Benetton India plans expansion, diversification of product portfolio

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Feb 12, 2021

Italian fashion major Benetton is planning to strengthen its presence in the Indian market with the addition of new stores and expansion of the online network.
 

Benetton is expected to add 30-40 new stores this year and launch its online store in the second half of the year.
 
The global brand is also gearing up to strengthen its presence in the fashion footwear and inner-wear segments in the next three years and expects these categories to contribute around 20 percent to its overall revenue.

“With the government’s focus on steering India towards the growth path and the vaccines coming in, this year we will look to returning 2019 levels of business performance. In the festival season, we saw business recovering by nearly 80-85 percent compared with the corresponding period in the previous year,” Sundeep Chugh, CEO and managing director of Benetton India, told Businessline.

“In a heterogeneous market like India, the consumer-buying pattern traverses through all the channels and so we will continue to focus on expanding our presence across all the channels. The e-commerce channel is growing at a high double-digit CAGR due to low penetration and so we will also continue to leverage this opportunity in the right manner. For us, e-commerce currently contributes about 21 percent to our overall sales,” he added.

Benetton entered the Indian market in 1991 and has around 350 brick-and-mortar stores across the country. The brand also retails online on multi-brand platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, and Shoppers Stop, among others.