Lilliput riding high on pester power, Bollywood

Lilliput one of the best-known kids wear brand in India is riding high despite the recent economic slowdown. The company which recorded 40 per cent year-on-year growth this year is expecting to close the fiscal at Rs 410 crores and aiming for a turnover of Rs 1,050 crores by 2012-13.

The brand that entered the domestic retail space with the launch of its first store in Delhi in 2003, is now chalking out mega expansion plans both within and outside India.

Lilliput Kidswear is working at opening 15 Lilliput World stores across major cities this calendar year and 20 more by 2011. According to Managing Director Sanjeev Narula they have been growing rapidly for the past few years. “At present we have 233 exclusive brand outlets, are in 250 MBO’s like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloon, Reliance Trends, Central, Indiabulls, Globus across 153 cities. We also have over 35 distributors covering 350 shop-in-shops and over 1,000 points of sale,” he explains. The brand also has 30 stores in nine countries and exports kids wear to reputed international stores in the US and UK. Given this background Narula feels the time is now right to scale-up operations. “The retail business is about multiplication and supply chain excellence. This is the right time for us to expand as rentals have come down,” he says.

Perhaps that is why the kids wear brand has chalked out major plans for the Tier II cities. “We are growing aggressively in Tier II and Tier III cities as these places provide real growth for branded kids wear. It is the upwardly mobile middle-class that we are catering to here. They have a high purchasing power and a sizeable disposable income,” Narula says. Seeing the immense market opportunity in these markets, for the first time Lilliput has introduced affordable, quality and designer fashionable kids wear aimed at the Tier II and Tier III cities.

Narula says the recent economic slowdown was not much of a concern for them “as parents might cut down on their own expenditure but they generally tend to be generous when it comes to buying for their children.” In fact, the brand has just launched its spring/summer collection for children between 0-12 years of age. The boy’s collection is largely inspired by adventure, machines, automobiles and wildlife, while the girl’s collection is a heady mix of gardenia, rainbow colors and girly glitter.

It may be noted that Lilliput also holds licenses for some iconic cartoon characters like Powerpuff Girls, Gali Gali Sim Sim, Thomas The Engine, Bob The Builder, Ben Ten, Disney Princess and the international youth brand No Rules. They have the license to manufacture, market and sell these products in India. That’s not all, Lilliput also has its eyes firmly on the Hindi film industry. “We have been associated with some big film banners like B R Chopra for Bhoothnath and Jumbo where Lilliput was the retail partner,” he says. Considering cinema has a larger captive audience, the Bollywood connection will go a long way feels Narula. “One would see Lilliput in many upcoming children’s, sci-fi and animation movies,” he promises.