Amanté on a roll in India

Amanté, the world-class Sri Lankan lingerie brand has recently been feted for innovation by the Indian consumers in the largest independent survey carried across the country. ‘Product of the Year’ (POY) is the global consumer recognition standard in retail products adopted by 28

countries for over 23 years. The survey which covers 36 categories was conducted by AC Nielson across 30,000 consumers in India. Amanté, released exclusively in India, won in the lingerie category for its Coordinated Set. Ajay Amalean, Managing Director, Amanté on receiving the award says, “This award is a clear indication of our leadership in the Indian consumer market. Achieving this honor in less than two years of market entry is a tremendous achievement for us and augurs well for our future.”

Launched in India 2007, Amanté is part of the parent company MAS, a large organization in Sri Lanka. It is one of the largest suppliers to many large lingerie brands. The brand is the value premium segment. They play in the range between Rs 400 and Rs 1,000 and their largest segment is between Rs 600 and Rs 800. “That’s what we mean by value premium, which is quality and a well-crafted product, well-engineered with a great fit, giving a quality product at a reasonably affordable price. A lot of the components that go into this are tested for 50 washes and above, which is what all international brands use for basic testing standards. We believe no one else can offer the kind of value we give and that is the uniqueness of the product,” explains Amalean.

The brand expects a 60 to 70 per cent growth from large formats this year over last year and is seeking to increase its presence in Tier II cities. Amalean opines, “Tier II cities have an amazing spending power – be it Jalandar, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Vizag or Ludhiana. These cities have the money. If they have the right product, we can have a good captive market. So that’s a huge potential for us.” Right now the brand sells 50:50 between MBOs and large formats. However, MBOs are doing better business and soon they expect the business to be MBOs 60 per cent and large formats 40 per cent. This is because there are a lot of MBOs in Tier II cities and this is an acceptable format there.

As of now, the brand does not have any EBOs in India but they plan to explore a different kind of format two years down the line. “We will come up with a format that will be workable and give the Indian woman a comfort zone where she doesn’t feel intimidated or overawed. And it should make money as well. The format we explore will be smaller, specific merchandize stores. By then the Indian mechanism for franchises might work out,” concludes Amalean.