By Subhro Niyogi

The Times of India News Service

KOLKATA : Just one year into the lifestyle retailing business, ITC Ltd. is charting out expansion strategies. It is looking beyond the present range of branded garment to replenish its stores. Though the future product range is still a closely-guarded secret, ITC sources hinted that the division was looking into leather products and perfumes as a natural extension to make the store more attractive and wholesome.

Incidentally, the company has already rechristened the Wills Sport shops to Wills Lifestyle to reflect this subtle shift in strategy. "Till now, the stores have been sporting relaxed wear for both men and women under the Wills Sport brand. Now, the wardrobe will be beefed up to include formals and other accessories to offer a complete lifestyle retailing experience in an international ambiance," sources said.

A senior company official, while acknowledging that ITC was expanding its Wills Lifestyle store wardrobe, explained that the company was preparing the ground for leveraging the opportunities that would be thrown open following the country’s entry into the WTO framework in 2005.

The present Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) that imposes quota restrictions on garment imports from India, will be replaced by the Agreement on Textiles & Clothings and throw open the global market. "We should be ready with Wills Sport as an established premium Indian brand by then," he said.

While the division has a tie-up with US-based American Intelligence Design Group to appeal to the western customers, it is also engaged in garnering capabilities to create world-class supply chain from fibre to fashion. A hi-tech master facility is being set up at Gurgaon to provide the design infrastructure and assist in shrinking time-to-market for the new designs.

While the apparel market in India is pegged at Rs.20,000 crore, branded garment sales comprise Rs.3,000 crore. Of this, relaxed wear segment is worth Rs.1,200 crore with a compounded annual growth rate of 30 per cent.

With seven stores already in place, the company is moving into an overdrive and has lined up inauguration of 18 more stores by August. That’s one new Wills Lifestyle store every three days! The company will scale up its operations to reach 50 stores by March 2002 and 100 by March 2003.

ITC executive director Anup Singh, who is looking after this business apart from tobacco and infotech, has been travelling across the country, personally looking into the inputs at each stores. "That’s in itself a reflection of the commitment of the top management to this business," the official said.