Triumph focuses on adding categories, spreading retail

The lingerie market in India has shown good growth potential. Keeping pace with the segment’s growth trend, well known lingerie brand Triumph clocked in 30 per cent growth. The brand has already carved a niche with its product range that includes the popular T-shirt bra, modern lace fashion, cotton

offerings and classic bras.

“We expanded in key accounts and MBOs and registered strong growth in the north, west, and east with decent performance in the south. There were challenges

like a sluggish economy but the impact on this industry was not significant. Especially in premium and super premium segment,” explains Shalindra Fernando, Triumph’s General Manager for India & Sri Lanka. Moving ahead, the company is looking at expanding its product categories and retail footprint to keep up the growth momentum.

Aggressive product push

In 2014, Triumph is looking at adding to its collection and offerings. “We will offer almost double of what we offered in 2013,” explains Fernando, adding, “We will have almost 100 new unique styles in over 250 style-colour combinations.” Triumph is a premium brand with 125 years of history behind it. The sweet spot for a fashionable product under Triumph is Rs 999. “Anything we bring in at that price point works well. The bulk of our novelties are between Rs 999 to Rs 1,499,” says Fernando.

Given that Indian women are still shy about buying lingerie, penetration level of branded lingerie is very low. “I’d put it at the lower double digits. So a massive amount of conversion is expected to happen. I don’t think pricing is a major factor. What’s more important is that you develop the right product and give the right fit and quality,” opines Fernando.

However, Triumph is finding Indian women becoming more discerning by the day. “We see customers coming in and becoming very specific about their requirements” he says.

Robust retail strategy

With a presence in 175 large format stores, the brand plans to add another 25 this year. The collection is also in 600 MBOs but the focus will be more on strengthening its presence in the top 100. “We distribute pan India. We are in a fair number of Tier II cities through department stores and MBOs. Each city has its share of affluent consumers, whose tastes are quite homogeneous. The challenge is more in getting the distribution right. The more options we have, the more likely we are to distribute and do strong consistent business,” avers Fernando.

However, he feels that the challenge will be managing the vast portfolio in current distribution space. So the company has decided to be aggressive online. “Online is a great alternative for people who hesitate to walk into a store and buy lingerie. Right now we are with specialist online retailers for lingerie,” he explains.

Talking about the difference between Sri Lankan and India markets, Fenando says, Sri Lanka is a small contained market. “Geographically it’s easy to navigate, do business and the complexities are lower than in India. The downside is the limited potential. The customer base is limited. But we have not had competition for many years and have been able to strengthen our position there. The per capita business is currently more than ten times the per capita business we do India. In India the positives are the huge potential market. Our business can multiply several times over in a very short period,” he says.

However, Fernando feels that the challenge lies in the sheer scale, the geography, the cost of doing business and the bureaucracy. “But these challenges are inherent in any large, vibrant market. Triumph is committed to India. It’s one of our strategic growth markets. We want to be the market leader,” he sums up.