Increasing competition in the fragmented home segment is making textile stalwarts such as Bombay Dyeing change their positioning from a low-value brand to an aspirational one with extended price points.

Having turned around its textile division last year, the bed and bath major is now gearing up with refurbished and new stores to take on competition from the domestic players.

Ashok Kaul, CEO, Retail Division, Bombay Dyeing, said: “Today, Bombay Dyeing is skewing its offerings towards upper price points as it wants to create an aspirational brand. It is going up the price value chain to change its imagery as it no longer wants to be perceived as a low-value brand. We need to sell more premium products and have stretched our price points from ₹500 to ₹9,000 for our bed sheets.’’

Brand image Roping in new designers and staying away from too many discount sales are among other ways to change its brand image with consumers.

“There was a bit of an overkill with discounts, but now, we have limited the sale period to just a few times a year like most of the other retailers,” says Kaul.

A new television campaign by McCann with the tagline ‘Change is Beautiful’ is also expected to help Bombay Dyeing’s new positioning.

New categories such as mattresses are also being introduced to expand its product portfolio with price points between ₹8,000 and ₹45,000.

“We will be complementing our bed and bath portfolio with mattresses where there are just two big domestic players,” he adds.

Apart from the big players such as Kurlon and Sleepwell, new companies such as Neelkamal have also entered the mattress segment.

New entrants Besides, competition has been steadily increasing in the home segment with new entrants such as Portico, Tangerine and Masper expanding their footprint. Even Bombay Dyeing’s vendors operating in the B2B segment such as Kiaana are now trying to build their own brands through retail and e-commerce platforms.

Bombay Dyeing has also been trying to address the changing needs of younger consumers who might find the 135-year-old textile brand too ‘old fashioned’ for their tastes.

“Down the line, Bombay Dyeing has to move away from being a discount brand,” observes Rajiv Merchant, CEO and Co-Founder, Tangerine Couture.

The home segment is huge and is estimated at nearly ₹18,000 crore with penetration of organised retail at just 8 per cent.

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