Peter England, the leading brand from Madura Fashion and Lifestyle and part of Aditya Birla Group, is evaluating options to foray into ethnic wear, body spray, foot wear and home furnishing businesses during the next three years, a top company official today said.
The company, a strong player in the men's wear category today entered into the non-apparel business with the launch of PE (Peter England) Bags aimed at the middle market segment.
"In the next three years we want to focus on non-apparel business. Unfortunately, there are absence of good brands in non-apparel business. We believe our next growth engine is from that segment", Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, Chief Operating Officer, Kedar Apshankar told reporters here after unveiling the bags, priced between Rs 1,500 and Rs 4,000.
Stating that the company began its journey in the non-apparel business with the launch of "PE Bags", Apshankar said, "We are evaluating options in other categories like ethnic wear. We are also researching in areas like body spray, footwear, home furnishing and also in sunglasses".
He said while there are traditional players in serious 'travel' wear business, there were some targeting the college goers in the bags segment. "We want to target middle-market segment -- the young working men", he said.
Noting that the non-apparel business has been witnessing an exponential growth in the last three years, he said they would position the bags segment along with mother brand -- Peter England.
The company has planned to market the bags through print and digital media campaigns and expects that this business would contribute 50% from the total accessories business. "The total accessories business contribution (to Peter England) is around 12%. We expect revenue from bags would be 50% of it..", Apshankar said.
The company, which reported revenues of Rs 500 crore in 2011-12, has been researching for over a year and half, for entering the bags segment, he said.
He also said they intend to make PE Bags available initially in 30 to 40 towns across the country in the first phase and double its reach in the second phase. Currently, Peter England has presence in over 500 cities, he added.
