It also has a lean supply chain (a national distribution centre at Nagpur has cut supply chain and transport costs by 20 to 40 percent and inventory by half). Biyani believes that the scale would be an entry-barrier for others to replicate FBB's strengths.

Biyani is looking at opening neighbourhood stores sized around 4,000-5,000 square feet for more modular consumption of the brand. These would be selling basic T-shirts, salwars, churidars among others. The group has already tested this module in some cities. However, FBB will face stiff competition from Reliance Trends, Max of Dubai's Landmark group and Megamart by Arvind who are aggressively expanding their retail footprint, and wooing customers with offers.