"India is a very different market from Europe. For men in Europe, dressing up is a way of life. Indian consumers are more conservative and followers of fashion,” says the top Indian honcho of a European fashion brand.
Rajiv Nair- CEO at Celio Future Fashion Limited in an exclusive chat with fibre2fashion was responding to a question on how the Indian menswear market is different from the European market.
He adds, “Individualism is stronger in Europe whereas Indian consumers tend to follow accepted trends. Indian consumers are brand seekers and like to flaunt brands through overt manifestations like logos whereas the European customer is more evolved and prefers subtlety.”
In India, Celio has tied up with Kishore Biyani led – Future Fashions and carries the latest range of smart casual wear, formalwear and accessories in India and is also available across 1000 stores in 70 countries.
To a query on hiking sourcing from India for its Indian operations, he informs, “We have moved a long way in India in sourcing. Over 55% of our products are now sourced in India. This gives us a tremendous leeway in terms of time to market.
"An import shipment takes between 49-60 days to reach from vendor to warehouse whereas an Indian product takes five days. Dollar prices are uncertain and this puts sudden pressures on our costs. We have been able to mitigate this risk with a combination of local sourcing and hedging of forex risks.”
Revealing the current operations of the brand in India, he says, “We now have presence across 90,000 sq feet of retail space including 40 stand-alone stores, 120 Shop in Shops with leading departmental stores like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons and Central.
"We also have about 7% of our business now coming from leading ecommerce portals like Myntra, Jabong, Flipkart, Amazon and Shoppers Stop.” (AR)
