The Effective role of Retail Marketing in the Modern Commercial Apparel & Garment Enterprises in Tirupur- India

According to the Report of the Definition Committee, America “Retailing includes all activities incidental to selling to the ultimate consumer”. In the words of Mc Carthy, “Retailing is selling final consumer products to householders.”

Researches disclose that the Indian apparel market has some distinctive features that mass-market retailers must accommodate. It has been estimated that India has approximately 30,000 readymade garment manufacturing units and around three million people are working in the industry. It is evident that after IT-ITES it is the retail sector in India that will bring forth many jobs. It has been estimated that in 2010 – 2,000,000 jobs will be given by the retail sector in India. And the retail sector development is remarkable in India for the past few years. The retail marketing’s role can be studied by evaluating the factors which make impact in garment / apparel business. Garment / apparel business is closely related to I) “Quality” as per the international standards II) “Availability” of the product for the consumers’ usage i.e.) through marketing and finally III) “Fashion Trend”.

Brand Name – Quality

          As the Brand Name implies the quality of the product, Indian companies had already started giving more attention to create its own brand name to sell their product through retail marketing. Indian garment /apparel manufacturing exporters have a lot of scope to market their products in both international and domestic trades successfully. How this can happen is a million dollar question. But Reliance Food Print, Spencer’s Daily, Raymond’s are the Indian companies who have successful record in retail business. Indian companies like A V Birla groups, made waves in the Indian market with its garment brands. A v Birla group bought the division of Madura Coats Ltd .The Company first launched Louis Philippe in 1989, Van Heusen a year later, followed by Allen Solly and lastly Peter England. Now these products are being sold through its own retail outlets across India.

             Thus earning a brand name followed by the retail outlets will definitely make the business succeed. Across India there are some reputed local brands of textile, apparel / garments exist. Bombay dyeing, S.Kumars, Gwalior Suiting, Genesis, Bombay Rayon, Color Plus, Denim etc are few examples. Celebrity fashions a Chennai based manufacturer and exporter in MPEZ has its well known brand name “Indian Terrain”. The Loot Store the Mumbai based company has 75 retail outlet stores over 40 cities across India. Nalli Silk sarees a leading manufacturer and exporter has outlets in various parts of India & offices in USA and Singapore. Zodiac Clothing Company Ltd , Manufacturers, exporters & retailers of men’s wear; based in Mumbai; employs 3,500 people and has seven manufacturing plants & 50 exclusive Zodiac stores; products: shirts, trousers, ties & accessories.

  Rather dealing with a solitary buyer, Tirupur companies  have opportunities to open own retail outlets or to deal with international retail giants like Wall Mart, Mc Donald’s or national retailers like Shopper’s Stop, Big bazaar, Life Style , Pantaloon etc. In order to make retail marketing successful a garment / apparel producer should have a brand name to increase their selling rate. Several high-priced international apparel brands were earlier forced to close shop due to sluggish demand. In India most of the percentage of population has middle class income. Though a considerable amount of people from this percentage prefer to buy international brand they purchase these products hardly two times a year. The most preference would be to Indian well known brands.

 Tirupur garments / apparel producers also have an option to tie up with international brands to enter into foreign market like S Kumars group, which tied up with Italian brand Oviesse and is in talks with other international brands.

Retail Outlets   - Availability

Most of the international companies have their own retail outlets all over the world. For instance Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Crocodile, Lacoste etc have their own / circuitous retail outlets in almost all the countries. With the help of their well known brand names they easily capture the world market and become competitive to the domestic companies. Brazil, China, and India are the important countries whose large populations and strong economic growth have made the Multinational retailers’ invasion. As consumers have greater disposable income in India, they increasingly spend their money on items beyond the basic necessities. One of the first categories to feel this change is apparel / garment. Owing to the fast growth of Indian economy Indian industrialists have awaken lately to sell their product in global market also.

 Renowned for their international quality, Indian garments / apparels have a magnificent scope in international trade .This is proved as these products are being exported globally from Tirupur through out the year. Most of the Indian exporters need to depend foreign buyers in order to sell their product in foreign market since they don’t have a reputed brand name.  A foreign buyer is well aware of his local market’s requirement that places orders to the Indian manufacturers based on the consumer behaviors. They purchase apparel / garment from India and use their own brand / label names. This is the high time to the Tirupur – India Apparel industries to test out the possibilities to improve their sales directly / indirectly in foreign market with the help of retail outlets. By performing retail marketing especially opening own retail outlets abroad, Tirupur apparel / garment manufacturing exporters can also dominate the world market seeing as they have international quality.

Fashion Trend

            It is obvious that conducting trade fairs exclusive for garment / apparels both globally and internally will definitely make a platform to introduce the brand name. Fashion shows on the other hand plays vital role in brand promotion. Advertisement and selecting brand ambassadors are also imperative. A well known celebrity can highly drag the attention of the consumers.  

            Big retailers like LOBLAWS, COACH, JYSK and WAL MART are Indian apparel /garment buyers. As a wholesaler / buyer they purchase Indian products especially ready made garments from Tirupur based companies and sell the same in foreign market as a retailer. Since the international retailers know the seasonal market demand very well, they place orders accordingly. Thus retail marketing is not only vital for international business but also it plays a key role in the domestic trade.

Apart from international promotion, successive retail marketing is very essential because they are dealing with the customers in a straight line day to day and the retailers can very well understand the consumer behavior. With over 70% of cotton knitwear exports and accounting for about $ 2 billion exports and equivalent domestic production, Tirupur is the future of Indian garments, be it export or local. It is clear that Tirupur holds the future of India share in global market share .Tirupur is likely to grow by 12% every year which is good sign for the manufacturers and the buyers as well.