Poster Boy, the soon to be launched brand is planning to hit the market in the forthcoming season. Scheduled for a launch last season, the brand put its plans on hold because of the introduction of the new excise duty on branded garments.
However, now Poster Boy has also chalked out major growth plans. It wants to launch apparel range and extend it to accessories as well. On the offing are: T-shirts, shirts, cotton trousers, chinos and denims. It aims to complete its men’s range within the next two years. It’s also planning to open EBOs in metros and Tier-I cities. Bipin Desai, CEO, Empas Textiles, makers of Poster Boy, avers, “We will have a range of basic round neck T-shirt where the lowest MRP will be Rs 499. And then we will have fashion T-shirts, full and half sleeves with prints and lots of work on it and value added products. The costliest product will be denim, which will be around Rs 2,500. We are also coming out with accessories like eyewear and time wear but that will take about two seasons. By summer 2013, we will add products like bags, caps, footwear, socks, etc.”
The brand is also planning to introduce online sales soon. “We are waiting for the payment gateway to be approved. Once that is through, we will have our online store. We have decided to launch a T-shirt product specifically for online sales,” informs Desai. The brand's target is 18 to 45 year olds consisting of students and executives.
The brand plans to open EBOs by winter 2013. “These will be in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. Initially, we are targeting these five cities then we will go to Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Pune, Nagpur, Mysore and Goa. In the north, we aim to cover Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lucknow and Kanpur,” Desai informs. The brand aims to have a presence in about 250 MBOs across India. “We are operating through the distribution channel with one distributor in every area.” They are anticipating their strongest market in west and north. Almost 45 per cent of the trade would be done in north and west India. The rest of the country will contribute 55 per cent. Since Poster Boy is a new brand, it faced no issues due to the price hike. That’s because people had no prior price points to do a comparison with. The brand has ambitious expansion plans pan India, and with a roadmap in place, it is confidant of reaching its goal.
