Excalibur banking on festive sales to boost brand

“Festive season is the biggest for formal shirts and we expect to double the sales during of Excalibur brand this time,” opines Amarbir Gandhi, Brand Head, Arvind Brands. There are targeting Rs 80 crores for the brand in the next 2-3

years pushing it up from the current Rs 50 crores. Elaborating on the company’s plans, Gandhi says, “Currently, we are selling Excalibur exclusively through our retail chain Megamart. We have 163 company-owned Megamart stores, out of which eight are big box stores ranging between 15,000- 40,000 sq. ft. We also have 45 franchise stores. Our expansion plans are on track and we will be opening another five to seven stores in this financial year. The expansion is happening in our current markets of south and west India.”

Excalibur’s festive collection is all about international designs with local aesthetic sensibilities. The collection called ‘Glocal’ celebrates the global Indian. The colour palette is bright and the line is stylized with lot of inner detailing applications. “One key trend is the sport influence on formal lines. This is leading to slimmer silhouettes, brighter colour palettes and bolder design patterns. A lot of styling elements (e.g. variation in collars) are also seen in formal shirts. Although there are inflationary trends in our costs, we are still maintaining rationale prices and offer the best value for our consumer,” explains Gandhi.

The brand is known for its formal shirts and trousers. Commenting on the popular segment of apparel category, Gandhi states, “Although brands focus on the premium segment, all organized retailers still sell popular/economy shirts either through a brand or their private labels. Indeed the unbranded and regional players are quite strong in the popular segment. There is a huge target audience for popular shirts. The gap between a tailor-made and readymade has narrowed. So men belonging to Sec B, C and D; are all target customer of a popular shirt.”

He further adds that the popular is a price sensitive one hence, driven by low prices. “This translates into low profitability. Brand building on the other hand requires huge sums of money. Most brands have been able to generate huge volumes to justify the marketing spend it requires to build a popular brand.”

Brands under Arvind Retail are sold through Megamart stores. The chain that started out as a discount store selling all Arvind Brands – Excalibur, Arrow, Lee and Wrangler has now changed its strategy to evolve as a value format. Excalibur has also added accessories like ties, belts and socks and plans to expand the product offerings with waistcoats and suits and blazers.