Vinod Kumar Gupta
Managing Director Dollar Industries Ltd
For any brand today, online presence is a part of core sales strategy.
Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director of Dollar Industries Ltd. tells about the booming online retailing in an interview with Fibre2Fashion Correspondent Manushi Gandhi.
Synopsis:
Dollar Industries Ltd. was started in 1996 in Kolkata, India. Today the company’s reach spans 26 states, making it one of the country’s top five hosiery undergarment manufacturers. Dollar received three national awards in 2006, 2007 and 2009 for the best brand and excellence in Men’s Innerwear from CMAI. The brand has a strong presence in international retail chains like Carrefour and Lulus and a growing market in the Middle East.
Shri Vinod Kumar Gupta, Dollar’s Managing Director believes that it is quality that sets the Company ahead of competition.
Excerpts:
According to you what is the importance of celebrity endorsement for innerwear brands? How does this help the business?
Celebrity endorsement for a brand has always been a useful technique to build trust with potential and current consumers. The formula remains same even for a brand of need based commodities like inner wears. Many people hold certain celebrities in high regard, so an endorsement of a product instantly increases the amount of trust the consumer has in the brand. It is also helpful for brand recall. Even consumer stat identifies brands with the celebrities used for endorsement.
There are a huge number of products being marketed to consumers all the time, so it’s essential for a brand to find a way to stand out in the crowd and be remembered. For business perspective, we will always find it helpful to attract consumers with a sell hike.
Do you think there is enough awareness among the Indian apparel makers regarding sustainability and their duties towards the environment?
Indian apparel market is slowly getting aware about its role in sustainability. More focus has been given on cotton based materials and for dyes; industry has adopted for vegetable colors. They are definitely helpful for environmental recycling.
How do you plan to expand your kids’ inner wear and women innerwear segment?
Our kids section is also very popular under the brand name of Champion and Bloomer. It has an array of Boys and Girls Vests, Fashion T-shirts, Bermuda & Trousers. We are planning to add more variety for Girls section.
We do have Missy range for women wear, we have camisole and panties. Recently we have launched Missy laggings with huge color varieties.
You have been focusing and advertising more for your product- 'Dollar Boss’, why so? Why not so much aggressive marketing for your kids and women wear products?
Dollar Bigboss brand is the premier product range for men. We focus our communication on the product with the goal to supplement the mother brand Dollar. Rest all the other brand sells in the name of Dollar only. Moreover, you will find very few commercial for women’s and children products in TV. But we are there on print and retail.
Do you think that Indian population has an inclination for branded innerwear?
There is less doubt that, Indian innerwear markets have been witnessing upsurge demand for branded inners.
Recent trend in hosiery industry has observed that people have a tendency to go for branded and fashionable innerwear rather buying them hastily. Consumers are opting for stylised inners, which gives grater scope for brand us.
You have started your jeans brand also, how well it has been received? What is the growth rate of denim in India?
Dollar has its fashion and apparel range in the name of Force Go wear. Jeans comes under it. We are receiving encouraging response for Force jeans which have made us improvising Force denim as per the changing style.
Online shopping is the new thing in market. Is the company thinking on this line?
For any brand today, online presence is a part of core sales strategy. Keeping that on mind we have already made our product available in Flipkart.com and we have also started our own online shop called Dollarshoppe.in. The good news is that we are receiving encouraging response from end consumers.
What are current problems faced by the hosiery industry and how can they be dealt with?
High inflationary pressure, raw material cost, poor purchasing power and the overall economic uncertainties are some of the challenges that this industry is facing in recent times.
Although, the Innerwear market in India is pegged at approx Rs.11000 cr. still there are lot more to resolve. Availability of raw material should be made as per the requirement, so that production cost can be minimised and more focus can be given on style and comfort. We can meet all those potent consumers by lowering the cost.
Which are the countries where you plan to focus more for further development?
We are already doing well in Middle East and have recently moved in to Nigeria. Hope that we expand more in the African countries as there is good demand for cotton wear.
Published on: 05/05/2014
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
