Multi-brand stores battle with flawed retail margins

Last week Arti Kirloskar walked into Churchgates concept store Bungalow Eight B8 looking to find something interesting from its multibrand curation She was there because she heard the 16yearold clothing accessories and deacutecor pit stop was shutteringTrustee of the Kirloskar Foundation and an artist she had travelled from Pune to see if shed find a black jacket to wear to the upcoming Art Basel Hong Kong Its not surprising that a customer would seek out B8 located under the bleachers of Wankhede Stadium for a specific something or walk in without agenda but go away with a curiously unusual discovery The topnotch curation often considered the mainstay of a successful multibrand store is what regulars will missLoulou Van Damme who is helping Sanjay Garg set up his flagship New Delhi store says while the main job of a retail shop is to sell it can no longer simply put things on a hanger or treat it like a space with four walls PicBungalow EightIn an earlier interview to midday B8s foundercurator Maithili Ahluwalia had said her big challenge was to provide a value add to the customer and protect it Retail for me has never been about mere distribution It is about offering what is unique But today with the pressure of social media we are sharing our work in real time and helping create copycats and clones It is a tough balancing actTina TahilianiParikh whom many would call veteran champion of the retail game agrees that multibrand retail is tough business We are still here because we love what we do and we leverage our experience India is changing along with the context and the customer TahilianiParikh is executive director of Ensemble the countrys first multibrand store Founded by her brother the couturier Tarun Tahiliani and his wife Sailaja with late designer Rohit Khosla in 1987 it arrived at a time when a new India was birthing thanks to the exposure that the Asian Games and the arrival of cable television brought with itGaurav GuptaThey are not aloneInterestingly the specialty multibrand brickandmortar format is negotiating many of the same challenges faced elsewhere in the world including consumer engagement Consumers care about designer tags but less and less about where they bought them Competition from directtocustomer eretail and the death of brand loyalty post market fragmentation are adding to the challengesWhile stories of the retail apocalypse are now commonplace this month all eyes were on the grand new Galeries Lafayette ChampsElyseacutees launch in Paris a contradiction of sorts to the doomsday theory Retail is far from dead but the value proposition of a store must be clear Today the retailers job is curatorial It is to draw out something unique from a designer whether through specific edits adaptation exclusivity or capsule collections Ahluwalia believesOnce retailing at multibrand store Ensemble Gaurav Gupta now sells out of this 2200 sq ft standalone at Kala Ghoda where he offers the customers a selection of 200plus stock under one roofBelgian designer Loulou Van Damme came to India in 1999 to retire She was 55 At 72 today she continues to work among other things as visual merchandiser She started at B8 and is currently helping textiles maven Sanjay Garg build his flagship store at Delhis Lodhi Colony Market expected to launch end of March Theres a huge improvement in a way that retailers are now understanding the role of visual merchandising in order to attract the customer The main job of a retail shop is to sell but you can no longer put things on a hanger or treat it like a space with four walls Customers are spoiled and if they take the time to come into your space theyre looking to connect and discover something she saysTina TahilianiParikh is the executive director of Ensemble Indias first multibrand store set up by her brother the couturier Tarun Tahiliani and his wife Sailaja with late Rohit Khosla in 1987The standalone attractionDesigners who once were part of a multilabel store curation are now considering the standalone store option increasingly choosing to sell exclusively This say insiders is disrupting the fundamental approach to consuming fashion merch specifically the how and where of buying Gaurav Gupta who sells out of a standalone store at Kala Ghoda and dresses Bollywoods famous says Fashion in general has moved from the fashion week framework to being celeb Instagram and standalonestore oriented In his opinion a multibrand store could get restricting for the customer At our standalone for instance we are offering her a stock of 200plus Its a concentrated way of delivering an inclusive personal brand experienceAzmina RahimtoolaGupta began his career selling out of Ensemble before he acquired this 2200 square feet space in November 2014 The experience of retailing at Ensemble for 10 years gave me the confidence that I should go solo he adds Gaurav Gupta the brand has moved out of Ensemble altogether on account of geographical proximity Ensemble is a fiveminute walk away at Lion Gate but the labels lighter nonbespoke pieces are available at Azas Bandra outpostFocused stores such as Guptas are popping up across the citys retail landscape because to endure you have to stand out The last decade has seen Kala Ghodas rapid transformation from deadbeat to fashions darling destination It was in 2014 when Sabyasachi Mukherjee relocated his piegravece de reacutesistance repository at Ador House Ritu Kumar arrived in the vicinity in 2015 followed quickly by Rahul Mishra Abu Jani amp Sandeep Khoslas ASAL Varun Bahl Shantanu amp Nikhil and Kunal Rawal Anamika Khanna with sons Viraj and Vishesh is finalising a property at Kala Ghoda for her first standalone experience for the Mumbai consumerLike in Guptas case Ensemble also features collections by Anamika Khanna In fact the brand occupies a designated space inside the store for a shopwithinashop experience A lot would depend on us whether we continue the shopinshop arrangement with Anamika Khanna says TahilianiParikh And while she may not consider standalone direct competition she thinks viable retail margins are the roadblock Its viable retail margin the real issue but who is going to change it The cottageindustry mentality of markup or markdown needs to be done away with We need to transition into making this retail much more about the business of fashion says AhluwaliaDirect dial the customerEightyearold Bandra store Atosas Azmina Rahimtoola says dealing with smaller designers who have no ambition of launching a standalone poses a challenge of its own With retailers overhauling their business model to embrace readytowear and semiformals and engaging with young labels entrepreneurs like her have the social media hurdle to cross The new lot of designers we stock might not have their own stores but they are spread thin with exhibitions and trunk shows Social media has allowed clients a direct door to the designer reducing the role of middleman the store she says adding how giant retailers are choosing to compete with smaller boutiques to get exclusive consignment deals with secondincommand designersThe balance of power has shifted and the designer now has the upper hand believes Ahluwalia while Gupta makes a case for the customer who is inundated with choices Those who can adapt will survive clicheacuted as it may beCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates