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Ajita Shashidhar

While Tommy Hilfiger would cater to the premium market, Spaces would be positioned as a mid-segment brand.

Chennai , Feb. 21

THE Rs 450-crore Welspun India is all set to create brand consciousness in the highly unorganised home furnishings market in India. The company with its own brand, Spaces, and Tommy Hilfiger Home Furnishings, the marketing rights of which it acquired last year, is planning to set up as many as 125 retail stores in the next three years.

Mr Anshuman Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Welspun India, told Business Line that the only way to create a brand presence in a highly commoditised market such as home furnishings, was through organised retail.

He said that while Tommy Hilfiger would cater to the premium market, Spaces would be positioned as a mid-segment brand. Apart from this, the company is also going to set up Welspun Factory Outlets, which would target the discount seekers. "We plan to set up over 100 Spaces showrooms, while the next six months would see the roll-out of 25 Welspun Factory Outlets," said Mr Singh.

However, with Tommy Hilfiger, the company plans to concentrate on the shop-in-shop format. "We plan to set up shop-in-shops at the Arvind flagship stores, which has the right to market Tommy Hilfiger apparels in India," said Mr Singh. "We decided on shop-in-shops because we were not sure whether it would be lucrative to have standalone Tommy stores, in a market where brand consciousness of home furnishings is zero. But we will definitely look at standalone Tommy Hilfiger stores in future," he added.

While the first Spaces showroom was set up at the Inorbit Mall in Mumbai recently, the company already has five Tommy Hilfiger shop-in-shops in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, and plans six more in the next four months. The company has a retail budget close to Rs 50 crore and is currently scouting for an advertising agency to handle its communication.

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