Giovani in expansion mode in India, may go the franchise way

Giovani a quintessential formal wear brand that evolves to new fashion codes offers suits and jackets with Italian cuts to Indian men. The brand boasts of garments that have some of the best fits in the industry.
“We are currently expanding in North India where there is a strong market for suits and jackets. We are looking at nationwide expansion and are open to giving out franchises to interested dealers. The major areas which we are looking into are New Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra,” says Brand Manager, Giovani, Aditya Puri.
Traditional & Online Presence
Giovani – apart from 15 EBOs and 30 MBOs in India – is present in 100 large format stores including Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop. They have 130 stores in the Shop-in-Shop format. The brand boasts of 60,000 sq.ft. of retail space in the country.
It is currently using the online channel to liquidate stocks – which means that online sites are not being able to generate sales unless merchandise is available at a discount.
“However, we believe that it is a digital age and if people want their business to be successful, they need to build an impressive online presence. Currently, we are present on Amazon which gives good visibility to the brand,” says Puri.
Location & Pricing Strategy, Core Offerings
Giovani prefers to be located in malls. “Malls are destinations which generate their own walk-ins and which are accessible for our target audience to reach conveniently, and hence they are the mainstay of our location strategy,” says Puri.
The core target group of the brand is a constant target audience of men who are in the age group of 25 to 40. The brand attracts them with core product offerings including Bandhgalas, jackets, embellishments, shirts, Nehru jackets and blazers, all with intricate detailing.
In fact, their collection, The Great Jazz, has been well received and appreciated far and wide. The core theme of the collection is the exploration of new hues and dimensions by the brand, which is a departure from classic masculinity. The collection focuses on celebrating the elegance and flamboyance of the great jazz era.
The brand has used bold velvets, jacquards and structures to create the collection. Some basic fashion checks have been performed with resulting in the inclusion of ultra slim fit trousers and chained waist coats. A large variety of waist coats have been thrown in to the collection along with differentiated shirts including tuxedo wing collar shirts, pin tuck shirts and black piping Mandarin collar shirts to name a few.
“The jazz era was known for its bold look and fashion statements – with exposure to fast evolving international trends we expect the Indian men to be more experimental and make fashion statements,” says Puri.
“Our stores will be talking about the collection through strong visual representation and in store props. There is a strong push being done online to promote the collection. We keep our customers are informed about it through newsletters and this is how we retain our customers,” he adds.
Puri says their garments are aggressively priced to increase market share. “Pricing is done taking competition into account. We also have some entry price points. This is because one has to increase the customer base and get more consumers to try our merchandise,” he explains.
Giovani – which is currently growing at 22 per cent per annum – has reported a turnover of Rs 35 crore in India this fiscal. It is targeting Rs 50 crore revenue for the 2018-19 fiscal.