Retailing

Retailing for Infants

Kids retailing in India has seen enormous growth, not just in urban areas but in rural areas also

The Indian retail industry is undergoing major revolutions. Retailing in India is gradually becoming the next boom industry. The consumer buying pattern and behavior are changing steadily. The growth of India's retail sector is not only limited to urban areas but also growing in rural areas. In the next five years, it is expected that, India's retail industry will expand more than 80 percent.

Organised retailing is slowly and steadily making its presence conspicuous in India and increasing its share as opposed to the unorganised retailing. With the coming of organised retail, various retail formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, malls, gaming zones, etc, have taken their market share. This segment is expected to touch an annual growth of around 35 percent. Hence, there is definitely considerable opportunity in this sector.

Understanding kids needs & demand

The trend for specialised retail is also growing in India. Today, there are many specialised retail stores taking care of specific needs of men, women, kids & infants exclusively. Kids’ retailing in India has seen enormous growth during the last decade. The scope of kids’ retailing is increasing as the industry expands phenomenally. Now it covers the entire gamut of apparel, sportswear, toys, eyewear, watches, stationery, footwear, perfumes and other accessories.

A close study of the evolution of the kids’ market shows that retailers dealing in juvenile products have an edge over their competitors, which eventually leads to a sustainable competitive advantage. Today, retailers are keener towards understanding the needs of kids than their parents.  Kids now have a wide range of branded merchandise. This allows them to add a wide range of flexibility to kids’ products in this market.

Players in the category

The kids wear retail market caters to kids aged up to 12 years. There is also a specialised market space for infants wear retail market segment that includes sales of garments for children between the ages of 0-2 years. Leading the kids' retail revolution is the apparel business, which accounts for almost 80 percent of revenue, with kids clothing in India following international trends. Some of the leading brands in kids apparel segment includes - Gini and Jony, Zapp!, Cinderella, Lilliput Kidswear, Raymond Apparel and Trent.

The recent entrant is PB Retail Ltd., a company in infant retail promoted by Pawan Agarwal. The company has opened their store in the brand name – My Mart, the first store of the company in the country which has an area size of 2000 sq.ft. My Mart caters to the children aged between newly born to five year olds. My Mart brings all the necessary goods for kids including apparel, footwear, accessories (bath and fashion), stationery, gifts and toys, Kids furniture etc.


Future growth

The kids retail industry is growing at a rate of 35 percent, which is a fairly good indicator of the promising prospect of this segment. As the market is still untapped, there is growth potential for new players to enter this segment. A more focused nature in understanding the changing demands, trends and growing needs of the kids segment and constant effort to better product will help retailer to become category leader.