Titan Company, a part of the Tata Group, plans to add 14 stores of Taneira, its youngest brand representing a collection of handwoven and premium sarees from different clusters across the country, this fiscal.
“We are ramping up the business. It is a very big opportunity for us,” managing director of Titan Bhaskar Bhat said, pointing out that the market for occasion-wear sarees was estimated at about ₹20,000 crore.
Speaking at the opening of Taneira store in Hyderabad, the first in the city and fifth in the country, he said including the new outlet the company expected to open 14 showrooms by March in several cities. On the investment likely in each store, he said it would be in the range of ₹4-5 crore. The company would not be averse to considering setting up some of the new stores on the franchisee model. “We would have franchise model sooner or later, right now they are all company owned,” Mr.Bhat said, adding for the last 30 years franchisees were the largest contributors to all the businesses of Titan. Every year, the company added 150-200 stores for its watches, eyewear and jewellery businesses, he replied to another query.
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He said sarees were a natural extension for Titan. “Similar to the jewellery market, this 5,000-year-old category is a large, unorganised market and under-served in terms of authenticity of the product.”
Sourced from weavers
The sarees showcased at Taneira are sourced from around 300 weavers in 70 clusters across the country, and priced from ₹1,000 to ₹2.5 lakh. Besides the collection which comprises Banarasi silks, Pitambari, Rangkaat and Gysar, rich Kanjeevarams, Chanderis, Jamdanis, Ikats and Tussars, the store also features custom lehangas, fabrics and ready-to-wear blouses.
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To queries on the performance of Titan Company, he said the turnover grew 22% last fiscal to around ₹20,000 crore – the contribution of jewellery business is 83% – and the target in 2019-20 is 20%.