Gucci struts into India with entire baggage

Fancy decking out your baby in booties (Rs 10,000) with the famous Gucci stripe (a red band bound by a green band on each side)? Or serving your guests drinks with ice cubes shaped in the brand's coveted interlocking GG logo (Rs 4,650 for a set of two)?

As euro2.1 billion brand Gucci, a part of the Gucci Group owned by PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, a global player in luxury goods), enters India, it reflects the new era in luxury goods retailing, where upmarket brands enter with their entire offering.

Spread across 3,400 sq ft, the Gucci store is the largest single-brand luxury store in India yet, every product category, from ready-to-wear to gifting, that Gucci operates in globally, is represented. There's plenty of boast-worthy buys besides traditional offerings such as loafers, belts and their signature canvas handbags.

This is far removed from the early days of luxury retailing in India when brands apprehensively entered with a limited repertoire.

"We decided it was time that Indian consumers stopped feeling like they were at a disadvantage shopping locally," explains Vijay Murjani, managing director, The Murjani Group, the exclusive Indian licensee for Gucci.

The south Mumbai store also has the distinction of being only the fourth Gucci store in the world to be designed according to a new store concept that will eventually homogenise the brand's global retail aesthetic.

An AC Nielsen global survey in 2006 revealed that Gucci was the most coveted luxury brand among Indians. That tag has also made it a prime target for the knock-off industry. To ensure that it takes on the counterfeit goods manufacturer, Gucci has introduced products that will be hard to counterfeit. For instance, a carry-on duffel bag in chocolate leather from the latest La Pelle Guccissima line of specially embossed leather is among those goods that can beat the copycats.

"You cannot completely weed out counterfeits, but we will try and stay on top of it," said Murjani.

The Gucci store, situated on the premises of the five-star hotel, Hilton Towers, will soon be joined by Jimmy Choo and La Perla, sister brands from the Murjani luxury stable.

In an unorthodox move to solve the infrastructure crunch for luxury retailing in India, earlier this year, the Murjanis exclusively leased out what used to then be Palms, a multi-cuisine restaurant, for conversion into a retailing platform for their brands.

"This will give us complete control over operational efficiencies such as adjacencies, cross-selling and brand placement," says Murjani.

And while Murjani is tightlipped about naming future additions to his company's luxury portfolio, he does agree that the licensing agreement with Gucci will open the doors to other brands from the Gucci stable such as Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta.

For now, the spotlight is on demonstrating to Indian consumers how attuned the brand is to its newest emerging market. Business head Ananda Kara points out the synchrony between the brand's Italian heritage and its new Indian focus. Not just because the staff will be decked out in custom-designed, made-in-Italy Gucci silk turbans.