Business this summer may not have matched up to their expectations, but Aster Apparels makers of kid wear brands Ant, Zyxw and Juno is focused on its plans for the next two to three years. It has chalked out a long term growth plan which
includes increasing turnover and retail presence. As CEO, Aster Apparels Unnamalai avers, “We are targeting Rs 100 crores turnover and are working towards it. Last year, our turnover was Rs 27 crores. We have a very clear cut strategy. One, is to maximize sales through our current outlets. Second, is to increase retail points both in large format stores and open exclusive brand outlets. This financial year, we are also looking at tying up with two or three brand partners in LFS and a couple of large MBOs in the south.” In the south, they are already present with Chennai Silks and Naidu Hall. The brands are also being retailed through Central, Brand Factory, Coupons, Total, Maya by Gitanjali, More etc. Interestingly, the company’s export division is listed among the top 100 apparel brands on Apparel Online.
The three brands have different profiles. While Zyxw is a lifestyle brand, Ant is present both in the lifestyle and mass market segments. Juno is a mass market brand. In fact, Zyxw and Juno were acquired from a Bangalore-based company in the last financial year. They do not follow any particular fashion cycle. Instead they believe in introducing new themes every month in each brand. “It’s much more dynamic than restricting it to a specific season. Right now we are working on themes like Naughty Chatty that is based on the naughtiness of kids. It is more about embellishments in the collection which are bubbly and naughty,” says Unnamalai.
Apart from tying up with brand partners Unnamalai is looking forward to opening around 50 exclusive outlets in the next one and a half years. “Earlier, we tried experimenting with this format and realized that we want to go step by step with opening new outlets. Among these 50 stores we will be working in markets like Bangalore, Hyderabad, which have been good for us. We are also in talks with people in Patna and Bhubaneswar. In the south, we will be looking for both company-owned and franchisees. However, in the east we are only looking forward to franchisees. The newest thing is that we have started our business online with Myntra.”
Moreover, Unnamalai sees a lot of potential in small towns. She believes that brands have just exploited 7 to 10 per cent of these markets. “Even with the brand partners we are working with we feel we have not maximized our potential there. Tier II cities have a lot of promise and India has many Tier II cities which are still not covered by the branded category. People there are able to absorb both lifestyle and mass products and as consumers they are as good as those from metros .Tier III cities however, are still price conscious,” she sums up.
