VIP Industries' 2-year old ladies’ handbag brand Caprese recently launched its biggest marketing campaign in order to position itself as an accessible brand in the Rs 2,500 crore market and reach the 100 crore mark in sales by 2017.
CNBC-TV18’s Pavni Mittal caught up exclusively with company MD Radhika Piramal to understand how she plans to achieve that target.
Below is the edited transcript of the interview:
Q: Why did VIP enter the ladies’ handbag segment and what was the need?
A: My father and I have always realised a large potential in the ladies handbag market. It is much bigger in size than luggage. What we saw was that there are very few niche, high priced, foreign and international brands in the country and then a lot of local and unbranded handbags. There is no mid-priced, great quality, high style yet affordable ladies’ handbag in the market and we wanted to create that. That is a big market for it.
Q: You said that you expect to become Rs 100 crore brand by 2017. So, how much of that has been achieved and what is your roadmap?
A: We are on track for Rs 100 crore for 2017. It has been a great launch. In the first year, we started small and in the second year, we doubled that turnover. I am confident to grow about 50 percent in the next year especially with the kind of brand investment that we have made. Our goal is that one in five women in SEC A&B should be carrying a Caprese bag.
Q: 50 percent of your business comes from your luggage business and the aim was to at least try and match that in the couple of years by Caprese. So, how much of that has been achieved and how much of that will be achieved in the next couple of years?
A: VIP brand within luggage is 50 percent of our company’s turnover. So VIP is a Rs 500 crore brand. Now, reaching Rs 500 crore for Caprese might take a bit longer than expected because I realised that it is hard to change consumer behaviour. So moving from unbranded to branded it is every marketer’s goal in India practically. So, yes, maybe it is a 10-year journey rather than a five-year journey but one I am very excited to embark on.
Q: But that is an aim?
A: Absolutely, yes.
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