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‘Building a personal relationship with customers is important’

Oobe, a relatively new player in the branded wear segment, has been witnessing a healthy growth. The company has now embarked upon a retail expansion drive, and will open around 10-14 exclusive outlets across the country. In an interview with Reena Mital, Mr Nilesh Mehta, managing director, India Fashions (which own the Oobe brand), elaborates on the future plans for Oobe, and how the retail boom will be a boon for brands too.

What is the USP of Oobe, considering the large number of brands already catering to this segment?

We wanted to create a different experience in the women’s western wear. Everyone makes garments and they are all good at it. But we want to give the ‘Out Of Body Experience’ (that is what Oobe stands for) to all our customers. Three years back, when Oobe was conceptualised, there were not many organised players in this category. With this opportunity in mind, we took our first step forward and even today we have the first mover’s advantage. The USP of the brand right from day one has been high fashion, excellent quality garments at affordable rates. And we have been very successful in this as we have the experience of exports and designer Krishna Mehta is very much involved in not just designing the brand but also in ensuring the quality and other parameters.

With so much happening in the retail sector, how do you perceive this benefitting your brand?

The changing lifestyle has made the retail boom flourish. This is so because families have become nuclear and both the husband and wife are working. Plus the growing pressure and competitive work atmosphere gives little time for a family to get together and spend time with each other and then there is growing traffic and parking problems. All these problems have given rise to the opportunity called the shopping malls and thus organised retailing, where customers walk under one roof and get a solution to all their needs. It could be needs of entertainment, shopping, eating, etc.

We at Oobe, as a business expansion plan are growing our retail presence to 10-14 exclusive stores in this financial year. This will hence mean that we will also be a part of a shopping mall or a major shopping market. Oobe will thus benefit as customers are increasing their shopping budgets and are looking at buying quality fashion products. Also the benefit that Oobe will have over its competitors will be the affordable rates that it offers, offering our customers value-for-money is very important.

What is Oobe’s retail strategy, position in the market?

As mentioned earlier, Oobe is planning to expand its stores to 10- 14 in this financial year. Out of the same, five stores will be in Mumbai and the rest will be in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkatta and Pune. This will give Oobe a very exclusive presence in all the above mentioned cities, even though Oobe is present in these cities through various MBOs and shop-in-shops.

Today, Oobe has a national presence in more than 180 outlets (which include three exclusive stores in Mumbai, MBOs like Lifestyle, Big Jos & Globus and other shop-in-shops). With the current plan of opening more stores and also concentrating on wholesale, we will thus be looking at achieving our target of 100 per cent growth over the last year. The brand has also received very good response in B and C category cities in Bihar, UP, Assam.

What are your plans for the future?

For Oobe - ‘Out Of Body Experience’ - fashion is the core essence. We are looking at expanding our business categories and have already introduced our men’s casual wear range in our exclusive stores in Mumbai. This will be followed up by focusing and growing the accessories line which includes caps, bags, sunglasses, jewellery, scarves, etc. Besides the expansion of our business categories and products, we have also planned to give our customers value addition. We are now planning to grow our brand presence in the Delhi market through various tie-ups; hence a lot of marketing initiatives are in the process of being implemented.

Some feel that a brand presence in too many outlets could lead to dilution of the brand. Do you agree to this?

Generally, there might be some amount of dilution, but that would differ for each brand depending on the strength of the brand, the pricing strategy, the positioning, etc. And organised retailing has only just begun. So what could happen is that some small stores may have to close down, giving way to bigger retailers. And even here, the service offered by the retailer will be the deciding factor for success. Efficiency and building a personal relationship with customers is important. Today, not many retailers have the infrastructure to do so. At Oobe, we are outsourcing our CRM packages, but once we have established around 15-20 stores, within the next year, we would develop an in-house CRM package which would deal with our exclusive requirements.