Spencer’s to bring Marc Ecko brands to India

Spencer’s Retail, a multi-format retailer with the tag line “Makes Fine Living Affordable”, has added one more international brand to its portfolio. They have tied up with Ecko unltd and Ecko red, both well-known international brands from the house of Marc Ecko, the US artist who transformed

art into fashion. Both the brands are expected to be launched in India by Spencer’s this July. The apparel business of the group is a combination of apparel business for hyper stores plus the international brands. The key driving force of the retail giant however is their international brands exclusive store business in the apparel segment.
 
Spencer’s Retail currently has two distinctly different international brand tie-ups. First is with Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) the US brand famous for its pony and the rider logo offering fashion merchandize for both men and women. Under this brand they offer a large variety of polos, smart casuals, denims, glares, watches, bags, travel gear, perfumes and skin care. The second international brand is UK’s kids wear brand Ladybird. The range is split between toddlers (0-2yrs) and kids (2-10yrs) offering clothing from denims to T- shirts, for boys and skirts to dresses, tops and denims for girls. The latest introduction in this brand would be bath accessories and plastics like baby bath tubs, toilet training to baby carriers.
 
That’s not all the retailer is now focusing on their private labels as well. As Anurag Rajpal, Apparel Head, Spencers Retail says, “Over the past seasons we have evolved and strengthen our private label range in line with consumer needs and aspiration from an affordable value for money proposition. We have developed new categories and realigned our store layouts and brand/category mix.”
 
Along with tying up with top notch brands Spencer’s also has aggressive expansion plans for all its products across all formats. Currently, their apparel is present in 22 hypermarkets 100 odd dailies. “We have nine BHPC standalone company-owned and operated stores. We are generating healthy and decent top lines from these. Consciously, we are taking the cluster route to launch these stores. Having established our presence in Delhi/NCR we are now heading to Punjab before moving into Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad. We are also in the process of opening franchised stores to expand in other territories. By end of this year we would have about 40 BHPC stores at the least,” Rajpal opines. Spencer’s Retail plans to launch two stores of Ladybird and Ecko in Delhi this July. “We will adapt the same strategy for expansion,” says Rajpal.
The retail house today is a complete family shop with smart casuals for both men and women, cool kids wear for the young ones besides, leisure and innerwear, footwear, accessories and hand bags.