Lacoste entered India in the year 1993, at a time when the Indian economy was just opening up and premiumisation was unheard of in the country. Since then, the brand has expanded beyond just apparel and its customer base has grown manifold.
In an exclusive conversation with IMAGES Business of Fashion’s Surabhi Khosla, Rajesh Jain, MD & CEO Lacoste India talks about his brand’s expansion plans in the country and why he’s enthusiastic about the footwear and leather goods categories.
Excerpts from the freewheeling chat…
Tell us about Lacoste in India.
Lacoste has been present in India for the last 30 years since 1993. We were the first international premium brand to enter India. In the last 30 years, the brand has come very far in the country and we have had our fair share of ups and downs, but we are very happy to report that we are doing very well in the country – we have been well accepted and are a very respected brand among consumers as well as in the retail fraternity.
So what are the primary product categories that you offer?
There are eight categories which Lacoste deals with. Globally, apparel is the largest selling category, followed by footwear and leather goods. There are also other categories like underwear, wristwatches and sunglasses. We also have a small category – which is not yet present in India – Home Linen.
WATCH VIDEO: RAJESH JAIN ON LACOSTE’S EXPANSION PLANS IN INDIA
So since you study consumers and consumption patterns in India and abroad, do you think you will introduce more categories in India?
We are very optimistic about two categories – footwear and leather goods. Currently, our share of apparel is very high in India, but footwear is growing at a tremendous speed and so are leather goods. The customer response is very high in these areas.
How different is your brand from others in the same premium category?
Lacoste’s USP is freedom – freedom of movement, freedom to express oneself. We don’t like to compare ourselves with other brands but if you wear our products – let’s say you are wearing a Lacoste polo shirt, you will understand what I mean by freedom of movement. We also use special fabrics and yarns to create our classic polo. This is a very specialized, super soft yarn made especially for Lacoste, and its USP is that it is one of the most comfortable fabrics on human body. Once you wear it, your skin feels happy and that obviously gives the wearer freedom of movement.
How do you ensure that sustainability is followed throughout your product chain, especially since you are an international brand in India?
Lacoste believes in innovation. The brand plays a lot with fabric and fabric mixes. We also use sustainable products, recycled products and organic yarn to create our products.
We don’t believe in scraping our products. There are three ways in which a textile product can be recycled or can be made sustainable. One is textile to textile – when you have a product and you cut it down to make another textile or garment from it, second is textile to yarn – when a product’s life is over, you convert it into yarn again so that it can be recycled into a new product , and the third way is textile to energy. At Lacoste, we use the textile to yarn method to reduce our carbon footprint.
The brand has global parameters for sustainability and has defined timelines to reduce its carbon footprint over the next few years by a certain percentage.
How does technology fit into Lacoste’s overall retail strategy?
Without technology, retail can’t work anywhere in the world. Having said that, it is also imperative to understand that it is not one big innovation that can change the game plan for any brand. It’s everyday small tools that we keep using which are extremely important for the entire fashion retail industry to evolve. Things like PoS systems, CRM programs and Omnichannel strategies are all very essential for brands to grow. We at Lacoste ensure that our customers get a unified, premium experience on all channels of sale.
I am very optimistic about Metaverse, but not Metaverse in its current form. Right now it’s in a very nascent stage, but when we reach a level where customers have actual avatars who can access and try on new products at and shop at virtual stores, and we can reduce the number of physical stores that we have, that is the Metaverse I’m talking about. When Metaverse reaches this stage, then brands will only have some experiential stores.
I would also like to wait and watch on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Again, this technology is at a very nascent stage. It could be disruptive for the industry but could easily be destructive as well. We would like to use it positively – not as a tool which will intrude upon a customer’s privacy, something which is unethical. We are closely monitoring AI development and in the future, when we feel these technologies have matured enough, we would like to implement them for our brand.
Tell us about your marketing strategy for India.
In India, 97% of our marketing budget goes towards the digital marketing, because Indian customers are very tech savvy. They love brands which reach out to them digitally. This helps us in more ways than one. With digital technology, we are able to reach our target group. There’s no more wondering whether your TV ads or print ads have reached the intended audience and this has given us a good edge in communication strategy.
Since you are a premium brand, will you stick to Tier I or will you start moving into the interiors of the country?
We have our own website, www.lacoste.in, which enables us to analyse consumption data in India because we can’t be present everywhere. So, while we are present only in a few locations, our customers can shop from anywhere in India.
In as far as physical presence is concerned, since we are a premium brand, it is very important for us to be located in premium developments, since these are places that the people who shop with us frequent. We usually look at premium malls and high street locations which have like-minded brand adjacencies that enhance our brand value.
Having said that, we are also keeping a close eye on a new concept coming to India – premium factory outlets where old season merchandise is offered to customers. We take our outlet concept to such locations if they seem suitable for us as a brand.
What is your store location strategy?
Our store location strategy is standalone stores, EBOS or would you concentrate on growing in premium malls?
In premium malls and high streets in India, we will always go in for EBOs. We are a part of some MBOs – only 4 till date – but this number is low because these have to be very select premium MBOs keeping our brand ethos in mind.
What are your expansion plans? In the last 30 years, you have only opened about 50 stores. What does the future hold for Lacoste in India?
India is an amazing country. Currently it is the fastest growing major economy in the world and Lacoste is taking note. So, although we currently have about 50 points of sale, we are looking at a very aggressive expansion strategy. We are looking at almost doubling our points of sale in the next three to four years.
At the same time we have started bringing our latest global concept for interior fit outs. That concept will be implemented in India in all the new points of sale which we plan.
We are also looking at making our current doors, current points of sale, much bigger in size, where we will implement our latest global concept of interiors.
