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Simone
Tata,
the chairperson of Trent,
has worked out an uncomplicated equation to ensure the
success of Westside, the chain of lifestyle stores the
company set up in 1998 — offer customers the complete
shopping experience and then some. The formula has made
Westside a runaway winner, helping it connect so well
with patrons of all ages that they keep coming back
for more.
Mrs Tata joined the board of
Lakme in 1961, and was appointed the company’s managing
director in 1964. Lakme blossomed into India’s leading
cosmetics enterprise, and later made its presence felt
in several overseas markets. Mrs Tata took over as the
company’s chairman in 1982, and she was appointed as
a director of Tata Industries in 1989, the year that
Lakme divested its cosmetics business and changed its
name to Trent Limited. Trent went on to establish the
Westside chain, which today operates in eight major
Indian cities.
In this interview with Sujata
Agrawal, Mrs Tata talks about what sets Westside
apart, its focus on customers, and its plans for the
future
Westside has been able to
build good brand equity among consumers. How has it
managed to do this?
I would say that there are two reasons: style and
reasonable prices, supported, of course, by the quality
of our offerings. Our range of products is modern and
stylish, and we don’t allow our stock to become boring.
We have something new every week so that people coming
in frequently don’t see the same old designs.
The Taj Café also helps get people
in, specially in Mumbai. Ladies like to meet and chat
there, and those who shop late in the evenings have
a cup of coffee before driving back home. We also focus
on having some kind of activity in the stores, particularly
during the festival seasons. Some people come just to
be entertained, for example, mothers with young children.
There is still room for improvement,
but I think we have made great progress.
What has Westside learned
down the years?
We’ve learned enormously, primarily about how to
develop customer relationships. Internally we focused
on knowing our customers in terms of demographics, and
preferences in size, design and price.
It is absolutely essential to
listen to the customer’s needs. For instance, we found
that sizes vary across regions. In south India customers
tend to be smaller in size as compared to people in
the north. So we send more products in small sizes to
our outlets in the south and less to the north. In some
cities, ladies don’t like wearing sleeveless garments.
It is a continuous learning process
of understanding customer needs in different areas,
and knowing what customers appreciate in terms of service.
Our sales people are trained and given tools to interact
better. Continuous training and retraining is essential.
It is also important to offer something special to induce
customers to come to your store instead of going to
another. We do that with our festival programmes.
You have recently introduced
a range of designer wear. This has meant moving away
from your focus on in-store brands.
About 90 per cent of our offerings are our own,
but we do have products — toys, cosmetics, lingerie,
etc — that are not manufactured or produced by us. With
designer wear we were looking at a new segment in clothes:
dressy wear for parties and events. It really is a very
small segment. Because of the limited numbers that sell
at that price level, we felt it would be better to have
established designers rather than do it ourselves.
Today women aspire to own designer
wear, but it is usually very high priced. In keeping
with our USP, we wanted to make that segment affordable.
Given our large number of stores, we are able to offer
exclusive designs at competitive prices. And it is exclusive
because the designer outfits at Westside are not available
at any other store, including the designers’ own.
Why did you choose Wendell
Rodericks?
Wendell Rodericks fits very well with our profile.
He’s very fusion oriented, quite practical and affordable.
He’s got clean lines, few embellishments, and extremely
good cuts. His clothes are his signature.
We also have Anita Dongre and
Krishna Mehta, who will be showcasing her embroidered
formal wear at our stores. We are looking at designers
with strong identities.
In-house or designer brands
— where are the margins higher?
The margins are the same. We did not start out too
well in the designer wear segment, but we have now learnt
our lessons and I think we will improve in the future.
We have promoted this segment through direct communications
with our Club West members and through press releases.
Westside has stores in eight
cities. Any plans to expand the chain?
We will soon be opening our second store in New
Delhi. We also plan to open outlets in some more metros,
and a few of these are already under construction. A
big handicap is the lack of readily available space
for large stores. Either the rates are too high or space
is just not available.
Do you have any plans to get
into e-retailing?
I had said earlier that e-retailing is not viable
and I still feel that way; it has been a fiasco the
world over. Amazon is the only successful example, and
it had to persevere for years before finally breaking
even. Very few can afford to lose money for so long.
Online shopping eliminates the
pleasure of shopping, of feeling the garment and trying
it on. As fashions change rapidly, the site needs to
updated constantly. That may not happen every time,
unless a very limited range is kept online.
What about investments
in technology?
Technology is an essential element of retailing
success. We have an extensive system through which we
can do many things, such as maintain records of purchase
orders, track what is sold and returned, and even find
out the reason for the returns.
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