Gap to debut in India tomorrow

Leading global apparel brand Gap will open its first store in Delhi this Saturday. Taking the franchise route, the brand is sashaying into Indian market in partnership with Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd.

The upscale American brand, which is relying heavily on emerging markets to grow its business, will soon scale up to 40 stores in tier-1 towns. The brand expects to breakeven after scaling up to 10 stores.

J Suresh, managing director and CEO of Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd, said like all its other brands, they would look at omni-channel opportunity for Gap too. "It is a little early to spell out how the strategy is going to be but you will see our online strategy roll out very soon," he said.

The menswear, womenswear and kidswear clothing sold by Gap in India would be sourced from the global supply chain spread across India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries.

Ismail Seyis, vice-president of Gap Franchise, said the average size of Gap store in India would be 7,000 square feet (sqft), which was in line with its stores in other markets.

He said high real estate cost was a challenge but can be overcome with the profit prospect that exists in the domestic market. He said the brand did not view Indian consumers differently from the rest of world but was enthused by the size of the domestic market.

"We have same kinds of customers (around the world), it's the size of market that is very different. Emerging markets are still growing. We are targeting the mid-segment of the market. If you position yourself as premium then you may have one store in Delhi and another in Mumbai but the idea is to scale up. That's what we are all about," he said.

Gap has over 600 stores in the US but has been losing market share with saturating opportunities.