07 March 2023, Mumbai 

Gap Inc., the global clothing and accessories retail chain, has recently opened its third standalone store in India at Sharth City Mall in Hitec City, Hyderabad.

Gap Inc. entered India for the second time after ending its partnership with Arvind Fashions in 2020, with a long-term franchise agreement with Reliance Retail in July 2022. Currently, Reliance Retail is the exclusive retailer for Gap Inc. in India, operating both physical stores and digital commerce platforms. In 2022, Reliance Retail launched over 50 Gap shop-in-shops across India, followed by its first standalone store in Mumbai's Infinity Mall, Malad, in February 2023, and its second store in GS Road, Guwahati.

The company plans to expand its presence in India by opening more standalone stores across the country in the coming months. Reliance Retail is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), the holding company of all retail brands under the Reliance group.

Founded in 1969,Gap Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children through its retail stores, franchised stores, and e-commerce portals.

Latest Textile Events

01 March 2023, Mumbai 

Reliance Retail expects to become the largest garment seller by volume worldwide within the next two years.

With over 4,000 fashion and apparel stores, including popular brands such as Trends, Centro, Azorte, and Fashion Factory, the company sold 430 million pieces of garments in 2022, making it the market leader in the segment. The growth of Reliance Retail has been majorly driven by the fashion and lifestyle segment, which expanded by 43 per cent in the past five years.

Reliance believes that India's growth story is still intact, and customer sentiment reflects a feel-good factor in the market. The company aims to manage customer sentiment to ensure that the market grows.

The company aims to be the market leader in garment sales worldwide. Fashion contributes the highest to overall profitability, with the widest margins at 24 per cent.

As income grows in India, the likelihood of growth in the premium segment is expected to be slightly faster now. The company recently opened the first standalone store of American brand Gap in India and aims to drive the partnership with India-centric merchandise as well as innovative technology like grab-and-go concepts. Fashion is the fastest-growing category in India's tier-2 and tier-3 cities, with over 93 per cent growth in fiscal 2022.

Experts believe that India's consumption structure has been skewed in the past, with a narrow base of richer consumers accounting for a large chunk of the overall market. However, as the economy broadens across many more cities, and the impact reaches further down the income ladder, the opportunity for value-formats and value-brands is expanding.

Reliance is entering this area with a youth-centric brand.

Latest Textile Events

22 February 2023, Mumbai

H&M has opened a store in New Delhi.

The store is spread over 1677 sqft, designed by the latest interior trends, and offers a modern and welcoming shopping experience featuring H&M’s latest collection for women, men, and children.

Additionally, as part of H&M’s commitment to a more circular and sustainable future, the new store also offers the brand’s garment collection initiative, which allows customers to bring unwanted clothes and textiles by any brand, in any condition, to the store.

This is the fashion retail brand’s ninth store in New Delhi. H&M is now present in 50 stores across 26 cities of India. H&M is continuing its expansion in the Indian market with revamped, spacious and exceptional designs for the new stores.

The fashion retailer has managed to retain its position as India’s largest fast fashion brand by revenues on aggressive store expansion and lower pricing.

H&M stocks fast fashion items created in-house and teams up with designers for one-time collections. It keeps a large inventory of basic, everyday items sourced from places including India and Bangladesh that carry lower price tags than those of most of its rivals.

H&M entered India in 2015. H&M’s new store in Lucknow is spread over 1,160 sq meters.

Latest Textile Events

07 March 2023, Mumbai 

V2 Retail Ltd, a leading retail company in India, has announced the opening of four new retail stores in various locations across Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The new stores are located in Gonda, Bareilly, Noida, and Delhi, and are part of the company's expansion strategy to reach more customers in the region.

The company's management has indicated that the decision to open new stores is based on their evaluation of various parameters, including store-wise profitability. This approach has helped the company to identify the most viable locations for their stores and ensure long-term growth.

In addition to the new store openings, the company has also closed two stores located in Gorakhpur and Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. This move is in line with the company's strategy to optimize its store network and ensure maximum profitability.

With these new store openings and closures, V2 Retail Ltd currently operates 101 retail stores across India. The company is committed to providing customers with high-quality products and services, and these new store openings will help to strengthen their presence in the region.

Latest Textile Events

28 February 2023, Mumbai 

Reliance Retail is set to open 50 exclusive stores of American apparel brand Gap in India by the end of 2023, according to the company's President & CEO, Fashion & Lifestyle, Akhilesh Prasad.

The stores will feature Indian preferences in designs, colours and select patterns as part of Gap's offerings. The move comes after Reliance Retail opened its first freestanding Gap store in Mumbai and more than 50 shop-in-shop stores since last year. The company plans to take the Gap brand beyond developed metro markets and into mini-metros and state capitals, and then to cities with populations of 300,000 to 500,000.

Prasad said Gap's range of offerings would have "Indian inspiration" and "Indian designs" and that the brand would not be high-priced compared to other luxury brands operating in India. Instead, it will be a premium brand with a price starting at INR900 ($12) for a T-shirt and going upwards.

Reliance Retail believes that the market in India is ripe for a brand like Gap to be introduced and quickly scale up due to the country's fast-growing economy and rising disposable income. Over time, more of Gap's designs would be produced in India as the network grows, Prasad said.

Latest Textile Events

22 February 2023, Mumbai 

Retail sales in October 2022 grew by 15 percent compared to October 2021 and 19 percent compared to October 2019.

The peak festive season period may have mitigated the effects of inflation to some extent in Tier II and beyond towns.

Retail businesses across regions have indicated growth in sales compared to pre-pandemic levels with west India signaling a growth of 25 percent, while south and east India indicate a growth of 18 percent each, followed by north India at 14 percent compared to sales in October 2019.

The overall retail segment witnessed robust demand during the quarter gone by, with some companies reporting growth over the pre-Covid figures. Titan’s jewelry business grew 18 percent year on year and sales of its wearables segment almost tripled during the third quarter over the corresponding period of last year.

Trent’s revenue jumped 78 percent year on year and 222 percent over the pre-pandemic period. Value retailers are expected to gain a boost from the second half of the fiscal year 2023 in line with premium retailers on account of normal monsoon, higher minimum support price for crops, increased wages, and a greater shift from unorganized to organized players in smaller towns.

Latest Textile Events

04 March 2023, Mumbai 

Shoppers Stop Ltd, the Indian apparel-and-beauty chain, has seen a turnaround in its fortunes. The company already had a new strategy in place in sharpening the focus and ensuring execution. Since then, the company's shares have surged almost 4X in value, outperforming its competitors.

Pivotal to this growth is the experience of visiting the company’s store. The company has been able to attract customers by renovating its outlets every five-six years, instead of its norm of once in nine-10 years, as well as accelerating store expansion. With three-quarters of Shoppers Stop’s revenue coming from the 8.7 million members of its loyalty programme, it cannot have stores looking the worse for wear.

Shoppers Stop's same-store sales also grew 16 per cent in the last quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, and the company expects to grow year-on-year in the mid-to-high single digits.

Shoppers Stop has added 10 stores since April 2022, with plans to open two more this month, taking the total to around 100. While the company needs to find new catchments to continue its growth, the expansion shows a commitment to that goal.

Analysts have noted that Shoppers Stop has always required strategic interventions, but under its CEO Venu Nair's leadership, it has helped to turn the company around. With the company hitting an all-time high in October 2022, investors are pleased with the new direction.

Latest Textile Events

 27 February 2023, Mumbai 

More than 65 per cent of Indian consumers across all generations have shown a strong preference for shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. So says CBRE India.

Consumption via offline channels is driven directly by product and in-store experience. Brick-and-mortar stores continue to remain a prime retail channel for do-it-yourself and essential items like grocery and toiletries.

Preference for in-store shopping among Indian consumers of all generations corresponds with their desire to try on an item before buying. Examining the products remains the top reason driving people to brick-and-mortar stores across most categories; with the exception of essential items where immediate availability of products takes priority.

Consumers believe they are also able to find better product assortment in brick-and-mortar stores, especially when customization / personalization takes precedence. The experiential element also becomes a differentiating factor during in-store shopping.

About 65 per cent of city centre residents prefer to shop online for gifts, cosmetics, clothing and footwear along with essential items like grocery and toiletries. More than 55 per cent of small-town residents prefer online shopping for gifts, clothing and footwear and electronics; only 31 per cent prefer shopping online for grocery and toiletries. More than 70 per cent of late millennials prefer to buy their clothing and footwear and cosmetics online.

Latest Textile Events

15 February 2023, Mumbai

For the third quarter V2 Retail’s net profit was Rs 9 crores as against Rs 12 crores in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The company’s revenue for the quarter was Rs 239 crores as against Rs 238 crores reported in the year-ago period. During the March 2022 to December 2022 period, the company’s revenue stood at Rs 645 crores with a net profit of Rs 5 crores.

V2 Retail’s total expenses during the quarter stood at Rs 229 crores as against Rs 223 crores in the October to December quarter of 2021.During the quarter, V2 Retail opened one new store and closed five of its non-performing stores to end the calendar year 2022 with a store count of 99 with a total retail area of 10.59 lakh sq ft.

Value fashion retailer V2 Retail was launched in 2001 and retails women’swear, men’swear, and children’s wear. V2 Retail is one of the leading players in the fashion and apparel market. V2 Retail was formerly known as Vishal Retail. It presently operates in Tier II and Tier III cities. V2 Retail offers an unparalleled retail mix combined with value and variety to its shoppers. This fashion avenue gives an extraordinary experience with an embracing portfolio of product offerings. V2 retail believes in offering complete value for money to shoppers through its large variety of smart, trendy, fashionable apparels across categories under one roof.

Latest Textile Events

03 March 2023, Mumbai 

Retailers are increasing their store sizes despite the high rental costs, with many brands seeing the value of offering shoppers an improved experience.

After retailers started shutting stores or reducing their size to save on rental during the Covid-induced lockdown, brands are now asking for an extra 30-40% space to expand their stores, not to store more products, but to give shoppers more space to roam around and improve the quality of time they spend in-store.

The focus on experience has resulted in a reversal of the decade-old trend of launching smaller outlets. Many brands have increased their average store size by 30-40%, while a few have doubled their store size, indicating that consumers are increasingly looking for an experience when they shop.

According to property consultant Anarock, the share of leasing of less than 2,000 square feet of retail space fell to 59% in 2022 from 64% in 2021, while the share of transactions sized between 2,000 sqft to 5,000 sqft increased to 28% from 24% during the same period.

Apparel, entertainment, and food and beverage (F&B) together accounted for 70% of total retail space absorption in 2022. The share of entertainment in absorption increased to 28% from just 2% in 2021.

Brands across categories, including Levi’s, Tasva of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, Celio, Puma, and Apparel Group India, among others, are opening larger stores to provide a better experience to shoppers. Brands have also noticed that conversion rates are better at larger stores, as consumers are not only coming to buy, but they also want the experience.

Mall operators in tier-2 cities have also noticed this trend, with new brands with aggressive expansion plans looking for larger space than what they had initially planned.

Latest Textile Events

23 February 2023, Mumbai 

For the third quarter, V-Mart Retail’s net profit fell by 65 percent. Revenue for the quarter rose by 12 percent as against the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Total expenses jumped by 21 percent year on year. The company opened 15 new stores, including one store in the south, and closed six stores during the quarter, taking the total store count to 414 as of now.

The Unlimited stores in the south, which were acquired last year, completed a year of continued profitable operations and are growing steadily with seven store additions this year. The newly acquired Limeroad business is in a stabilization phase and both these acquisitions are expected to remain the future growth drivers for the company.

Limeroad is the primary omni e-commerce vehicle for V-Mart’s online presence. V-Mart is an omni retail store chain offering fashion apparel, footwear, home furnishings, general merchandise, and kirana.

V-Mart has been on an expansion spree and plans to open new stores with a focus on Tier II, III, and IV cities in 2023. The value fashion retailer offers a wide selection of men’s, women’s, and children’s casual, ethnic, and occasion wear as well as accessories and lifestyle goods.

Latest Textile Events

14 February 2023, Mumbai

Uniqlo is opening a highway store in India. This will be in Punjab.

The highway store format – which is a standalone store located alongside a highway – is new for Uniqlo in India and further accelerates the company’s expansion in the country.

The store, spread across one floor and having a total sales floor area of 10,965 sqft, is the largest Uniqlo sales area on a single floor in India. It will open in April 2023.

This roadside-type store is popular in Japan. The highway format has played a crucial role in Uniqlo’s growth throughout Japan, and the model has also been very successful outside Japan, including in Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The highway store format is aimed at bringing convenience to the community and serving as a perfect one-stop destination and is carefully designed to ensure enough space and accessibility for all.

Further, this launch also supports Uniqlo’s underlying commitment to the Indian market and to make highly functional, quality apparel accessible to more customers. With this highway store Uniqlo, a Japanese retailer, will have ten stores in India.

Uniqlo has more than 12,000 products online and services 17,000 pincodes in India. Just about everything that is launched in Japan finds its way to the Indian market.

Latest Textile Events