Raymond plans range for babies

After Zapp! for children between 4 and 12 years, apparel major Raymond, is planning to roll out 'Baby Zapp' for children between 0 and 4 years.

The new brand would be launched by November this year, targetting the festive season when sales escalade by 30 per cent.

The company is planning to roll out an extensive advertising campaign for Baby Zapp.

The ads would target young mothers who are the biggest buyers for baby clothes.

Speaking to Business Standard, Shreyas Joshi, president of Raymond Apparel said, "Baby Zapp, as a brand, would be positioned in the mid to premium segment. This means Baby Zapp range would start from Rs 300 and go up to Rs 1000."

Another way to build a new brand, according to Joshi, would be to introduce an exclusive website for it, which would not only provide picturisque details of the brand and its entire range, but also provide store details, locations, etc.

The company is also planning exclusive standalone stores for Baby Zapp to push its visibility.

Raymond forayed into the kid's apparel market with Zapp! in 2006 with an investment of close to Rs 7 crore in a national roll of exclusive Zapp! outlets.

The new Baby Zapp would also need an investment in that range once its retail plans are finalised. Initially, Baby Zapp would be stocked at the company's Zapp! outlets across India.

The current market size for kids branded apparel in India is close to Rs 27000 crore, however, the contribution of organized players is limited to Rs 500 crore.

Raymond is looking at about Rs 30 crore by the end of 2008 from its Zapp! brand.

"We are now looking at setting up exclusive standalone outlets for most of our brands, instead of stocking all of them in multi-brand-outlets. The rationale is to increase visibility for each of our brands," Joshi explained.

The company is also looking at setting up three exclusive outlets for each of its women's brands - Park Avenue Women and Color Plus Women - in Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore initially.