The Hindu Business Line : Trends in Vogue expanding salons

Chennai, Nov. 14 Betting big on its salon business, Trends in Vogue Pvt Ltd, part of the Chennai-based FMCG major CavinKare, is planning to expand its network of outlets with an investment outlay of Rs 50 crore. “We will open 16 more salons before the end of this year and will add another 100 next year,” said Mr C.K. Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

CavinKare is present in the salon business with two brands — Green Trends and Limelite. While the Green Trends brand caters to the middle-class segment, Limelite is an upmarket brand. Currently, it has 23 Green Trends, of which 20 are in Chennai and three in Bangalore, and 11 Limelites, of which four are in Chennai, five in Bangalore, and two in Delhi.

While each Green Trends outlet is spread over 1,500 to 2,200 sq ft, Limelite occupies 2,500 to 3,000 sq ft.

Into more cities

According to Mr T.D. Mohan, Director, CavinKare, who heads the salon division, the company will take the Green Trends brand to other cities including Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam and Mysore very soon. “Ultimately, we intend to have at least one outlet in every three-km radius,” he said.

The company’s next target for Limelite is Hyderabad, as the brand is meant only for metros and tier-I cities.

The company currently employs 500 people and with the proposed expansion, would require at least another 1,500 by the end of 2008. Dearth of skilled manpower is the only stumbling block to put the expansion plan on the fast track. Realising this, CavinKare has established two training centres in Chennai and one in Bangalore. It will open one training centre in every city it steps into.

“People here are still hesitant to accept this as a decent profession. We are still in the evolving stage. In the West, there are a lot of hairstylists who have become brand icons, whereas in India, this is waiting to happen,” asserts Mr Ranganathan.

For CavinKare, Green Trends and Limelite together contributed Rs 13 crore in 2007. It was Rs 7 crore in the previous year. “We expect the business to post at least a Rs 23-crore turnover next year,” said Mr Mohan.

Is there enough room for growth? The potential is very huge. “In my estimation, currently the organised market alone should be Rs 2,500 crore. And there are a large number of people who are willing to graduate to hygienic and professionally run salons from the neighbourhood barber shops,” says Mr Ranganathan.

To a question whether CavinKare will look for any celebrity brand endorsement as is wont today, he replied in the negative. “We are actually planning to promote the salon brands by promoting the individuals working there.”