Pantaloons Fashion and Retail, now part of the Aditya Birla Group, is focusing on private labels, and is looking to enter smaller towns and open more stores.

“We want to bring back the magic that Pantaloons had five years ago,” CEO Shital Mehta told Business Line .

The company, which the Kumar Mangalam-led Birla group acquired from Kishore Biyani’s Future Group last April, is also planning to have an online presence in the next 12 months.

Since the acquisition, Pantaloons has moved from being a mass brand to an “aspirational” brand. “All the work we did in the last one year is showing results now. We are launching new print and digital campaigns that will talk about what changes we have made without tinkering with the essence of the brand which is making fashion accessible,” Mehta added.

Mehta feels consumers have evolved and they don’t necessarily want the most expensive or the cheapest brand, but something that is high in quality and affordable. Keeping this in mind, the company plans to up its play in the private label segment, which it calls “exclusive brands”. The company has 25 such brands and plans to launch six-seven more this year. Apart from this, it wants to launch exclusive brands in the footwear and handbag category as well. The company feels this move will help expand margins.

Profitability

“We are profitable at the operational level and expect the margins to expand faster than the industry in the coming quarters. For us, it’s a long-term play and, hence, we will also focus on brand and store investments,” he added.

While in FY13, only six Pantaloon outlets had come up in the country, in this fiscal, the company plans to open 18-20 stores at an investment of ₹5 crore per store. The new stores will be opened in tier II and III cities such as Hubli, Vijayawada, Gorakhpur and Kalyan.

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