Affordable collection in store, Titan’s Taneira eyes wider market

The plan is to draw more shoppers and enter smaller markets, said Ambuj Narayan, CEO, Taneira. The retailer is piloting various new collections in stores such as cotton occasion wear as well as more kurtas, priced lower than what it already sells, he added.

Interestingly, this expansion into the affordable segment is set to make Taneira a direct competitor of Westside, operated by Trent Ltd, another Tata Group company with a strong presence in the apparel market.

“We are doing this to attract more shoppers and to get to the next level of customers who are not able to experience the brand thinking we may be premium, but we want to be able to appeal to them as well,” said Narayan in an interview with Mint. 

“Kurta is still a small category for the brand—we want to make it a decent-sized business for us. Ever since Taneira was launched, the focus was on sarees. We believe we have a decent expertise in sarees now. We want to catch on to kurtas as well as lehengas now,” he added.

To be sure, the average selling price point for sarees at Taneira is between ₹8,000 and ₹9,000. Its range of sarees starts at ₹1,200 and runs up to ₹2,00,000. Taneira, from the house of Tata, sells sarees, dress materials and ready-to-wear kurtas. The retailer works with over 100 textile clusters across India.

“We will have more collections priced between ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 that are planned,” Narayan said.

Such collections will also enable the retailer to enter smaller markets where shoppers are typically looking for more “value” clothing. The retailer plans “focused expansion” in tier two and tier three markets by the end of FY25.

“One of the reasons why we are not really going great guns into tier two markets or tier three markets is because we need to have more affordable price points and we are developing that whole range across categories, whether sarees or ready-to-wear kurtas and lehenga which is more suited for tier three shoppers,” Taneira’s CEO said.

Taneira more than doubled its store count in FY23 from 20 to 41 stores across 22 cities. The retailer is set to exit FY24 with 75 stores.  The company is on track to open 40 stores next year and add another 35 to 40 stores in FY26.

The management has set a target to touch Rs1,000 crore in revenues for the business by FY27. “Right now the focus is on populating the metros and tier one cities… So by the end of FY27 we aim to be at around 180 to 200 stores and with a top line of ₹1,000 crore,” Narayan added.

In the December quarter FY24, Titan Co.’s emerging businesses, which include fragrances and fashion accessories as well as Indian ethnic wear, reported a consolidated total income of ₹313 crore, up 46% year-on-year.

Sarees account for 85% to 88% of the retailer’s sales. While kurtas were introduced in 2019-2020, the retailer is expanding its offerings under the category. 

“In a value-conscious market like India such moves are quite normal for retailers to get footfall and then cross-sell higher priced products inside store premise,” said Abneesh Roy, executed director, Nuvama Institutional Equities.

India’s ethnic wear market is expected to touch ₹2,400 billion by FY25 from ₹1,800 billion in FY20 growing at a CAGR of 5.5% to 6%, according to estimates by ratings firm Crisil.

The market has proliferated over the last decade with small online brands offering Indo-western clothing. This strategy is backed by growing trend among Indian women who are increasingly favoring more casual and experimental ethnic wear, a shift from traditional heavy attire, indicating a broader market opportunity for Taneira and similar brands.

In FY20, ethnic wear accounted for about 32% of the overall apparel retail market in India—with women’s ethnic wear being the largest segment of the overall market, Crisil said. Brands such as W, Biba, Nalli, Mohey, Fabindia and several other local and regional chains play a major role in the ethnic wear market that includes kurtas, sarees, casual occasion wear, and wedding wear.

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Published: 26 Feb 2024, 09:42 PM IST