The Hindu Business Line : Pantaloon relaunches stores targeting youth

PANTALOON Retail is in revamp mode. Changing its positioning from a family-oriented store to a fashion store, Pantaloon stores are being relaunched on the `youth' platform. Sporting a new baseline, Pantaloon will now carry the `Fresh Fashion' statement across its 12 stores.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Sanjeev Agrawal, President (Marketing), said: "Looking at the demographics, India is a young country compared to the others and we wanted our brand to get associated with this emerging target audience. This is the first time that we are relaunching our stores targeting youth and even women, since they are the ones defining most purchasing decisions."

With the help of agencies such as Percept (H) and Idiom, the Pantaloon chain of stores will undergo changes with respect to its logo, brand communication, physical layout, merchandise, and mindset.

The stores will now have a new look and feel to reflect the new ideology, which is all about "fresh feeling, fresh attitude and fresh fashion."

Research conducted by the retail chain revealed that fashion is defined by the youth and not by the family.

Shoppers are now a lot more impulsive and attracted to the visual appeal of the stores. They are willing to make impulsive buys based on the store's visual displays. Besides, the number of women shoppers is more.

"The last two years has been a learning process for us and that is why the company has not been opening any new stores. Today we have taken a relook at most of our brands and redefined them from the youth's perspective," said Mr Agrawal.

Mr Ajay Chandwani, CEO, Percept (H), said: "Today we want young people to step into the Pantaloon stores and be a part of this evolving brand."

With an emphasis on its private labels, Pantaloon has tilted the balance of its merchandise - especially apparels - in favour of its in-house brands such as UMM, Rig, Lombard, Bare, and Denim.

"Today our in-house labels form nearly 70-75 per cent of our apparels and we want our stores to get differentiated from the rest primarily on this account. We intend changing our fashions every 4-6 weeks," said Mr Agrawal.

Besides, Pantaloon is also trying to build in-store branded sections for categories such as sunglasses and watches and high fashion garments.

For instance, it has created an in-store label called Blue Sky for its watches and sunglasses while Spring Board stands for its high fashion labels.

While apparel continues to be the mainstay at the stores, Pantaloon is open to sourcing external brands from its associate companies such as Planet Sports.

"We do source our sports footwear from our partners such as Planet Sports in which the company recently picked up equity stake," Mr Agrawal said.

In addition to the existing 12 stores, Pantaloon plans to open six new stores by the end of the year.

On the anvil are new stores at Bangalore and Ahmedabad and two more stores in Mumbai.

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