French cosmetic giant L’Oreal’s luxury brand Kiehl’s is looking at expanding its retail presence in India along with bringing in new pack sizes of its products to enhance customer base.

The brand, which entered into India last year by setting up a store in the Capital, said it will open around 15-16 stores in the country, particularly in the metros by 2014.

“Kiehl’s being a non-advertising brand, the only way to make our brand visible is by opening more stores. At present, we only have one outlet in Delhi ... By 2014, we want to have around 15-16 stores in key cities,” Kiehl’s India Brand Manager Mr Anurag Tyagi told PTI.

He said eight big cities, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata, have been identified to set up exclusive stores for the brand.

As a part of the expansion plan, Kiehl’s is also looking at setting up shop-in-shops in various premium malls in the country, Mr Tyagi added.

“Our biggest challenge is finding the right location ... We are exploring various upcoming and premium malls in India to set up our stores. Right now, we want to solidify our presence in Delhi and Mumbai first,” he said, adding that two more outlets are coming up in Mumbai by December.

Besides, the 160-year-old brand and one of the fastest growing brands of L’Oreal globally, is also planning to introduce more pack sizes of its existing categories, mainly the skin care range to increase its customer base.

“We will be introducing more pack sizes, both smaller and bigger sizes depending on the demand and popularity of the product. For instance, for our moisturiser range, we are bringing in 75 ml travel friendly sizes and for hair care, we are coming up with bigger sizes like 500 ml,” he said.

At present, Kiehl’s sells skincare, haircare and babycare range at prices ranging from Rs 495 to Rs 3,000. The L’Oreal Group had acquired Kiehl’s in 2000. It is currently sold in about 800 retail outlets in 38 countries worldwide.

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