Madame to create an exclusive collection to sell online

Women’s western wear brand Madame is pushing its growth plans with new launches in the pipeline. The brand that is popular in India and the Middle East is now looking at online retail push and brand expansion.

A brand for online retail

In a year’s time Madame plans to launch a line of apparels exclusively for online retail. “Right now there’s a logistics challenge but it will be bridged. At some time, we also want to launch a European brand in the same category as Madame,” says Akhil Duggar, Creative Director at Jain Amar Clothing, the force behind.

The

company started as a channel distribution brand in the early 90s. “At that time there was an influx of goods imported from China and Thailand. That market was evolving and it served as an inspiration. In 2002, we launched Madame in Mumbai,” adds Duggar.

Retail presence across India

Madame has 120 EBOs in 70 cities. In Mumbai, it has three EBOs. “We are in 800 MBOs across India including Shoppers Stop. We are upgrading our retail size. At the moment, the biggest store is 3,000 square foot. We also export under the same brand name to the Middle East. We have four of our own stores there and also have a distribution network. We export some 100,000 pieces on an average,” says Duggar, elaborating on the retail network.

Nearly 40 percent of Madame’s sales come from large formats and MBOs and 60 percent from EBOs. From north to south India, the company’s sales graph goes up because winter wear sells the most in northern states and winter wear has almost three times the value of summer wear. Madame also has a separate chain of accessories stores called NYCity. This was started in 2008 and today has 17 such stores. The accessories offered in these stores include hair accessories, cosmetics, handbags, footwear, belts, wallets and everything that accentuates women’s western wear.

Madame also has its own e-commerce platform. “We have been running it for three-four years and we are with some online retailers too. The difference is that these portals run on deals. Our portal has the same ambience as our stores,” informs Duggar.

Latest styles for women

Madame manufactures and retails summer and winter wear for women. “We cater to women between 18 to 35 years. Our range includes tops, jackets, denims, gowns, dresses, T-shirts and accessories like handbags. In bottom wear, we have denims, skirts and shorts,” explains Duggar.

The company has three manufacturing units with a combined capacity of producing 8,000 pieces a day. “The women’s category is difficult. Everyone doesn’t take to jumpsuits or skirts in India. But dresses have added a lot of flavour to the wardrobe. Since the proportion of men is higher in the Indian population, obviously men’s wear sells more. However, women have more options here from ethnic wear to fusion wear,” opines Duggar. Adding further, he says, “There are regional preferences as well. The north is more experimental, while the south has still not embraced western wear as women there prefer traditional wear. Another challenge we face is with mall developers. They don’t give us premium spaces compared to European brands.”