Allen Solly eyes Rs 1000cr sales in FY16; to open more stores

MUMBAI, Mar 1:  Allen Solly, the premium readymade brand from Madura Garments owned by Aditya Birla Group, is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore in FY16.
“We should cross Rs 800 crore (in sales) this fiscal and touch Rs 1,000 crore next fiscal. We have been growing at 34 per cent CAGR for the last three years and we intend to maintain that,” Allen Solly brand head Sooraj Bhat told PTI.
Last fiscal, its revenue stood at Rs 600 crore.
Men’s wear enjoys a lion’s share of the Allen Solly revenue, with women’s apparel constituting only 18 per cent and children’s wear 7 per cent, he said, adding exports, mainly to the Saarc countries and West Asia, constitute 5 per cent of the turnover.
The brand also has footwear, handbags and accessories, which contribute about 5 per cent of sales.
On the just sewed up tie-up with the famed tennis grand slam tournament Wimbledon to sell men’s wear, Bhat said “it is a 10-year licencing agreement for Wimbledon merchandise through Solly Sport. We are the exclusive licensees for apparel and non-apparel for the Wimbledon line in the country. They are doing this only with us and only in India.”
The brand launched the Wimbledon inspired men’s wear late last month under Solly Sport and plans to come out with women’s and children’s collections by April 2016. Solly Sport was launched in January last year.
“Over the next two years we will have children’s and women’s wear and non-apparel from the Wimbledon stable. Kids wear will be the next,” he said.
The company aims to clock a retail revenue of Rs 40 crore from Solly Sport this fiscal and expects it to be five times that figure over the next two years.
“In FY15, we are expected to close at Rs 40 crore sales and Rs 200 crore in next two years and Wimbledon association will be driving this growth,” he said.
Allen Solly has earmarked Rs 7-8 crore for marketing Solly Sport in this Spring-Summer season, Bhat added.
Despite the rising online sales of apparel, Bhat said most of sales come from the brick-and-mortar format. “Roughly, 4-5 per cent of our sales are online. We are off-line heavy. But we see a fair amount of opportunity in online too.”
Allen Solly, launched in 1993, has 207 exclusive outlets and Bhat said they will add 40-50 stores each year. “We nearly doubled our store count in the last two years. We opened around 50 stores. We will add 40-50 stores every year,” he said, adding each store costs nearly Rs 40 lakh.
He said the brand is focusing more on tier II and III cities to tap demand. “We are increasing our focus on tier II and III markets. We continue to open stores in the metros but the mix is moving more and more to smaller towns.” (PTI)_