In India, there is rich cultural and ethnic diversity. The retail market has only a few local brands with the nationwide appeal. The lessons from the overseas are quite instructive.
Bidisha Nagaraj, the group president of Café Coffee Day, the retail coffee chain stated that the deep pockets of the foreign counterparts have set specific benchmarks. This has set a huge challenge for the local brands to scale their presence.
Now, there is a new generation of entrepreneurs who are bucking the trend with the venture backed firms designing products for the Indian sensibilities. These brands include Wildcraft that is an outdoor apparel and gear manufacturer, Chumbak, a designer and vendor of lifestyle products, Chai Point, retail tea chain, and iD Fresh Food that specializes in preservative-free, fresh and ready to cook food.
These brands have carved a niche for themselves and some have scaled globally as well. Wildcraft backed by Sequoia made product its DNA. In 2008, it shifted its focus from being a usual custom maker to a consumer-facing brand. The company invested in the creation of a design lab with 20 people.
Gaurav Dublish, the co-founder of Wildcraft stated that they design for India and make the same their strong point. The brand imagery was about changing the outdoors democratic. It also analyzed the usage, reached to the needs of the consumers and implemented the same into its products. The success of the commitment to the brand and its strategy are showing in terms of numbers. Wildcraft expects its sales to increase from Rs 150 crore in the 2014 fiscal to Rs 200 crore to Rs 220 crore in the current fiscal.
It has to be noted that building a brand is done by taking the right decision. The same was done by Chai Point. Amuleek Singh Bijrai, the founder of Chai Point designed a business model before one and half years, and it entered Southeast Asia and the Middle East in July 2015.
Chumbak, the Bengaluru based company shut 10 to 15 stores and reopened them in more upmarket locations. It was selling its accessories and souvenirs that are themed for India at shop-in-shops and kiosks.
