Hermes makes big India plans

French luxury brand Hermes wants to expand its Indian operations. The company entered

India in 2007 through a 51:49 joint venture with Khanna Specialty Retail. The JV helps Hermes retail products such as cosmetics, perfumes, readymade garments, leather goods, footwear, lifestyle products, jewelry, silk items and bags, among others things. For its fragrance business, it also has a licensing and distribution arrangement with the Kolkata-based Beauty Concepts India. The brand is present at 12 point of sales in India now. These are tie-ups with various retailers to sell its fragrance range. The company which has its standalone boutique in New Delhi’s Oberoi Hotel plans to add two more shop-in-shops.

Keeping in mind Indian preferences, Hermes will launch a perfume specific to India by 2012. This is not the first time that the French fashion house has chosen India as its theme. It had chosen ‘Indian Fantasies’ as its theme for its collections in 2008 when a team of experts visited India and came up with India-inspired products such as a new perfume, ‘Garden of the Monsoon’, which was reminiscent of Kerala’s freshness after monsoon, and Hermes scarves with Indian patterns on them. The growth in the fragrance business has given Hermes an opportunity to relook at various business models.

Hermes has been well accepted in India over the last two years. There has been a 20 per cent increase in the perfume business so far and the brand plans to sell 3,000 bottles of perfumes by 2012.