Reliance Retail planning foray into value apparel space

Reliance Retail is planning to launch a value apparel format to compete directly with Tata's Zudio, Landmark group-owned Max and Shoppers Stop's new mass-priced brand InTune. The company is in talks to lease 6,000-9,000 sq ft space across malls and high street for the new brand, name for which has not been disclosed yet.

"While Tata has Westside and Zudio in the mass and low-priced segment, Reliance has Trends and recently launched premium fashion and lifestyle store AZORTE, to compete directly with fast fashion brands Zara and H&M in India. It had nothing to offer which can compete with Zudio and Max and the new brand, which will sell clothing within ₹1,000 range, will help it to expand its offering," officials privy with the launch said.

Experts said India's consumption structure has been skewed in the past over a narrow base of richer consumers accounting for a large chunk of the overall market.

However, as the economy is broadening across many more cities and the impact is reaching further down the income ladder, the opportunity for value-formats and value-brands is expanding.

Reliance did not respond to the email query till press time Tuesday.

"In the next few months, we will see multiple stores coming up in this segment as big brands want to tap this segment. After the consumption has increased in metro cities as well as tier-2 cities, retailers are eyeing growth in 2023," said a retail expert.

Reliance Retail opened 789 new stores, totalling an area of 6 million square feet in Q3 FY 23.

As consumers returned to stores, it also recorded the highest ever footfalls at 201 million across formats and geographies, a growth of 25.6% during the same period.