This is how Future Group is regaining the ‘King of Fashion’ in India status

No matter if ‘fashion has a new address’ on the internet, 95% of the retail market still depends on brick and mortar stores. According to Technopak, the offline retail is about $625 billion in 2017, of which, $60 billion counts for fashion, including home textiles and footwear. And this is the chance, Biyani’s Future Group is betting on.

The online world of fashion, which is buoyed by the discount games, has taken a back step with strong contenders in the offline field including FBB (Fashion @ Big Bazaar), Aditya Birla’s Pantaloons and Landmark’s Max.

"If you have a fresh design, you don't need to sell it at a discount. Margin gets better and you get more buyers for fresh stock - this virtuous cycle has helped FBB become big over the last few years. "They have created FBB from scratch and leveraged the massive distribution network of Big Bazaar to sell it” Abneesh Roy, senior vice-president, institutional equities, Edelweiss Securities told the ET.

Here’s how Biyani is rebuilding the retail empire

While Pnataloons as a fashion brand was close to Biyani’s heart since its inception in Kolkata 20 years back, he had to part ways in 2012 to meet some debt. While Pantaloons is flexing its muscle ever since it was handed over to Aditya Birla Group, Biyani found a strong footing with Future’s own private label brands along with the licensed ones. For that matter, with its 58 standalone outlets and 237 Big Bazaar stores, Future has licensed brands like Lee Cooper, Buffalo and Bare that have become synonymous with it.

Going by the numbers, the Future Group has private labels that account for 95% of revenue of FBB, which comes under Future Retail, and 40% of Future Lifestyle Fashions (FLF), the fashion arm of the group.

Future Group is zooming at a pace, which is well appreciated by its rivals. “Kishoreji is a fabric fashion garment man who started his innings way back in 1987 with a local brand. His fashion experience and understanding is unmatched,” Govind Shrikhande, MD of Shoppers Stop told Economic Times.