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Pepe India plans renovated stores to up biz potential

By FashionUnited

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Fashion

With considerable growth in its India business, Pepe the brand from PJL Clothing India is set to expand its online as well as brick and mortar presence in the country. At the moment, the focus is on refurnishing existing stores based on international Pepe Jeans stores, to woo customers. Elaborating on the brand’s

plans, Kavindra Mishra, Chief Executive Officer, Pepe says, “We are evolving along with the consumer. As the brand evolves, we are trying to devise a new identity. We are renovating our stores to bring the themes to an international level. We have invested in training to bring the team at par with what it should be for a brand like Pepe. We grew 25 percent last year, this year we should grow at 30 to 35 percent. For the next four to five years, we expect a CAGR of 25 percent.”

Brand
building through retail

Pepe’s like-to-like growth has gone up substantially. And as Mishra says, it reflects a new energy. “This is not only in EBOs. It’s also at department stores. When we renovate a store, the premise is that it should grow by 40 percent. And that does happen. And I am referring to full price sales,” he explains.

Pepe is retailed through 200 EBOs in India, all franchise partners. The stores are spread over 800 to 1,000 square feet areas. But since this company plans to introduce children’s wear next year, the new stores will be bigger in size. “We may also have exclusive children’s wear stores with key partner malls. We have shop-in-shops in 700 MBOs and are with 450 large formats. We will open 20 stores this Autumn/Winter,” Mishra elaborates on the retail plans.

The company recently opened a 2,700 square foot store in Goa. In each key city typically two of the Pepe stores are flagships. So out of the 200 EBOs, 20 are flagship stores. This year alone, the company opened close to 100 shop-in-shops. In e-commerce private labels are becoming strong and they are working in a similar price zone. “We are doing well on e-commerce. We are a preferred choice for the young consumer online as well,” says Mishra.

New A/W collections

For Autumn/Winter, Pepe is launching Heritage, a premium line. Brought to India for the first time, the range is exclusively meant for its stores. It’s inspired by the heritage of the brand and jeans. It is a very jeans collection with a lot of good washes and tears. “The other line which is strong for us is the fashion denim collection brand called 73. Incepted in 1973, the line has fashion tops and denims. A lot of innovations have taken place in this line,” states Mishra.

For Autumn/Winter bookings, Pepe has doubled volumes. For winter it has seen a 125 percent growth in orders. The pick-up has been strong. “I expect a good sell-out. We are supporting our retailers and have worked hard on our winter line. Before the Navratri, we are growing at 32 percent and that’s a very good sign. We are looking forward to a strong season,” Mishra sums up.

Pepe Jeans