ITC bets on small towns

ITC Lifestyle, the lifestyle and retail arm of ITC, is targeting consumers in smaller towns of India to boost

sales of its various brands such as John Players and Wills Lifestyle to cash in on the prosperity of the booming middle class. The company is also planning to expand the women’s range in Wills Lifestyle that now contributes more than 30 per cent of the division’s sales.

The company is stepping up its focus on exclusive branded outlets for John Players. The brand has a network of more than 220 exclusive stores and over 1,200 multi-brand outlets across the country. The number of EBOs will be increased to 300 this financial year. The company hopes that the substantial increase in the number of EBOs will help John Players double its growth rate to 25 per cent this year from 12 per cent last year.

ITC is also bullish on Wills Lifestyle, which also caters to high-end women’s fashion wear. The company has 55 Wills Lifestyle stores at present. It plans to almost triple the network in the next two years. The company is seeing good response to its Ramp to Rack initiative. Creations by leading Indian designers are retailed under the Wills Signature sub-brand. 15 per cent of ITC Lifestyle’s sales come from this initiative. The company is also seeing export growth picking up slowly.