Future Group's Brand Factory to start charging "cover fee"

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Nov 15, 2017

Brand Factory have announced that they will start to charge entry fees to their sale events, a first in Indian fashion retail.

Future Group’s discount format fashion chain Brand Factory hosts “free shopping” events where customers can buy branded clothing at a highly discounted rate and then “earn back” that money in the form of gift vouchers, items, and money for mobile wallets. From now on, the chain will charge an entry fee for such events and cited previous edition’s overwhelming popularity as the reason for doing this.

Kishore Biyani, the Founder of Future Group, said: “We aren’t really charging, because it is refundable… The move is similar to how pre-booking happens online and in the bargain we are gaining customer loyalty… It is to encourage serious shoppers, and bring exclusivity to their shopping experience.”

As this is a fashion first in India, it will be interesting to see whether other retails follow suit for increasingly popular sale events.

“Last year, there was chaos and we couldn’t service all customers… But now, we hope to limit the customers and curate the footfalls better,” said Brand Factory’s Business Head, Suresh Sadhwani.

Last year around 12 lakh shoppers visited Brand Factory stores and, although the business sold 115 crore rupees (approximately $17 million) worth of clothing, officials said the experience was too overwhelming and so, this year, measures are being implemented to counter this. The next “free shopping day” will take place from November 22 to 26.

Brand Factory was launched in September 2006 and is operated by Future Group. The multi-brand discount fashion chain currently has 50 brick and mortar stores across 22 cities in India.

Some of the brands stocked at Brand Factory include United Colors of Benetton, Only, Umbro, Reebok, Levis, Adidas, Pepe Jeans, Vero Moda, and Lee Cooper.