Gitanjanli Gems, which has over 60 jewellery brands and 40 per cent of the branded jewellery market in India, is planning a bigger push into apparel retailing. The group believes the move will help fortify its lifestyle department store brand, Maya by Gitanjali Lifestyle.
Gitanjali Gems Chairman and Managing Director Mehul Choksi says, “While jewellery will remain our focus, jewellery alone can’t make Maya a destination store. So apparels will complement what’s on offer. Women can shop for their families too at these stores.” The retail venture is being built on the back of its acquisition of value retail chain Salasar in 2009, its stint in jewellery retailing and its branding prowess.
Maya is being positioned as a women-centric department store chain that will host jewellery brands, watches, silverware, apparels and footwear and has 150 brands already. Gitanjali Gems Retail Vice-president Deepak Tulsian says, “We are getting together a team of people with background in apparel brands. We will outsource manufacturing but the designs will be owned by us. It will take another six months to get the products on the shop floor.” The team will monitor sales of the brands it retails now at its stores to zero in on the pricing and categories it would enter.
Womenswear, menswear and kidswear are all on its radar. Gitanjali already retails branded apparels — such as Remanika, Mufti, Satya Paul, Sepia, Liliput and Spykar — at the eight Maya stores it has across the country. It hopes the margins for private labels would be double that of brands it does not own.
The company forayed into the apparel business in 2009 with the acquisition of Lolita and Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. However, it neither invested nor increased the number of outlets for the brands it had brought to India beyond one store each at a mall in Mumbai. From the looks of it, Gitanjali is looking at a stronger presence for Maya. Choksi says, “We will invest Rs 5-10 crore on the apparel brands for Maya.”
Gitanjali Gems already runs a 3,000 square feet wedding-themed store called Maya Weddings and Occassions in Mumbai which retails designerwear, priced at Rs 5,000 and upwards.
Gitanjali got access to premium locations in tier II cities such as Cuttack, Gwalior, Guwahati, Indore apart from metros with its acquisition of 76 per cent stake in Salasar Retail in 2009. The stores were spread over 20,000 square feet. Six out of the eight Maya stores are refurbished Salasar outlets. Five more Maya stores will open this year. The spread of its real estate in smaller cities means Gitanjali would have to position its department stores a notch lower than chains such as Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle. “We will operate in the premium space,” says Tulsian, while Shoppers Stop, on its part, targets the luxury and above-premium shoppers.
Market observers have favoured this Rs 3,355-crore company because of its increasing focus on premium jewellery and lifestyle products and control over the entire jewellery value chain that has helped it get better margins. Tulsian claims that Gitanjali brands account for 75 per cent of the branded jewellery sales at Maya, while at other department stores they contribute more than 50 per cent.
Analysts, however, point out that apparel retailing is going to be a whole different ball game. “Gitanjali can stand for watches and accessories which complement jewellery but venturing into apparel could be tricky. It will have to get its jewellery customers to the stores and then convert them to the apparel brand,” points out an analyst. Choksi is upbeat: “Building brands is in the DNA of our company,” he says.
