Pantaloon Retail Launches Replay In India

Italian fashion major Replay has entered the Indian market and has brought in some high quality denim with it. Replay has tied up with Pantaloon, which is the biggest retail network of India to launch its products here. Replay's business development head Brian Kreel said that Replay is a premium brand and right now all they are looking at is to create a presence in the Indian market. He added that they had plans to come to India since 2005, but the main challenge in front of them was to find the right partner.

 

While Replay will provide product and marketing support, Pantaloon will handle the rest of the operations for them. These will be carried on through the special unit that has been created within the company. Pantaloon said that they will create a new team to create brand awareness. It has already bought brands like Speedo and Wilson in India and is planning to invest $6-8 million during the next three years. Out of this investment, 12% will be spent on promotions alone.

 

The Italian brand has already launched its stores in some of the supermarkets like Ambience Mall in Gurgaon, Select Citywalk in Delhi, apart from having three corner stores in Pantaloon's high end retail chain. Replay is now looking for a location to setup its flagship store and the two prime spots which it has in mind are the South Extension in Delhi and Linking Road in Mumbai. It is also looking at Chennai, Bangalore and Chandigarh to launch its products.

 

Replay is a famous brand that is present in more than 50 countries worldwide. Almost 90% of its sale comes from the European countries. Kreel, talking about its plans said that India is a strategic market and they are looking to expand their business in other Asian nations like China, Japan, South Korea, Hongkong, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. as well.