Luxury Retail: India is not the choicest destination
Niche luxury brands like Italian suit maker Kiton and British shoemaker John Lobb want to enter the Indian Markets, however they are in no hurry to open swanky stores in the country. They have started to test the waters by custom made, made-to-order services in India.
The main reason behind not opening stores is that they are unable to find a right place on the right location at reasonable rates. Pratik Dalmia the founder of Mumbai-based Regalia Luxury stated that the rentals in India are as high as international markets, but the demand is not as much.
Regalia Luxury has the rights to market and sell Kiton and John Lobb brands in India. Steep rentals and lack of quality retail real estate at strategic locations near high-income neighbourhoods are making it hard for luxury brands to expand their business in the country. This road block in expanding the businesses in the country in a viable manner is forcing many big players to tweak their business plans and go slow.
Unfortunately Indian metros emerged as few of the lowest among the top Asia Pacific cities which was published in a recent study on luxury retail penetration. That means Indian metros are not the right markets for the luxury retail segment.
Ashutosh Limaye the research and real estate intelligence service head at JLL India (Jones Lang LaSalle) explained that rents for baseline retail properties in India are generally affordable. However prime retail assets command premium rentals across Indian cities when compared to other cities in the Asia Pacific region.
Source- The Economic Times
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