Since the last decade, Lacoste has been promoting a whole new lifestyle corresponding to its original spirit. The brand has been increasingly attracting a youthful audience and our customer is typically in the 20 to 40+ group.
It was always positioned as a super-premium brand, and has today created its own niche as an affordable luxury brand. In the fast changing Indian market scene, Lacoste remains an exclusive brand, building on its strong heritage of sports, innovation and elegance.
With respect to challenges, while retail did face lot of challenges in the fiscal year 2013-14, it has turned out to be a rather good year for Lacoste India, thanks to its discerning and loyal customer base, which values quality and provide us opportunity to service them again and again.
“We grew over 25 percent in this fiscal after a consistent growth of 33 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in the preceding two fiscal years. Having said that the market did pose some challenges in terms of slowdown of economy as a whole making customers wary of overall discretionary buying, general environment of number of promotional offers in the market. However, Lacoste was fortunate to have come out with flying colours under these circumstances,” says Rajesh Jain MD & CEO, Lacoste India.
Lacoste has selective distribution policy which is essential to keep the exclusive positioning of the brand. The distribution strategy is led by one or two flagship or premium stores in each of the key cities, viz., Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Pune, with approx. 1,200 to 1,500 sq.ft. boutiques in other key retail developments.
Delhi and Mumbai being the most important markets, the brand has much deeper penetration in these markets and intends to expand further. We are keenly watching the developments in the next tier cities like Cochin, Amristsar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Indore etc. both in terms of consumer
demographics and psychographics and also relevant retail developments.
“We have doubled our Points of Sale (POS) over the last four years and target to double the current number again in the next four years. Currently, we have 44 POS pan India, including one at Maldives. The current distribution is strategically split into Lacoste Exclusive Boutiques, Outlets and Shop-In-Shops. Basis the catchment, project, neighboring brands, size, façade, access and commercials, we target to increase this number to around 54-55 POS in this fiscal year,” Jain concludes.
