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Business News/ Companies / People/  Marks and Spencer seeing double-digit growth across categories: Venu Nair
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Marks and Spencer seeing double-digit growth across categories: Venu Nair

Venu Nair, managing director of Marks and Spencer Reliance India, attributes the good sales to expansion spree

The women’s shopping space is a very interesting and a fast-changing space where the level of Westernization is definitely increasing by the year, said managing director of Marks and Spencer Reliance India Venu Nair. Photo: AFP Premium
The women’s shopping space is a very interesting and a fast-changing space where the level of Westernization is definitely increasing by the year, said managing director of Marks and Spencer Reliance India Venu Nair. Photo: AFP

New Delhi: British clothing retailer Marks and Spencer Group Plc plans to open 44 stores over the next three years in India, a top priority market and a sourcing hub for the company.

At a store opening in Delhi on Wednesday, where the company introduced an extended range of beauty products, managing director of Marks and Spencer Reliance India Venu Nair spoke on the women’s fashion wear and growing demand for its products in smaller cities such as Surat and Kanpur.

Edited excerpts from an interview:

How has 2013 been for Marks and Spencer? Despite a slowdown in the retail sector the brand has pushed for expansion in India.

The very reason that we have been on an expansion spree is the fact that we are seeing good sales across our stores in the country. So this calendar year, we would have opened 15 stores. And what we have found across all the business units we trade in is that we are seeing a double-digit growth. We have seen that demand for fashion trends and customers wanting to shop at international brands like our’s and that is what is fueling sales for us, helping us to keep the momentum that we want to.

As the brand’s sourcing from India increases, will prices continue to come down?

Where will the growth come from over the next few years?

Like-to-like growth is very important and growing that will be a key focus area for us, but then, even as we do that, we are going to cities like Kochi, Baroda and Surat. We will open shortly in Kanpur; we have a store in Chandigarh. We can say that in cities like Kochi, Surat etc, the response has been extremely good. The level of awareness these consumers have in these cities—about fashion in general, about the brand—is high.

What about women’s wear as a category where you are expanding the portfolio?

The women’s shopping space is a very interesting and a fast-changing space where the level of Westernization is definitely increasing by the year. What we are finding is that with exposure to global fashion and with people being more aware, consumers are looking for latest trends, styles and colours at the same time that they might be available anywhere else in the world. So what that awareness is driving is both the level of fashion as well as Westernization and that’s not just for the big cities. It is even for the smaller cities you find the awareness level and level of Westernization to be far higher, and that’s driving demand and consumption.

Women’s wear is already our biggest category, if you add lingerie; we don’t give individual (category) numbers, but it is one of the biggest categories we have.

Would you consider e-commerce or any other alternative retail platforms in the near future?

None that we can talk of…nothing on the e-commerce side. At the moment, we are focusing on full-format stores meant for the family-style shopping.

How do you anticipate demand to shape up in 2014?

It varies by category and the market you are in. We have seen a good double-digit growth across all categories this year. It has been as expected. We hope to see strong numbers in 2014 too.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Suneera Tandon
Suneera Tandon is a New Delhi based reporter covering consumer goods for Mint. Suneera reports on fast moving consumer goods makers, retailers as well as other consumer-facing businesses such as restaurants and malls. She is deeply interested in what consumers across urban and rural India buy, wear and eat. Suneera holds a masters degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi.
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Published: 19 Dec 2013, 12:37 PM IST
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