Vimal, the textile brand owned by Reliance Industries, plans to expand its franchise network with 1,500 new retailers expected to stock its fabrics and apparel.
Releasing a fresh communication to convey the message (“1,500 new outlets across India are waiting for you…”), the advertisement also includes a woman wearing a western dress. Much as the company claims that it is not getting into women-oriented western wear fabrics, there are indications that the extended franchises are getting roped in to enable the company get into fabrics for women and even home furnishings in the near future.
The textile company revamped the heritage brand in 2007. At present, it has 15 flagship stores apart from 400-odd franchise outlets. “Vimal as a brand has been growing and we expect even better growth rates in the next three years. With the added 1,500 franchises we want to take up the number of franchises to 1,800 to balance our capital expenditure,” said Anand Parekh, President, Textile Division, Reliance Industries.
In the past, the company had indicated that women’s fabrics would be a natural extension of the Vimal franchise.
“At the moment we are in men’s wear and the mainstay for the business continues to be fabrics. We are still not big in apparel,” adds Parekh without confirming about the impending entry into women’s wear. However, Vimal continues to stock its iconic sarees at some of its stores.
With the baseline ‘Dressing Up New India’ Vimal has positioned its brand for the masses. “We are a popular class brand and primarily cater to the middle class market. We have segmented the brand with variants such as Black, White and Red and these continue to drive the business,” Parekh said.
However, the brand continues to face challenges in a fragmented and cluttered market with stalwarts such as Raymonds and Skumars in the segment.
“Demand for the Vimal brand has picked up in the past five years since we re-launched it but there continue to be challenges to improve profitability,” he said.
Vimal has the advantage of using the retail formats of the company such as Reliance Trends and Reliance Marts. There is also a likelihood of starting e-commerce through its Web site www.onlyvimal.com
While the company has been denying speculation that the Vimal brand may be up for sale, industry observers say that the company is sentimental about selling its heritage brand. They say that it may at best offload a minority stake or rope in a strategic partner to keep the business afloat but it is unlikely that it will completely let go of the textile business.