Lifestyle targets double-digit growth for next 3-4 years

Lifestyle, a leading retail chain for branded beauty, fashion and home products, is aiming to post double-digit growth on a y-o-y basis in the next three to four years. The retail chain, which has 64 stores across the country, will ramp up the number to 90 stores and strengthen its presence on e-commerce platforms.

Srinivasa Rao

The brand that currently spends 3-4 per cent of its revenues on advertising, mainly on print, outdoor and digital, will also increase its presence on TV. "We do television advertising but we are not consistent on television because our distribution is limited and now that we are a true omni-channel player through lifestylestore.com and other e-commerce websites, we will be including television," said Srinivasa Rao, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Lifestyle.

Almost 50 per cent of the sales of the retail chain comes from Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. The brand is also planning to expand to tier II cities soon. "Fashion apparel category in the country is growing very well where the growth is coming from both online and offline. There is a huge market out there and it is currently underpenetrated in term of overall retail offering and there is huge opportunity for everybody to grow. We have a huge presence in tier-II cities and we have plans to expand further," he said.

Speaking on the expected competition from Patanjali's soon-to-be launched brand 'Paridhan', Rao said, "The market is so huge and there is enough opportunity for everyone to grow. Currently, we are ensuring our expansion plan and product are on track and we are really not looking at any other external factor."

The retail chain has seen its sales swell because of the increasing penetration of e-commerce across India. The company has a dedicated e-commerce portal, which has been posting strong growth since its launch.

"E-commerce is not impacting, rather it is helping us grow. We launched our own e-commerce portal. We believe in seamless and omni-channel shopping experience where you can buy online and collect the stuff from an offline store or replace there. At the end of the day, consumers are buying fashion. Online or offline is the channel and one just has to have a strong presence on both the channels. Lifestyle brands available on other e-commerce sites are doing pretty well but that number is not very significant at this point in time but we hope that will grow faster enough," he added.

Rao said Lifestyle's in-house Ginger brand, which targets young women of 18-21 years, will boost the sales figures for the chain and could contribute almost quarter of the brand's total revenues. "Ginger contributes around 20 per cent to the Lifestyle’s revenues among in-house brands. It is growing at a healthy double digit rate," he said. 

The quirky women wear brand offers entire range of western fashion apparel, including denims, shorts, skirts, t-shirts, jackets, party-wear, bags, footwear and fashion accessories.

Talking about Ginger's growth strategy, Rao said the brand will be nurtured within Lifestyle, select Max stores and online portals.

The company recently launched a digital advertising campaign to expand the reach of Ginger. Talking about the digital-only campaign, Rao said, "We are very clear in terms of our TG, which is young women in the age group of 18-21 years. They primarily consume almost all the content on digital and do not interact any longer with traditional medium. And hence we are there where are consumer is."

The campaign:

Ginger by Lifestyle – a fashion brand for young girls – has launched its digital campaign wherein the creative agency is JWT and the digital agency is Mindshare.

The campaign #ImperfectlyPerfect is a digital-first marketing campaign that celebrates the quirks and differences that make every girl unique and distinctive. Lifestyle has partnered with its creative agency JWT to create this visually compelling and thought-provoking campaign that creatively explores the unrealistic demands of perfection that the society places on a young girl. This partnership in the last one year has created multiple digital first campaign that went viral garnering millions of views, including #TigerforForca, #KanganaforMelange (I wear my thoughts out aloud), #LiveStories to name a few.

The new campaign #ImperfectlyPerfect is the voice for young girls of today who are strong, opinionated and recognise their uniqueness not as flaws, but as beautiful distinctions. The young girls featured in this film are real girls with distinct voices, urging their sisters to simply rise above like a skyscraper, brushing off and looking down upon petty societal judgments and be comfortable in their own skin.

The Video: 

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