s.Oliver restructuring India operations

German fashion brand s.Oliver is restructuring its India

operation to increase its growth prospects in the country. The €1.29 billion (Rs 8926.28 crores) brand, which competes with the likes of Mango, Esprit and Zara in India, which had entered India through a license agreement in 2007 and later formed a joint venture with export house, Orient Craft Brands is relooking this alliance. However, recently, Orient Crafts sold its 49 per cent to Design Pod for an undisclosed amount. The brand’s Indian arm was reportedly running into losses.

Now with a fresh joint venture with Design Pod, s.Oliver plans to restore its brand in India. The company with an investment of €20 million (around Rs 140 crores) also plans to increase its store count from 15 to 200 by 2016. “Our initial years were a key learning experience in India. There are business adjustments and the brand is now looking at consolidating its presence,” Rajive Ranjan, Managing Director, s.Oliver India says. Besides repositioning the brand in India, the company will also tweak its store size and pricing to suit the domestic consumers. As a first step in the new venture, the company has sketched plans to resize its stores from 5,000 sq. ft. to 1,200-2,400 sq. ft. To make the brand more pocket friendly it is now looking at directly sourcing from various vendors. The company has set up a distribution centre in Gurgaon which will procure finished goods from various domestic and international locations. s.Oliver products will be priced from Rs 499 onwards and will retail accessories and apparels among others.