'Coming home to Siyaram' went the musical tagline for the the Indian brand which became a household name for its men's fabrics. Siyaram, which is now trying to recapture the lost ground with premium play, has found a home in Italian fashion brand Cadini.
'Coming home to Siyaram' went the musical tagline for the the Indian brand which became a household name for its men's fabrics. Siyaram, which is now trying to recapture the lost ground with premium play, has found a home in Italian fashion brand Cadini.
After launching Cadini's fabrics last year in September, Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd (SSML) has now opened the flagship Cadini exclusive brand outlet (EBO) in Mumbai, offering garments by the same brand. The EBO, located at Colaba Causeway in South Mumbai, began retailing the Cadini merchandise from Tuesday.
"Apparels priced at the lower end will be made in India but the look, feel and fit will be just like the Italian products," said Ramesh Poddar, chairman and managing director, Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd.
SSML is planning to open 10 EBOs within the current fiscal across key Indian cities and has earmarked Rs 15 crore for opening Cadini stores.
Poddar says while the EBOs will sell Cadini-branded apparels, the inventory will be a mix of domestic and Italian products.
"Though the designs will be by Cadini, approximately 20% of the total inventory will be from Italy and the balance will be made by our dedicated manufacturing units in India. The idea is to offer a premium Italian brand at prices that are affordable for the Indian market," he said, adding that the cost of setting each EBO would be around Rs 1.5 crore.
Targeting audience across the leading metros, each store will be spread across 1,000-1,200 square feet and will be company owned and operated initially. Locations for other stores have already been finalised and SSML will be rolling them out gradually.
"Among other cities that will have Cadini stores include Pune (2), Delhi (1), Bangalore (3), Chennai (1), Hyderabad (1) and one more store in Mumbai. I think 6-7 stores will open by August-September and the balance before December this year," said Poddar.
Initially, the focus will be on launching exclusive stores. The company will also explore the shop-in-shop approach once the 10 EBOs are operational. "We have presence across over three lakh multi-brand outlets in the country and a strong network of over 1,600 wholesellers. The shop-in-shop model will be explored primarily with the bigger retailers."
SSML is targeting overall revenues of between Rs 100 crore and Rs 125 crore from Cadini fabrics and garments business. "This year fabric will contribute a larger sum as garments business is just being rolled out. Gradually, we will have 50:50 ratio between fabrics and garments under the Cadini brand. The plan however is to focus more on the garments business going forward," he said.
The merchandise on offer has been priced between Rs 2,500 to Rs 20,000 for shirts while the suits start retailing from Rs 15,000 going up to Rs 100,000.
The Siyaram portfolio currently comprises a dozen-odd brands including MSD, Oxemberg, J Hampstead, Moretti, Mistair, Royal Linen, Little Champ, Casa Moda, Unicode, Zenesis, Siyaram's Shirtings and Siyaram's.
According to Poddar, the brands business has been contributing 18% to the company's net sales of Rs 1617.1 crore in the fiscal 2015-16. The company also has 200 Siyaram's franchisee stores and there are plans to increase that number gradually.
World's thinnest laptop
Hewlett-Packard (HP) is focusing on expanding its share in the premium notebook segment in India that is growing at a faster pace than the overall laptop market. According to IDC, a research firm, HP has a 36% share in the premium market. Accordingly, the has launched 'Spectre 13' touted as the world's thinnest laptop with plans to introduce more devices in the premium category in the coming months. Priced at about Rs 1.2 lakh, the Spectre 13 weighs 1.1 kg and is powered by Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, 8GB RAM and hyperbaric cooling technology that keeps the laptop cool and provides peak performance. The 13.3-inch HP Spectre will be available in India from July 25. According to Ketan Patel, India director - personal systems business, HP, the company is focused on growing its share in the premium category. "That market (premium) in the consumer segment is growing 5% faster than the total notebook market," he said adding that the above $800 notebooks (about Rs 54,000 onwards) comprise about 15% of the total Indian notebook market.
Honor 5C coming to India
Honor, Huawei's smartphone e-brand for digital natives, is introducing the Honor 5C in the Indian market. Packed with the Kirin 650- 16nm processor the smartphone is available in three colours (gold, silver and grey) and is being sold via a flash sale on Flipkart on June 30, 2016 and again on July 07, 2016. Priced at Rs 10,999 the smartphone offers a plethora of enhanced features and propositions like reduced power consumption by 70%, and increased battery life. It also features professional photography modes which will allow users to adjust shutter speed and control exposure. It also boasts of a dynamic fingerprint scanner for better security mechanism and an elegant metallic design which matches the aesthetics of any premium phone. The the display is 1920x1080 pixel (423 PPI), 16.7 million color, and full HD IPS display with improved color reproduction. The phone features 13 MP rear cameras and 8 MP front camera with BSI sensor with 10 different beauty modes.
Compiled by Ashish K Tiwari
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