Alok H&A: Riding high on new launches and stores

Alok H&A, the retail brand from Alok Industries is riding high after launching a new active wear line with cricketer Bret Lee. To brand’s current product expansion plans includes launching a polo T-shirt range Falcon Club and tying up with another

UK-based brand to retail in India. On the retail side, its expansion plans include having 300 stores by March 2012. Best known as a value for money lifestyle store chain, Alok H&A has a big product portfolio that includes apparels for men, women and children, home-textiles, accessories and footwear and a watch range.

Talking about the Brett Lee collection, Surendra Jiwrajka, Managing Director, says, “All this while, H&A focused on affordable fashion. Active wear was something which was missing in our product portfolio. Launching an active wear without being supported by an active personality did not make sense, so this joint venture with Brett Lee has culminated in Brett Lee active wear collection.” Varun Jiwrajka, Head Retail adds, “Brett Lee has a great fan following in India. He stands for speed, agility, endurance and is fashionable. Hence, the new collection will reflect his personality. It will be developed under his guidance. The range includes tees, track pants, bags, sippers, caps and variety of accessories for men and women. The women’s range also includes spaghetti tops and Capris.”

Talking about the product display at H&A stores, Jiwrajka says, “Brett Lee active wear will have a separate section in our store. A separate branded section with men’s wear and women’s wear on display would be created for the active wear. We are also exploring shop-in-shop model to sell the brand through large format and sportswear stores. Besides this we have also introduced a Falcon Club range of polo T-shirts and latest style casual shirts for men and party wear for women." To support its vision of constantly reinventing, innovating and fulfilling customer requirements the, company plans to add more styles to the existing apparel range. For autumn/winter 2011, H&A is introducing a range of new styles in linen cotton, sweaters, and casual shirts.

Targeting a turnover of Rs 100 crores by the end of this fiscal, the company is also looking at an ambitious retail expansion plan. Elucidates Jiwrajka, “As of August 2011, we are present in 204 EBOs and 173 MBOs. We want to reach 500 points of sale, which will be a combination of EBOs and shop-in-shops by end of March 2012. We are already present in all the major metros, so the plan is to venture into Tier II, III cities.”

Meanwhile, ICRA Equity Research has come out with its report on Alok Industries. The research firm has assigned the fundamental grade of “3/5” and valuation grade ‘A’ to the company in its September 19, 2011 research report. This essentially implies the company has “good fundamentals” relative to other listed securities in India. The group has been pioneers in exports across the word.