Why RmKV is setting foot in malls

Silk sari retailer RmKV believes the time has come for traditional family retailers to move into the malls to cater to today’s shoppers.

The retailer, which has recently opened stores at shopping malls in Chennai (Phoenix Market City and Forum Vijaya) and Bangalore (Orion), says these retail spaces offer the brand access to a more “high-profile and younger” set of customers who seek greater comfort and a better shopping ambience than what high-streets provide.

Flagship store

RmKV has a flagship store in T. Nagar, Chennai’s retail bastion. But the area is getting saturated, says K. Sivakumar, Managing Director, RmKV.

Congested roads and lack of adequate parking space tend to put off the young and the more affluent.

“We want to tap these shoppers too and hence we decided to expand in malls. While retaining our core value of quality, we want to enhance customer experience and service.”

Rentals in malls are cheaper compared to the high-street. Running costs are also lower thanks to the shared facilities such as parking, security and generators, points out Sivakumar. “The feedback from the malls has been good. Even loyal customers at our T. Nagar store are curious about our mall stores.”

RmKV’s mall journey began three years ago when it set up a store at the Brookefields mall in a so-called conservative market of Coimbatore.

“They were apprehensions on whether people would visit malls for wedding purchases. But the store is doing well and this gave us confidence to open in more malls.”

RmKV was started in the 1920s by Sivakumar’s grandfather Visvanatha Pillai in Tirunelveli, where it has two stores.

Innovations

The brand is known for its innovations such as the “reversible” sari and the sari with 50,000 colours (this sari was accompanied by a high-decibel TV campaign created by Mudra featuring actor Jyothika).

Currently, it is running the ‘Silks of India’ print campaign, designed by Ahmedabad-based Subrata Bhowmick, to showcase its range of silk saris from across the country at its new store in Forum Mall.

Having established itself in Chennai, RmKV is eager to move to the next big league. “We have opened three stores in the last six months. We want to consolidate existing stores for a year before moving into Hyderabad and Kerala,” says Sivakumar.

RmKV’s retail turnover is around Rs 500 crore. This year, the retailer expects business to grow 40 per cent, buoyed by new stores, compared to the 15 per cent growth it has seen over the last few years.

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