While I am on vacation, out of curiosity I visited Raymond shop in my home town Hubli (Karnataka).
Its company owned and company operated, I came out very pleased.
Its only 6 months since they have opened it, they havnt had a lot of traction yet, very little footfall, the sales guy talked to me for a bit. I saw 2 customers around lunch time, in the suitings area.
The store looked very upscale and in best order. in 1st floor, they had mostly suitings in different range, all looked very premium, for me personally they looked reasonably priced.
The same floor also had some mix of premium casuals, quality of products was very impressive. Price range varied.
Then I spent a bit of time in 2nd floor where it was exclusively ethniqs store. The store settings, interiors , decorative, and quality of products, everything was I should say was very pleasing. The sales guy said, no one in the town yet know about ethniqs from Raymond, he said very little foot fall yet. He agreed it needs time. He said every customer that walks in in the suitings area is encouraged to look at ethniqs.
I thought its on the right track. I had listened to couple of earnings calls, I wasn’t very happy with their answers about traction in Ethniq stores, after I visited just for 45 mins, I couldnt agree more with management, their answers were good reflection of whats happening in store. It needs time, especially in metros, it can get a good footfall.
50 mtsrs across, I walked into a Manyavar store, may be a 15ft by 15ft store, non ac, but full of products. 1 sales guy. He said store is 10 year old, in wedding season, after 6pm, they cant manage to serve customers, in off season he mentioned it does rs30-40k a day, in season, about an avg of Rs1.5 lac a day. He said most people in town know the store.
Price was high for products and their settings.
I came out thinking Raymond store is a customer delight, but dont know about economics. However, comparing Manyavar and Raymond store, the choice for me was obvious, Raymond was class apart, Raymond prices were in line with Manyavar or marginally discounted, and had more varieties to my surprise. I give full points to Raymond store, it needs time, but in metros they will take a good market share in due course.
I would appreciate if someone in metro can confirm.
