Bombay Dyeing invests Rs 100 crore to facelift the 137-year-old brand
Nusli Wadia-owned textile flagship Bombay Dyeing, will cough up Rs 100 crore over the next four years to re-position the 137-year-old brand, and turn it focused more towards millennial consumers. The company will also scale up its distribution and roll out 4/5 new products each year on an average for the next four/five years. The plan is to push up the revenues to Rs 1000 crore by 2020, said Nagesh Rajanna, CEO, retail, Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Co Ltd. With a 30 per cent market share, the brand is a market leader in Rs 1000 crore bed and bathing products (organized sector).
“As part of our brand re-invention strategy we realized that we needed to invest in brand, people, customers and market place. We have already come up with our new refreshing logo and look. We will now invest significantly in digital media, social media, innovative promotions, creating our own exclusive e-commerce platform with online experience zone,” said Rajanna.
While focusing aggressively on youth and millennial products range, the company, as starter, will come up with unborn/newborn/infant range over the next 30 days or so, he said. In another significant gesture, Bombay Dyeing has teamed up with famed fashipn designers like Sunnet Varma and Varun Bahl to come up with their exclusive designs and that too in digital design format, he said, adding that this move also aimed at tapping the millennial consumers. The company is also coming up with its own in-house design studios.
At present the company has 30 company owned outlets, all of which will be upgraded to experience centres. The company will double its MBUs (multi brand outlets) from the current number of 5000. Currently, only 2-3 per cent of its revenue comes from e-commerce (online sales). However, over the next four years, this will go up to at least 10 per cent and more so with the company coming up with its own exclusive e-commerce platform, the CEO hoped. He said that at present there is a heavy tilting towards ‘modern trade routes’, that is large format stores/malls.
Rajanna said, “At the bottom of our re-invention strategy was to turn ourselves from a manufacturing company to a retailer. And with this in view, we have done away with our own manufacturing facilities in a phased manner over a period of 18-24 months and engaged as many as 60 manufacturing suppliers, while maintaining and ensuring the same manufacturing standards, same quality philosophy and guidelines and periodic physical inspection mechanism. In the process our capacity has actually gone up, while maintaining, if not improving, our quality and standards.” At present, all these manufacturing suppliers are located in western and northern parts of the country.
As part of its innovative marketing strategy, the company has come up with an exchange programme called ‘Save the Lives’, through which it is replacing old products of any make with new Bombay Dyeing products for a nominal exchange fee and old products are handed over to most vulnerable section of the society, said Rajanna.
Talking about the West Bengal and eastern India markets, in particular, he said that the eastern India market, at present, contributes 12-13 per cent of the brand’s overall retail revenue. But this market has the potential to grow up to over 20 per cent of the total revenue over the next four years. Bombay Dyeing, which sales its products through 35 MBOs in West Bengal, will take this up to 100 in next couple of years.
ritwik.mukherjee@mydigitalfc.com
“As part of our brand re-invention strategy we realized that we needed to invest in brand, people, customers and market place. We have already come up with our new refreshing logo and look. We will now invest significantly in digital media, social media, innovative promotions, creating our own exclusive e-commerce platform with online experience zone,” said Rajanna.
While focusing aggressively on youth and millennial products range, the company, as starter, will come up with unborn/newborn/infant range over the next 30 days or so, he said. In another significant gesture, Bombay Dyeing has teamed up with famed fashipn designers like Sunnet Varma and Varun Bahl to come up with their exclusive designs and that too in digital design format, he said, adding that this move also aimed at tapping the millennial consumers. The company is also coming up with its own in-house design studios.
At present the company has 30 company owned outlets, all of which will be upgraded to experience centres. The company will double its MBUs (multi brand outlets) from the current number of 5000. Currently, only 2-3 per cent of its revenue comes from e-commerce (online sales). However, over the next four years, this will go up to at least 10 per cent and more so with the company coming up with its own exclusive e-commerce platform, the CEO hoped. He said that at present there is a heavy tilting towards ‘modern trade routes’, that is large format stores/malls.
Rajanna said, “At the bottom of our re-invention strategy was to turn ourselves from a manufacturing company to a retailer. And with this in view, we have done away with our own manufacturing facilities in a phased manner over a period of 18-24 months and engaged as many as 60 manufacturing suppliers, while maintaining and ensuring the same manufacturing standards, same quality philosophy and guidelines and periodic physical inspection mechanism. In the process our capacity has actually gone up, while maintaining, if not improving, our quality and standards.” At present, all these manufacturing suppliers are located in western and northern parts of the country.
As part of its innovative marketing strategy, the company has come up with an exchange programme called ‘Save the Lives’, through which it is replacing old products of any make with new Bombay Dyeing products for a nominal exchange fee and old products are handed over to most vulnerable section of the society, said Rajanna.
Talking about the West Bengal and eastern India markets, in particular, he said that the eastern India market, at present, contributes 12-13 per cent of the brand’s overall retail revenue. But this market has the potential to grow up to over 20 per cent of the total revenue over the next four years. Bombay Dyeing, which sales its products through 35 MBOs in West Bengal, will take this up to 100 in next couple of years.
ritwik.mukherjee@mydigitalfc.com
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