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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 05:18 AM IST
Durable family travel solutions American Tourister is betting big on its non-travel gear segment and plans to double its revenue to Rs100 crore this year from its backpack category, a company official has said.
"We are expecting a revenue of Rs100 crore from the backpack. We will be doubling our turnover from 2011. Backpack is a big category. It is as big as the luggage category, with market size estimated to be Rs3,000 crore. The branded category is much smaller and is estimated to be Rs300 crore. We want at least 30% market share of this. We plan to sell at least two backpacks every minute," Samsonite Group South Asia Marketing Director Sudip Ghose told PTI here.
Samsonite International had bought American Tourister nearly 15 years back and the brand was launched in India, Samsonite India, eight years ago to tap India's value travel solutions.
The backpack market is dominated by global sportswear firms like Nike, Adidas, Reebok and none of the luggage makers are present in it apart from American Tourister, he said.
The company will spend Rs 10 crore for the promotional activities of the backpack segment.
"We are heavily investing on the backpack category and are focusing on this," Ghose said adding that the company had launched this segment two years ago and is now bullish on the same.
The backpacks are imported and the price range is from Rs890 to Rs2,100.
The non-travel segment is expected to contribute 35% of the company's revenue.
"We are focussing on large amount of non-travel gear now. The new segments are giving us more growth, which includes backpacks, duffels, rucksacks, adventure gears, pouches, laptops. Earlier, it used to be suitcases, but now a lot of non-luggage items are being sold. Non-travel should contribute about 35% of the turnover," he said.
The new lines of backpacks will cater to the entire spectrum of youth consumers from college-going students to young working professionals.
American Tourister is set to grow into a larger brand in terms of revenue than its parent Samsonite in 2012, in the country and generates close to 40% of the revenue for Samsonite. Samsonite India's turnover in 2011, was $140 million.
The company has a plant at Nashik and owns factories in Argentina, Belgium, Chile and China. There are three factories in China that manufacture exclusively for Samsonite Corporations.
