India Denimwear Market

Images BureauNovember 2, 2010 Tags:India denimwear Market, Denim

The centuries old indigo fabric has cast its indelible hue across all walks of life, and all stratas of society. IMAGES BoF explores the scope and size of the denimwear market in India, taking into account retail perspective, brands that consumers buy, and the washes and treatments that make this fabric high on the style quotient. From clothing to meet the rough and tumble of a day at the mines some centuries ago, to todays allpurpose wear, this eternally young fabric seems to be getting more versatile each passing day. Whatever may have been the course of its journey from its begining in France to India, what cannot be denied is that this indigo fabric has cast its indelible hue across all walks of life, so much so that we are today among the top three manufacturers of denim. Denim production in India was 400 million metres in 2006-07, and has been growing at a healthy rate of about 10 per cent over the last two years. Traditionally strong in denim manufacturing, India is able to meet a major part of its denim fabric needs through local suppliers. Market size and scope The retail market size for jeanswear in India is Rs 32.97 billion in value and 63,500 (000) pieces in volume for the year 2008. This grew at a relatively healthy rate of 7 per cent in value and 9.1 per cent in volume over the year 2007. Fastest value growth was in the superpremium range of jeanswear (13.4 per cent)the sole range that recorded some positive growth in average selling price: this growth was 5 per cent as compared to just 1 per cent growth in the premium and low ranges, a 1 per cent decrease (negative growth) in the mid segment, and a 3 per cent decrease in average selling price for the economy ranges of jeanswear. This stagnancy in price growth has had positive effects on volumes growth. Volumes grew 10 per cent to 23.7 million units in the mass entry level range bringing about an 11.1 per cent growth in market size (Rs 5.1 billion); a 9 per cent volume growth in the economy and mid ranges of jeanswear effected 24.87 million and 11.64 million unit sales respectively in the two ranges. Sales realisation stood at Rs 10.8 billion in the economy range and Rs 10.84 billion in the mid range of jeanswear. Volume and value growth was slowest in the premium range of jeanswear (4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively), with 3.17 million unit sales in 2008.

Trends indicate a sustained high level of volume growth at the entry level in jeanswear, with consumers in smaller urban centres and rural hubs taking to this apparel category. Jeanswear is indeed evolving as a unique apparel category where consumer demand exists across all ranges, largely driven by the combines of a high fashion quotient with durability and low-maintenance costs. The unbranded and pirated market remains an area of concern but faster penetration of the market by established brands could curb this. Volume is undoubtedly driving growth in this category, where the scope for price rise is not much. Even the booming market in 2007 offered no scope for a price increase in the mass range of jeanswear and the maximum manoeuvrability was witnessed in the premium and mid ranges (8 per cent increase in MRP) in that year. But overall volume increase in 2007 was 12.9 per cent with an 18.2 per cent growth in sales realisation. The retail market has experienced a lot of activity in both premium and mass price segments. While existing brands are revisiting their business strategies to cater to the needs of both the segments, bit players are gradually scaling up to make inroads into the organised segment. Every jeans manufacturer/brand is trying to innovate a new style, fit and design that will appea l to the consumer. Even though the market size of jeans has been on the rise, one cannot help but notice that an Indian consumer still owns relatively lesser pairs of jeans as compared to other large consuming economies. The Indian average is between 2-3 pairs of jeans vis-a-vis China which has 4 and US with 9. These numbers are only indicators of the growth potential of the domestic denim market. A fast growing middle class and changing income pyramid is fuelling this growth. The apparel industry has been severely impacted by the global economic downturn but the state of the denim jeans industry is relatively better. The denim industry continues to hold an advantageous position over other apparel categories, owing to longer life span of jeans as compared to other apparel items. Denim defies the fundamental structure of the global economy. The denim industry is highly competitive with many new brands entering the market during the last few years. Most of these brands were focused on premium denim. These premium denim brands are strategically planning to gain a competitive edge in market share and retail space. Moving ahead in this situation will require companies to surpass consumers expectations in price and value. Denim has also gained popularity in the kidswear segment with more and more brands either extending their offerings for children, or a kidswear collection which necessarily has a line in denim. In the month of November 2009, IMAGES F&R Research conducted a nationwide study covering 10 major cities to ascertain the market growth and latest trends in the denimwear market, both with respect to consumers and the retail market. The study unfolds hereafter: Retailer buzz

A total of 76 MBOs (27 retailers from the north, 22 from the west, 12 from the south, and 14 retailers from east) with over 2,43,647 sq ft of quality retail space in prime locations were covered in this study. The findings have been collated under the following heads: growth across the various ranges of denim (premium, superpremium, economy and mid ranges); most selling national/ international denim brands across the zones; retailers and their best selling price points in various ranges; product features that are in demand like design, fabric, price, comfort and brand; tools retailers use to boost sales. Percentage share of denim A good volume of denimwear stocks comprise domestic/international brands and/or private labels for men, women and children. Denimwear as a whole contributes on an average 28 per cent to the annual sales of the retail outlets offering denimwear brands. Of all the respondent retailers, 52.7 per cent said that denimwear contributes 30 per cent in overall annual sales, while for 29.7 per cent it contributes almost 50 per cent. Bestselling brand : Men Levis and Lee received the maximum (27.7 per cent and 12.8 per cent, respectively) endorsement from retailers in terms of popularity in the mens denimwear brands, followed by Pepe (11.5 per cent), Killer (10.8 per cent), Flying Machine ( 8.1 per cent), Wrangler (7.4 per cent), Spykar (6.1 per cent), Provogue (4. 7 per cent), John Players (3.4 per cent) and Le Max, Cantabil, Ruff and Tuff, in that order. Bestselling brand: Women Pepe and Levis with 19.3 and 15.3 per cent of the popular scores from the respondent retailers , topped the list. Lee with 14.4 per cent, Wrangler with 9.2 per cent, Jealous with 8.3 per cent, Killer with 6.3 per cent, Spykar with 4.5 per cent scores are the other bestselling brands in the segment for women. Bestselling brand: Children On the basis of responses from retailers covered under the survey, Levis and Ruff emerged as the bestselling denimwear brands for children, with 22.5 per cent and 18.4 per cent popularity scores, followed by UCB (16.3 per cent), Gini & Jony (12.3 per cent), Zapp (10.7 per cent) and Reebok (8.5 per cent) respectively. Discount offers boost sales Like in any other category, discount offers also boost sales of denimwear. The analysis reveals that sales during the discounted period contributed almost 47.6 per cent to annual revenues in 2007-08, and this percentage shot up to 50.6 per cent in 2008-09. To cross-check this, we asked for the contribution from the normal sales or MRP value. The responses received reveal a decline from 52.4 per cent in 2007-08 to 49.4 per cent in 2008-09.

Promotional tools to enhance sales When it comes to driving consumption, and thereby sales, in any specific product category, retailers have a wide range of tools at their disposalranging from celebrity endorsements to advertising in print and electronic media to in-store point of purchase and sale displays. Not all retailers, however, agree on each of these tools relative effectiveness in generating incremental sales. Almost 87 per cent of the retailers surveyed believe that the fresh arrival of collections is currently the most effective element that boosts sales. Respondents were asked to assign priority scores to 8 parameters, and the weighted scores have been utilised to arrive at the conclusions. The next best and effective tool for driving the sales of denimwear is placing advertisements in daily newspapers or the electronic media like television, which get 69 per cent scores each. Discount offers is another important tool that shores up sales, as 64 per cent retailers voted in favour of this, followed by advertisements in magazines (63 per cent), window/POS display (61.5 per cent), and gift vouchers (44 per cent) in that order. Consumer watch With the Indian youth becoming increasingly fashion conscious and with spending power being consistently on the rise, the premium category of jeanswear brands have recorded a good growth. On the other hand, it has been a tough time for other segments of the business one of the underperformers being the mass market jeanswear brands. Like in the other apparel categories, jeanswear rates prime importance to brand tags. Approximately 79 per cent of the jeans sold in India is tagged with a label, while the rest is supplied by tailors and localised manufacturers with no name. There are a host of small stores and tailoring shops where jeans can be stitched-to-order for as little as Rs 200. The long queue of customers here are not only Indians, but westerners too. While for the Indian, getting a pair of jeans stitched at these small time shops or tailors is usually an economic compulsion, for the average backpacking westerner, it is the luxury of having a pair of jeans custom-stitched at dirt cheap prices. For the average Indian what holds charm is the tag of any international label. What follows is an analyses of the consumer responces from across 10 cities. East zone: Levis and Lee Cooper dominate. Levis emerged as the most preferred denimwear brand among all the respondents with 27.7 per cent of the overall scores, followed by Lee Cooper with 12.3 per cent, closely followed by Killer (9.4 per cent), Provogue (7.7 per cent), Ruff and Tuff (6.2 per cent), Wrangler (7.5 per cent), Flying Machine (3.1 per cent) and Lee and Pepe (3.1 per cent each) and Spykar, Tommy Hilfiger, Moustache, and Numero Uno in the same order. West zone: Levis and Lee dominate. Global brands like Levis, Lee and Pepe dominate the consumers psyche as far as denimwear is concerned in the west zone. They occupy the top three rankings in overall scores. Killer gets the fourth ranking in overall scores, followed by Guess, Provogue, Wrangler, Diesel, Wills lifestyle, UCB and Deal.

North zone: Levis and Lee dominate. Levis and Lee emerged as the most preferred denimwear brands among the respondent consumers with 21.0 and 9.9 per cent of popularity scores in the north zone, followed by Flying Machine, Killer, Wrangler with 6.2 per cent scores each. Numero Uno, Spykar, Pepe And Wills Lifestyle are the other popular brands with 4.9 per cent of the respondent votes, and finally UCB, Lee Cooper and Provogue which garnered 3.7 per cent of the scores each. South zone: Levis and Lee dominate. Levis emerged as the most preferred denim brand by respondents in the south receiving 22.0 per cent of overall scores, followed by Lee with 18.9 per cent, and then Wrangler with 11.0 per cent, Killer 9.8 per cent, Provogue 7.3 per cent, UCB 4.9 per cent and Pepe 3.7 per cent. Other preferred brands in the list are Spykar, Wills Lifestyle, Deal, Diesel, Guess and Lee Cooper. Fabric preference Pure cotton and cotton blends are clearly the most preferred fabrics across denimwear categories. Of all the respondent consumers, almost 52.9 per cent look for cotton, followed by 35.3 per cent who prefer stretchable fabric. Frequency of purchase Respondents were asked how often they go shopping. About 44.4 per cent consumers purchase denimwear quarterly (once in three months), followed by those who like to purchase denim half yearly (once in six months), another 9.2 per cent purchase yearly (once in a year), and only 7.8 per cent respondents said that they purchase denim every month. Preferred shopping destination Respondents were asked about their favourite shopping destination for purchasing denimwear and the analyses reveals that almost 56.3 per cent respondents prefer shopping malls, 29.5 per cent go to department stores like Shoppers Stop, Westside, Pantaloon, while the remaining 14.2 per cent still prefer the local/traditional markets. Colour preference Blue is the most preferred colour with 37.6 per cent respondents purchasing denimwear, followed by black with 35.6 per cent, grey with 16.6 per cent, and white with 6.8 per cent of the popularity scores. Discount offers More than 50 per cent respondents said that discount offers by brands/retailers induce more purchases of denimwear. Fresh arrivals trigger 36.6 per cent of the purchases, followed by gift vouchers inducing 8.1 per cent purchases. Premium range most preferred Premium range (Rs 800-1,199) is the most preferred price point among the respondent consumers with 44.7 per cent scores, followed by 31.3 per cent going in for the superpremium range. Another 16.8 per cent of the respondents like to purchase denimwear in the mid range (Rs 500-799), and the remaining 7.2 per cent go for purchases in the economy range of upto Rs 499.

postgraduates. Of the 4095 valid samples, 40.7 per cent respondents were employed or salaried persons. While 30.2 per cent were self employed, 15.9 per cent were had their own business, and 13.2 per cent respondents were professionals. Income group Of all the valid samples, 35.6 per cent were earning Rs 20,001-30,000 per month; 30.5 per cent fell under the income group of Rs 10,001-20,000 per month; 14.6 per cent were earning upto 10,000 per month, the monthly income of 11.9 per cent was between Rs 30,001-40,000 and that of another 7.4 per cent between Rs 50,001-75,000 per month.

Wrangler
Images Bureau,12.11.2010
Tags: Wrangler | Denim | Blue Bell Company | VF Arvind Brands Pvt Ltd | Brand Ambassador | Marketing

y. If the purchase meets the Indian consumers expectations, there is no discordance. The Indian market is flooded with international and homespun casualwear denim brands, however, Wrangler has managed to keeps its identity intact. Subramaniam attributes this achievement to the brands USP - Wrangler is Forever Wild.The brands product portfolio serves a varied target consumer group, providing them with options in denim, shirts, knits and winterwear, for men and women. Like any other fashion brand, Wrangler also has seasonal favourties. In 2010, the brand will add an accessories line to their product portfolio.Subramaniam stresses the importance of visual merchandising for a brand like Wrangler, We believe that stores are our best advertising spread and we make all efforts for them to look alluring. The brand is known to have a detailed visual merchandising activity calendar, keeping in mind their collections, festivals and special promotions. This is detailed and in a way we try and maintain a new look every 45 days, in every store. The colour and theme changes every fortnight. Our fashion associates across all selling formats undergo a detailed training on the collection and what the key looks are enabling them to convey the desired look at the stores. A new overhauled look for the Wrangler stores is expected soon, as the work is currently in progress. Commenting on the brands retail strategy, she says, Our retail strategy is to penetrate class A and B towns. The stores will be bigger in size in larger cities and smaller in class B towns. The brand is currently available in 21 cities and the store count is 75. The plan for 2010 is to add 100 more stores, across 28 cities. About choosing a retail location Subramaniam shares, Both malls and high streets have advantages and disadvantages. The rules for selecting a space do not change, as the elements to be considered are constant - location, size, adjacencies, and retail environment. For Wrangler, we have found that either environment gives us the expected returns.In India, Wrangler owns only its denim manufacturing units. All other categories of product manufacturing are outsourced. Subramaniam feels, It is beneficial for the brand, as one gets the best and earns trust from the specialists. Looking back on the brands journey so far, the milestones that pushed the brand ahead in the Indian market are clearly stated by Subramaniam, Contemporising the brand, retail expansion, bringing on board John Abraham as the brand ambassador and fashion-focussed collections. y. If the purchase meets the Indian consumers expectations, there is no discordance. The Indian market is flooded with international and homespun casualwear denim brands, however, Wrangler has managed to keeps its identity intact. Subramaniam attributes this achievement to the brands USP - Wrangler is Forever Wild.The brands product portfolio serves a varied target consumer group, providing them with options in denim, shirts, knits and winterwear, for men and women. Like any other fashion brand, Wrangler also has seasonal favourties. In 2010, the brand will add an accessories line to their product portfolio.Subramaniam stresses the importance of visual merchandising for a brand like Wrangler, We believe that stores are our best advertising spread and we make all efforts for them to look alluring. The brand is known to have a detailed visual merchandising activity calendar, keeping in mind their collections, festivals and special promotions. This is detailed and in a way we try and maintain a new look every 45 days, in every store.

The colour and theme changes every fortnight. Our fashion associates across all selling formats undergo a detailed training on the collection and what the key looks are enabling them to convey the desired look at the stores. A new overhauled look for the Wrangler stores is expected soon, as the work is currently in progress. Commenting on the brands retail strategy, she says, Our retail strategy is to penetrate class A and B towns. The stores will be bigger in size in larger cities and smaller in class B towns. The brand is currently available in 21 cities and the store count is 75. The plan for 2010 is to add 100 more stores, across 28 cities. About choosing a retail location Subramaniam shares, Both malls and high streets have advantages and disadvantages. The rules for selecting a space do not change, as the elements to be considered are constant - location, size, adjacencies, and retail environment. For Wrangler, we have found that either environment gives us the expected returns.In India, Wrangler owns only its denim manufacturing units. All other categories of product manufacturing are outsourced. Subrama niam feels, It is beneficial for the brand, as one gets the best and earns trust from the specialists. Looking back on the brands journey so far, the milestones that pushed the brand ahead in the Indian market are clearly stated by Subramaniam, Contemporising the brand, retail expansion, bringing on board John Abraham as the brand ambassador and fashion-focussed collections.

India Denimwear Market

Images Bureau,02.11.2010
Tags: India denimwear Market | Denim

south, and 14 retailers from east) with over 2,43,647 sq ft of quality retail space in prime locations were covered in this study. The findings have been collated under the following heads: growth across the various ranges of denim (premium, superpremium, economy and mid ranges); most selling national/ international denim brands across the zones; retailers and their best selling price points in various ranges; product features that are in demand like design, fabric, price, comfort and brand; tools retailers use to boost sales. Percentage share of denim A good volume of denimwear stocks comprise domestic/international brands and/or private labels for men, women and children. Denimwear as a whole contributes on an average 28 per cent to the annual sales

of the retail outlets offering denimwear brands. Of all the respondent retailers, 52.7 per cent said that denimwear contributes 30 per cent in overall annual sales, while for 29.7 per cent it contributes almost 50 per cent. Bestselling brand : Men Levis and Lee received the maximum (27.7 per cent and 12.8 per cent, respectively) endorsement from retailers in terms of popularity in the mens denimwear brands, followed by Pepe (11.5 per cent), Killer (10.8 per cent), Flying Machine ( 8.1 per cent), Wrangler (7.4 per cent), Spykar (6.1 per cent), Provogue (4. 7 per cent), John Players (3.4 per cent) and Le Max, Cantabil, Ruff and Tuff, in that order. Bestselling brand: Women Pepe and Levis with 19.3 and 15.3 per cent of the popular scores from the respondent retailers , topped the list. Lee with 14.4 per cent, Wrangler with 9.2 per cent, Jealous with 8.3 per cent, Killer with 6.3 per cent, Spykar with 4.5 per cent scores are the other bestselling brands in the segment for women. Bestselling brand: Children On the basis of responses from retailers covered under the survey, Levis and Ruff emerged as the bestselling denimwear brands for children, with 22.5 per cent and 18.4 per cent popularity scores, followed by UCB (16.3 per cent), Gini & Jony (12.3 per cent), Zapp (10.7 per cent) and Reebok (8.5 per cent) respectively. Discount offers boost sales Like in any other category, discount offers also boost sales of denimwear. The analysis reveals that sales during the discounted period contributed almost 47.6 per cent to annual revenues in 2007-08, and this percentage shot up to 50.6 per cent in 2008-09. To cross-check this, we asked for the contribution from the normal sales or MRP value. The responses received reveal a decline from 52.4 per cent in 2007-08 to 49.4 per cent in 2008-09.