Success never goes out of style. That's what Giulino Sartori, vice president, international retail, Guess? will tell you. The sophisticated, soft-spoken Italian, in Mumbai to flag off the formal launch of the Guess? brand in India, is excited about the business opportunities here.
"India is the 68th country in the world that we've entered. What's surprised me is the pre-existing awareness of the brand here. We haven't had to advertise or educate the Indian consumer about the brand."
Guess? Inc, with a current value of $2.5 billion, began as a blue jeans company in California in 1981, founded by Paul Marciano. Today, the brand includes clothing and accessories for men, women and children, as well as home collections.
Present in 68 countries, the company has 184 retail stores in the US alone, 213 international franchises around the world, and 1,135 shop-within-shops around the world. There's also a virtual cyber-store at guess.com.
The cryptic name of the company came from a McDonald's billboard which Paul Marciano used to drive by every day in the late seventies. The billboard read "Guess? . . . what's in a Big Mac?" Marciano apparently loved the billboard so
much that he named his company Guess?.
"India has been on our radar for some time now," Sartori says. "It's the hottest of the emerging markets, there is definitely an increasing upper-middle class and a willingness to spend. We discovered through informal surveys that Guess? brand awareness was already very high."
Industry analysts peg the current market in India for premium fashion at Rs 3,000 crore. The brand has tied up with lifestyle retail company Planet Sports, which began its international retail business in India in 2000 with licensing rights for a number of global brands such as Wilson, Puma and Speedo in the sports category, and Marks and Spencer and Women's Secret in the apparel category.
The one aspect of Guess? that the company believes distinguishes it from its three major competitors in the Indian market (Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger, Espry) is that the entire outfit is designed from an integrated perspective.
So one can go into a store and buy an outfit and complete accessories that were specifically designed for that outfit, unlike the others which sell disparate accessories. Prices are Rs 2,000 and upwards for ladies T-shirts, Rs 2,000-3,500 for men's T-shirts, Rs 3,000 upwards for denim jeans, and bags at Rs 2,500-plus.
Arun Bharadwaj, vice president, Planet Sports, says the target audience for the brand is those "in the age group of 18-35 in the A to A+