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Our Bureau

Bangalore, May 29 Bed and bath linen retailer Creative Portico India is looking to cash-in on the wellness and health conscious consumer. It is betting big on health-related bedding products to contribute significantly to sales.

Portico has launched a series of products in the “premium” to “super premium” categories in the last few months such as anti-mite, anti-bacterial pillows, comforters, and protectors for pillow and mattress. Next month, it will launch ionised bedding, a product said to protect against bacteria and energise the body.

Mr Rajiv Merchant, CEO (Domestic Business Division), Creative Portico India, said, “There is a growing health consciousness among Indian consumers, even in the B&C cities. There is a latent demand for health-related bedding products, and we are looking to build on this. In one year’s time, we expect health bedding to contribute to 10 per cent of sales.”

Creative Portico retails bed and bath linen under brands such as Portico (from New York) and Home Expressions. It also sells licensee brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and soft furnishing products of licensed kids’ characters from Disney, Mattel, Cartoon Network and Nick. About 70 per cent of sales come from the Portico brand alone.

The company caters to consumers in the age groups of 4-12 years and 25-40 years in the super premium (Tommy Hilfiger), premium (Portico) and the hypermarket range (Home Expressions). It is eyeing the teen and tweens category and is expected to soon launch products in tie-up with MTV and is also using Disney properties such as High School Musical.

Creative Portico has also tied up with designers Abhishek Dutta, Anupama Dayal, Shyamal & Bhumika and Gayatri Khanna for an exclusive bedding collection to be launched next month.

Creative Portico’s products are available through 150 shop-in-shops across the country. We hope to be present in 200 outlets by this financial year, said Mr Merchant. The company is looking to aggressively expand into B&C centres.

The Rs 68-crore company is targeting a sales turnover of Rs 100 crore this year.

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Creative Portico to focus on ‘health’ bedding products

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