RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group's Spencer's launches apparel brand 2Bme

RP-Sanjiv Goenka group owned Spencer's Retail on Tuesday launched its own apparel brand 2Bme aiming to push up its margin.

The launching of the new range, branded 2Bme, will also take place in the National Capital Region soon, followed by another launch in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

"We will follow a shop-in-shop format as of now with 2Bme being the only apparel brand at Spencer's. We have discontinued existing private labels and other brands," Sector Head Shashwat Goenka said on Tuesday.

'Island Monks' was Spencer's private label for apparels. According to Goenka, the focus on apparels, a high margin business, would help improve the retailer's top-line and margins. At present 2Bme brand would be launched across 37-odd hypermarket formats (of Spencer's) and the company expects the brand to be a Rs 300 crore business in the next three to four years.

"The launch of the new brand", Goenka said, "has been preceded by extensive research studies on consumer requirements. The revamped range of products should bring in an international fashion flavour to Indian families. The philosophy of 2Bme is to provide contemporary and exciting fashion, which is comfortable yet affordable".

With four per cent contribution to turnover, this new brand would see the share change to over five per cent within a year's time, the company said. Goenka did not rule out any call which might be taken to spin-off 2Bme as a separate entity outside Spencer's at a later stage.

"We may take a call on having the apparel brand as a separate business after two to three years. This will depend on the traction that the brand gets," he said.

Goenka said that he is delighted that the first phase of the launch of 2Bme is kick-starting from Kolkata, which has the largest concentration of Spencer's stores in the country. "The apparel sections in eight Kolkata hyper stores wear a new look and we are confident about attracting discerning customers from different walks of life," he said. Currently, Spencer's Retail sales are attracting 4 million footfalls every month of which 1 million is from Kolkata.