Mix and Match is Koutons Retails’ spring/summer Theme

A pioneer in providing fashionable wear at affordable prices, Koutons Retail, is launching its spring/summer collection. Using comfortable and soothing fabrics such as cottons and viscose, the summer collection of Koutons Men, Les Femme and Koutons Junior will offer a wide

range of formal and casual wear. As Balvinder Singh Ahluwalia, President, Koutons Retail elucidates, “Our summer collections will provide a lot of variety to customers giving them an opportunity to mix and match and create their individual style statements.” For example, the summer collection of Les Femme, one of Kouton Retails’ brands has long and short tops -- tops with bead work and thread work in bright and dark colors. It also has shorts, skirts, jeans, capris, and kurtis that can be teamed up with jeans, trousers or leggings. It may be noted that Koutons Retails has an umbrella of brands such as Koutons Men and FeelMe for men, Les Femme for women, Koutons Junior for children’s, K2One in footwear and Patent Klub which offers party wear shirts and suits.

Currently, Koutons Retails has 1,360 stores that are operating across the length and breadth of the country. Out of these 62 are company operated. The company does not operate through MBOs. It is now planning to increase the number of stores to 1,400 and expand their reach to 50 cities with a turnover of around Rs 1,200 crores by the end of March 2010. “Our business model comprises a mix of company owned outlets and franchise outlets but the emphasis is on the latter. Almost 90 per cent of our store expansion is carried out through the franchise route and this is yielding great results,” says Singh.

Singh says they see a large untapped market in Tier II and III cities brought about by a rise in the income of individuals. That is why they have a strong presence in cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Meerut, Varanasi and Mohali.

The company is consolidating it business by converting their standalone stores into family stores, which occupy a larger retail space, increasing their footprint across the country and diversifying by way of introducing new product lines that best define their expansion plans.

“With a vision of providing a one-stop shop for all the apparel needs of a family, we started our family stores in 2008. Over time, these family stores have not only proved to be more economical but have also led to more footfalls and more purchases per person. Therefore, currently, we are looking to expand these by converting the existing standalone stores into family stores as well as opening new family stores,” says Singh. The size of the family store is around 2,500-3,000 sq. ft., as compared to the 1,500 sq. ft. of the standalone stores.

In keeping with their vision of meeting every apparel needs of a family, Koutons introduced footwear and innerwear for men last year. It also has accessories such as bags, clutches, belts, and cuff-links. Interestingly, the brand is also planning to enter into the Gulf and Middle East markets. The company is looking to end the fiscal with a turnover of Rs 1,200 crores.