Early 2007, executives at Aditya Birla Nuvo restructured the company’s retail operations with focus on Middle Class and higher. However, with the slowdown, they have now decided to include the Value Format which forms the bulk of modern organized retail in India. Peter England Fashions will start a separate division which will look into the Value Fashion Format. Arvind’s MegaMart is one such chain and is expanding rapidly.
The company will revive brands Elysee, Byford, SF Jeans and Spin Off to find relevant markets. You can recall that the company had rolld out Peter England People – as family apparel a year back betting on the brand equity enjoyed by Peter England. Mr. Aloke Malik, President of Peter England said,
Response generated at the store-level, over the past few months, suggests that the consumer is downtrading across the apparel spectrum. From premium brands to the mid-priced segment, consumers are shifting to hypermarket offerings. We realised that People and Peter England have different brand characters. While Peter England is a more sober formal brand for men, People is being positioned as a fashion-forward unisex brand, primarily targeted at the 20-30 year-old junior executive, that will push the boundaries within the midprice segment, laying emphasis on fusion wear for women.
Peter England is retailed at 2,000 PoS and 350 Exclusive Outlets which is likely to be ramped upto 500 within the next 12 months. The company did not discuss any rollout strategy for Value format but its ha been tippd that the stores will be in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 sft and will be targeted across PAN India.