The Hindu Business Line : Levi's XL plans

If you cannot visit the Levi's store on Post Street in San Francisco, then Bangalore should be your next destination. Shumone Chatterjee, Country Manager, Levi Strauss India Pvt Ltd, is determined to make Levi's Square, located on Brigade Road, the city's busiest high street, a definite tourist destination. Hip, innovative and earthy: the store captures the essence of the brand. "It's the painstaking effort of four months and is of international standards in retailing," says Chatterjee.

Sure, theme stores can pull crowds, but can he hear the cash registers ringing? "In three weeks since the soft launch, this store has done 40 per cent more business than our three other franchises, located on the same street, put together." He explains: "A lot of people from across the country and across the world (the city has a sizeable expat population - exchange students, professionals and tourists) are buying into lifestyle categories and prefer to shop in world-class store environments." That's the reason Chatterjee and his team chose Bangalore to put up their first theme store. "It has tremendous buying potential and is a city that is becoming extremely fashion conscious." Moreover, India's IT city is where Levi's kicked off in the country and therefore has a home base here. The attention a store of this size grabs necessitates that the corporate team be close to it, he reasons.

Across the globe, Levi's is focussed on building the brand through experiential retailing through several formats: icon stores, flagship stores and premium stores. In India, Levi's has launched five flagship stores over the last four months across four cities and plans to launch five more by the end of the year. Levi's Square is the largest in Asia Pacific and the second largest in the world. "A flagship store offers a far more dialled up experience than any other retail format and showcases the brand values in totality," says Chatterjee.

So Levi's is now rolling up its sleeves by offering other customer-friendly experiences such as customisation and designer advice. A designer stationed at the store will help customers choose their style or even snip, enlarge or change the style of the denimwear. The store will also be e-connected to other Levi's stores and the company warehouse to ensure customers are not turned away because of the absence of a particular size or colour. "We'll place the order here and deliver the product to the customer within a few days," assures Chatterjee.

Levi's Square is spread across three floors measuring about 9,000 sq ft in area. "Yeah, the area is huge, but we don't want our customers to die under the weight of the merchandise," says Chatterjee. Levi's Lounge displays the brand's premium numbers like Levi's 501 and the Levi's Red Loop. "This is for the customer who wants to be "with it," says Chatterjee.

The décor talks the same language as the denim wear: premium. European-styled mirrors, satin curtains, lounge seating and leather chairs. The section also has the Levi's Vintage Clothing, featuring limited edition reproductions of garments from the Levi's archives. Levi's Campus is the youthful section featuring the Sykes range. Props on the floor include a cycle, a basketball hoop; there is also graffiti on the walls. The trial rooms are designed to look like college loos, giving it a complete campus feel. The Levi's Foundry is designed to take the visitor back 150 years. The floor has an industrial and construction theme and a rough foundry feel. It stocks the Levi's Red Tab and Levi's Workers range of jeans.

The Levi's experience does not end with denimwear. Other merchandise at the store includes eyewear, innerwear and jeanswear accessories, and there are plans to launch kidswear and innerwear soon.

Says Chatterjee, "India is clearly one of the fastest growing markets for Levi's in the world. The jeanswear market in the country is close to 50 million pairs per year and growing at 35-40 per cent per annum, much faster than other global markets."

What took the brand 11 years to start focusing on giving India the `Levi's experience'? "We focused on building our fundamentals in this country (franchisee partners, distribution partners, vendor partners and a highly competent team) for the first five years. We then focused on our growth strategies with the launch of Dockers, Levi's Sykes, Levi Strauss Signature and on launching a large number of exclusive stores."

Levi's, operating in the premium and super-premium segments, is the market leader in this segment. It has 90 exclusive retail stores and a presence in 500 MBOs (multi-brand outlets) across 160 cities.

Plans are to increase the number to 110 stores, covering more than 125,000 sq ft of retail space. Kevin Sargison, Retail Operations Director, Levi Strauss & Co, Asia Pacific Division, who was present at the opening of the Levi's Square, said the scale and the size of the retail formats in China are large but, " India is vibrant and India is India."