India all set to become next luxury retail destination

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

International luxury goods makers are planning to foray into India in a big way,
perceiving the country as a major “retail destination” of top- end products.

“India is becoming the beacon of the future,” said Tikka Shatrujit Singh, advisor
to the chairman of Louis Vuitton company, a French leather and fashion
brand, that is set to expand its footprint in the country.
An environment has now been created for consumption of high-end luxury
goods and services, UB Global CEO Shashikanth said, which is all set to roll
out a luxury retail project, UB City-Collection, in first quarter of next year.

“The group had already signed up 10 international brands including names
like Dunhil Gucci, Mont Blanc, Van CLeef, Arpels, Zegna and would bring
in 12 others, Shashikanth added.
The luxury retail market which is currently in its nascent stage was roughly
estimated to be around Rs1,500 crore and expected to grow at 20% in
next five years.
The booming stock market and the recent news that India’s leading
industrialist, Mukesh Ambani, had even overtaken Bill Gates, to become
the richest person in the world, is an indication that the country was ready
for that ultimate ‘haute couture´ experience, Vivek Kaul, Retail and
Leisure Advisory of Jones Lang LaSalle retail advisory service, said.
“Indians have become global,” he said adding that the growing exposure
to international brands had changed the dice in favour of the luxury
retail segment.
The luxury retail market is all set to evolve in a major way. In the
beginning the consumer might go in for small things like a cufflink,
a purse, but you will soon see the consumer graduating to more high
end products and services, Vivek said.
The advent of ‘aspirational shoppers’ is expected to add a thrust to
this emerging segment.
These young shoppers who aspired to acquire a lifestyle that was
international and the best that the market offers, is what was going
to take this segment to the next level of growth, he added.
“It is not merely all about ‘I have arrived syndrome’. It is also
realising that the reputed brands bring along with world class
quality and were not beyond one’s reach,” he said.
India, one of the country with the fastest growing high net worth
individuals in the Asia-Pacific region, is being perceived now as
the next hub of luxury goods consumption, he said.

Mallya enters retail, ropes in Louis Vuitton

Mallya’s UB Group will hold a 55% stake in UB City -
the Collection, a Bangalore shopping mall exclusively
retailing luxury brands


After starting a premium airline and buying one of the world’s oldest
scotch-whisky makers, flamboyant Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya announced
on 6 November a new venture in high-end retail.
Mallya’s UB Group, the world’s third-largest maker of alcoholic spirits,
will hold a 55% stake in UB City - the Collection, a Bangalore shopping mall
exclusively retailing luxury brands, the company said on 6 November.

Mallya, 51, the self-styled “king of good times,” managed to rope in France’s
Louis Vuitton as one of the anchor tenants of the mall, to be located on No. 1,
Vittal Mallya Road, named after his late father and due to open in early 2008.
“It has been purely driven by the vision of Mallya, who calls it a value
proposition,” said Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director of the
property group Prestige, which will hold the remaining 45% stake in
the venture.
“It will be an iconic landmark of Bangalore -- like what the Petronas
Towers is to Kuala Lumpur,” said Razack, estimating the cost of the
project at Rs300 crore ($76.26 million). “It will be an opportunity to
tap high networth individuals.”
Other brands who have signed on for space in the 1.5 million square
feet complex are Gucci, Fendi, Mont Blanc, Van Cleef & Arpels, Zegna,
Rolex and Omega.
The Venetian-style project will include a 250-room JW Marriot hotel,
serviced apartments and office space, already leased to Citigroup,
Toyota, ABN Amro, Jones Lang LaSalle, 3M, Ernst and Young and Yahoo!.

Mallya this year splurged 595 million pounds (869 million euros, $1.181
billion) to buy Whyte and Mackay, a 163-year-old scotch whisky maker,
two years after starting an airline named after his flagship beer, Kingfisher.