Revenue of top fashion brands in India soaring

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Nov 24, 2016

International brands have surely got their marketing strategy right for the Indian market with jump in revenue amidst slow down in the consumer market.

Fashion brands Zara, H&M, Levi's and Fabindia have posted between 17% and 20% year-on-year jump in their revenues in the year to March 2016 which equals sales of department store chains Shoppers Stop or Lifestyle International that sell around a hundred brands, according to a report in the Economic Times.
 
“The continuous strengthening of our sourcing, customer propositions including insights and experience, and our geographical presence across India have all contributed," said Viney Singh, CEO, Fabindia that posted 20.4% rise in sales at Rs 911.6 crore in the domestic market.

However, experts attribute the growth, especially of global fashion brands, to consumers moving towards marquee labels and international style as they become affordable and are priced at par with premium Indian brands.
 
“Zara and H&M are mostly fuelled by womenswear because there is hardly any Indian brand there,” said Harminder Sahni, founder of retail consultancy firm Wazir Advisors.
 
“In menswear you still have some brands. Womenswear as a category itself is becoming more and more readymade and western so these brands are growing.”
 
E-commerce companies also have added to the sales of brands considering that apparel account for nearly 25-35% of the overall sales for top players such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. The only exception to the trend was Italian brand Benetton that saw a mere 2% rise in sales at Rs 735 crore, falling behind US denim maker Levi's.
 
The company attributed it to consolidation of the brand after years of aggressive expansion.
 
"We decided to focus more on reinforcement than expansion and driving growth. This was completely a pre-planned and deliberate move for us in order to gain understanding of the changing business landscape, thereby, re-assessing, refocusing and re-defining our strategy accordingly to deliver an aggressive and robust growth for the next five years," said Sundeep Chugh, CEO, Benetton India.