Pantaloons focuses on in-house brands to boost margins

After acquiring a majority stake in Future Group’s fashion

retail business Pantaloons, Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL) is focusing on revamping its product mix by cutting down external brands. At the same time it’s launching more of its own brands on its shelves. The retailer has also increased prices as it aims to grow by boosting sales.

The company is looking at increasing the share of sales from in-house labels up to 75 percent within the next two years up from 50-55 percent. In a bid to achieve its goals, Pantaloons has brought in a team of 35 designers from ABNL’s Madura Garments, which owns brands such as Louis Philippe and Allen Solly apart from students of the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

ABNL completed its majority purchase of Pantaloons from Future Group in April 2013. Pantaloons, which owns brands including Honey, Rig and Anabelle, is one of the oldest organized retailers in India and competes with other leading retailers such as Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle International in the same space.

Pantaloons will add three new brands this summer: Byford, a men's sportswear, Alto Moda, in plus-size and Chirpy Pie for infants. The collection, to be available at its stores in March, is created by the chain's strong design team. Initiatives are also being taken to launch new collections every month. For example, it will introduce Ethnic Utsav in March, followed by Range De Indigo in April and Tropical Utsav in May. Tailormade promotions such as Women's Wednesday, Fashion Friday, Baby's Day Out would also continue.

While planning to open a store every two to three weeks in the next financial year unlike one every month, this year, the company has launched twelve new stores taking the count to 76 stores.