Bombay Dyeing to expand product portfolio

Home textile company Bombay Dyeing is likely to expand its product portfolio, which may include curtains and upholstery. At present, Bombay Dyeing's thrust areas are bed and bath textiles, in addition to suitings and shirtings.

The home furnishings market, at present, is worth over Rs 1,000 crore, mainly unorganised and growing at 15 per cent a year. In the organised segment, it is estimated to be worth Rs 300 crore, dominated by Raymond.

Arun Bhawsingka, Bombay Dyeing's domestic business head, said, "We are currently discussing Bombay Dyeing's possible foray into the furnishings segment. After bed and bath textiles, this is the logical extension."

The company is also looking at improving its institutional sales business. Although, this segment contributes close to 15 per cent to the company's overall turnover and is dominated by the pharma industry.

"We are trying to build bed and bath textiles as a good gifting option. For this we are introducing attractive and convenient packaging options," said Bhawsingka.

For instance, the company has introduced a 'CMYK' packaging option for its bedsheets where these come in a rectangular folder.

Other packaging options build around convenient carry-pack format as well as a festive wrap to push the gifting option during the festive season.

Bombay Dyeing has also headed for a major retail makeover through a range of new-look stores with an investment of around Rs 60 crore over the next three years.

"For instance, we have introduced open-shelf format in our stores, so that consumers can touch and feel all products. It makes more sense when you are stocking high-end products because Indian consumers spend a lot of time in choosing what they want to buy," he explained.

The new stores would also sport a new look in terms of architecture, interior design, graphic design and brand strategy to create distinct customer experiences. It has approximately 450 stores right now.

Bombay Dyeing has also roped in Sabyasachi Mukherjee for designing high-end home textiles. The range starts from Rs 2,500, while its non-designer range starts from Rs 400 onwards.

"We are also bringing all our in-house designers to interact with consumers at the stores so that the team will gets the recognition. When a customer sees who has designed what and appreciates the work, it boosts the designer's enthusiasm as well as makes him/her stick around with the company for long," Bhawshingka added.

With all these activities, Bombay Dyeing is expecting a growth higher than the market growth. The home textiles market is reportedly growing at around 20 per cent at present.

The home textile market is estimated at Rs 7,000 crore of which organised market account for approximately Rs 400 crore.