| The company will quadruple its retail outlets in Gujarat from two to eight by the end of the next fiscal year. |
| "VIP has been known as a hard luggage manufacturer. We will now be actively concentrating on the soft luggage section as it is the current trend with customers," Videh Jaipuriar, vice president sales, Blow Plast told Business Standard. |
| He was in the city for the launch of four new VIP retail outlets in Ahmedabad. |
| The market for soft luggage is growing at about 30-35 per cent while the hard luggage section is at 5-7 percent. |
| Videh claimed that the unorganised sector has been a growth driver for branded soft luggage. |
| The reason is that , he said, customer buying soft luggage from the unorganised sector at low price, gets habituated with the trend. |
| But later they have to face quality problem which draws about 25-30 per cent of the customers towards branded segment. |
| Further, he said that VIP is not just a luggage making industry but a travel industry and will diversify more into travel luggages like trolleys, laptop bags, camera bags, ladies handbags, waist bag and other travel related luggage. |
| Videh added that soft luggage has become a preferred segment because of its looks, lightness, trendy, stylishness and convenience and will take over the hard luggage by 2007. |
| Commenting on the aggressive promotion in the state retail segment, Parag Dani, head retail Blow Plast said, "We have been working on the retail outlets expansion for the last one and half year." |
| "In our retail outlets, customers can check the product, services and experience the purchase. And the expansion is all across the country," he added. |
| There would be four stores in Ahmedabad, two in Surat and one each in Baroda, Anand, Rajkot and Bhavnagar by 2007. |
| VIP expects Gujarat to contribute one fourth of the retail sales of the western region. |
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