Retailers hiring label designers

Leading apparel retailers are hiring designers to beef up their private label lines. The economic

rebound has made retailers confident that design rather than price alone as a differentiator will help draw in their target customers and help them boost margins. Retailers pay trainee designers a salary of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 a month. Mid-level designers draw around Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh per month, while senior level designers get around Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per month.

The buzz is that Future Group could recruit as many 22 more senior level designers this fiscal. S Kumars Nationwide will increase its designer talent pool by 15 to 20 people in six months. Titan Industries which has 40 designers will hire 4 to 5 senior level designers by the end of the year.

Private labels offer several benefits to both retailers and customers. For retailers, margins on private label goods are on an average 10 per cent higher than those on similar branded products. Customers benefit from private labels’ lower prices, which are often significantly less than those of national brands.

Private label goods are generally much cheaper to produce than branded goods, due to the lack of advertising and marketing expenses. As such, retailers are able to purchase private label goods for much less than they would have to pay for a comparable branded product. The cost difference is usually large enough that retailers can offer customers lower prices while still making higher profits. Small chains have a particular incentive to offer private label goods. They are often unable to match larger retailers’ prices for branded goods, but private labels can allow them to price more competitively.