Sonam Kapoor was all smiles as she joined the Aeropostale brigade recently after being worn down by the traditional regal garb she donned while doing rounds of various cities for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo promotions.
Aéropostale, the American mall-based specialty retailer of casual apparel for teens and youngsters, will expand in India through its partnership with Arvind lifestyle Brands limited.
“India is a huge market base with great taste for fashion. The youth are making informed choices and are not thinking twice to explore new collections. Aeropostale has the catchment area from the age group of 14 to 25,” said Sumit Dhingra, COO, Arvind lifestyle.
With the Indian consumer base shifting to the digital platforms, Aeropostale will soon jump on the bandwagon. They plan to open their e-tail outlets along with making their availability on other e-commerce sites by April 2016.
The price range is pretty accessible for the Indian consumers with graphic tees starting at `699 and denims at `1,799. The brand’s expansion plans include the opening of 50 Aeropostale stores in the next four years. “Our target for the first four years is `500 crores. We are looking at six cities in the first phase, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Punjab,” said Dhingra.
On inking the deal with Aeropostale, Dhingra said, “Both the organisations share the same values and vision. We have a great partnership because of the design capabilities, the understanding of the young generation and the nuances of the Indian consumers.”
Aeropostale joins the league of other major international brands choosing Delhi for their Indian debut. Speaking on the same Dhingra told us, “Delhi is always the first choice for retailers as it has all the four seasons to exhibit all collections. Also the consumer base in Delhi is more fashion forward.”
Talking about whether the company is on a licensing spree and if the brand licensing strategy is a plan B to revive profits he said, “It’s not licensing spree. The company has been doing it for four years. It’s not just one company, the entire American market has slumped.”
On the rather interesting advertising and marketing strategies with drones carrying the Aeropostle banner at the launch party and throwing free T-shirts at the exuberant crowd, Dhingra said, “Most of the brands are launched with private parties and exclusive invites. Aeropostale stands for people who are young, cool and confident and they don’t really relate to private parties. We wanted to break the mould and do something free.”
The brand stands a lot of competition with the other international retailers in the country and the mall. Dhingra chose to differ, “India is not a market which is saturated and where you really have to grab the market share from somebody to build your own. The market is so unexplored right now and everybody stands to gain out of it. Also we believe more the competition; the better it is for the consumers. The real game is to increase the overall consumption rather than taking it away from each other.” Globally the brand sees competition from many American fast fashion clothing retailers. “I don’t think we have the real direct competition from anyone in India as yet,” he added.